Selling websites - How to find customers???

A professional on commission basis isn't a professional because they would have no reason to work for you.

I think the problem is that you're new, and you're targeting the most targeted industries which normally have the absolute lowest conversions anyway. You have to be different in order to get to them, but also good.

Your number one problem is selling. You can't even sell a receptionist on getting you to the right person. That means you have two options.

• Hire Someone to Sell
• Learn How to Sell

If you decide to hire someone your main concern will be how to get someone good since you have no money for a base salary and no proof of income potential. You also don't know how to sell yourself so you can't hire and train someone. Personally I wouldn't do this in your case.


So that leave learning how to sell. So how do you do that? There are many ways to learn to sell but everything is just theory till you put it into practice. Since you mention bills that means you need money now. In cases like that (and in general most cases) I advise people to learn to sell on someone else's dime.


A year or two selling and being trained in the right environment will pay major dividends. The right place will have lots of sales opportunities and be commission based. Places like busy furniture or appliance stores and even car lots can be your ticket.


You will want them to have a great training program but even if they don't you can purchase your own training. Start with books then move on to Audio, DVD, and even online training. All the major sales trainers will have this.


The second problem is related to who you are targeting. Based on what you are saying it appears you are targeting people with old/bad websites. I know that sounds like a great idea but it isn't for a number of reasons.


These are prospects you will have to educate (if not outright convince) of the value of an online presence. They are ok with their 10 year old website or they would have a newer one, right? They are ok with the "free" or "cheap" website since that is what they have now, right? So why would you assume you can get these people to spend several thousand dollars on a new website?


The right prospects are going to be those that have already shown an interest in websites. Maybe they have a 3 year old website. Maybe they have an older but expensive flash-based website. Maybe they have an old website but are spending money on PPC. Or maybe they are a company with no website but who spend a lot on traditional advertising. Yeah that last one will be harder but if you have the skill they should be worth converting since they already see the value in advertising.



The third problem is noticed is your pricing. What your competitors are charging has zero to do with what you charge. Did Apple price the iPod at $49 because everyone else was selling cheap MP3 players? Of course not. On the opposite note did Henry Ford price the Model A to compete with the all the cars of the day? Of course not he knew that the high prices limited the market to only those rich enough to afford them. He priced it for the masses.

So now it's time to figure out what to charge and that takes a few steps.

• What Are You Worth?
• How Long Will It Take?
• Packages?

When it comes to deciding what you are worth you need to to know what kind of quality you produce. You don't want to sell a Rolls for $10k nor do you want to price a Civic at $300k. So truly decide what kind of quality you produce. If it is amateurish figure $5 to $10 average should be $30 to $40 and high end would be a lot higher. Now take that number times 3. The idea being that 1/3rd of your time goes to actual work on the site. Rather that is you doing all the work or a company where 1/3rd of labor is on the actual design or coding.


The average for internet services is $100 to $150/hr which as you see fits nicely with the $30 to $40 I used. So if you think you are an amateur but worth $10/hr your hourly billable rate would be $30. $30 IMO is the lowest any professional should charge. Less than that just go get a job flipping burgers. You will make more.


Now how long does or at least how long should it take you? Start simple with a basic 3 to 5 page website. How long will that take you? Likely 2 to 10 hours. Let's keep it simple and say 4 hours for a 5 page website. You will do the same for any project but let's start simple.



The next point will be what I call the flub factor. Basically add 20 to 25% on to your estimate. So now that 5 page website takes 5 hours and if we used the $30/hr price that is $150. Or for an average worker that would be $500 which is why you see $499 starting points so often.



So how do we package these? Personally I believe that other than a one to three starting point packages every website should be custom. The starting packages like that simple 5 page website are merely starting points. "Our prices start at $499 but we prefer to give custom quotes based on our clients specific needs."


Some will only have that one starter while others will have a handful of starters based on different needs. For some clients the package will be all they need but for many you will need to figure up time like above to give a custom quote.


Finally I leave you with some closing thoughts.


Your only goal is putting the right products in front of the right buyers with the right sales message.

Right now based on what you said you are trying to put a maybe product in front of the wrong buyers without a sales message.


And when it comes to receptionists stop thinking of them as "in your way" instead realize they are your way in. You just need to learn how to sell them on helping you in. Some may just pass you along while others may give you a great introduction or even presell the decision maker on you.

Max, welcome to the forum. I encourage you to search through the archives. There are lots of good threads. Here are a few:

This thread answers almost every objection you'll come up against.
http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...-training.html

I see you've read this one but here it is again.
http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...ne-really.html

Here is a good way to start your calls.
http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...ccess-tip.html

More:
http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...click-see.html

Hope that helps.

Ill share my secret man. I only offer mobile sites. Heres why. You find a mobile platform theres many out there so just use google. Go in person and don't be a wussy, target one niche, dog groomers are good!

Bring up 2 tabs on your phone. 1 of their ugly ass site with tiny words, and another of a mockup of what their site could look like. if you target 100 dog groomers in your area just make one mockup to show them what you did for someone else. tell them 60% of consumers are using mobile phones now, and if they cant read nor see your number theyre losing a large percentage of business to competitors. then sell it to em for 300 dollars and say you knocked off 100... I'm telling you ive been making 5 figures a month doing this

Out of this entire thread, I found one thing worth mentioning again.

You need to remember that those amazing receptionists are your way in, so stop acting like they need to get out or they don't mean much. You never know, that receptionist may be your main person to getting to the main source; or may be the main source itself.

Hi maxshafiq,

I was like yourself a few months ago trying to make sales. One thing I knew is cold calling works! I came to a conclusion on this by seeing the success of Iamnameless, Jason etc on this forum who do this for a living and make pretty big money!

I knew that I had to master this skill. So I started making a few calls everyday like 10 -25
. I remember how down I used to feel when someone says no to my offer. But with encouragement from people on this forum I just carried on. Soon I was making about 50 calls per day and I used to think VOW! 50 CALLS! Today I make on the average 200 calls per day. I am still no master at it but I do make some sales. Note that I am ringing people from the yellow pages. I work mostly with roofers,contractors, plumbers etc. I find that these people do not have secretaries often as Iamnameless mentioned.

Now you may think that if you start calling 100 numbers per day and if you do not get a sale in a week you failed! Trust me they will buy! These people are busy and are always out and about. It takes me on the average 2 - 5 weeks before i close a deal from the day of the first contact.

I am not saying this is how it works, this is how it has been working for me. I also did do a one call close once! and I was so excited!

You never know what can happen if you put ur mind to it and STICK WITH IT! Now go pick up the phone and dial!

Thanks to all the people who have helped me.. " pantera, iamnameless,Jason etc... sorry if i did'nt mention anyone" Love this forum

You face a real uphill battle with Dentist/Doctors/Lawyers etc.. because they do NOT want to buy a web site. What they want to buy is piece of mind knowing that everything about their online presence is being done correctly and it must translate into business growth. As such you may have better luck finding what is wrong with existing sites and actively talking about solutions on your sites/blogs/social media etc..

While you are approaching them trying to sell them a web site they are being referred by colleagues to a "guy" that will handle their online presence that made their colleague x number of dollars or grew their practice by X

All these folks have trusted colleagues that are non compete since they spent so much time in school and their mates are spread out geographically and referrals with this crowd carries huge weight.

I was able to grow an entire business essentially acting as the virtual marketing director for a select group of dentists/orthos/dental surgeons strictly based on solving major problems for one client who then referred me on.

Yup, pick niches that are easier to get to the owner in.

Attorneys and dentists are some of the most difficult. Their gatekeepers have been trained to protect their employers' time.

And remember, if you do some targeting, just because you think a website is old and lousy doesn't mean that the prospect thinks that.

I'd recommend you focus on a particular component of their existing site that is missing and offer them THAT solution (of course YOUR complete site containsnthat solution plus all of the other benefits you offer). For example, don't just call a list of professionals/offices and blather about your benefits -- they dont care.

Imstead of that, actually go to their site and see what is missing. Take online booking: if they dont have that capability then THAT is your "in".

"I was at your site but couldn't find a way to book an appointment from there. Do you just schedule appointments over the phone?"

Now you can move into your benefits (you better offer online booking

"Dr. Jones, with us you will have that capability integrated into your site. Our existing customers tell is they have seen a 40% increase in booked appointments and revenues to go along with that".

Another thing I want to add to why they are the wrong prospects....

I've brought this up a few times but I don't think many have really thought this through. They simply think that lawyers, doctors, and dentists have money. But personal income has little to do with what their businesses will spend on marketing. These guys often build themselves jobs not businesses. If they are making a lot of money they are likely fully booked. This is especially true of general practice doctors in the US since we have a shortage of them here.

The other thing to think about I can sum up in a few questions.

• How did you find your doctor?
• How did you find your dentist?
• How did you find your lawyer?

I would be willing to bet that the vast majority will answer one of the following.

• Friend told me they were good.
• Found them on my Insurance Companies "List".
• I asked my _____ who they would recommend.
• Co-Worker told me
• Realtor told me
• etc

The simple fact is that these are industries where the vast majority of their customers come from referrals.

These are the two reasons that these groups as a whole do very little advertising.

Now there are niches within these especially among lawyers that do advertise. DUI lawyers are one of the biggest. And targeting those groups is fine.

But you are not really targeting lawyers. You are targeting with one of the most effective methods there is.....

Target those who are already spending money advertising.

Those who already know the value of advertising will always be the easiest to sell.
You don't have to convince them....

• that advertising works
• that they need more than just referrals
• that advertising is an investment not an expense

All you need to do is convince them that their online presence could be better and that better presence would make them money.

Selling isn't rocket science. Nor is prospecting. No matter how bad you are at selling if you get the right product in front of the right people you will make sales.

So please everyone here stop and think. Why would you go after the hardest to close people?
You know the ones.....

• without a website
• who do no old school advertising
• with an old website
• using a free DIY website & host

Why would you target these people?Why not target the low hanging fruit? Is it really just because some guy selling a $7 WSO told you they had money? Why do so many here chase after these guys?

Which would you rather do?

• Teach/Convince People that Advertising is worth doing then sell them on yours?
  
• Sell Advertising to those used to Investing in Advertising?

Be very careful about insulting their marketing
efforts - praise that they have them.
Example: Their son or niece may have put their
website together, even if it's WIX or Godaddy's
Website Tonite.

Don't limit yourself to websites. As you talk to
people, you might find they need other services
you can offer or outsource. Or, besides their
website, they might need a revamp of their whole
marketing funnel such as landing page, content,
copywriting, conversion... (Example prospect: Dating
coach with a lot of Ebooks for different segments of
her market.)

In addition to cold calling, you can do such things
as go to Chamber of Commerce mixers (for free at first),
or other offline ways to mix with business owners. Cold
walking into businesses that are likely owner operated
can be effective too.

Dan

Create independent sales agents and offer them high commissions (50 - 70%?), and once you acquire client base, it is almost automatic and easy to get new clients. You see, the greatest challenge for a new entrepreneur is not idea, but few initial clients to start off with. Once you have clients, trust me since I have been there myself, the rest gets easier.

You can advertise in relevant online/offline sites/mags/newspapers to recruit your independent sales agents and indicate the high sales commissions.

Also, ensure that you provide them with sales materials to help them sell well. If you are concerned about collection, make a rule that clients must online at your website.

Indeed your own website must be able to tell the world that its awesome!

p/s: create affiliate program

Try putting ads on craigslist or do some offline flyers to find people interested in making money online. Keep the middle men out of it...

Befriend the "Gate Keeper" Sometimes they are the ones responsible for big decisions that the company makes ( usually small businesses) The gate keeper is your friend, not someone you need to dodge, avoid or get past from the jump.