Biggest client of my life - FIRST = WTF?

19 replies
OKAY, OKAY OKAY OKAY OKAY. LOOK. listen to this stuff. jacquic and dexx, mega offline experts, i reeeealy hope you see this post and are able to help me out with this. i also hope nobody thinks im lying about this or anything, because i almost cant believe it myself.

so, in combination with the cold calling i was doing earlyer today. (not much success on that one today). Earlier in the week i had sent out some emails, i realy dident expect anything to happen with the emails but i figured, why not, since it only took like 20 minutes of my time. (email blast)

long story short, the freakin president of a nationally known car type company left a message on my phone today while i was sleeping. i sleep during the day, fyi. and by nationally known i mean, if you live in the u.s. there is pretty much a 100% chance you have heard of these guys. at first i thought it would be some kinda weird franchize thing or something, then i looked up his name. this is the main dude, the man with the plan. (everyone knows his company. im sure they HAVE to be pullin close to a billion)

unfortunately in the email i promised to never ask for any money, or else im pretty sure id be set for a couple of years from him alone. (im freakin shaking of excitement right now)

i always hear of success stories, and it kinda used to seem like people just got lucky a lot. i guess i got mad lucky or something.

basically this is going to be my very first interview ever that i will be doing for a client, and he is freakin huge. i always expected to fumble and stuff on my first couple of clients. this literally could be the biggest client of my life. and unfortunately, he is my first. f***...

also, to top it off, it seems like they have their act together preeety tightly.
the only thing i can really think of, that he dosent do, and that i know how to do is.
1. send out physical newsletters. and to be honest, im thinkin he probably wont do this one, as this advice is comming from some free marketing guy who hasent even sat down with 1 client yet.

2. email campagns. this is probably something he would do, as i don't see any email capture on their website or their contact page or pretty much anywhere else.

and number 2 is pretty much the ONLY thing i know of that they are not doing, and that is really worth doing. i mean these guys have got everything from properly educating their customers (without mail), to doing seminars, to even being a semi household name in america.

like i said before, im really not lying, i just need some help. im going to give him a call back tomorrow morning, and schedule a meeting for Tuesday.

please please please, experts. lend me your thoughts.


P.S.
this is pretty ****ing insane.

tl;dr: ef you, read the wall of text.

double p.s.
maybe he just wants to kill me.
#biggest #client #cold call #cold calling #life #offline #wtf
  • Profile picture of the author vernontheroar
    o yea, and another crazy thing about it. he was the only one that actually responded to my email. maybe he's tryin to do some kinda charity thing or somethin?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5245869].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Dexx
    Congrats V, keep up the good work!

    Before you get too ahead of yourself, the first step would be to sit down and ask plenty of questions about what the company is currently doing, what they are looking to achieve in the future, and what they expect YOU to do.

    If I was in your situation I'd probably use something similar to my Coffee Close template:
    http://offlinetoolkit.com/coffee/

    From there you can decide if this is something you can do, want to do, or should do.

    After that it's just a matter of putting together a marketing plan of action and getting them interested in implementing it.

    Cheers,

    ~Dexx
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5246051].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Aussieguy
      Well, what were you offering in your email? Isn't that what you want to concentrate on talking about?

      Even if you end up doing your email service for him for free, it could be worthwhile to you purely for his reference (and possible referral).

      PS. I assume that your email offer was in no way worked like your post to WF?
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5246249].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author stone2010
    I agree, you don't have to post your exact email but give us a general idea of what you said to him and what you offered in order for us to give us our feedbacks.
    Signature

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5246389].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author JeremiahSay
    Good Luck to you bro

    I don't know if this is good news or bad news, but it's certainly an exciting news !!

    May God be with you,
    Jeremiah
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5246456].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author tigerbait
    yeah a general idea of what you said in your email and his reply would be helpful.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5246488].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author iAmNameLess
    Being the cynic I am, I have a hard time believing you, based on how all over the place your post was.

    Nationally known car type company... what I know is, it isn't a manufacturer, and it isn't a rent a car service, because the top ten of each are very well established even on social media outlets.

    Here is the thing, even though I am cynical, I also have run into a LOT of luck, oddly enough, TODAY! I had a CEO of another national company call me, so I guess it is possible, and I'm going to put my cynicism aside!

    I think one of your problems based on your post is that your outlook, is you wonder what to sell him on, instead of listening to his needs and offering solutions. If this is for real, and the almighty, coveted, holy grail of the offline world, you need to get your act together.

    I think you made a mistake offering free services. Oh well, get your foot in the door, and go from there! Make sure you listen to their needs. Take control of the conversation when you need to, but otherwise, just listen. I have noticed many Presidents or CEOs of bigger companies sometimes WANT you to make a pitch, they're used to it. You just have to feel it out. Wish you would have got some experience underway before this, but just go with the flow and have fun with it. Most importantly, learn from it.


    Congrats!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5246591].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Doug McIsaac
    Without knowing what you said / promised in your email it's a bit tough to respond. But I can say that if he's interested enough in what you offered/promised to respond himself that's awesome. There are so many companies spamming local companies right now that it's hard to be heard through the clutter.
    You will want to handle the call like he's one of your clients, not your biggest and obviously not your first. When dealing with big clients attitude is everything. Confident, not cocky, that's what my old business partners and I did when we landed an 8 figure contract with Albertson's for their pharmacy system ARx. If you would like a little bit of coaching prior to your call feel free to pm me and I will be glad to help you.

    Doug
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5247752].message }}
  • Depending on the project, large corporate customers take a long time to decide, and a long time to pay. That is, compared to small firms and mom and pops. Ask them about their expected timeline. For example, they may want to talk to you about something they are planning for the middle of next year.

    Or next week.

    The flip side is they usually spend a lot more money.
    Signature
    Marketing is not a battle of products. It is a battle of perceptions.
    - Jack Trout
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5247793].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author vernontheroar
    about my email. i basically just said who i was and that i was offering a free "Business Marketing Analysis, that i'd usually charge $1000 for" to a targeted group of business owners stating that i would never ask them for any money or anything like that since i seriously was only doing it just to get a bit of experience and a couple of testimonials before i started charging for it.

    3 days later i got a call on my net10 phone while i was asleep. he left a message, said his name and where he was from and i was like "that sounds familiar". i asked a few co-workers if they know about them(since i haven't watched TV in like 3 years) and everybody was like ooo yeaa, that's those guys from those commercials. then i lol.

    @Doug McIsaac too bad i cant p.m. or else i would... o well.

    @everybody else, ill post up what the results were of the little meeting on Domesday or Thursday.

    until then, i actually have another meeting scheduled for today in a few hours actually.

    p.s.again. its not like some mega corporation like Toyota or Facebook or anything, but at the same time its definitely without a doubt, easily a household name.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5248954].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author vernontheroar
    o yea. also, the email list was endorsed by somebody else too, sooo, most likely that had a huge part to play as well.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5248985].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author kevinzeo
      I don't know if this is good news or bad news,Good Luck to you bro
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5249068].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author linebelowdigital
        Hey Congrats & Good Luck
        Signature
        Make An Easy $200 - $1500/mo Per Client Helping Local Businesses to Find Leads...

        Click here to See it in Action
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5249479].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author Hils
          Well, whatever you did and said, keep doing it!

          Of course you're ****ting yourself right now, but my advice is if you stand tall and smile, ask questions and remember telling isn't selling, you'll come out the other side all the better for the experience.

          Good luck.
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5249803].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Digital Traffic
    Just a quick observation based on your post alone.

    I would make sure that you use proper punctuation, grammar and spelling when you correspond with this person.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5249634].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author DNChamp
    CarMax? Just guesing
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5249674].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author vernontheroar
    yea. ive decided, im going to do as i origionaly planned and use this as an nothing more than an opportunity to mess things up. if other things happen, then fantastic, if not then its just an experience.

    @DNChamp maaaan....

    EDIT: please stop trying to guess. i dont want them to somehow find me and then they'll end up having to shoot me in the face with a rocket launcher.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5250669].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author vernontheroar
    so i just called him literally seconds ago to actually schedule the meeting itself. he seems like a cool guy so that probably means he dosent want to kill me or do anything involving rocket launchers and my face.

    @grammar nazzis. if i could somehow use wrong punctuation and stuff in actual conversation, then i would.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5250819].message }}
  • Maybe you took a copywriting course - if so, it was a good one!

    But whatever you said in your email blast has cut through to the key issue: he wants to know what you have that could help him.

    So remember, at your meeting, YOU know more about YOUR field than he does. Be cool, and ask questions that will help you understand what he's looking for. (Chances are that relates to your email, but you haven't shared that here.)

    I suggest you honor your promise of a free analysis, but say to him "if I find nothing's wrong then there'll be no charge. But if there are issues that need to be addressed, I'll list them for you and quote you for fixing them. Will that be OK?"

    If he agrees, then you have a customer.
    Signature

    Business advice from a bona fide Business Consultant

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5252549].message }}

Trending Topics