Really Weird Sale but an extra 3k in the bank

16 replies
So I just got off the phone with a guy who has been getting a lot more business in the past few weeks than he usually expects to get.

He actually called me to say thank you.

The thing is that this guy is not a client of mine.....

Turns out when I was building a site for a competitor of his, my client accidentally gave me the phone number of his competitor (I have no idea how that happens, but it's been fixed now).

The guy said that his new clients have been saying they got in touch with him and kept mentioning his website, now he doesn't have a website but just assumed they were mistaken.

When I explained to him what had happened, he immediately got worried that all of his new business would now be going to his competitor (which it will) and offered to buy the site for a pretty large sum.

I couldn't do this as the sites I make are owned by my clients, so this guy then asked if I could build him a site. I said "sure what's your budget?", "£3000".

I explained to him that I couldn't ethically sell him SEO services as it wouldn't be ethical as my original client was already employing me. So instead I sold him a new wordpress site (domain included) for £2500 with a years worth of hosting as well as a mobile site and places optimisation for an extra £500 + £150 recurring monthly for maintenance.

and I was taking the day off today, ha.

p.s. £100 from my old client for creating him a new banner with the correct number on it.
#bank #extra #sale #weird
  • Profile picture of the author ryanmckinney
    Odd.

    Your client gave you your competitor's number.. ?
    Then your competitor some how found your number..called you to say thank you.. ?

    How does that happen?

    Ryan
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    • Profile picture of the author massiveray
      Originally Posted by ryanmckinney View Post

      Odd.

      Your client gave you your competitor's number.. ?
      Then your competitor some how found your number..called you to say thank you.. ?

      How does that happen?

      Ryan
      No idea on how he gave me his competitors number.

      He found me because I have my number and url in the footer of every site I sell. He also didn't just call to say thank you, he was investigating why he had a website with his number on it, but wasn't going to complain about it as he was earning from it.

      Funny thing is, if he had never called me his number would still be on the site.
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      • Profile picture of the author ryanmckinney
        Originally Posted by massiveray View Post

        No idea on how he gave me his competitors number.

        He found me because I have my number and url in the footer of every site I sell. He also didn't just call to say thank you, he was investigating why he had a website with his number on it, but wasn't going to complain about it as he was earning from it.

        Funny thing is, if he had never called me his number would still be on the site.

        I see..

        What about your current client, was he not upset he wasn't getting calls?

        Did you let him know what happened?

        If I am a business owner, and I give my SEO guy my competitors number, I prob shouldn't be in business.

        Ryan
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        • Profile picture of the author massiveray
          Originally Posted by ryanmckinney View Post

          I see..

          What about your current client, was he not upset he wasn't getting calls?

          Did you let him know what happened?

          If I am a business owner, and I give my SEO guy my competitors number, I prob shouldn't be in business.

          Ryan
          He didn't mention anything to me at all, I assumed his calls were coming through as the site was getting a **** ton of traffic.

          Yeah, checked in the emails and he defo gave me the wrong number, have fixed things now so it's all good.

          Totally agree, such a weird thing to do.
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  • Profile picture of the author racso316
    wow that's bizarre. How does a business owner give you his competitor's number, haha. He deserves it!

    At least you got a new sale and a new client.
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  • Profile picture of the author mojo1
    Wow, talk about keeping your enemies close. I think your client not only kept his enemy close but permanently etched in his brain.
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  • Profile picture of the author tomdoggett
    Maybe the competitor should have kept his mouth shut and just let the calls keep coming through :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author shelh39
    Funny as!!!
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  • Profile picture of the author beeswarn
    "... so this guy then asked if I could build him a site. I said "sure what's your budget?", "£3000".

    See? This is how you ask qualifying questions and make sales.

    Not "do you have a budget?" Not "do you think you have a budget?" Not "do you want to think about thinking about coming up with a budget and call me some time to go out for coffee to talk about it?"

    Find out if they're qualified and ask for the order.
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  • Profile picture of the author wilder1047
    If I have a person in a competing niche with one of my clients, I won't take them on as an SEO client but I'll refer them for a commission.

    Since nobody seems to do this, am I wrong to do so?
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve Holmes
    Cool stuff, what market was this in?

    Did you tell your client he's getting a tonne of business?
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  • Profile picture of the author Sander M
    Haha, well any sale count!
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  • That is absolutely hilarious! But how wonderful for you...
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    Every day of our lives we are on the verge of making those slight changes that would make all the difference. ~Mignon McLaughlin
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  • Profile picture of the author rushindo
    I tried, but I cannot think of a single logical explanation for your client mistakenly giving you a competitor's number. That is mind boggling.
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    • Profile picture of the author Bryan V
      This.

      Originally Posted by rushindo View Post

      I tried, but I cannot think of a single logical explanation for your client mistakenly giving you a competitor's number. That is mind boggling.
      Having an online presence is all good but, did you tell him he's not going to see leads like before since you're just going to smoke him with SEO for the other site?
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      Perhaps an attic I shall seek.
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  • Profile picture of the author massiveray
    This guy is a chiropractor.

    I have just started selling google places optimisation, first thing I did was offer it to all of my existing clients, my original client is considering getting me to do his for him, if he decides against I'm gonna offer it to the new guy. I reckon he'll be keen on it as he pretty much begged me to seo for him.

    I find it strange as **** that he gave me the other guys number as does he.

    Original client is now very happy although a little pissed off with the business he missed out on.

    New client understands as best a chiropractor can that the results from his new site will not mirror the previous results, he said to me a few weeks back that he wishes he'd never called.
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