Face to Face Mobile Clients

It sounds a little bit salesy to me already. You want to get them to like you right away. The best thing to do is picture yourself in their shoes. If someone walked in and said...

"Hi, I'm Darrett, I tried visiting your website on my mobile phone and had some trouble. I noticed you don't have a mobile optimized version of your website."

What would your response be? Your guard would go up right away, wouldn't it? You would straight away think to yourself, this guy is trying to sell me something and when that happens people are conditioned to be skeptical at every other word you say to them after that. It's just basic human nature.

You want to catch them off guard. Be casual and non-threatening in your approach.

Darrett,

I really think starting with a business type like Chiropractors is only going to make the journey even harder for you. I would definitely start with a proven winner such as restaurants. Not only is it going to be a more causal atmosphere for you compared to walking into a quiet and empty waiting room, but they also seem to have a better understanding of the importance of a web presence. Most restaurants have some type of web presence whereas I bet a large proportion of chiropractors still don't have their own website. Trying to sell a service like this to someone who doesn't even understand the importance of a regular website is going to be much harder.

Thanks for the replies guys. You're right Will I should of thought that, especially since showing them their menu on a page would really help convert them I'm sure.

Going to have to agree rlhurst, only way I can find out what I'm doing wrong is by embarrassing myself a few times until I realize which parts need to change. (:

Thank you all again for the feedback.
Much appreciated.

Deeds! what's up bro?

Here's your problem... you're trying to sell, don't!

Your job is NOT to sell. Your job is simply to meet the biz owner. have a conversation with him. and if you think he can benefit from having a mobile site.. casually mention it to him in the converstaion. If he's interested.. he'll ask you more questions..

"A mobile site? what's that?!"
"How does that work?"

"Oh, let me show ya!" -

And that's where you can whip out your smart phone and show him how his site looks on there

Ask questions about him and his business. Show interest in him... and naturally he'll start asking YOU questions.. what do you do? where do you work at?

and this'll open up tons of doors to mention mobile sites to him

Jarrett's advice was terrific here but realize everyone has a different approach to sales. Some would do no less than a one call close and myself included have made a determination that this potential prospect is not worth wasting my time on so don't go back in which case you would press for the sale while your there.

If your comfortable using gas and time to make multiple trips then you may want to open with something like "hello, my name is Ed and I'm just in the area todahy meeting local business owners because you see, I am also a small business owner and perhaps one day we may have a need for the others services"

Ask them lots of questions and get them talking about themselves because people generally like that... and you be genuinely interested. It's a shame to have to even say that but if your not a caring people person than this is not the field for you. While asking questions uncover his pains or challenges...ask him about his marketing and what works best for him etc. Believe me, he will become interested in what you do and ask. If by chance he doesn't you just found out all the info you need to go back to him later as a friend or at least acquaintance now being in a better position to make a sale.

Remember always these four "W's" in sales... "some Will, some Wont, so What, Who's next!"

Midasman09, WillR and Quentin. Search the Warrior Forum for these guys and read everything they've written. You'll get a masters education in mobile marketing for just the cost of you time. Quentin and WillR both have excellent WSOs on building mobile sites and getting clients.

Darrett,

Here's your problem: You're getting really bad advice here. Reply #9 by Jarrett is the worst.

Don't walk into a business and pretend to want to make friends with the manager or owner. They hate that.

Offering your work for free, as in reply #4, isn't an example of making a sale. It's giving away your work for free. It's a good story and it might even be true. But even if it is true, I don't believe it did him much good. If it had, he'd be able to tell you exactly how many referrals he'd gotten from it, not just a vague "couple."

Your best course of action is to be "salesy." State your business, along the lines you originally said you'd planned, and ask for the order. It isn't true that business people don't like to talk to salesmen. Most do so several times a week, at least. Everything you see inside a business when you walk in was sold to the owner or manager. What business people don't like, at all, is salesmen who try to trick them.

If you have to give away a site to get started, that's fine. But don't sit back and wait for referrals from it. Generate your own referrals, by continuing to prospect and telling any fence sitters to call the guy you gave the free site to and ask him how he likes it.

Darrett I would never suggest a fake approach... what I said is genuinely be interested in helping them. You don't have to be friends, just friendly and care because they will know it. The main purpose also of building a good rapport with them is because you are going to come back and sell them other services later. Dont listen to much to someone who spews negativity in 90% of the posts they write. Remember the saying you only have one chance to build a first impression! It is very true so leave everyone you approach with a positive impression of you.

You say because of your age you don't have anything else to offer except mobile website. I understand you mean knowledge of marketing, etc. What you do have to offer is a genuine smile... leave them with one!!!

There are a different number of ways, some people go for the straight shooter approach and some like to offer free mobile sites then ask for a ref feral with a cut for the biz owner. If you do go for the straight shooter approach make sure to offer a today only discount and perhaps emphasize how other fellow non-competors are benefiting from the site.

There is also the issue of what medium you use. Going in person can be costly especially if your prospects operate in other regions. Direct mail is probably worth a go too.

Well...there was a lot of great advice given so I don't know how much more I have to offer, but i can tell you where I started.

I started off with a powerpoint preso and tried to go in and impress them with my knowledge....MISTAKE!!

1. Do a little research on each business before you go in. The more you know about there business, the better the conversation is going to go.

2. Don't try to sell them. Get them to want to buy from you. Build lots of value by offering them some free stuff that can help their business whether sign up or not. Come from a position of service, you are there to help them.

3. Share other customers successes with them. Tell them what other businesses that you are working with and how they are doing well with your service. It provides some social proof. If you don't have any then simply make something up. In sales sometimes we tell little white lie lol

4. Show them! Show them some of the work that you have done.

5. Help them understand the benefits of what you are offering. Have statistics and a facts sheet with solid research info that will give your business value. People will buy from people they like....(if they understand why they should buy it)

6. Be personable. People buy from people they like. This is where knowing a little about their business and if possible know a little about the owner or manager will help you.

7. Have a one liner. You always have to have a phrase that you use when you walk in the door to break the ice with the initial person that you speak with. I personally say "Hi my name is Pat, I was wondering who is in charge of your website?" Simple to the point and it will get me to the decision maker. Use it every time as it will help you become more comfortable quicker.

8. Have fun! Being an entrepreneur is fun. Enjoy what you do. It's fun going out and meeting people, having conversations and interacting with people. If they don't buy from you that day, then leave a lasting impression. They will remember you and when it comes time to make a decision regarding your service they will call you. I can't tell you how many times months later people call me or email me after I thought they were a lost cause and would never buy anything from me lol. When they are ready, you want them to call you.

9. Be prepared. Always be prepared when you go in. Know about this business as I stated before, have whatever paperwork you need handy, know your product, have some FAQ's that you can reference.

10. Leave behinds. Make sure you have a flyer or brochure to leave behind so they have something to reference later when they think about and become ready. This is a HUGE....mistake not to leave something behind. In most cases people will hang on to whatever you give them and may stumble upon it several times as they're organizing or looking for other things. Most importantly if they decide they want to use a service like yours, they need to have your info handy!

Get out there and have fun! Don't let all the no's scare you and make you give up. People give up so easily when it comes to starting their own business. They don't see immediate results, they get frustrated and then throw in the towel......trust me I know, I've been there. I have given up on so many ventures because I wasn't seeing results. I used to be real estate investor....I worked my butt off for 6 months before I made a dime and I only made 283 dollars off my first flip lol! I could have easily given up but I didn't and I ended up making a TON of money...until the market crashed a few years ago lol


Hope my ramblings help. If you have any questions or want to chat I would be more than happy to help you out.

Here's the deal Darrett, do what you love and the money will follow~

Good luck Darrett, its really good to read your story as there will be so many others in your shoes and hearing about you makes a great read, also some great advice coming from the guys on this thread that have been out there and cold called businesses.

I'm starting out in another field of internet marketing but once I've got it all up and running I'll have more time to explore mobile websites as it sounds right up my street, I can design websites but with so much competition out there I gave up with that business a while back, mobile websites do sound just what lots of businesses would be interested in especially when you show them how it can benefit their business.

Anyway good luck on your business and wish you well.