10 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
10 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

Return On Investment?

by Tony Wagner
8 replies
First of all, I want to thank all the warriors exploding this forum with Golden Content! My hats off to you, I greatly appreciate it!

I'm not new to sales, I have 31 years of direct sales experience for high ticket items. But in those adventures I totally knew my market and my product and what it would do for the client.

Now I'm in a new line of work, without any knowledge of what my services if done right (webdesign,seo,google places,and video and more), would bring my prospective clients. I'm thinking different niches would need different strategies to bring the expected results for them to pay my fees.
Example: 5 new clients a week for a lawyer, 3 new customers for a plumber, etc.

I understand how to sell the prospect, but I have no idea what kind of numbers to expect so my ass is covered, and I can go back in and upsell as well as getting referrals.

My local market is a county of 64,544 population, but within a 40 minute drive I can add another 40,000 in 3 other counties. So I guess you would call this rural.

Can anyone help? Any and all information is greatly appreciated!

All the best,
Tony
#rate #return
  • Profile picture of the author fasteasysuccess
    Hey Tony-

    It comes down to the magic...Test!Test!Test!

    There's no set standards in any niche because it all depends on your marketing, type of marketing, where marketing, who marketing to, your marketing skills, and more factors.

    However you can look at trends and use other sources to discover obvious and the missed opportunities to attract the niche or type of business you want and or if going to specify in one niche, then you can really start testing on what works and what needs to be done.

    One big thing I noticed from your question...

    You seem to be limiting yourself to set areas or set niches. If you are a traditional brick and mortar business then you are limited to where you are. However with the use of internet, mail, phones, and other sources...you actually have the whole world in front of you.

    It's up to you whether you want to keep it local, nationwide, or worldwide. The key is... it's your business and you can decide what you want to do and what you like to do.

    Obviously, if you want to literally meet people, then local or surrounding is the best way to go and if don't have to be or don't care if meet in person or not, then pick your areas and test your marketing.

    For example, I offer marketing, seo, and copywriting locally and nationwide and if someone is local, then I can choose to meet in person or handle over the phone and if out of state, I handle over the phone. The beautiful thing is...your business and you make the decision.

    Since so many sources and ways to advertise online and offline, you can test and see which one you like doing better and which ones you should be targeting and using.

    Just remember this most important key thing...

    The most deadliest number in marketing is 1. Having 1 lead, 1 client, 1 way to generate leads, 1 way to sell your business and ...

    I'm sure you get the idea and hope that helps you Tony.
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3188023].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author coach
      One of the most important lessons to learn is managing client expectations.

      Many consultants make the mistake of promising a certain ROI.

      You can't.

      What you can do is improve what they are getting now.

      If a client is getting zero leads from their website and you get them 3 in a month, they'll love you. But if you promised 5, you've failed.

      I encourage you to consider three things:

      (1) Specialize.

      Pick a specific type of business and up to three services you'll provide.

      (2) Score.

      Make 3 clients happy fast. Do the work, document everything and put it into a checklist someone else can follow.

      (3) Scale.

      Once you have 3 happy clients, get someone to help with implementation and market, market, market.

      ---

      Like what I have to say? Thank me...
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3188094].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Tony Wagner
    With all the claims of upfront and monthly fees it would be great to see how you measure your quotes for your new clients from past experience in campaigns that you have run.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3188050].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author MWGrubb58
    Tony,

    A lot of times, just talking to the business owner with an ear open to their problems works wonders.

    Most of my sales of consulting services have happened just because i listened to the owner talk about what they wanted. Years ago, I went to a conference and learned an important technique... If you ask the right questions, they won't care about your background.

    I recently got a client by just listening for 15 minutes and explaining why developing a customer list was so important. The owner told me I was hired because I was the only one that seemed to care about the business owner!

    It really is consultive selling. But look, you know how to sell... You could look to sell a "Package" and then upsell... For example, XXXX for a website and auto-responder, plus some SEO work. Then when the client sees some results you can upsell with some gangbuster consulting for a nice retainer and percentage of new profits.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3188145].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author HorseStall
    Its important that you can show measurable results, not easy when dealing with an "offline" business. If you create and promote a local business when a call comes in its difficult to tell if it came from a referral or the website. You can measure traffic but conversions will be more difficult to show. Perhaps offer a coupon on the website mention X and get 10% off that would help track conversions and show measurable results.
    Signature
    Horse Gifts :: Dog Gifts :: Wild Animal Gifts :: Mythical Creatures
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3197003].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Tony Wagner
    First thanks to all that replied. Im not worried about the sales process, I know I will get my share of the market. My only competition is a webdesigner who claims that they are marketers, but they dont even have their own google places listing set up.

    All I am asking is what I could generally expect as ROI for the client if I do the job right. I know nothing is gauranteed and different niches have different results but there is so much experience on this forum surely some have insight from their past experience.

    I mean this is true life stuff, you just can't go in claiming that the client will have 37 new clients or customers by the end of the week. In a rural area, word gets around quick.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3199346].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author MichaelHiles
    Part of the problem is pitching "services" vs. pitching "solutions".

    It's nearly impossible to quantify the ROI on 10 hours of web development work. But if 10 hours of web development work yields a specific solution that reduces the cost of customer acquisition (hypothetically), then you now have a basis for projection.

    Start with solving the specific problem FIRST, then figure out the cost of the problem, etc...

    I realize this conflicts with the dialing for dollars approach to just selling "something". I sell solutions - not "services". Services are a commodity. Solutions are quantifiable, and can be attached to an actual dollar amount.
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3199500].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author AndrewCavanagh
      Calculating potential return on investment for a business can be really complex.

      The good news is that many internet marketing strategies have:

      # Little to no cost beyond the fees you charge.

      # Often keep bringing in sales or leads for years after you've set them up with little or no extra effort.

      # Can be dovetailed into other marketing, sales and advertising efforts to substantially increase their returns.


      There are many different areas that can be helpful in increasing return on investment:

      # Learning how to identify high net profit lines in a business so you can focus on promoting those first.

      # Looking for ways to drive prospects and customers of a business to automated online follow up like email follow up so that you substantially increase the value of any lead and any customer created.

      # Getting multiple use from any content created both online and offline (using the same content to create printed reports, online articles, online press releases, online videos, posts on blogs and forums etc etc etc).

      # And the list goes on.


      You can find studies online that suggest for example email marketing returns $50 for every dollar invested.

      These kinds of figures are exciting but can be misleading.

      The process you really want to master is establishing the potential value of any service you suggest to a business owner.

      Most effective is often for you to get THEM to estimate returns each step of the way in a strategy then take that back to a much lower figure (they nearly always estimate too high).

      That way it's THEIR estimates that get them excited and you being the cautious guy.

      Kindest regards,
      Andrew Cavanagh
      Signature
      Old School Copy Like This Is BACK & Converting Like Crazy!
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3207285].message }}

Trending Topics