Scratching my head...Which businesses are easier to approach?

I don't think you should concentrate on which businesses are interested in marketing advice as such. A business owner doesn't really want marketing advice. The only thing a business owner truly wants is more customers and more money. That's the bottom line. And you'd be hard pressed to find a business owner that DOESN'T want more business.

You need to have them believe you are the quickest and easiest way for them to get those new customers. That's when they will start listening to you.

I would say go for accountants and listen to WillR. Combination of both will be great.

I too would say accountants.I myself been looking up bookkeeping services and softwares.

You don't mention the price of your product, but that might impact who I prospect to...

If it's hundreds of dollars, I may want to focus more on businesses with a higher average transaction value...especially if what you're offering them takes awhile to produce results.
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Bruce

You are a pretty gal, and gals have WAYYY better luck at cold calling vs. males. I have made a majority of my money cold calling b2b. Just walk in, ask who is in charge of their advertising....

They will be happy to tell you/ give contact info surprisingly. (they know they need to advertise, and do not know where you are from)

Ask for a short meeting to show them how they can increase their sales with better ROI than other advertising methods etc etc...

Take from there.

Cchipster

I want to echo WillR's comments...Local businesses are "coin operated" and its all about the money! They put in $1 and expect $5 in return.

I suggest you conduct some market research to see if what you are offering has perceived value. Is it a DIY product or a service that you provide? From experience, most local businesses do not want to do anything online themselves and want some guarantees for their investment. They would rather pay $200 per month for 6 months rather than $1,200 up front. To quote one of our clients, "If the phone continues to ring from your efforts, I'll be your client for life!

Realistically, you need to have testimonials and referrals in the "off line" marketing business and there is growing competition. You need to offer something different than what they hear every day from marketing calls. Just remember they are results driven.

As far as target markets go, brucerby's post about targeting by transaction value is an excellent point. Accountants are a possibility, however they are extremely detail oriented and can be time bandits with wanting to understand every detail. Lawyers spend a lot of money, however they are barraged by calls.

I suggest you talk to a local business owner in a niche and interview him or her. See how they react to your product. Ask for honest feedback. Use them as a beta site to test your product and get your initial testimonial. You may find that it isn't niche specific, as much as it is owner specific - Some are more entrepreneurial than others.

Good luck,
Vito

Choose the one that you love the most and do some research to find out what people really wanted.

I'm planning on offering a marketing product to offline business owners. I know many need help, but there are a whole lot of business niches to select from.

It's a crap shoot only if it's not aimed at any specific target market or ideal local business client.

I know many need help, but there are a whole lot of business niches to select from.

If you already know this then that's half of your problem solved because you're giving them what you know they need. What do they need help on? Turn that into your solution.

I'm not sure where to start...contractors, salons, insurance, accountants, health care providers, etc.

Where do you have past or current experience or knowledge you can leverage? That should be your starting point because it will be a lot simpler to 'connect' because of that background.

If you don't have any past or current skills and knowledge, then I would recommend that you start to get some type of affinity and closeness with your chosen target market and ideal client.

When I start with the heal care professionals target market and Chiropractors (and later on Dentists) I registered at industry forums that contained a high concentration of Chiropractors (and then Dentists). This allows you to 'get' what their problems really are as opposed to guessing some generic solution to problems they don't have or that they're not even motivated to solve.

Can any of you give me suggestions on what niches seem to have business owners who are pretty open to marketing advice?

No business owners are open to marketing advice and I don't care what anyone says.

Think about it, which business owner wakes up in the morning saying to themselves "Today I'm going out there to find where I can send money on 'marketing advice,' let me just check my emails or that piece of direct mail that came in today"

That's what we as people involved in offering business development and marketing solutions would like to believe, but it's not how it happens.

Virtually every business has projects on the go at any point in time. They also have missing pieces that are stopping them from completing those projects.

The missing piece could be anything including a product that allows them to finish that project, eliminate that problem etc

If you're able to understand what those projects are in a specific target market and for a specific client type within that target market AND you can create a product that provides that 'missing piece' you'll do great.

Finally, think about packaging what you do as a service because it's easier in my experience to describe and offer a package as opposed to a service which is intangible.

I offer a positioning service to local service professional which includes creation of positioning products that make them more visible online and helps them generate more revenue and increase profits, but its not positioned as a product, it's branding online

Investment is only $997 and all of the ideal clients can make this back usually from one client. It's delivered within 30 days. This they can understand...but it's essentially still a 'product.'

Hope this helps and best of luck.

BAYO
IOG

Credibility holding you back? Click here


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No matter how long I've "known" certain advice, it is so good to have others say it again, and again.

And as much as I know it, I need to remember to go from "what I have" to "what I/it will do for you".

After a brief absence from performing for daycares (magic shows) I've decided to get back into that niche and send a mailing out. I've fallen back in love with making kids laugh and I want to try out some new routines I've read about. BUT...that's not what will be in those letters getting me the gigs.

Of course to explain why they're getting a coupon mailed with the letter for $50 off I might mention something along those lines for my reason why, but they have to act fast as not everyone letter sent has a coupon. (Which is true.)

So yeah, I too appreciate some of the answers above. Always good to remember it's not about us, but about them. And business owners aren't different—they're human, so they tune into wiifm too.

First thing I would say is go for businesses that have a high customer value per transaction. That way you don't have to get too many clients for the business each month to justify your fees.

Also it is much easier to get businesses on board when you can easily get to the decision maker. Therefore, when you are starting off I would avoid dentists and lawyers because they tend to have practice managers that deal with their marketing.

I have found personally that cosmetic surgery is a very profitable niche.

Hey,

Just want to add a few more thoughts on this.

I started out asking myself the same question as the OP and I got some of the same good advice that you've gotten in previous postings.

Just as recommended, the way that I solved my issue was to start with industries that I have experience in and have some connections in.

This made it easier to get some initial business, however that didn't create the cash flow tsunami that I thought it would.

So, I literally picked a couple of niches that have higher ticket customers AND I picked a couple of niches that had lower ticket customers but were in competitive industries.

My reason for choosing niches with lower ticket customers in competitive industries is because I wanted to test and see if they might be more open and willing to try my services in order to gain a edge in their competitive industry.

I then put put together my freebie/credibility builder/salesletter type educational product to giveaway.

Then I created a mail campaign. Postcards are my personal favorite because of price and ease of use in scheduling longer term campaings through click2mail.com.

See, what I realized is that there is no way to 100% KNOW for certain which of my local businesses and prospects would respond better to me and my services, so I constantly test new offerings and promo's to get clients.

This is what I learned after spending an exhausting, expensive and unrewarding six months "trying" to work with a familiar niche that didn't want what I was selling.

Yes, I could've kept pounding away at it, but I decided to take the road of least resistance and only work with clients who actually wanted to work with me.

These types of prospects exist in every niche BUT there are alot of variables to finding them. So, because my crystal ball is broken I begin to test different niches with different offers to find the gems.

Thanks,

Chris

I see this type of question asked all the time and I feel there is an underlying misconception.

When people ask "Which businesses are easier to approach?" it shows me that a lot of people are looking at things kinda backwards.

First, you don't approach businesses. Businesses are buildings and processes. Businesses can't be approached. You must remember that you are approaching PEOPLE. These are people with ideas, desires, drives and priorities and right now you don't fit into them.

When you ask "Which businesses are easier to approach?" I think perhaps you are asking what categories of businesses are easiest? Dentists, restaurants etc...This is also missing the point by a long shot. Since you are approaching people, and not buildings, are there certain categories of people who are better to sell to than others? Is a Dentist more serious about his goals than a restaurant owner? Not at all!

So the key is stop looking for buildings, processes, and categories you can approach.

And I don't like the idea of the word "approach" either. It sounds....dirty. After all, an approach is just walking up and trying to convince them to give you their cash. I sincerely hope that is not what you think will help you succeed. Rather than an "approacher"...try thinking of yourself as a helper. This will frame you in a different way.

So, you are searching for people to help. Now that's better.

So, are some locations better than others to find people who need help?

Think about the things a business owner does when they need help with marketing. Who do they talk to? Where do they go? Do they go to seminars? Do they read pamphlets? Do they listen to audio in the car? Do they read websites?

Yes! They do all these things. Your driving desire should be to become the kind of person who people will come to for help. You do this by giving seminars where you demonstrate that you truly care. You do this by giving them CD's that will teach them new things and they can see you truly care. You do this by giving them information products that show you truly want to help. You do it by making your website a place where they can get new ideas and see you truly care.

Instead of going for a canned approach to one type of building, begin doing ALL of the things that will put you in front of PEOPLE who need HELP.

They will ask for your help as soon as you earn their trust.

If you need money and clients right now, you might need to do some cold-calling and hand-shaking. I replied to another post http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...ml#post3440399 that tells the way to talk to individual owners and earn their trust. You simply must show that you care more about their needs than your sales pitch or your package.

The truth is, you should be doing it both ways and use every single medium you can find to communicate to your local business owners that you are a person who cares and can be trusted to help them.

You could target auto repair shops. Tell them that they could make more money servicing Honda vehicles only, and that prospects would flock to their place of business because they now have affinity in the marketplace. People with Honda's would choose them versus other generic repair shops, because they would be perceived as a specialist.