Idea for getting new business on board

herbaluss · 30th Sep 2011, 09:25 AM

Hey guys I am trying to get this new business of mine off the ground and wondering what you guys think of offering services free for 1month to clients before charging them?

I will be focusing on SMS marketing mostly and wouldn't see any hurt in offering the FREE as a way to get in.
Im thinking of maybe getting them to test by putting of generic signs that will be around their business and have them offer clients stuff to get them to join.
After the 30 days I basically see if they want to join or not where they pay the on time setup + monthly.
anybody think this is a good idea to get started?

after a i get enough clients i will basically stop and run everything normally.

I currently get 2500+ messages free with my whitelable so the freeby wont hurt me other than the regular monthly fee i pay so it's a win/win in my eyes.

xlfutur1 · 30th Sep 2011, 11:37 AM

Because they need to have (and build) a list to send messages to, I give the first 30 days at no charge so they can concentrate on building the list. One way to offset no charge for the first 30 days is to simply charge a setup fee. take some of the setup fee though and make some signage for them, and help them get subscribers. If they don't have any subscribers after 30 days, the will most likely lose interest and say it doesn't work.

midasman09 · 30th Sep 2011, 12:07 PM

"Stop the presses!" No way would I EVER offer "Free" anything! If I can't get a prospect to "put up something"...he AIN'T committed!

Even when I'm just starting a project there ARE ways to "get your prospects TRUST"!....so they "cough up" some kind of "committment" payment! Otherwise I ain't running a "Business"...I'm running a "Charity"!

Now....that being said, there are 2 things I want to show you;

1) A way that a company is getting Pizza Shops to participate in SMS.
Pizza Marketing Machine : The Pizza Marketing Machine

2) A WSO that shows you HOW to "prospect" using a 90 sec Video...and, the neat thing about this is....you DON'T have to SEE prospects! I'm setting up my own 90 Video to sell MY stuff "mobile" stuff and it's working! Here's the link to the WSO;
http://www.warriorplus.com/wso/view/36936

Don Alm....Marketing Guy

Pestew · 30th Sep 2011, 06:27 PM

Originally Posted by midasman09

"Stop the presses!" No way would I EVER offer "Free" anything! If I can't get a prospect to "put up something"...he AIN'T committed!

Even when I'm just starting a project there ARE ways to "get your prospects TRUST"!....so they "cough up" some kind of "committment" payment! Otherwise I ain't running a "Business"...I'm running a "Charity"!

Yes, I quite agree on your point Don, seems like everyone's saying "ya gatta to GIVE in order to get" and you know, "prime the pump" so to speak (especially when your first starting up).

Can you elaborate on your ways to "get your prospect's TRUST"? I'd be very interested on your take.

Originally Posted by midasman09

Now....that being said, there are 2 things I want to show you;

1) A way that a company is getting Pizza Shops to participate in SMS.
Pizza Marketing Machine : The Pizza Marketing Machine

2) A WSO that shows you HOW to "prospect" using a 90 sec Video...and, the neat thing about this is....you DON'T have to SEE prospects! I'm setting up my own 90 Video to sell MY stuff "mobile" stuff and it's working! Here's the link to the WSO;
http://www.warriorplus.com/wso/view/36936

Don Alm....Marketing Guy

Thanks for the sharing of those great resources! Will be digging in to them for SURE.
-Pete

Charles Harper · 30th Sep 2011, 08:42 PM

The question is how to get the client's trust. Free does not have to be forever. And I think that if you can do your service in such a way that you can fill his or her business at will, this is the kind of social proof that builds trust. If you are in control of the list and you are basically bringing traffic into the location; I don't think that devalues you.

I think that if all you do is mobile though, you may be leaving money on the table. If you help him capture leads, you will be capturing one demographic of people who buy his or her product AND use their mobile phone to source things. If the business owner is not capturing leads efficiently, you can help him to do it and then increase his profits.

This, again, to me builds trust. Once you do the kinds of things that clearly increase profits, you set yourself apart from the pretenders and become a real marketing consultant. Most importantly, you put yourself in a range of higher fees, because his revenue was lower without you.

Pestew · 1st Oct 2011, 11:50 AM

Originally Posted by Charles Harper

if you can do your service in such a way that you can fill his or her business at will, this is the kind of social proof that builds trust. If you are in control of the list and you are basically bringing traffic into the location; I don't think that devalues you.

Your saying to build your own sms list? If so, any suggestions on how to do this efficiently?

Thanks for your thoughtful post, Charles.

-Pete

Barefootpainting · 2nd Oct 2011, 07:46 PM

Free or Not Free. Such a dilemma, especially if you are looking to become someone they know like and trust.

If you are running their SMS campaign, part of the contract you should go into this with should state something to the effect that once they stop paying, the list disappears! Even though they are the companies clients, they are linked through a service you provide and once that is gone, so is the list.

You could offer a low cost 1st month, or even better yet, help him gain customers with lead generation towards this list where he they pay you $1 for every number they collect on the list every month. Might be 1, or 1000 with a money back guarantee at the end of the month relating to the increase in business they should expect from message that are sent out. It might only take a couple people to come in that normally wouldn't have come in for an extra meal to be worth the owners time!

In regards to building the list, there are many ways to go about this from offering a discount (they get a second message on their phone after signing up) that they can bring to the store and show you with their phones. As long as the discount is less than the amount your clients normally increase the price, they will have still made a profit.

Simply just telling people about it and having a trained staff that reminds clients to sign up for text updates is crucial to collecting as much client information as possible.

aimco · 3rd Oct 2011, 08:05 AM

I have to agree- make it second month free better IMO

Originally Posted by midasman09

"Stop the presses!" No way would I EVER offer "Free" anything! If I can't get a prospect to "put up something"...he AIN'T committed!

Even when I'm just starting a project there ARE ways to "get your prospects TRUST"!....so they "cough up" some kind of "committment" payment! Otherwise I ain't running a "Business"...I'm running a "Charity"!

Now....that being said, there are 2 things I want to show you;

1) A way that a company is getting Pizza Shops to participate in SMS.
Pizza Marketing Machine : The Pizza Marketing Machine

2) A WSO that shows you HOW to "prospect" using a 90 sec Video...and, the neat thing about this is....you DON'T have to SEE prospects! I'm setting up my own 90 Video to sell MY stuff "mobile" stuff and it's working! Here's the link to the WSO;
http://www.warriorplus.com/wso/view/36936

Don Alm....Marketing Guy

herbaluss · 3rd Oct 2011, 10:29 AM

I started with one business so far... and i am doing 1month free he pays for all promo
advised him I would review all print ads before printing so make sure they are effective and pass guidelines of SMS marketing (fine print) and make educate his staff... which can all be done remotely .... advised after the 30days he can stay or cancel... the list will be confidential will not get the list of number but i will produce reports with opt-ins / outs every week.... seems to be working fine .... gave the pricing of the tiers so he knows as the list goes up price will go up ....

To make sure i still get the setup fee i advised i will be putting it all under a demo account first and will move everything over once he is a paying account.
I made him an account anyways but he doesn't need to know that just want to make sure i get the setup fee still.
and monthly will start with whatever is right for his current customer list amount.

Seems to be something that people would like due to the fact it's so new and people just dont know the power that they have at the moment.
I think with 1 month of them seeing how it goes is a good tool for people just starting out and those skeptical people.

30th Sep 2011, 09:25 AM	#1
herbaluss HyperActive Warrior Join Date: 2011 Location: Ontario , Canada Posts: 128 Thanks: 15 Thanked 9 Times in 9 Posts	Idea for getting new business on board Share on: Hey guys I am trying to get this new business of mine off the ground and wondering what you guys think of offering services free for 1month to clients before charging them? I will be focusing on SMS marketing mostly and wouldn't see any hurt in offering the FREE as a way to get in. Im thinking of maybe getting them to test by putting of generic signs that will be around their business and have them offer clients stuff to get them to join. After the 30 days I basically see if they want to join or not where they pay the on time setup + monthly. anybody think this is a good idea to get started? after a i get enough clients i will basically stop and run everything normally. I currently get 2500+ messages free with my whitelable so the freeby wont hurt me other than the regular monthly fee i pay so it's a win/win in my eyes.

30th Sep 2011, 11:37 AM	#2
xlfutur1 Senior Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: 2005 Location: Michigan Posts: 1,112 Thanks: 13 Thanked 249 Times in 154 Posts	Re: Idea for getting new business on board Share on: Because they need to have (and build) a list to send messages to, I give the first 30 days at no charge so they can concentrate on building the list. One way to offset no charge for the first 30 days is to simply charge a setup fee. take some of the setup fee though and make some signage for them, and help them get subscribers. If they don't have any subscribers after 30 days, the will most likely lose interest and say it doesn't work.

30th Sep 2011, 12:07 PM	#3
midasman09 Banned Join Date: 2009 Posts: 1,279 Thanks: 7 Thanked 1,525 Times in 531 Posts	Re: Idea for getting new business on board Share on: "Stop the presses!" No way would I EVER offer "Free" anything! If I can't get a prospect to "put up something"...he AIN'T committed! Even when I'm just starting a project there ARE ways to "get your prospects TRUST"!....so they "cough up" some kind of "committment" payment! Otherwise I ain't running a "Business"...I'm running a "Charity"! Now....that being said, there are 2 things I want to show you; 1) A way that a company is getting Pizza Shops to participate in SMS. Pizza Marketing Machine : The Pizza Marketing Machine 2) A WSO that shows you HOW to "prospect" using a 90 sec Video...and, the neat thing about this is....you DON'T have to SEE prospects! I'm setting up my own 90 Video to sell MY stuff "mobile" stuff and it's working! Here's the link to the WSO; http://www.warriorplus.com/wso/view/36936 Don Alm....Marketing Guy

30th Sep 2011, 08:42 PM	#5
Charles Harper Senior Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: 2007 Posts: 1,419 Thanks: 426 Thanked 275 Times in 195 Posts Blog Entries: 50	Re: Idea for getting new business on board Share on: The question is how to get the client's trust. Free does not have to be forever. And I think that if you can do your service in such a way that you can fill his or her business at will, this is the kind of social proof that builds trust. If you are in control of the list and you are basically bringing traffic into the location; I don't think that devalues you. I think that if all you do is mobile though, you may be leaving money on the table. If you help him capture leads, you will be capturing one demographic of people who buy his or her product AND use their mobile phone to source things. If the business owner is not capturing leads efficiently, you can help him to do it and then increase his profits. This, again, to me builds trust. Once you do the kinds of things that clearly increase profits, you set yourself apart from the pretenders and become a real marketing consultant. Most importantly, you put yourself in a range of higher fees, because his revenue was lower without you.
	Video Training on Internet Marketing and PLR

2nd Oct 2011, 07:46 PM	#7
Barefootpainting Barefoot Enterprises, LLC Join Date: 2009 Location: Camillus, NY Posts: 15 Thanks: 0 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts	Re: Idea for getting new business on board Share on: Free or Not Free. Such a dilemma, especially if you are looking to become someone they know like and trust. If you are running their SMS campaign, part of the contract you should go into this with should state something to the effect that once they stop paying, the list disappears! Even though they are the companies clients, they are linked through a service you provide and once that is gone, so is the list. You could offer a low cost 1st month, or even better yet, help him gain customers with lead generation towards this list where he they pay you $1 for every number they collect on the list every month. Might be 1, or 1000 with a money back guarantee at the end of the month relating to the increase in business they should expect from message that are sent out. It might only take a couple people to come in that normally wouldn't have come in for an extra meal to be worth the owners time! In regards to building the list, there are many ways to go about this from offering a discount (they get a second message on their phone after signing up) that they can bring to the store and show you with their phones. As long as the discount is less than the amount your clients normally increase the price, they will have still made a profit. Simply just telling people about it and having a trained staff that reminds clients to sign up for text updates is crucial to collecting as much client information as possible.
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3rd Oct 2011, 10:29 AM	#9
herbaluss HyperActive Warrior Join Date: 2011 Location: Ontario , Canada Posts: 128 Thanks: 15 Thanked 9 Times in 9 Posts	Re: Idea for getting new business on board Share on: I started with one business so far... and i am doing 1month free he pays for all promo advised him I would review all print ads before printing so make sure they are effective and pass guidelines of SMS marketing (fine print) and make educate his staff... which can all be done remotely .... advised after the 30days he can stay or cancel... the list will be confidential will not get the list of number but i will produce reports with opt-ins / outs every week.... seems to be working fine .... gave the pricing of the tiers so he knows as the list goes up price will go up .... To make sure i still get the setup fee i advised i will be putting it all under a demo account first and will move everything over once he is a paying account. I made him an account anyways but he doesn't need to know that just want to make sure i get the setup fee still. and monthly will start with whatever is right for his current customer list amount. Seems to be something that people would like due to the fact it's so new and people just dont know the power that they have at the moment. I think with 1 month of them seeing how it goes is a good tool for people just starting out and those skeptical people.