Business Owner Has All the Business He Can Handle

Wow... I can kind of understand not wanting or needing a website, but a Google Place listing would certainly be the least they could do... Surprising!

Are they advertising in newspapers, sending direct mail?

Not everyone wants or needs more customers. If they don't you congratulate them and go help their competitor take their existing customers. Simple

Restaurants don't need Google. Let's be realistic here. Sure, it may help business, but it's not essential.

Take it as sign he did not want to talk to you now or in the future. Just move on, and take it as any thing personal. If the owner was having a hectic (bad) day they do not want to speak to anybody.

"that's great, can I show you how a website can help you turn tables faster and reduce the time your staff has to spend on the phone answering questions and taking take-out orders? If your menu is online, many guests will know what they want when they sit down and won't have to look at a menu for 10 minutes. This will also help for people calling in for take-out. By having a website and a Google listing your hostess will not have to answer a many calls from people checking on your hours or trying to get directions."

You have to find the business owners problem and then provide the solution. If he is busy and getting angry customers that are having to wait in line, don't tell him you are going to send more people, tell him how you can help with all of the people that are already there.

People are funny. I won't take it personally. This personal interaction thing is taking some getting used to!

I was introduced to him by an investor in his biz who told him that he REALLY needs to talk to me. The investor can do the selling. I run into the investor often and he'll ask how it went.

Mostly, I'm looking elsewhere for business and won't be so surprised by this objection in the future. :-)

You cant win them all no matter how much you know it will benefit them. You might have wanted them for a client, but they may be doing you a favor. By their tone, it sounds like they could be a problem if you don't meet their expectations on day one. Just find your next target.


Posted from Warrior Forum Reader for Android

did he ask you the price right off the bat? If so, that's the ONLY thing he cares about.

I hear all the time "I have all the business I can handle." I guess the recession I keep hearing about was just at my house.

Anyway, it is just an excuse to blow you off. I will throw a couple of questions at them about it if I am having a slow day but otherwise it is generally a waste of time.

I have a guy yesterday spend a good 5 minutes trying to tell me whay he "wasn't ready" for a website.

Me: Is money a problem? We can put you on a payment plan.

Him: No, I got the money. I just don't have the time to mess with it.

Me: That is the great thing about letting US do it for you. We take care of everything.

Him: I am just not ready for a site.

Me: So you aren't ready for more customers?

Him: Oh, no, I always want more customers.

Me: Well, let me bring them to you.

Him: I am just not ready for a website.

And on it goes......haha

You have to remember that not EVERY customer will say yes, regardless of how much they probably need your services. Qualify them, ask questions as Entrecon says and if they still don't want to buy from you, NEXT!
Remember the old sales adage?
Some will, some won't, so what!

Good for him, and good for you. Time to move on and focus on next customer. No point in taking it personal - even when you know they're wasting something really good.

Thats just the nature of sales, isn't it?

We run into quite a few businesses that are doing well in the current environment.

With these people I ask if I can take them out for coffee or something and find out what they are doing that works.

I love talking to business people and not having to sell just chewing the fat and you can learn so much.

Quentin

This is a key learning lesson.

What are you? Are you a marketing consultant? Or are you providing web services? As a marketing consultant you have more to offer.

Is the resturant always full? Or was he just getting rid of you?

I think a lot of people on this forum have a bias toward online marketing. But in the real world online marketing might not be the best for the client.

If a resturant is local and well known online marketing isn't going to help them. Honestly they likely don't even need to advertise. We have a few local resturants like that. They simply have a strong loyal base of repeat customer and their referrals.

So how do we market to this guys? Do we even bother? My answer is we do market because our job is to help them maintain the clients they have and to maybe grow the slower times. Even the best resturants have periods of empty tables.

What can we offer to fill those? First our advice. Would 2 to 4pm deals get more people into the seats during this slow period? Yes. Could we use SMS marketing to inform their raving fans of these deals? Yes. Do you think we could turn a once a month customer into a once a week customer with SMS? Yes.

The key is to talk to the potential client. You need to offer them marketing that makes sense. If a business is almost 100% repeat and referrals and at near capicty it makes no sense to waste money getting new customers when those are the most expensive to get. They are a mature business at the stage of increasing visits and average ticket. How can we help them increase the average ticket and increase the number of visits per month.

Maybe we can even ask them about expansion plans and how we could help do the grand opening launch.

In the end what we want to sell isn't always what the customer needs. If you are a marketing consultant you have more you can do.

I can 100% say if this potential client was being honest that google places would be worthless for them. Even for visitors. Most people visiting an area either know people there who they will ask where to eat or are visiting attractions in the area. So that is referral business and offline marketing at an near the attractions aka billboards and cross promotions.

Don't take it personal but it might've been due to bad positioning, lack of qualifying or the plain and simple truth: they don't need more customers.

Like they say above, you can't win them all. No one has a 100% closing rate. Besides, because we are in a recesion doesn't mean there are not businesses applying solid marketing and making money where most are not.

They might really not need your services because they are making as much money as they need and they can't afford anymore.

Either way, keep on going, congrats on taking action.

umc you and your friend are perfect examples where I would be talking about consulting on how to grow the business since you have hit a peak. You can't handle more business without a growth plan.

I do management and business consulting on the side but normally work with small companies or home based businesses. If I decided to do consulting full time(which i have been) I would target companies like yours. Working with successful people and taking them to the next level is always exciting.

To all the offliners the more you offer the better your closing with be. You become a trusted business partner and not just a service provider.

umc why not hire or at least get some 1099 people to help with the work load?

Why create a job when you can create a business and make the income semi-passively?

People lie when you try to sell them things. It is your duty to yourself and your potential customers to get through the lies to the truth by asking more questions. That way you can collect a check and help your prospects. You must uncover the real objections before you can close them.

umc I understand.

I've spend most of my professional life in management. Managing employees isn't hard. But the key is hiring right. I always had the lowest turnover and highest metrics. Employee satifaction tied with good hiring practices means very little work for the manager. Your employees take pride in their work, themselves, and the company. I can honestly tell you that years back when I managed at blockbuster I literally "worked" a 45 hour work week which was me reading magazines and watching videos for about 3/4th of it. I had the lowest turn over in the district and I had the highest loyality program(rewards, movie pass, and etc) percentage in the region. I was top 100 in that percentage for the whole company. I loved that job but the pay wasn't that great(around $45k a year with 4 weeks of vacation) so I left it.

You can build the same with your own company. The "4 hour work week" is easier IMO with employees vs. outsourcing. But in the begining it takes time because you have to hire and create the culture where employees are motivated by personal satifaction with a job well done. Where for example using my Blockbuster example they call you at home to tell you how many passes they sold. Why did they call? Not to hear me tell them "good job". No they called because they wanted to share with me the fact they knew they did a good job. They reconized their own greatness and knew I wanted to hear about it. They also knew that when I spoke to my bosses it was never my store and my success but their store and their success.

Check out the one min manager for some great tips on how to create that kind of workplace culture.

Read this post.

Loving what you do is one thing. But if you are a family (wo)man, and your business is run only by you, then you run the risk of putting your family in a precarious position should something happen to you. Most people think in terms of when they pass on, but there are other things that can happen as well, for example an auto accident that is not your fault can put you in the spot of not having the ability to do what you love, sometimes for months on end. I have one friend who had to learn how to walk all over again as a young adult after a really bad accident left his family unsure if he would make it, and then after he survived, unsure if he would ever get out of the wheelchair or not. He eventually did, but it took a long time to get his life close to anything remotely considered pre-accident normal. Having a business where you can choose to be active or passive already structured as passive eases some of the pain of that situation, and also allows you to focus 100% on recuperating to your full potential.

Also, in the event you do pass on, you have spent all this time building a wonderful business but how does your family sell that business should they desire to when you are no longer be there? If structured as a passive business then they have an asset to sell. If not, then it will be a lot tougher for them to move on when they are ready and the time is right after they have grieved your loss.

I recently met someone who knew he did not like dealing with employees and had sold a business. He ended up starting a different business, and knowing that he did not like dealing with employees, he started out with the determination not to deal with employees and so hired a manager to deal with the employees. It left him with his sanity (that he said he had lost with trying to manage more than one employee in the first business) and a lot more free time to spend with his family actually getting to watch his kids grow up.

Believe it or not, there still are trustworthy employees out there who take a serious pride in their work and getting things done to the level that makes your customers very happy. Yes, it may take some work in finding them. But they are out there. And some of them will strive to keep the business just as successful as you would but do not want the risk of actually owning a business.

Getting back to the main point of the OP, which is a potential client who is saying they have all the business they can handle, is it possible that there is some way to streamline their business so that they are not maxed out? And are they HAPPY with the fact that they have all the business they can handle? For some people having so many customers might not be ideal, and perhaps they might want to slow down a bit (or at least find some free time) but think that their constant busy state is the only way they can manage to have the income they have become accustomed to. Maybe there is something you can show them where they can use technology to take some of the load off without disappointing their current customers so that they have less stress and yet still maintain the high levels of customer satisfaction?

I'm just looking to start myself so I don't have any experiences yet. That owner is a fool and he will be begging you for service especialy if you sign the guy nextdoor
I have watched some informative videos on this and sounds like they are right. Alot of business owners do NOT want to see any money going out the door even though they can spend $1,000 - $5,000 / month on their own ad campain that dosn't work efficently if at all.
Watch this it's very informative: (this is NOT an affiliate link, I don't give a **** if you buy it or not- very good concept that's all) http://www.instantlocaltraffic.com/f...-and-whiskers/

Yep, just a blowoff answer, haven't really felt him out to get to his real objection. Heck, he just might be intimidated not knowing anything about IM. Just talk benefits, not the process or technology. A few probing questions might help, but don't waste too much time on the guy. Ask open ended questions.

Under what circumstances would you take a look?
What needs to change for you to consider?
What areas of your business are you working on to improve?
What areas are a pain in the rear? why?
What ares of biz are doing well? why?
Which restaurants in town that you know are sucking wind and might want my help?

My Answer: That's great.I really didn't realized that's soooo much potential in this area. I'm sure restaurants around (or name 2-3 of them) would love to get more of the business you have now.

What would the owner say than? )

i feel the same. A lot of offline biz simply do not really need any kind of online Marekting.

I've never done a search for a restaurant online. Not saying it isn't done but the vast majority do not.

what from Google searches? You are about that? Proof?

1st rule of biz: Go where the money is.

Or simply refuse to work with "liars". Are you so desperate for biz you weill overlook lies and try to do biz with them? That bad huh....

Look, lets' be fair, They have proably already been scamemd like 100+ times with hyped up B*S* already and their guard is up. Can't blame them.

Like buying a 2nd hand car these days dealing with Offline I.M salesman.

If you have to work SOOOO hard to concince them maybe you are targettign the wrong kind of person/biz?

Yeah Ok I can buy into that. Wouldn't do any harm..but i still suspect it won't be big numbers. Msot will be word of mouth or simply walking around..but yeah might be a useful addition. "Might be" for the right price.

This is another example of why I avoid doing businesses with restaurants, no matter how much I think they need web services. I've been in sales for 15 years, and besides doctors, no other type of business is as difficult to try and do business with, for a variety of reasons. Plenty of other businesses out there who are more receptive and nicer to work with, IMO.

Señora Padilla,

I guess it depends a little on the personality type, how far you wanna go. I am very familiar with your experience and I make them myself. Face it, most of businesses you contact won't be interested in what you have to offer, that's just the name of the game.

That's the reason why you should qualify those contacts first and as early as possible, not by telling them what great things youd could do for them but by asking them about their biggest challenges with their business. Remember: you wanna be a consultant not a sales girl! This way, you will get information from your prospect and can then take it from there. Think about if you can provide a solution to resolve one or several of his challenges and ask him if he's interested in discussing this any further. If no, against popular belief ask him why straight away. In 9 out of 10, times he will tell you something. Based on that you can either go on or say thanks you and go. If he's interested make sure you check if he understands the value you offer and if he would be ready and able to invest in it, knowing what he will be getting. If you are not sure, ask him if he could at all handle more business because that's what you are here for. And so forth.

Stopping people from wasting your valuable time is one of the most important skills you coul acquire as a business person, in my experience. If they are not interested and don't believe in or understand the leverage of new media (internet, social media, mobile) marketing, don't try to coonvince him, if it'ss a hassle in the beginning it will be later as well! Relax and go on and remember: it's all a numbers game!

Best,
Dan

How did you introduce yourself? Let me take a quick guess: I'm a website designer from..

I love the 'pitch' Jason Kanigan introduced on the Telemarketing Forum.. It's all about monetizing the problem. Use the Google Keyword Tool to find out how many people are searching for 'restaurant city', tell them: can I have a few minutes of your time so I can start sending a part of those xxxx people per month over to your restaurant?
Then let them tell you how much new clients they think they're gonna get. Then let them tell you how much the average client is spending. Then let them do the math how much revenue those new clients will bring in per month. Then let them calculate the yearly revenue. Then let them decide how much they're going to invest in your solution to get these clients ('website' price)..

THEN you close them and tell them, yes, the visual end result of your investment will be a website. But I do much more than 'just' making a website. I want you to see your investment as an ongoing, huge advertisement to get qualified leads in a market that you've never even touched.
You don't have to get into the technical stuff of SEO etc. Most of them will be scared if you do, thinking they don't have the knowledge and they just can't relate to what you're saying. Some will insist, so tell them.. but not before you let them answer this question: 'Mr ____, when someone comes ordering a meal at your restaurant.. do you give them a tour in the kitchen? Do you give them the recipe of the meal? Do you show them the ingredients? OR do you serve whatever they ordered, give them a great time and service and then bill them?' [That would be the last option, Mr ____, right? We do nothing different then what you do in your restaurant, we get you the result or the meal if you'd like. Provide you with an awesome service and take the payment. BUT, if you really insist on getting the recipe, our technical solution.. here's what we do: .. ']. Most will actually stop you and tell you it's not needed..

If they really insist they have enough business after you've monetized the problem, or actually the solution.. just let them go.. unqualified prospect.

It's just a blow off to you. Go onto the next and next. Very typical. They are not your customer and if they were they would be nothing but trouble wanting you to prove yourself before they pay you...etc. etc.

If you really really wanted it as an account, you can use the Limited Opening trick. It is working REALLY well for me but with BIG accounts I am going after. It is basically telling them you are only going to work with one restaurant category per city and I have also sent this letter to the other restaurants in their cat.

I think your initial reaction is spot-on. Move on to the next potential customer, with the possibility of checking back on this one in the future.

In my business, the most important component is authentic relationship-building, and that is where I always keep my focus. Many prospects who initially aren't in the right mindframe or business condition to need/want my services eventually come around to ME and ask for help, because I stay in personal contact and keep things positive, with no pressing sales agenda.

On the flip side, I have also learned in my offline consulting business to self-select clients who understand the value of marketing, as too many expect champagne service on a water budget (not even beer, LOL).

Best of luck to you!

Thanks a lot friends for sharing your useful tips and suggestions.

Not everyone is ready to be a business owner. Call their direct competitor and get them signed up instead. Next, someone else is waiting.

see the guy didnt take u up on the offer because he didnt belive you could help him.
you cant control it .it could be your clothes .it could be your not streetsmart like him.
people buy from people who are like them and that they believe can deliver

plain and simple

dont look at the client as he was at fault

he didnt lose money you did

improve your selling and never blame customers for not buying accept responcibility

there are two customers in this world Price and Value

this guy was Value

When you get a prospect who tries to get rid of you like this, realize they are probably lying. They do this to protect themselves from getting ripped off. You and I do this, too, when we're prospects.

Check out this post, where I explain in detail what's happening, and exactly what you can say to effectively deal with it.

As a former 16 year operator in the restaurant industry, I think we're attempting to fix something that doesn't need fixing. I have one friend who's been operating a successful restaurant on a lake in Alabama for over 15 years Wed-Sat. Packed all four days. His motivation is quality of life. His wife works the business with him.

I have two friends here in South Carolina who operate a 3 million and a 4 million operation seven days per week. Lines out the door most lunch and dinner shifts. Both with well over 15-20 years in their respective locations.

All three of these guys are street smart, hard working individuals. They've taken what they've learned to be universal truths in the restaurant industry and applied them consistently across the board...Great menu, great atmosphere, exceptional customer service and a consistent daily focus.

Neither of these three gentlemen want or need an online/offline marketing program. None of them want or need a growth strategy, a succession plan or an exit strategy.

Experience in both the restaurant industry and offline marketing tells me it would be both presumptuous and a waste of my time or yours to even suggest any of these things.

None of the three are capable of doing much more than checking their email and one of them doesn't even have an email account. Now that I think about it, they rarely go online, they don't watch reality shows and they spend most of their free time outdoors.

I envy the fact that all three live free of all the distractions we face and this keeps them grounded, sincere and genuine.

Without those distractions, they're "in touch" and they have a real handle on the "pulse" of their business, their family and their community. As a full time Offliner, I've mostly forgotten what that's like.

We tend to forget that there are people out there who are wildly successful even though they're 10-15 years behind the times on technology and don't know anything about the online/offline world.

But you know what? These guys don't give a s*#t. All three are happy; content. They represent a class of restaurant owners who are not going to change and none of us here should expect them to do so.

I admire all three for their work ethic and I applaud them for their steadfast resistance to what we consider to be imperative to their success.

Work a day in their shoes setting up for a shift, prepping food, cooking, serving customers that are lined out the door, washing dishes, cleaning up and closing for the evening and you'll get an appreciation for why these specific type of True Operators don't want or need your help.

Follow them to the bank the following morning and watch them deposit their huge cash deposit from the day before and you'll understand why you are not relevant and why they'll always give you a "Thanks, but No Thanks".

The good news for us? These guys are the rare exception. Admire them, respect them, but then...move on.

Applaud their laser focus on their business and apply that same focus to your own.

That's when you say "Good to hear in this economy."
Turn to leave but before you hit the door, ask him who his direct competitor is, or better yet if you know who it is, mention that that means "XYZ" company will definitely want what you have to offer.

Google might not be the best deal in this situation. Brand marketing is where id stress on. Build a community of fans via facebook or twitter. More the social media coverage, more chances of your restaurants being reviewed online (hence more exposure) and greater word of mouth chances.

Well I would say to show him the ROI or some of your work that you did and it gave you great results. OR give him a piece of cookie he will know the taste. OR give him 100% money back if you don't improve his business(You should only say this when you are confident and you can give him some more business at-least what he invested.)

Hope this helps you . Good Luck. Bye.

Oh I've come across such people too! In fact I have sold social media marketing to restaurant owners for over 2 years in my previous job. Most would just shy away from it and say that they are doing fine and don't want to go online. Sad thing.

It truly is amazing but even in today's day and age many business owners don't "get it". This type of response I find more times than not comes from these type of owners. It's usually because they themselves aren't Internet savvy. When I started my first freelance web design company in 2001, the number 1excuse I heard was I don't have a computer..or i dont go online..and to make my point..those business owners just didn't understand IM. it's our job to inform them of the benefits. And I don't know about anyone else but there is never enough business.

Great to be here in this kind of forum thread for Business Owner Has All the Business He Can Handle, good to view some of responses that gives a great idea for real estate.
Thanks for the post.

Sometimes they don't need any help and are doing crazy fantastic business. Sometimes a cigar is a cigar. There are people in the restaurant business that know what they're doing and they don't need to show up in Google.

Such great to know this kind of forum thread that will the real estate business to be in success, thanks for the great valuable information.