This is worse than any first date...

I was going to say the same thing - deep breaths....

remember - YOU are the expert - that's why she's meeting with you

You'll do great!

Team Lisa!!! I'm ready with my glass of wine!

V

And they will probably be more interested and in the mood for where the business can go over dwelling on where it is and has been, so do not get bogged down to much in the trip down memory lane.

Also with all of the prep your doing, less is more in many ways, a pro will carry a very thin and small bag of tricks, if anything at all, a clutz will walk in with a big box under his arm full of crap that will just scare the clappers out of people and bore them.

Best of luck champ.

Well, hopefully you'll get the check on Monday. Even if you don't close them, you've now had your first meeting and you know a little bit more of what to expect for the next time.

Like said above, you at least got out the door and took action, that's the most important step you can take. The deals will come if you keep taking action.

Nice work!

My calling began today and have a few people that are interested.

Again, Onward and upward!

Atta' girl!

When you have a pipeline full of prospects, all at various stages of development, your entire world doesn't hinge on a single deal.

Here's my #1 "secret" for selling... whatever my total sales goal for the year is... always work to have that amount of total business potential in the pipeline at all times. That means I only have to get an 8.3% closing ratio across the entire year to hit my goal. Anything better is gravy.

And THAT'S why you'll be (are now) in the top single digits percent of those who succeed.

You do inspire.

Don't be upset. I never have walked away with a cheque from the first meeting. I like to contemplate on what to quote AFTER hearing them out, rather than assuming to know what they want.

This is a GREAT idea! I never thought to look at local web designers' portfolios for potential clients. Thanks for sharing!

Lisa....

In no disrespect at all....I'm glad you didn't walk out with a check for $3500 dollars....

The next thing you know.....you would've created a WSO saying something like this....

"In 2 hours time, with my palms sweating and my heart racing and $3500 richer.....offline consulting is a snap....you can do it too!!!!blah blah blah.... Just kidding of course

Really though.....

I've had more no thank yous than I care to share....but I also have some "I'd love to try anything that costs less than $50 per lead from Service Magic and my current advertising costs"

It's just like anything else....persistence......and good for you for following through on your plan.

Some of these threads are way better than purchasing WSO's personally.

Good for you for taking action and getting in front of prospects.

This is something you'll get a whole lot better at and a whole lot more relaxed with the more experience you get.

Notice how you're still alive? Obviously nothing to really be worried about.

Now would be a great time to talk to some more business owners.

The more you do the easier it gets.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

Congrats Lisa! Most marketers don't even make it that far. You're gonna rock it. Just keep pushing forward. You're SOOOO close

I'm really happy for you

-Adam

Michael, you're totally right on...actually I already agreed to do some Facebook marketing for them at no cost, so if they don't want to buy from me, they can go pound sand. LOL

Hi Lisa,

I've been in that position so many times over the years - it's uncomfortable because you don't know whether to call tomorrow and show that you're persistent or be cool and strengthen your positioning - your call depending on how confident you feel. I guess you moved to second date nerves

My experience has been that no call back = no deal, your experience may vary (I'm aware that US business convention can differ from that here in the UK) and I really hope you get some contact tomorrow. If not, wait a week then get creative and throw something at them that sticks in their mind.

No positive pitch is wasted. You learn something, get to practice your sales skills and you never know what may spin off down the line.

I got a call today for a website build, referred by people I talked to 2 years ago who similarly went quiet on me. Meeting set up and maybe we'll do business.

It's obvious that you have 'it' - just keep on doing what you're doing - the rest will follow.

Tony

Lisa... great stuff...

Don't forget that THEY ARE THE LUCKY ONES to work with you.
you are the one that is going to help them... in fact they NEED you more than you need them. (Obviously don't tell them this... but don't be scared) . Usually when we all start selling SEO we tend to underestimate how much businesses are willing to pay.



Good job

Gab

In my experience this doesn't work. If they want (or need) to be your client they will call you.

They will see through your strategy and it comes across a bit as begging. Which puts you in a weak position. I'd say move on. But thats just me. Regardless, good luck.

I would do the same, others might not agree but this will let you know if they are buyers or not.

Lisa,

Here is another Option. It will take some gumption.


Here is the deal.
You have already taken a lot if time and effort in researching the market.

So call them back, let them know that due to the amount of time and research you have put into this market you wanted to give them one last chance at locking you in before you go to their peers with in the market.

Tell them that this is to valuable an opportunity to let it go to waste, and you just wanted to let them know before you start approaching ALL the other players in the market.

Use instant lead finder to compile a local list of all the kitchen and bath remodels in the area, then slap up a quick web site and offer it to ALL the other players.

Remember to wrap this all up in that you want to give them a chance to take this opportunity off the market and away from the other competitors.

Your whole Posture is way off because they just see you as just another web / IM gal, hence the can take their sweet time and not do anything believing that when and if they call you....you will instantly run over.

Do a search on the famous MSMM Fire Man Mike Bonus Video for detials.

I feel bad for you, but this is has happened to many several times. It is all part of the game. Try not to dwell on it and move on to new prospects. At first this will be hard to do, but it is the only way to succeed in this sales game.

This is why it is so important that they contact you rather then you chase them. It puts you in a very low % win game.

You can tell they weren't interested by the fact they didn't call.

Its a bit harsh but that is the reality of consulting.

Lisa, I know this was your first appointment and you had high hopes for a sale, but you can't be so emotionally invested in an individual client/prospect like this. This is a numbers game after all, and you will never be able to close every single prospect, even if you drive out to meet them and spend hours with them.

Just brush it off and continue prospecting with their competitors. It's best not to appear too desperate or employ too many scarcity tactics, as I've found from experience that they usually don't work too well.

When meeting prospective clients, you have to be confident and authoritative, and not be too pushy/aggressive in asking for the sale, because that will typically just irritate and turn off your prospects. You have to position yourself as the authority figure who knows exactly what you're talking about, and act like you don't really need to sign on the prospect. I know it may sound paradoxical, but businesses tend to hate being sold to, and having this type of approach typically makes them think you've something of value to offer them.

Paul

Lisa, you can't be "pissed off" over this. Even over driving long distances and spending time.

And no, the answer isn't charging for an initial consult. There are clearly some morons offering up all kinds of garbage advice in this forum and that's a particularly bad suggestion. The value is already not in a prospect's mind, what is it going to do when someone says, "well you need to pay me to sit through my sales pitch"? By charging someone for your "selling time", you've immediately made a big withdrawl from the value proposition account, and if the balance is already low, you will overdraw.

The solution to not banking so emotionally on any one deal is to have multiple prospects cooking at any given time.

I dunno if this is really the right approach. It almost reeks of blackmail.. work with me or I am going to contact your competitors.

Hmm... I personally don't respond positively to that kind of arm twist. Unfortunately, they would probably not work with you now based on that sort of communication.

Not that you did anything so horribly wrong, but this is just part of the learning process.

Remember, you're there to help them. If not now, then whenever they're ready.

Any contrived sense of urgency in the B2B services world is nonsense. Scarcity... nonsense. People who might be successfull selling emotional pitch based stuff on the internet don't have a lot of experience selling business services is they're suggesting to use false scarcity or any other huckster used-car salesman techniques. High pressure tactics are generally not going to work because they are "SELLER-CENTRIC".

"I gotta' get this deal so I am going to do whatever it takes for ME to get this deal."

Leaving out the fact that the prospect isn't anywhere close to the actual decisionmaking stage in the process... and if you push them to that stage when they're truly not ready, you're going to get push back.

Your number one competition in services sales of any kind is inertia... the status quo.

Build trust and your brand incrementally. Just like participating in an internet forum. People who jump in and make a big, loud splash at the start aren't received well in any forum. Build trust over time. Contribute. Help people by becoming a trusted information resource.

They may NEVER buy from you, but you know something? They know 10 other people.