The BIG problem you will face with offline clients

Hehe, well that's just one of the problems you face with offline clients LOL.

It's a good article though, and does highlight a problem that a lot of offliners face.

Another problem is making them understand ROI. I was with a prospective client the other day and was explaining about SEO, she asked how much and I gave her a monthly figure. She said oh that's a lot, but when I explained about spending a pound to get 2 or 3 or more in return, then it is an investment rather than a cost, she agreed and signed up!

I'm sure others will have different big problems too.

Cheers

Tim

Managing expectations is one thing that will keep your clients happy and you happy. Much less trouble if you don't leave them with unrealistic expectations.

I always try to under promise and over deliver with regards to ranking. These off line clients haven't got a clue so tell them it will take 6 months to rank their site and do it in 3.

Keith

Client expectations are always a difficult tasks in any marketing media. Here's the problem. Each and every client is different.

So if a salesperson says that we have a pizza guy who's getting at least 40 calls a month because of our ads and they tell that to a roofer... the roofer is (for some unknown reason) going to expect 40 calls a month. So the salesperson isn't lying, and quite frankly might even believe that anybody could get 40 calls a month.

The difference? People have to eat (usually at least once a day)... but in most cases we only need a new roof on our house after a major storm or after a long time of normal exposure. So chances are.. still being a competitive market, the roofer's not going to get 40 calls a month.

The roofer calls back ticked because he only got 1 new client this month. He doesn't realize the fact that he's paying less than $299 a month to earn a $10k client. Even after expenses, they should profit at least $2k if he's doing his business right.

I actually had a roofer cancel a $299/mo service because they only had 21 calls in a month. Even though we did a great job, the salesperson didn't set expectations properly.

Doh!

Actually, and after some serious lousy experiences with small business owners, we are dropping them one by one.

Sometimes (and more often with small business owners - uneducated web wise) the time we spend working for them for a small profit is much more optimized if we're a) grabbing bigger clients (educated web wise) and b) working for ourselves (top ranking sites in very profitable niche markets).

Manage expectations to uneducated crowds it's difficult and you need an angels patience to work with some of them...

Thanks for the article OP.

So true - I have commented on this in a few posts and some have taken it as a comment just to deter the competition. Nothing could be further from the truth; I hate to see any business get taken and I really hate to see Internet Marketers getting a bad rap from those scammers and wannabes.

Take the time to build your own business and not just grab some cash. Once you work on your business, you will understand what it takes to be successful for the long-term. Long-term success takes commitment, persistance and attention to customer service. If you tell your client something, make sure you then manage their expectations by providing:

• Realistic expectations
• Feedback on what you promised
• Printed status reports

How does this work? If you tell them what to expect, make sure it is happening. If not, call them and provide feedback on the situation and what you are doing about it.

Why printed status reports? Anyone can send an email with statistics. Imagine the impact when you provide automated reports along with your analysis and your next steps.

Once you begin working with a client to provide the information they need to understand what you are doing, you can expand the services you provide to the client because you now have their trust and respect. Much easier to increase services than get new clients!

Always under promise and over deliver. The will LOVE you for it.

It's also important to look at the business from a number of angles.... not just the internet.
While you are getting things set up for the client on the 'Net, you can reactivate old customers, set up referral systems, cut costs, improve conversions in the business outside of the internet, and create systems for the company.

Of course, with you doing all of this, you can get a lot more money from your clients.

Managing expectations may be as simple as getting X number of new customers a month for a client.

Be very specific in what you will do and you should have no problems.

Remember that clients have selective hearing as well. I built a website for a client. Which I normally don't do but it was a simple site so I figured why not. I told him it would take time to start ranking (multiple times). Sent him the mock up and content which he approved and then sent him an email letting him know it was live.

A day later I get a call from him stating that he is not showing up on the first page of google for any of the local keywords. I told him many times that it takes time to start ranking. He just didn't get it and still doesn't.

But he now has multiple 1st page 1st position keywords.

Just sent him an email with that info all broken out for him. Not a peep. Oh well.