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First meeting next Monday and I need some advice please

by pankakeguy
13 replies
recently lost me job of 5 years and I decided that it is time for me to take action and just jump into the IM world. I have been following IM for the last five years but I never had time or energy to dive in.

I have my first client meeting next week and I need some tools to create reports for their current site and their competitors sites. I need something that can be used to track my clients sites as well as create professional reports. I have been looking into some of the more popular tools ( I cant list them for some reason) and I want to see what others are using. What do the offliners use to track all of their clients sites and what do you use you present to the potential clients? Any other tools you would recommend?

I know a lot of Offliners choose to outsource a good amount of work while focusing on managing client campaigns and sales. How much do you like to outsource? What do you HAVE to do on your own? I am a little bit scared of outsourcing just because I havent found a reliable VA or outsourcing service that always delivers.
#advice #meeting #monday
  • Profile picture of the author Rick W
    Hey buddy,

    Sorry about the loss of your job, but it could be a blessing in disguise.

    I lost my job at the end of 2010 and went fulltime into IM and have never looked back. I now earn more in a month than i would have at 6 months of my old job.
    Plus im so glad i dont need to be in the traffic jams going to work with all the other people in the rat race trying to earn a living. I dont state this to toot my horn or say look at me, but as motivation to you that going fulltime into IM is not a bad thing and success can be achieved pretty quickly...specially in offline markets.

    In response to your questions i use SEO powersuite for most of my reports and the like here is link

    SEO Software and SEO Tools | Top 10 Rank Guarantee | SEO PowerSuite

    I also outsource a great deal.

    Google analytics are pretty hard to beat for stats also.

    As for presentations i use Prezi - The Zooming Presentation Editor

    Hope that helps
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    • Profile picture of the author pankakeguy
      I guess I can't give thanks yet but thanks.

      I am looking at it like a blessing. I was never really happy at my job and I have always had entrepreneurial aspirations. I just need to get this thing going and going well because I have a young child to take care of.

      I was looking at seo power suite but I was also looking raven tools and seomoz tools. Do you outsource your work to a VA or do you buy different services online? I am interested in getting a VA if this meeting goes well but I don't know where to start looking for a good one besides the popular freelance sites.
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    • Profile picture of the author pankakeguy
      Aside from the actual presentation do you offer your clients a weekly or monthly seo report? Does seo power suite produce good seo reports for your clients? I would like to be able to provide my client with their report as well as a report on what the competition is doing if that makes sense.
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  • Profile picture of the author DNChamp
    Congrats on the meeting next week, Hopefully you get daily meetings into clients BUT, this is something you should already have inline before getting into the game. You must aleady know how to handle a customer and what you are going to sell.

    So in the meantime SEO Power Suite is the best and then make sure you have a plan of action as well.

    Good Luck!

    Ricky
    Complete SEO services for Arizona small business!
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  • Profile picture of the author drlelong
    Marketing Grader is a good tool for performing an overall baseline assessment. Find the top competitors for the keywords you're targeting and run those sites through Marketing Grader. Compare the results in Excel and create a summary and recommendations.

    Record the steps using a free tool like Jing so you can easily train a VA.

    Find a VA on Odesk. Filipinos are fairly savvy with IM and write English very well.
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    • Profile picture of the author 9999
      See this as a blessing and not a bad situation. Keep positive and don't look back.
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      • Profile picture of the author WF99
        Originally Posted by 9999 View Post

        See this as a blessing and not a bad situation. Keep positive and don't look back.
        I appreciate this comment .. Very valuable .. I never believe in looking back ..
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        • Profile picture of the author pankakeguy
          Thanks for the responses everyone. Luckily my last job was a sales job that gave me experience and the opportunity to interact with big business owners on a daily basis.

          What do you guys give to your clients when you meet to discuss offline work?
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          • Profile picture of the author Eddie Spangler
            Originally Posted by pankakeguy View Post

            Thanks for the responses everyone. Luckily my last job was a sales job that gave me experience and the opportunity to interact with big business owners on a daily basis.

            What do you guys give to your clients when you meet to discuss offline work?
            An agreement and a pen to sign it with.
            Signature
            Promise Big.
            Deliver Bigger.
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          • Profile picture of the author RentItNow
            Originally Posted by pankakeguy View Post

            Thanks for the responses everyone. Luckily my last job was a sales job that gave me experience and the opportunity to interact with big business owners on a daily basis.

            What do you guys give to your clients when you meet to discuss offline work?
            First meeting REALLY listen to what they say, take notes. Especially ask them what has worked for them before and their ideal (money making) client.

            Once you know what their expectations are, then show them what they want to see, yes as Eddie so eloquently said, a pen and contract. Hopefully they are on the same document.
            Signature
            I have no agenda but to help those in the same situation. This I feel will pay the bills.
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            • Profile picture of the author Ronald Nzimora
              pankakeguy,

              I like what RentItNow below said.

              For every first meeting with a prospective client, I do not go in selling anything.

              I go in with just a pen, a note pad and a questionnaire.

              My aim at this meeting is simply to know what problems the clients is having, what areas he has those problems and from the answers he gives based on the questions in my questionnaire, find out hidden problems that many times DO NOT come out in the conversation.

              After listening to them and taking down the notes, I fix another appo, then go back and create a plan to help them.

              This plan will outline exactly what I plan to do for them (services) and what it will cost them.

              Doing it this way for me is the best way as it potrays value and doesn't you look desperate for money.

              I hope this helps.

              Ron

              Originally Posted by RentItNow View Post

              First meeting REALLY listen to what they say, take notes. Especially ask them what has worked for them before and their ideal (money making) client.

              Once you know what their expectations are, then show them what they want to see, yes as Eddie so eloquently said, a pen and contract. Hopefully they are on the same document.
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  • Profile picture of the author JohnQuiet
    Great move! Go for it.... Both tools mentioned so far are great. I would also add woorank.com. They give you one free URL analysis per month. It's a good overall ranking tool and finds the obvious seo goof ups quickly. Best of luck and hang in there!

    John Quiet
    Signature
    It's Time for Christmas Cookies!
    Discover Your "It" for FREE at FindYourIt.com
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    • Profile picture of the author Rick W
      Originally Posted by pankakeguy View Post

      I guess I can't give thanks yet but thanks.

      I am looking at it like a blessing. I was never really happy at my job and I have always had entrepreneurial aspirations. I just need to get this thing going and going well because I have a young child to take care of.

      I was looking at seo power suite but I was also looking raven tools and seomoz tools. Do you outsource your work to a VA or do you buy different services online? I am interested in getting a VA if this meeting goes well but I don't know where to start looking for a good one besides the popular freelance sites.
      I have a fulltime VA that takes care of all the boring stuff, I found her on LinkedIn and she has been fantastic. She co-ordinates and puts together most of the info from my seo guys and presents it to me.

      Originally Posted by pankakeguy View Post

      Aside from the actual presentation do you offer your clients a weekly or monthly seo report? Does seo power suite produce good seo reports for your clients? I would like to be able to provide my client with their report as well as a report on what the competition is doing if that makes sense.
      I prefer monthly reporting but in saying that i normally check in with business owner weekly. Yes SEO powersuite provides great reports, so i present them as well as the work in depth of what my SEO guys have been doing
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