5 Step System Landing 2 Paying Clients In 2 Days
I recently graduated college in May and have been using this technique the last couple months to expand my WordPress portfolio and bring in new clients. Needless to say, my results have varied but the example below allowed me to land 2 paying clients in 2 days with a combination of pre qualifying and cold calling. Here is exactly how I did it:
Step 1: The first step is to decide what service you can best pitch to potential prospects. Not the one that will make you the most money, the one you feel most comfortable talking about. There will be opportunities in the future to upsell clients with other services once you establish rapport, so just focus on getting in the door.
This way easy for me since I develop WordPress websites, but whatever your service may be, make sure you focus on how this service can help a business, not how it works. Business owners/decision makers will only give you a small window of opportunity to pitch your service, so make it count.
Step 2: After you have chosen a service to pitch to potential clients, you should now do a bit of preliminary research to identify clients that are worth pursuing and are in need of your services. I usually go after businesses that are advertising in Yellow Pages and are currently spending money on advertising.
Break down your research into individual niche categories (lawyers, dentists, chiropractors, doctors, etc) that will give you a smoother research workflow when finding businesses.
You can also find potential clients on Google Places or Yelp however you will not be able to identify whether or not they are spending money on advertising. I will then type the business name in Google which quickly allows me to build a profile around the business and see if they are worth pursuing. I usually look for a couple things to qualify a business:
Qualifiers
- Website age (lets me know if the business is established. Possible branding opportunity)
- Current website design/platform (lets me see if they need a redesign)
- If the website has a blog (easy benefit when it comes to explaining the advantages of WordPress)
- SEO ranking/meta optimization (lets me see if they need/are pursuing SEO)
- Google Places
- Social media/YouTube presence (lets me see if they are leveraging & aware of other forms of Internet Marketing)
- Bad reviews or no reviews (lets me see if they have a good/bad reputation or need positive reviews)
Notice how all of the above items are now only qualifiers, but they all fall under the category of a potential service you can offer in the future. Now, a business does not need to have all these attributes to pursue, they are simply indicators into how well they are leveraging services that you can offer. Start with one service and climb the ladder as you build a relationship with each business.
I also look for these specific details in order to calculate the lifetime value of this business and how much profit they can bring in the future. This is all about pre-qualifying so you don't waste your time. Im sure like myself that many of you have gone through several cold-calls that never amounted to anything simply because the business owner was not interested, didn't see the value or is not currently spending money on advertising. This eliminates half the battle and allows you to build a very qualified list of potential leads.
Step 3: One you have a list of leads, its now time to get on the phone and start dialing. Do not be afraid; be confident and remember, these clients are qualified and need your services. When you can point out specific details of their business (above qualifiers) and truly explain how it can benefit them, business owners will take you seriously as you are providing a unique experience that they are not use to hearing from phony sales calls on the daily.
Step 4: I played around with several scripts while using this process, and this one worked well for me. I believe I blended a couple different scripts I found on the WF. I do not remember who provided the script but here is a modified version:
Script
"Hi (business owner) my name is Brent. I am a local independent consultant that helps businesses get new clients and increase their profits. You could be missing out on new business. I like to meet with you for 10 mins and show you how a WordPress website can bring you new business. What time works best for you?
Keep it simple and get to the point. It is short and sweet as I do not want to elaborate much on the phone but rather get them to agree to a meeting. The meeting is where you can close them and save your arsenal of benefits. If at first they do not agree for a meeting, it is now time to work them with a couple questions if they are on the fence. If they are not interested or hang up, on to the next one.
What I do is create a small list of benefits/questions for my service (WordPress Development & Redesign) so that at any point in my script I could fall back on a list of advantages for the business owner. Here is an example of benefits that usually override any objections, questions or awkward transition moments during your proposition:
WordPress Benefits:
- Search engines love WordPress. Increase your search engine visibility to drive more sales & leads.
- WordPress is a CMS that allow you to grow as your business grows.
- Blog automatically built in. Consistently drive traffic from social network/search engines with fresh content.
Questions
- Why did you want a website in the first place?
- What is important to you with your website?
- Do you feel like your missing opportunities right now?
- Are you happy with the sales your website is currently bringing in?
- How many new clients do you expect to bring in this year from your website?
- How many new clients do you convert monthly from your current website?
Remember, this is just an example, but the point is to keep chiseling away by asking meaningful questions that keep the owner engaged through out the conversation. Its all about what you say and how you say it. Be confident. If you know the value of your service, it should not be hard to elaborate on a small list of benefits pertaining to your service. After you have asked a couple key questions, you can then ease your way into asking for a meeting again. If they agree, make sure to obtain their email and business address if you don't have it.
Step 5: Send them a follow up email with the time and date of your arranged meeting. When you go to the meeting, relax and remember that they would not have agreed to meet if they were not interested in hearing what you have to say. Go in and override them with value by explaining how it will make them more money and improve their business. Like I mentioned earlier, do not discuss how your service works, but rather how it can help increase their profits and you should have no problem walking out with a check in hand.
Step 1: The first step is to decide what service you can best pitch to potential prospects. Not the one that will make you the most money, the one you feel most comfortable talking about. There will be opportunities in the future to upsell clients with other services once you establish rapport, so just focus on getting in the door.
This way easy for me since I develop WordPress websites, but whatever your service may be, make sure you focus on how this service can help a business, not how it works. Business owners/decision makers will only give you a small window of opportunity to pitch your service, so make it count.
Step 2: After you have chosen a service to pitch to potential clients, you should now do a bit of preliminary research to identify clients that are worth pursuing and are in need of your services. I usually go after businesses that are advertising in Yellow Pages and are currently spending money on advertising.
Break down your research into individual niche categories (lawyers, dentists, chiropractors, doctors, etc) that will give you a smoother research workflow when finding businesses.
You can also find potential clients on Google Places or Yelp however you will not be able to identify whether or not they are spending money on advertising. I will then type the business name in Google which quickly allows me to build a profile around the business and see if they are worth pursuing. I usually look for a couple things to qualify a business:
Qualifiers
- Website age (lets me know if the business is established. Possible branding opportunity)
- Current website design/platform (lets me see if they need a redesign)
- If the website has a blog (easy benefit when it comes to explaining the advantages of WordPress)
- SEO ranking/meta optimization (lets me see if they need/are pursuing SEO)
- Google Places
- Social media/YouTube presence (lets me see if they are leveraging & aware of other forms of Internet Marketing)
- Bad reviews or no reviews (lets me see if they have a good/bad reputation or need positive reviews)
Notice how all of the above items are now only qualifiers, but they all fall under the category of a potential service you can offer in the future. Now, a business does not need to have all these attributes to pursue, they are simply indicators into how well they are leveraging services that you can offer. Start with one service and climb the ladder as you build a relationship with each business.
I also look for these specific details in order to calculate the lifetime value of this business and how much profit they can bring in the future. This is all about pre-qualifying so you don't waste your time. Im sure like myself that many of you have gone through several cold-calls that never amounted to anything simply because the business owner was not interested, didn't see the value or is not currently spending money on advertising. This eliminates half the battle and allows you to build a very qualified list of potential leads.
Step 3: One you have a list of leads, its now time to get on the phone and start dialing. Do not be afraid; be confident and remember, these clients are qualified and need your services. When you can point out specific details of their business (above qualifiers) and truly explain how it can benefit them, business owners will take you seriously as you are providing a unique experience that they are not use to hearing from phony sales calls on the daily.
Step 4: I played around with several scripts while using this process, and this one worked well for me. I believe I blended a couple different scripts I found on the WF. I do not remember who provided the script but here is a modified version:
Script
"Hi (business owner) my name is Brent. I am a local independent consultant that helps businesses get new clients and increase their profits. You could be missing out on new business. I like to meet with you for 10 mins and show you how a WordPress website can bring you new business. What time works best for you?
Keep it simple and get to the point. It is short and sweet as I do not want to elaborate much on the phone but rather get them to agree to a meeting. The meeting is where you can close them and save your arsenal of benefits. If at first they do not agree for a meeting, it is now time to work them with a couple questions if they are on the fence. If they are not interested or hang up, on to the next one.
What I do is create a small list of benefits/questions for my service (WordPress Development & Redesign) so that at any point in my script I could fall back on a list of advantages for the business owner. Here is an example of benefits that usually override any objections, questions or awkward transition moments during your proposition:
WordPress Benefits:
- Search engines love WordPress. Increase your search engine visibility to drive more sales & leads.
- WordPress is a CMS that allow you to grow as your business grows.
- Blog automatically built in. Consistently drive traffic from social network/search engines with fresh content.
Questions
- Why did you want a website in the first place?
- What is important to you with your website?
- Do you feel like your missing opportunities right now?
- Are you happy with the sales your website is currently bringing in?
- How many new clients do you expect to bring in this year from your website?
- How many new clients do you convert monthly from your current website?
Remember, this is just an example, but the point is to keep chiseling away by asking meaningful questions that keep the owner engaged through out the conversation. Its all about what you say and how you say it. Be confident. If you know the value of your service, it should not be hard to elaborate on a small list of benefits pertaining to your service. After you have asked a couple key questions, you can then ease your way into asking for a meeting again. If they agree, make sure to obtain their email and business address if you don't have it.
Step 5: Send them a follow up email with the time and date of your arranged meeting. When you go to the meeting, relax and remember that they would not have agreed to meet if they were not interested in hearing what you have to say. Go in and override them with value by explaining how it will make them more money and improve their business. Like I mentioned earlier, do not discuss how your service works, but rather how it can help increase their profits and you should have no problem walking out with a check in hand.