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Why Isnt My Directory Site Business Model Producing Customers?

by John Durham
14 replies
I hear people all of the time saying that the directory model site wont sell unless you have traffic already.... or this wont sell or that wont sell, or this model didnt work, or that model didnt work...

I want to ask you an objective question. Really. Be objective here with me for a sec.

There are a ton of people here trying to do the rental site model right?

There are also a ton of people who have sites ranked NUMBER ONE on google...

So why cant you sell them?

I mean, you have traffic, you have the number one spot....

By all rational thinking, people should be lined up for it right?

I said this in another post.... I know people get tired of hearing it too...but thats nothing new; IT"S NOT YOUR MODEL THATS THE ISSUE!

If it were then every top ranking rental site here would be booked solid.

Does that make sense?

Its because you arent "really" embracing the idea of developing as a sales person.

Its because you still believe that making sales is about the product.

It's just NOT, and a ton of people who have invested in top ranking rental sites here with no customers are living proof of that.

At some point you have to learn to REALLY prospect- even if you dont do it yourself personally , and really DEVOTE yourself to the HARD part.

Take it or leave it...but you are going to find out its true eventually.

A person who can sell, can sell a site that doesnt even have much traffic yet.... but a person who CANT sell, can have a top ranking site that is dominating the search engines, with all the value in the world...and still have no customers.

I know you guys get sick of hearing this, so I really do apologize for that, I do empathize, but you will eventually come to find that its just a fact.

You already know how to build ranking sites, now embrace the idea of selling instead of resisting it.

Yeah, its a little hard... but if it werent, then everyone would be sold out, and there would be nothing to champion.

Marketing is one thing.... you have a ranking site that converts leads, and that makes you a good online marketer...(Good going) but SELLING is the thing that separates the "entrepreneurs" from the "hobbyists" and "technicians".

Not just any person can rank a site...., that's an accomplishment, but which is more valuable, a person who can sell a site that is barely indexed yet, or a person who can rank a site number one and cant make money with it?

Sure, John Bowers Telemarketers each sold 2-5 listings per day- but they were dialing SIX HUNDRED NUMBERS PER DAY, day in and day out- Not because they were gluttons for punishment, but because thats just how it works. Thats what it takes to make multiple daily sales.

Are you even dialing that many numbers per MONTH?

I dont make the laws, I just KNOW them.

It would do me no good to hire a person to dial twenty numbers every other day... If I hire an hourly person, I need them to dial all day long 5 days per week to get the result.... Its not because Im stuck like a broken record, its because thats how it works. Period.

When you get good your conversion will increase, but without a period of intense effort, you wont get that good.

I dont care if you have a top ranking site....WHO cares?

Can you sell it? Thats the important question.

It's not about the product. Im tellin ya. Even though a tight product is important.

Thats really the best advice anyone can give you. Its been said a thousand different ways, but just because everyone is ready to move on to a different message doesnt make the timeless truth any less true.

Heck yes, Directory sites sell... do "you"?

Thats the question. Hey guys, Im not "hard"....the "truth" is what seems hard. Im just relaying it.

Sorry if this seems hard, I hate being the "hard" guy... seriously. Just telling it like it is.

-JD
#business #customers #directory #model #producing #site
  • Profile picture of the author umc
    Nice post. If you are doing something that others are doing as well, yet your site/service/physical product isn't selling, it is because those things don't do the selling, you do. The fact that there is a market for something shows that it can be sold. The fact that you don't have customers shows that you can't sell. It is really pretty simple, but most people would rather look for some complicated answer rather than point at themselves as the reason for a lack of success. It must be the model, the product, the weather, but it couldn't possibly be them. I've tried a lot of things in my life, and when they haven't worked, it has been because of me, in retrospect. Then again, in those things that have worked, that's been me too.
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  • Profile picture of the author tryinhere
    Originally Posted by John Durham View Post

    Sorry if this seems hard, I hate being the "hard" guy... seriously. Just telling it like it is.

    -JD
    I do not think you are telling it like it is, while it is agreed telemarketing is one way to make a sale, it seems very weighted that it is the only way and truth be it one of many ways.

    I applaud anyone who wants to sit there and dial 6 scullion calls to make a few sales, and think that this is the real deal.

    Now before people chew my ass, yes calling works, are there better or alternate ways yes and this whole calling caper being the golden goose / the holey grail has to stop, it is just another method to book leads or peddle some stuff on a phone but in most cases for most people?

    / John yes I love you and what you do / just do not buy the concept is for everyone and I got lost with your post ? and its real purpose.
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    • Profile picture of the author shockwave
      I am indeed a perfect example of what John's talking about.

      I ranked sites, got calls, and guess what? Couldn't rent them out or sell the leads to a local business to save my life!

      So...I switched up my game. Instead of looking for a local business to buy the leads, I found a few affiliate PPCall programs to join - now I sell the leads and the end result is pretty much the same. I'm selling leads.

      There is more than one path to get to the same destination.
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      • Profile picture of the author RyanLester
        John don't start something.

        I said, don't start somethin

        I am loving this post!

        John, for me it comes down to one thing: BRANDABILITY.

        Gotta run for now.
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      • Profile picture of the author CleanMountainLiving
        Originally Posted by shockwave View Post

        I am indeed a perfect example of what John's talking about.

        I ranked sites, got calls, and guess what? Couldn't rent them out or sell the leads to a local business to save my life!

        So...I switched up my game. Instead of looking for a local business to buy the leads, I found a few affiliate PPCall programs to join - now I sell the leads and the end result is pretty much the same. I'm selling leads.

        There is more than one path to get to the same destination.
        Hey Shockwave...tell me more about these affiliate PPCall programs you speak of? Are these industry specific?
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        • Profile picture of the author shockwave
          Originally Posted by CleanMountainLiving View Post

          Hey Shockwave...tell me more about these affiliate PPCall programs you speak of? Are these industry specific?
          Yes - for me, they are Dental and Home Improvement niches.
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    • Profile picture of the author John Durham
      Originally Posted by tryinhere View Post

      I do not think you are telling it like it is, while it is agreed telemarketing is one way to make a sale, it seems very weighted that it is the only way and truth be it one of many ways.

      I applaud anyone who wants to sit there and dial 6 scullion calls to make a few sales, and think that this is the real deal.

      Now before people chew my ass, yes calling works, are there better or alternate ways yes and this whole calling caper being the golden goose / the holey grail has to stop, it is just another method to book leads or peddle some stuff on a phone but in most cases for most people?


      / John yes I love you and what you do / just do not buy the concept is for everyone and I got lost with your post ? and its real purpose.
      I dont think it has to be the only way either. I would be pretty narrow if I thought that. I just think that if a person isnt getting sales, its a guaranteed way.

      Originally Posted by flnz400 View Post

      John, I'm curious, are you building a directory? If so, how's it going?
      Not currently, however I once built a fifty million dollar one. Im not doing alot of things that I have done alot of in the past, and and have the skill to do. However, I can tell you that I am perfectly capable of making daily directory site sales if that was where I directed my energy.

      So is anyone else who sets their mind to it and applies themselves
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  • Profile picture of the author WeavingThoughts
    This is indeed the hard truth.
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  • Profile picture of the author flnz400
    John, I'm curious, are you building a directory? If so, how's it going?
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  • Profile picture of the author Rob28x
    Originally Posted by John Durham View Post

    Marketing is one thing.... you have a ranking site that converts leads, and that makes you a good online marketer...(Good going) but SELLING is the thing that separates the "entrepreneurs" from the "hobbyists" and "technicians".
    -JD
    Love this part. I am going to make it my signature so I read it over and over.
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  • Profile picture of the author jayspann
    There is a lot of truth to putting most of your eggs in the marketing and selling basket. In a past life I've sold for all the local ad companies save for the cable company.

    I and many of my cohorts were all billing 100K + per month and we all know that newspaper ads and YP ads are NOT worth what we got paid for them.

    Heck I was doing pretty good my first month and I knew NOTHING about selling. It was just a numbers game of the shear amount of people I was harassing everyday.

    With experience and absorbing everything I could get my hands on related to selling and marketing the process gets a LOT easier.

    If you can sell ice to an Eskimo then you can sell space in a directory site (regardless of where its ranked)
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    • Profile picture of the author John Durham
      Originally Posted by jayspann View Post

      There is a lot of truth to putting most of your eggs in the marketing and selling basket. In a past life I've sold for all the local ad companies save for the cable company.

      I and many of my cohorts were all billing 100K + per month and we all know that newspaper ads and YP ads are NOT worth what we got paid for them.

      Heck I was doing pretty good my first month and I knew NOTHING about selling. It was just a numbers game of the shear amount of people I was harassing everyday.

      With experience and absorbing everything I could get my hands on related to selling and marketing the process gets a LOT easier.

      If you can sell ice to an Eskimo then you can sell space in a directory site (regardless of where its ranked)
      It pretty much works like a machine. Everyday, you turn this machine on that says this pitch all day... and at the end of the day its like, ooops, that machine only got one sale today, or cool, this one got four.

      Human interaction is better than a machine, but still the pitch being repeated all day is the fuel that runs the sales machine...

      Its not that selling directory sites doesnt work, its that people arent seeing their pitch as the fuel that drives the machine. Their selling machines arent running full time.

      Website =Check
      Ranking =Check
      Content= Check
      Fulltime Prospecting Going = NOT check.
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  • Profile picture of the author dvduval
    Finding people you can engage with in a niche or locale, and then regularly writing articles about them and telling them about it can jump start the traffic. You can go take pictures of their business, shoot a video interview, etc. Then you can get businesses competing for the next interview or the best add slot etc. Once you have made the initial contacts, you can start to build a telemarketing plan as well and continue engaging people. I know of several of our phpLD users that are doing great using a similar strategy to this. Above all, you start with quality and keep it, and it just gets better over time.
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    It is okay to contact me! I have been developing software since 1999, creating many popular products like phpLD.
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