Confused About Where to Start Or What I Should Be Doing!

13 replies
I'll keep this as concise as I possibly can.

Have been working for this local business & my job started off by custom designing 2 websites in which I was paid very generously for.

Set up a couple of google place listings, got about 10 social media accounts for each business, yellow pages, super pages, etc etc. Got a few reviews on each and still getting reviews up slowly every week.

Had also done some backlinking and then out of nowhere things just got "scrambled" for a lack of better words.

This guy was paying me very good, and still is, but at this point it seems he's getting aggravated because nothing I've done has actually brought business in for this company.

Thats where I begin to get worried. I notice week after week goes by, and he's still paying me generously but theres a lot more of this kind of talk going on now. Instead of "what will you be working on this week?", my boss is saying things like:

"So no call in's today?"
"We really need to get leads soon before this company goes under.."
"Is there something better you could be working on that would get us leads faster" etc etc

You get the idea. He's starting to get bugged out about the fact that I've been doing a lot of online marketing, and nothing so far has brought in 1 phone call.

Thats why you guys see me switching back & forth between ideas every week and posting threads about different techniques. One business is for basement waterproofing, another for energy auditing.

I feel like because it hasn't rained essentially all winter, investing in waterproofing leads would be a waste of resources right now. Noone is going to have the urgency to waterproof their basement untill it rains so I don't know if its smart saying something like "we should just devote ourself 100% to energy audits then when it rains we can turn the PPC back on for waterproofing".

Thats where I'm at right now.

Then is the fact that we also haven't got one energy audit lead. We tried a broker (cleanenergyexperts) for a month, got 15 leads, did not sell ONE. They were horrible quality, some numbers were out of service, we decided never to use them again and get a refund on as many leads as possible. The 2 salesman working for this business are incredible, they can sell a ton of waterproofing leads when its raining, but the quality of these energy audit leads were truely horrible. 15 out of 15 of the people we called simply did NOT one.

This lead company had outstanding reviews too, so I have no idea whats going on anymore.

I need to get leads fast and this is my main problem. I keep jumping back and forth between doing postcards, making consumer guides, writing salesletters, getting more social media accounts, and even now considering just going right out into the community to set up tables and do a CFL exhange.

I feel like when I'm in front of the computer I tend to kill tons of time and not get anything done. Although I AM technically getting a lot of content made up, I'm not even sure what the hell to be doing with it. Should I be advertising our consumer guide through direct mail or sending out postcards with personalized testimonies? Should I be building relationships on facebook... or getting banners made up so we can start doing community presentations/seminars?

The problem is I obviously bit off more than I can chew. I've somehow become squeezed between a rock and a hard wall. I feel like I NEED to put all my focus into one thing and just finish something already, but then I hate the idea of having all our eggs in one basket.

I'm somewhat of a perfectionist, and as you can see its not serving me too well right now.

I'm also wasting tons of time anytime I do something. Like last monday I wasted the ENTIRE day making 1 - 7 page consumer awareness guide. Doing all the graphics, editing to make it the copy more readable. Then I wound up with this guide, and had no idea what to do with it.

I'm missing that seasoned experience that vets have. Where they just instinctively can sense what will benefit them the soonest. I'm missing that confidence and security that I guess comes from years of doing this type of stuff.

My job is to get business and overall help this place grow, and I don't feel like I'm doing that.

So my question to you "old timers" would be, what in the world would you do? When there are so many different things you can be doing, and you have NO IDEA what will bring your business the most leads, HOW do you narrow something down to 1-2 things and feel secure about what you are doing?

As this seems to be my major problem right now.

I feel like I'm walking on eggshells in the sense where if I do something big, run a huge direct mail campaign say, get my boss to drop a few grand, then we get 1 call... I mean that would kill my confidence that much more and I'd probably just wind up quitting and going back to my own business.

The reason I don't want to is I hate turning my back to a challenge. This seems like a rather overwhelming challenge, but I DO WANT to succeed.

I just honestly don't know where I need to be focusing.

If anyone has anything they think could help, any ideas, any different ways I need to be looking at this, I could really use the help of some more experienced folks.

Thank you! - Red
#confused #start
  • Profile picture of the author Andrew H
    This guy was paying me very good, and still is, but at this point it seems he's getting aggravated because nothing I've done has actually brought business in for this company.
    Maybe you should take some of that good pay and give it to an experienced marketer? Not to sound harsh but after reading through this post it sounds like the business owner thinks your a marketing expert...

    For instance I am a web designer. I know some SEO, enough to get by - but when a client asks for SEO services I don't try and milk them for all there worth and try and make it work with my limited knowledge. No, I tell them no problem - I know a GREAT SEO guy and I will get them connected and take a commission. That way I am happy, the client's happy, and my SEO guy is happy.

    The problem is I obviously bit off more than I can chew.
    If this business is depending on you to make it work I think you are doing a huge disservice to the business owner by misrepresenting your abilities. Do the right thing.
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  • Profile picture of the author RedShifted
    OMG someone just pm'd me "what software do you use for seo" and I do not use software.

    So I just downloaded my first package using rank tracker (sry this is a bit off topic) and found my site is ranking #4 on the first page for 2 different keywords!!! I AM AN IDIOT. This just really made my easter sunday how proud I am right now THAT is what I was missing was tools.

    And ALSO to learn how to outsource things I absolutely agree on that too. The whole problem was I couldn't track what the hell I was doing. I never really realized it till now. A few other keywords are ranking on page 20 and it honestly looks like if I just keep building links and MEASURING what I am doing I will be much better and not feel so lost about my efforts.

    I really feel like a new man now this is an entirely different ballgame. I also just feel like I went from newbie to amateur-newbie.

    GOT to tell my boss this news tommorow. I don't even know if it was my help that did it but I still feel a thousand times better knowing it was sheer ignorance and can be fixed.

    2 things are getting completely fixed.

    1) Tracking/tools
    2) Learning how to outsource.

    I will focus more of my energy into those 2 and I think I will be a lot better of now!
    I really can't stop smiling right now this just made my easter 100%.
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  • Profile picture of the author Doran Peck
    Well...right off the bat I see a couple problem areas..He's putting alot of money into things that force you to wait for the customer to decide he even needs someone like your boss.

    For every 1 person who goes looking for his Google Places..there are 500 more out there who could really use him but havn't figured it out yet.

    His is a service that really needs to "Educate" his prospects...get them thinking...nudge them closer to the ultimate sale.

    There is alot of hype here on the warrior forum about Google places and social media and all that but the reality is...that stuff just aint that great.

    You can use all the ranking software you want until your blue in the face...your still only reaching a microfraction of ALL THE POTENTIAL TARGETS.

    You are still dependent on the "Sit, wait and hope" strategy. That strategy loses a ton of business to the "get me in everyones face" strategy.

    Do people even know why an audit is a good thing? How it can lead to improvement and money saving in their lives?

    There isn't an urgency for waterproofing? ...give them a reason to fear the potential results for not doing it. Could you create "soundbites" of education? ( text or actual sound)...things like statistics ....even testimonials.

    You mentioned postcards...yeah thats a good way to get your message up in peoples faces

    Radio and TV too

    I know the Yellowpages tend to be a popular place for this type of service to dump a bunch of money...but again...its mostly wasted. Sorry but it is.

    If folks have to go to the Yellopages to find someone like your boss...that means his marketing sucks cuz people should already know who they are going to call. Besides that...once they get their nose in the YP they get introduced to every other competitor out there, so if they didnt know what their options were, they sure do now...so yeah...the YP is the absolute last place you want any of your prospects going.

    Push man push,

    Best of luck to you, you can do it.

    DP
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  • Profile picture of the author RedShifted
    Interesting response but don't you think when most people have problems one of the first places they go to solve it is online?

    I am not arguing about educating people, I think its also a great idea and can definitely be worked with. Posting soundbites will not be a problem considering I also have 9 years of sound engineering ability. Can master a track and do sound fxs and anything I need.

    So I WILL start producing some audio content and some video content as well. Maybe just using direct mail with video testimonies could work. Radio or local tv sounds like a good idea too, always thought that was ridiculously expensive and only for the pros, but it wouldn't hurt to learn about thats for sure.

    Maybe even trying a few runs when we feel we know what we're doing. It is the most rainy month of the season right now, we're still not getting rain however. So in that respect if we do any large advertising, it would have to be for audits. We likely just need more diversification it sounds like thats what you are implying by your post. Our focus is too narrow. Unfortunately marketing is a huge job or so it seems, but I will definitely continue till I'm blue in the face.

    Thanks for the help - Red
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  • Profile picture of the author Eddie Spangler
    Despite what you may think, this is coming from a guy who has been following your posts since December and has been rooting for you, so take it how you want to.

    You have been given tons of advice from some smart people and choose not to follow it, why will this time be any different? Just because people like to help around here doesnt mean that their time and energy to post does not have value, so why waste it piddle paddling around.

    You ask for advice but I think you just are looking for some pep talks and a few kind souls to tell you to keep you chin up OR maybe you want some people to confirm what you already know in your heart- you are way in over your head at this stage of your career.

    You are too sensitive, to emotional and give up too easily, despite the fact that you claim not to back down from a challenge, you have already done so mentally by NOT moving forward.

    Look how you gave up on the great postcard idea just because some people told you the truth and offered real tips, you go crying in another thread about people were cutting you down. Not to mention pouting about how "you dont care if it converts or not."

    Man up and make things happen or go get your shinebox

    You got nothing to lose, go for broke, do the postcard campaign. You were on the right track, I dont see how the energy conservation thing wont work if done right.
    How long do you think you are going to be around if some business doesnt come in anyway?

    Besides, why are you worried, in other threads you claim how great a salesman you are, how you have developed a couple of smoking hot systems to get clients, so maybe that is the course that was meant for you.

    Maybe thats where your heart is but you are scared of not having a guaranteed income, although that is going to end soon if you dont get some deals in.
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  • Profile picture of the author RedShifted
    True true can't argue with you.

    Not sure how emotional I am I think I just talk too much sometimes realistically.

    I did sales for years before ever getting into marketing so when I got a WSO on postcards that was fairly simple for me to accomplish. It was a specific plan outlined from begining to end. I bragged because I'm new to this stuff and never realized I could actually make money doing it. So my first success yes I could not shut up about.

    It kinda drives me crazy that I can get leads so easily for mail marketing but for a home improvement based business it seems to be impossible. I just don't have that specific plan I need, and building it through trial and error I did not think would take this long.

    I do absolutely need to stop being a perfectionist though and just start finishing more things. I'll be back in a few more weeks to let you know how its going. If I'm still bitching about this job I'm just quitting 100% and going back to postcards fulltime.

    That way you won't have to see threads like this anymore. Instead you can listen to me brag about how great I am at sales. =] (I'm really not, more like an 8 if anything)
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  • Profile picture of the author Doran Peck
    Something else I thought of while driving back from the store...what are your "centers of influence"? ...meaning...those clients who can produce other clients.

    How can you maximize relationships with Realtors? Floor Layers?, Builders? Carpet Cleaners? ...who else?

    Aside from referal stuff...what about multiple cooperative service packages? ( you just never know what other business men are open to, till you ask)

    Are there related aspects to his service that he can capitalize on...such as Mold removal or testing? Are there other, more consumable products that can be sold to homeowers?

    Are there particular products in his industry, where he could become an area agent for...and be the distributor to contractors and construction?

    Can you get word out to recent and past customers with a massive referral search? ....a handful of people out there will readily know of someone that needs help.

    That postcard you had up in another thread....I actually thought the graphics were fine...your colors were coordinated well ( although that shade of green not to my liking) ...the main thing is it passed "the test" ...it looked professional...as in ...didn't look like some office secretary made it ....when people see "the made by office secretary look"...it automatically registers in peoples mind that any substance this ad has to offer is as cheezwiz and crappy as this thing looks, and the brain tells the eyes to stop looking.

    The imptrovements you made were good...I havnt seen that thread recently, so I dont have more to say on it. Keep on that thing and get it out there.

    DP
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  • Profile picture of the author racso316
    Direct mail works. You had a postcard thread and I think you gave up on the idea. I would add the postcard to a sales letter sequence. Also give away the consumer guide as a 2 step lead generation system.

    You don't have to send 10 thousand postcards right off the bat. Start by testing your postcard in small scale. You have a lot of great advise on that thread, modify the copy and start testing it.

    Another idea to market the businesses you're working with is to build partnerships. Who buys basement waterproofing services and energy audits? New home owners/ home owners for 10 years or 20 years? Who are these home owners already doing business with?

    -home remodeling companies
    -gardeners
    -plumbers
    -home decorators
    -home security companies
    -electricians
    -cleaning services
    -realtors

    Contact a few of these businesses and offer them an irresistible offer. Tell them you will give them a generous percentage of sales whenever they give their clients a reference in your behalf. Tell them that by promoting you, they will be getting money they wouldn't already have, giving more help to their clients, etc. Tell them you will promote them as well. Provide them with the marketing colateral. Have them endorse you and send letters in your behalf. And you can do the same for them.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ronald Nzimora
    Hi Red,

    Your client has the right to feel the way he does IF he isn't getting the results you have promised he would.

    I think you are going about getting your leads in the wrong way.

    One mistake most offliners make is . . .

    LOOKING FOR OFFLINE CLIENTS AND CUSTOMERS ONLINE!

    I cannot stress this enough. IT'S WRONG!

    It doesn't matter how many links you build or how many social media accounts you create.

    The last time I checked no one whose house house gets flooded or is in danger of doing so jumps online for the a solution.

    They go out and look for - what do you guys call it over there - HANDYMEN!

    I hope that's right, but what I'm trying to say is you're fishing for fish in the wrong waters.

    Sometimes we keep busy doing the wrong things.

    Here's my suggestion.

    If the business sells to a locality or an area, first do this.

    1. Find out the areas there that are more prone to flooding when it rains.

    You can find this out by visiting some government office or something, I guess.

    Then . . .

    2. See if you can get a list of names of owners and addresses of homes in the area.

    3. Write them a salesletter offering a FREE BASEMENT FLOOD PROTECTION audit, worth say $245 (or anything higher you like, maybe 10% of the total cost they would pay if they bought the service.)

    List the benefits and stress that it will cost them nothing at ALL.

    4. Mail them the salesletter. In the salesletter, be sure to have a strong 'Call-To-Action' and a response mechanism so they can call back.

    DON'T forget to specify a time limit when they can call and take advantage of the FREE audit.

    5. Have your salesmen go in and do the FREE audit and then up-sell the service to them.

    If they are as good as you say, they would have no problem with that.

    Variations to this will be:

    Instead of mailing them, you can do the letters, hire a team of high school kids fro the area and pay them a set amount for each letter they deliver to the homes in the area.

    or you can run a lead-generation advert in the local newspaper making the offer for the FREE offer and giving them the option to ONLY calling to take advantage.

    Your headline for the Ad can be . . .

    "If You Live In (insert area), I Guarantee Your Basement Will Be Flooded This (Winter/Spring/Whatever Season It Rains) Unless You Read This Message"

    Don't forget to put the deadline for responding.

    Then when they call in, be sure to have a system set up in your clients place to actually take these calls and follow up properly.

    I believe this plan will work, DITTO for the energy audit company. Simply change the business details.

    Forget Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and whatever online. Do what works.

    Those are just my 2 cents.

    I hope I've helped.

    Cheers,

    Ron.

    P.S. I think doing community seminars will help but you have to think about it strategically.

    If I come up with any other ideas I feel can help you. I'll come back and post it here.

    Originally Posted by RedShifted View Post

    I'll keep this as concise as I possibly can.

    Have been working for this local business & my job started off by custom designing 2 websites in which I was paid very generously for.

    Set up a couple of google place listings, got about 10 social media accounts for each business, yellow pages, super pages, etc etc. Got a few reviews on each and still getting reviews up slowly every week.

    Had also done some backlinking and then out of nowhere things just got "scrambled" for a lack of better words.

    This guy was paying me very good, and still is, but at this point it seems he's getting aggravated because nothing I've done has actually brought business in for this company.

    That's where I begin to get worried. I notice week after week goes by, and he's still paying me generously but there's a lot more of this kind of talk going on now. Instead of "what will you be working on this week?", my boss is saying things like:

    "So no call in's today?"
    "We really need to get leads soon before this company goes under.."
    "Is there something better you could be working on that would get us leads faster" etc etc

    You get the idea. He's starting to get bugged out about the fact that I've been doing a lot of online marketing, and nothing so far has brought in 1 phone call.

    Thats why you guys see me switching back & forth between ideas every week and posting threads about different techniques. One business is for basement waterproofing, another for energy auditing.

    I feel like because it hasn't rained essentially all winter, investing in waterproofing leads would be a waste of resources right now. Noone is going to have the urgency to waterproof their basement untill it rains so I don't know if its smart saying something like "we should just devote ourself 100% to energy audits then when it rains we can turn the PPC back on for waterproofing".

    Thats where I'm at right now.

    Then is the fact that we also haven't got one energy audit lead. We tried a broker (cleanenergyexperts) for a month, got 15 leads, did not sell ONE. They were horrible quality, some numbers were out of service, we decided never to use them again and get a refund on as many leads as possible. The 2 salesman working for this business are incredible, they can sell a ton of waterproofing leads when its raining, but the quality of these energy audit leads were truely horrible. 15 out of 15 of the people we called simply did NOT one.

    This lead company had outstanding reviews too, so I have no idea whats going on anymore.

    I need to get leads fast and this is my main problem. I keep jumping back and forth between doing postcards, making consumer guides, writing salesletters, getting more social media accounts, and even now considering just going right out into the community to set up tables and do a CFL exhange.

    I feel like when I'm in front of the computer I tend to kill tons of time and not get anything done. Although I AM technically getting a lot of content made up, I'm not even sure what the hell to be doing with it. Should I be advertising our consumer guide through direct mail or sending out postcards with personalized testimonies? Should I be building relationships on facebook... or getting banners made up so we can start doing community presentations/seminars?

    The problem is I obviously bit off more than I can chew. I've somehow become squeezed between a rock and a hard wall. I feel like I NEED to put all my focus into one thing and just finish something already, but then I hate the idea of having all our eggs in one basket.

    I'm somewhat of a perfectionist, and as you can see its not serving me too well right now.

    I'm also wasting tons of time anytime I do something. Like last monday I wasted the ENTIRE day making 1 - 7 page consumer awareness guide. Doing all the graphics, editing to make it the copy more readable. Then I wound up with this guide, and had no idea what to do with it.

    I'm missing that seasoned experience that vets have. Where they just instinctively can sense what will benefit them the soonest. I'm missing that confidence and security that I guess comes from years of doing this type of stuff.

    My job is to get business and overall help this place grow, and I don't feel like I'm doing that.

    So my question to you "old timers" would be, what in the world would you do? When there are so many different things you can be doing, and you have NO IDEA what will bring your business the most leads, HOW do you narrow something down to 1-2 things and feel secure about what you are doing?

    As this seems to be my major problem right now.

    I feel like I'm walking on eggshells in the sense where if I do something big, run a huge direct mail campaign say, get my boss to drop a few grand, then we get 1 call... I mean that would kill my confidence that much more and I'd probably just wind up quitting and going back to my own business.

    The reason I don't want to is I hate turning my back to a challenge. This seems like a rather overwhelming challenge, but I DO WANT to succeed.

    I just honestly don't know where I need to be focusing.

    If anyone has anything they think could help, any ideas, any different ways I need to be looking at this, I could really use the help of some more experienced folks.

    Thank you! - Red
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    • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
      Red,

      I made a thread because of you and a couple of other posters.

      It was about coming on here with your questions and not replying to questions
      to clarify so that I can help you better.

      You have been on the forum, but the question goes unanswered
      and not a thanks given to those that do give you tips.

      The energy audit is a case in point where my question to you went un-answered
      so it raises the question of your seriousness in getting to the bottom of your problem.

      Actions speak louder than words.

      Best,
      Ewen
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      • Profile picture of the author RedShifted
        Originally Posted by ewenmack View Post

        Red,

        I made a thread because of you and a couple of other posters.

        It was about coming on here with your questions and not replying to questions
        to clarify so that I can help you better.

        You have been on the forum, but the question goes unanswered
        and not a thanks given to those that do give you tips.

        The energy audit is a case in point where my question to you went un-answered
        so it raises the question of your seriousness in getting to the bottom of your problem.

        Actions speak louder than words.

        Best,
        Ewen

        Thanks once again had no idea you even made that thread and you're right I needed a kick in the ass and that did it.

        Fact is because our last direct mail campaign failed miserably I'm a bit apprehensive about jumping so quickly into new ideas. Now I'm realizing that lack of momentum is the real problem, not that I don't have enough valuable ideas to move forth with.

        Everyone thanks again for your contributions to this thread you guys are all really giving/intelligent people and I can't thank you all enough!
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  • Profile picture of the author FormerWageSlave
    I agree with others here. Leverage other offline relationships with realtors, handymen, contractors, etc.

    Another option might to follow up with past customers. Call and tell them you want to do a free check up on past work, to make sure the waterproofing is still intact and no other areas have cropped up since then.

    Then offer them an incentive to refer friends, family, neighbors, etc.

    You could also send mailings to the neighbors, letting them know that someone on their block, waterproofed their home. Or got the energy audit, whatever.

    Another option... join a BNI or other leads group in your area.

    Look at this way, many of the things you've done are important and it's good you've done it (google places, etc) but if those things are not generating leads, you need to try new things. Start small and scale.
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    grrr...

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  • Profile picture of the author RentItNow
    No offense but you need to fail faster! Something doesn't work, don't sit at the computer and wish it to work...it didnt work, move on.

    My gut tells me go out and sell first then worry about the marketing second. Can you do quotes? Maybe go around saying "You wouldn't want a quote for your basement would you?" Then once you are in say, you know you could probably save a lot of money right now in the off season. I bet my boss would do this job for 25% if you signed up today. Can you imagine how busy he will be when people REALLY need this service?

    Once you got some customers under your belt then worry about adwords, direct promo blah blah. It's nice weather so go enjoy it by going out all day and beating the crap out of the easy-sales guys (anyone can sell a flooding basement service in the rain season but he will certainly notice the ones that sell it in the good weather).
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    I have no agenda but to help those in the same situation. This I feel will pay the bills.
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