Lost the close of a $700/month client, now I use this tool

26 replies
I had a $700/month for web marketing Electrician in the bag. He was set and ready to pull the trigger. He lives in a different city, so the conversations were over the phone. Anyway, he saw the value of the service and said ya let's do it, what do we gotta do next. I told him the usual 1) sign the agreement and 2) 5-10 minutes for me to ask you some questions.

My contract at that time I would just email/fax over to potentials to sign. BIG MISTAKE. I told him ya I'll email or fax the contract, whichever you prefer and you sign and get it back to me. Now he was at the computer in his 2nd office, which doesn't have a scanner (in order to sign and email back) or fax. So he said to email it to him, and the next week when he was at his main office, he'd print, scan and email to me.

Sales 101 tells you when you've got them committed, get them to sign asap. I knew that, but unfortunately there was nothing I could do. I said sure, and email him. Called him the next week and he said he thought about it and wanted to wait until his lawsuit against Dex Knows (who he paid 1000s for online advertising with) was finished. I was about to knock my head into the wall.

I now use echosign.com. It's about $10/mth and worth every penny. There is also docusign and others i think. Basically, they just click and it signs it electronically and records their ip. This is a legally binding signature. Very easy to do. I learned my lesson and now sit on the phone w/ them while they go thru the 2 minute signing process right as soon as they say ya lets do it. Happy to say haven't lost a single client since.

Anyway, just thought this might help others.
#$700 or month #client #close #lost #tool
  • Profile picture of the author HungLe86
    Originally Posted by Dan B Rusu View Post

    I had a $700/month for web marketing Electrician in the bag. He was set and ready to pull the trigger. He lives in a different city, so the conversations were over the phone. Anyway, he saw the value of the service and said ya let's do it, what do we gotta do next. I told him the usual 1) sign the agreement and 2) 5-10 minutes for me to ask you some questions.

    My contract at that time I would just email/fax over to potentials to sign. BIG MISTAKE. I told him ya I'll email or fax the contract, whichever you prefer and you sign and get it back to me. Now he was at the computer in his 2nd office, which doesn't have a scanner (in order to sign and email back) or fax. So he said to email it to him, and the next week when he was at his main office, he'd print, scan and email to me.

    Sales 101 tells you when you've got them committed, get them to sign asap. I knew that, but unfortunately there was nothing I could do. I said sure, and email him. Called him the next week and he said he thought about it and wanted to wait until his lawsuit against Dex Knows (who he paid 1000s for online advertising with) was finished. I was about to knock my head into the wall.

    I now use echosign.com. It's about $10/mth and worth every penny. There is also docusign and others i think. Basically, they just click and it signs it electronically and records their ip. This is a legally binding signature. Very easy to do. I learned my lesson and now sit on the phone w/ them while they go thru the 2 minute signing process right as soon as they say ya lets do it. Happy to say haven't lost a single client since.

    Anyway, just thought this might help others.
    Hey Dan! Thanks for the awesome advice buddy

    Keep up the hard work!

    Hung
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6246713].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author cnagaraj
    Great words of advice, must implement!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6246818].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author agkfl
    Don't let it bother you. Just keep in mind that you havn't lost anything, if you din't close the deal in the first place. If you dealing with sensitive services such as this, always use fax, keep them away from their computer unless needed. Most of these guys are internet illiterate, but they have their buddy who will always say, hey check google for another guy, he may be cheaper, and there always is someone cheaper.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6248355].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author RRG
    Devil's advocate question here:

    What if your electrician had changed his mind even after he clicked his sig?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6248469].message }}
    • Great suggestion!

      I know this is a potentially risky suggestion that could backfire on some.

      But I skip that entire part of the process.

      No agreement, no signature. Oh and I never 'close' anyone either. Just help them understand their problems and how I can potentially help if they choose to hire me. Then if it makes sense for them we move forward. Just a virtual handshake and we get started. No mess, no fuss, no contracts.

      But I'm in a unique situation I admit. If you are prospecting and working cold leads or doing volume, it may not make sense for you.

      But I don't do any prospecting at all. All my clients come to me and are largely pre-sold. Plus I work mainly with Dentists who are a pretty ethical bunch and I keep my clients pretty happy. Have only had I think one that wanted to bow out early and didn't want to follow through after month 1. I happily let him out of our virtual agreement because he was hard to work with anyway.

      I do lots of things different than the average bear and my trainees often are incredulous. But after we go through everything it starts to make sense to them. Again my strategies won't work for everyone. But when they do it sure makes life easier! :p
      Signature

      Linda Buquet :: Google+ Local Specialist and Google Top Contributor
      ADVANCED Google+ Local Training :: Also offering White Label Local SEO
      Latest Google Local News, Tips & Tricks

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6249299].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Dan B Rusu
        Originally Posted by RRG View Post

        Devil's advocate question here:

        What if your electrician had changed his mind even after he clicked his sig?
        My agreements are month-to-month, upfront payments. No refunds on what's paid. But i do make exceptions. If he was really in a tough spot and needed the money back, I would just do it. But if it was a simple I've changed my mind cause I'm moody and want my money back then I'll try to convince them no it was the best decision.

        I dont really know though as this has never happened.

        Originally Posted by Catalyst eMarketing View Post

        Great suggestion!

        I know this is a potentially risky suggestion that could backfire on some.

        But I skip that entire part of the process.

        No agreement, no signature. Oh and I never 'close' anyone either. Just help them understand their problems and how I can potentially help if they choose to hire me. Then if it makes sense for them we move forward. Just a virtual handshake and we get started. No mess, no fuss, no contracts.

        But I'm in a unique situation I admit. If you are prospecting and working cold leads or doing volume, it may not make sense for you.

        But I don't do any prospecting at all. All my clients come to me and are largely pre-sold. Plus I work mainly with Dentists who are a pretty ethical bunch and I keep my clients pretty happy. Have only had I think one that wanted to bow out early and didn't want to follow through after month 1. I happily let him out of our virtual agreement because he was hard to work with anyway.

        I do lots of things different than the average bear and my trainees often are incredulous. But after we go through everything it starts to make sense to them. Again my strategies won't work for everyone. But when they do it sure makes life easier! :p
        Ya that's great - depends definitely who you're marketing to. I like to use agreements not so much for legal reasons, but just cause it's a nice way for them to mentally seal the deal in their minds that yea we're going to do this.

        What are you doing to get businesses to come to you? I do mainly cold marketing through telemarketing and also do network marketing in chambers and such.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6251727].message }}
        • Oops so sorry!

          "I like to use agreements not so much for legal reasons, but just cause it's a nice way for them to mentally seal the deal in their minds that yea we're going to do this."

          When I read that it made it re-read what I wrote.

          I said that wrong. I DO have an agreement because of course you need to spell out what you'll do, set expectations etc. In fact my agreement is 6 pages long. (Including proposal, testimonials, screen shots etc.)

          So I can't believe I said no agreement. What I meant was no legaleses and no signature or anything formal. When they say they want to move forward and pay me in advance I take it that they've agreed to terms.

          "What are you doing to get businesses to come to you?"

          Mainly referral and word of mouth marketing. A little free guerilla marketing here and there. And #1 Google rankings of course.

          But the referral and word of mouth process really can be leveraged if you focus on one niche and establish yourself as an expert in it. I have not done a cold call or prospecting for probably over 8 years now in either of my companies.

          HATE cold calling! Terrible at follow up too! So if leads didn't come to me I'd starve to death. :p
          But as it is now I have enough leads to feed me and a couple of the best Local SEO Pros
          I've done Google Places training for, so it works out pretty good.
          Signature

          Linda Buquet :: Google+ Local Specialist and Google Top Contributor
          ADVANCED Google+ Local Training :: Also offering White Label Local SEO
          Latest Google Local News, Tips & Tricks

          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6252468].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author malachiteIM
          Originally Posted by Dan B Rusu View Post

          My agreements are month-to-month, upfront payments. No refunds on what's paid. But i do make exceptions. If he was really in a tough spot and needed the money back, I would just do it. But if it was a simple I've changed my mind cause I'm moody and want my money back then I'll try to convince them no it was the best decision.
          Thanks for the tip. How do you collect payments from your clients? I like freshbooks.com for invoicing the one-time gigs/fixed price projects and my payment gateway with a paypal option for recurring billing.
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6288516].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author maxrezn
    Docusign is amazing. Clients are always impressed with the procedure...free brownie points for your image.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6249540].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author I_AM
    Great advice!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6249600].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author fmnely1
    Another knowledge have acquire here ....it great
    Signature
    Long Kept Guru Secret Traffic Heaven Download :Now http://www.filedropper.com/trafficheaven
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6249606].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author webdave
    Thanks for this great tip!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6249711].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author yohanaton
    Originally Posted by Dan B Rusu View Post

    I had a $700/month for web marketing Electrician in the bag. He was set and ready to pull the trigger. He lives in a different city, so the conversations were over the phone. Anyway, he saw the value of the service and said ya let's do it, what do we gotta do next. I told him the usual 1) sign the agreement and 2) 5-10 minutes for me to ask you some questions.

    My contract at that time I would just email/fax over to potentials to sign. BIG MISTAKE. I told him ya I'll email or fax the contract, whichever you prefer and you sign and get it back to me. Now he was at the computer in his 2nd office, which doesn't have a scanner (in order to sign and email back) or fax. So he said to email it to him, and the next week when he was at his main office, he'd print, scan and email to me.

    Sales 101 tells you when you've got them committed, get them to sign asap. I knew that, but unfortunately there was nothing I could do. I said sure, and email him. Called him the next week and he said he thought about it and wanted to wait until his lawsuit against Dex Knows (who he paid 1000s for online advertising with) was finished. I was about to knock my head into the wall.

    I now use echosign.com. It's about $10/mth and worth every penny. There is also docusign and others i think. Basically, they just click and it signs it electronically and records their ip. This is a legally binding signature. Very easy to do. I learned my lesson and now sit on the phone w/ them while they go thru the 2 minute signing process right as soon as they say ya lets do it. Happy to say haven't lost a single client since.

    Anyway, just thought this might help others.
    Thanks for the post... Was looking into those for Photography rights with a laptop/ipad... less paperwork, but hadn't thought of it for offliner's. Cheers...
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6250621].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author anamikasingh
    Great advice .
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6262254].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author AboveSound
    Man, I knew about this in the back of my head and its usually not a problem.. but I lost a client recently to, and this would have saved it. Thank you for your post!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6268118].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author azurews
    I tried out both docusign and echosign. Echosign seemed to be easier to get going. I think you can also access both from your mobile phone which is also a nice feature to have.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6270956].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Dan B Rusu
      Originally Posted by AboveSound View Post

      Man, I knew about this in the back of my head and its usually not a problem.. but I lost a client recently to, and this would have saved it. Thank you for your post!
      I've been in that boat and it hurts.. I always get the signature now.

      Originally Posted by azurews View Post

      I tried out both docusign and echosign. Echosign seemed to be easier to get going. I think you can also access both from your mobile phone which is also a nice feature to have.
      Didn't know about the phone feature, that's great thanks. I've also tried both, and liked echosign more.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6277534].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Rick Britton
    great to know thanks!
    Signature

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6271858].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author mcconnon12
    Try signnow.com its free and it rocks!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6289092].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author maxrezn
      Originally Posted by mcconnon12 View Post

      Try signnow.com its free and it rocks!
      Nice Find!
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6290775].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author busterkman
      Originally Posted by mcconnon12 View Post

      Try signnow.com its free and it rocks!
      Wow. That is great info to know. Will check into using it straight away.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6291163].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author VHSEOMike
    Good advice - more important to take immediate action.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6289536].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author kyle4hire
    It's my first day here in warrior really love reading those kind of post that deals with business, thanks men for sharing such a good information. Simply I like this one because I am also starting to deal with this kind of business.
    Signature

    Web Dev, Web Content Writer, SEO for 350$ per month

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6289943].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author JeremTheMarketer
    Great work!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6290188].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Rus Sells
    Linda you close them, its just a different style of closing. You just have a different perspective on what you believe closing means.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6290666].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author JoeGo
    I was interested in the post you have today on the WF, but it won't let me send a PM. can you send one to me so I can see if my website will work for your offer?
    Signature

    ~Joe G.

    How To Become A Social Media Guru - The Ultimate SEO Bad-Assery Software
    http://josephjgomez.com

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7021436].message }}

Trending Topics