Cold Walk In Approach For Businesses Selling Local Online Marketing Services

I think this may help some people.

For several recent years I sold a Local Online Marketing service called Local Profit Geyser.
For a few years the initial cost was $3,999 (plus $199 a month) and later I raised it to $5,999 (plus $199 a month). Most of my sales were from speaking to groups of business owners. But I also just walked in to businesses...mostly retail stores and offices where a service was sold by incoming calls.
There was no particular time of day, no letter sent beforehand...no card...I just walked in.

Me "Hello. my name is Claude Whitacre, I create customers and high quality leads for businesses that already have a website. Would you like to know more?"

They would usually say one of these;
"Not interested" (although I got that response far less than you would think)
"You need to talk to....."
"Why do we need to have a website?"
"How do you do that?"
"I have a minute, what have you got?"

If they asked a question or gave a positive response, I'd say "Do you have any customers that have found you online?". If they say "No", I ask "Would you like some?". Usually this was the end of the discussion.

And if they said "Yes", I would ask "Would you like to have more of them?" I want them to say "Yes" at his point..or ask "How do you do that?' The people that said "Yes" were the ones I was really interested in talking to.

"What I do is put your company information in front of customers that are looking for your service. When they go online looking for a (whatever they do), they find you far more often, and they find your competitor far less often. Does that sound like something you would want to talk about?"


That's about as far as I'll go without talking to the business owner. And if it's a partnership, both owners. If I needed to, I'd make an appointment. But I really just wanted to talk to them right then.

"What are you doing online right now?" is what I would ask next.

The reason I initially said that I " create customers and high quality leads for businesses that already have a website. Would you like to know more?" is that I wanted to sound selective, which I was. The reason I asked "Would you like to know more?' is that I wanted to leave as soon as possible, if they weren't interested...and it was an unusual question that they weren't expecting. It didn't sound "Salesy". It sounded like I had something...maybe something exclusive.

Although I smiled and was friendly, I didn't make it look like I was really wanting to talk to them. In fact, I only wanted to talk to them if they were interested (at least in knowing more).

My approach was literally my elevator speech when networking, or attending events. I would just leave off the "Would you like to know more?" at these events. I wanted them to ask me about it. But they had to ask me a question, or my effort ended right then (except for pleasantries)


One thing I would avoid at all costs is describing the specifics of how my service worked, until I started presenting to them. I would speak in generalities..like "When someone goes online to search for (what they sell), we make sure they find you in multiple locations online. You need to be where the customer is looking, wouldn't you agree?'

That kind of thing. I would only share "How this works" in a real presentation. Usually right then.

To be honest, I only did this for a week or so...mostly to test my approach so I could include it in a book I was writing...but I made a sale every day. One day I made two.

If I wasn't making more sales from speaking to groups of business owners, I would have just used this method....and referrals...which I also got.

What amazed me was that every business owner gets multiple calls a day (usually robo calls) about online marketing. But they get very few people just walking in.

In cold calling, just remember this...
In your town, today...there are between 10 and 100 people that are actively looking to buy the exact thing that you sell. You just need to find them.

And I tell my local online marketing prospects "In your town today there are between 10 and 100 people that are actively looking to buy what you sell....they just need to find you"

If anyone has any questions, I'm here to help.