20 Years Old. Trying to set up a business plan.

11 years ago

Use the Little Unsure technique with gatekeepers.

Where in NC are you?

Rather than a business plan, concentrate on finding problems prospects are experiencing and matching them with solutions you can provide. Your business will change, so a detailed plan is not very useful. Understanding your target market is.

No product or service is "better" than another. But pick something that pays you a good return for your time invested.

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iRunThis

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Jason Kanigan

Use the Little Unsure technique with gatekeepers.

Where in NC are you?

Rather than a business plan, concentrate on finding problems prospects are experiencing and matching them with solutions you can provide. Your business will change, so a detailed plan is not very useful. Understanding your target market is.

No product or service is "better" than another. But pick something that pays you a good return for your time invested.

Back when I was trying that I would always get hit with "Well you can just explain it to me" or the gatekeeper would act as the decision maker and let me down easily. I figure it was a mix of them getting frequent calls like this and I'm sure I wasn't doing the best that I possibly could. I think I might give cold calling another try though.

Would you recommend me creating a website for myself? Is it necessary? I'm sure when I start landing appointments I'll be checked by the decision makers to make sure I'm legit with questions like, "Where is your office located? Have you provided/Are you providing this service for others in the area?"

I was thinking about starting out with SMS Marketing for the simple facts that, after the initial setup, the upkeep is a piece of cake. I can charge monthly fees to the companies who are using my services.

Thanks for the reply Jason.

Thanks
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Jason Kanigan

11 years ago

Originally Posted by iRunThis

Back when I was trying that I would always get hit with "Well you can just explain it to me" or the gatekeeper would act as the decision maker and let me down easily. I figure it was a mix of them getting frequent calls like this and I'm sure I wasn't doing the best that I possibly could. I think I might give cold calling another try though.

Would you recommend me creating a website for myself? Is it necessary? I'm sure when I start landing appointments I'll be checked by the decision makers to make sure I'm legit with questions like, "Where is your office located? Have you provided/Are you providing this service for others in the area?"

I was thinking about starting out with SMS Marketing for the simple facts that, after the initial setup, the upkeep is a piece of cake. I can charge monthly fees to the companies who are using my services.

Thanks for the reply Jason.

It has worked for TONS of people on this forum. Are you using the exact wording? How many calls did you actually make?

Do not sound like a salesperson when you call. "How are you today?", singsong tone and fake enthusiasm need to be banished from your calls.

You should not be pitching gatekeepers. "Well, I help businesses who have a marketing program improve their performance. But as I said, I don't know who there has that under their umbrella..." (trail off)

They should transfer you.

No, you do not need a website.

What to do when Your Credentials or Experience...

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iRunThis

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Jason Kanigan

It has worked for TONS of people on this forum. Are you using the exact wording? How many calls did you actually make?

Do not sound like a salesperson when you call. "How are you today?", singsong tone and fake enthusiasm need to be banished from your calls.

You should not be pitching gatekeepers. "Well, I help businesses who have a marketing program improve their performance. But as I said, I don't know who there has that under their umbrella..." (trail off)

They should transfer you.

No, you do not need a website.

What to do when Your Credentials or Experience are Questioned - YouTube

You're awesome man. Thanks.
Gonna get into some research when I get to my house.

All other inputs still welcome!

Thanks
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LasseKohau 11 years ago

Buy a light sales training program from Jason. He is golden, when it comes to salestraining by phone.

Understand salesproces and learn to fight back obstacles !

Then, do this !

Pick a market 500 miles away form your city, choose a niche, fx. hairdressers - and start talking to them on the phone. Tell them, you are a student and want to major in Marketing. You would like to hear their two most important obstacles to grow their business. No sales, No pressure - just friendly asking to learn.

Do this ten times randomly, and you have the solotion to sell. Then afterwards, call ten new hairdressers in the same area, tell them, you are a student, with your own little company in marketing - and you have learned, that two major concerns, that hairdresses have are getting customers and local competetion and price cut downs.

Ask them, do you recognize these problems.
GET A YES !

If they say no, ask them - what are you major concerns in growing your business !

Ask them, how would you like to solve these problems, I mean - you want to solve them right ?
GET A YES !

Would you be interested in testing my my sms text message client acq. system, that I have developed at School - for free in three days. You can keep all the customers......... for no charge.....

Call them after three days, and ask them; How were the customers, That I send to you ?
How many did convert ?
How much money did you make from these in three days ?
Multiply that figure with 10, to get a whole month, what is that in total revenue?
Could you use a extra xxxxxx dollars a month ?
Tell me, do you know of any hairdressers in Miami - who would benefit from my services?

YES, ME

Ok, how much is a retention customer worth to you ?
ok, I take 10 procent of every invoiced amount, meaning - this serevice will cost you.... and you only have to convert 1 out of 10 customers !

Can you do that ?

YES,

Great, we have a deal - I will send you a contract tomorrow and we are up and running.

-----

CLOSED DEAL !
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misterme

11 years ago

Originally Posted by iRunThis

Back when I was trying that I would always get hit with "Well you can just explain it to me" or the gatekeeper would act as the decision maker and let me down easily. I figure it was a mix of them getting frequent calls like this and I'm sure I wasn't doing the best that I possibly could. I think I might give cold calling another try though.

This is but one reason why, despite the oft repeated advice everywhere to have a business plan, I believe business plans are basically worthless. Because the best business plans are still going to face real life and deal with it - and that's typically not factored into the plan because it's an unknown.

Besides which, you might find a door shuts and a window opens here and there, and if you stick with your plan, you lose. If you're willing to abandon the plan to go after the opportunity, you could win big.

Here's an example out of thin air of what I mean: someone chooses to become a fashion designer. Likes making belts. Comes up with a business plan to get in to the fashion accessory market selling women's belts. Does ok after a couple of years, has ups and downs, but get this:

Come to find out one of their belts was picked up by a pet store because it made the perfect dog leash. They move more of it than any other outlet you have for your line.

Do you then choose to abandon women's belts and look into this further and go in to the dog leash business? Maybe make a fashion line for puppies? Dedicate marketing resources to pet stores and suppliers?

====

What's better than a business plan is a business model. A known system for how you're going to market and sell and produce the product/service - its inner workings, so to speak.

====

I'm sure when I start landing appointments I'll be checked by the decision makers to make sure I'm legit with questions like, "Where is your office located? Have you provided/Are you providing this service for others in the area?"

You'll be asked questions throughout the entire process, even after delivery. This will always be essential to you being in business. This is why real selling knowledge and ability is important.

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Jason Kanigan

11 years ago

Originally Posted by misterme

This is but one reason why, despite the oft repeated advice everywhere to have a business plan, I believe business plans are basically worthless. Because the best business plans are still going to face real life and deal with it - and that's typically not factored into the plan because it's an unknown.

I agree, with two decades of post-college experience, with this right here.

Business plans are for investors to read over. They don't survive their first encounter with harsh reality.

The reality is that most businesses don't turn out to be what their founder thought they'd be. There's this example of a woman who badly wanted to have a storefront bakery for her cupcakes. No customers, and they had to close the storefront pretty quickly. But she got internet orders. So she rents a commercial kitchen and makes good money fulfilling those web orders. That's what took off. You can't really predict that. Does she lament the death of her storefront dream? Yup. IMO should she move on and maximize her web order business? Pretty obvious.

Business plans can also cause us to get married to one outcome. We can stick with that plan too long, and not adjust to profit on the feedback reality is giving us. The proof in the pudding is the answer to "What's selling?"

Should you have a plan? Well, the business model idea is a good one. You definitely want to be clear on what you're about. But be ready to adjust to the reality of the marketplace.

I'm often asked to write business plans. And I won't, for these reasons. I just don't believe in 'em.

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iRunThis

11 years ago

Originally Posted by misterme

What's better than a business plan is a business model. A known system for how you're going to market and sell and produce the product/service - its inner workings, so to speak.

Originally Posted by Jason Kanigan

Should you have a plan? Well, the business model idea is a good one. You definitely want to be clear on what you're about. But be ready to adjust to the reality of the marketplace.

I'm often asked to write business plans. And I won't, for these reasons. I just don't believe in 'em.

Great posts from both of you. It appears I made a mistake. In the original post, I was referring to a business model when I said business plan.

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jamesfreddyc 11 years ago

Originally Posted by Jason Kanigan

But pick something that pays you a good return for your time invested.

...or one that is recurring.
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Slab

11 years ago

I'm part of this group >>>

Perhaps speak to the man and see... If focuses on business start up.

Oh and it's totally free, as in everything.

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massiveray

11 years ago

1) PPC, real PPC, not managing their spend, I'm talking about lead generation through PPC.

2) The exact way you will be doing it for your clients, learn to do it and use it yourself, that way you already have proof that you can do it when THEY CALL YOU!

3) Don't worry about this yet, learn to generate leads through pay per click, learn to adapt that method to other industries and it's like printing money. Testing is your new business plan, test everything, document all results and learn to analyse those results.

The key is to control the whole process, you create the ads, you create the audience, you control the funnel. You just rent the funnel to the highest bidder.

If you do it right you basically only have to answer the phone and send out invoices (after the initial set up of the funnel).

Cold calling and selling stuff is great, it works, very well but.... to do it alongside full time study is a hard thing to do, it takes time, and a lot of it.

Learning and testing to generate these kinds of leads is a much less time consuming process and could (potentially) be done alongside your study.

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iRunThis

11 years ago

Originally Posted by massiveray

1) PPC, real PPC, not managing their spend, I'm talking about lead generation through PPC.

2) The exact way you will be doing it for your clients, learn to do it and use it yourself, that way you already have proof that you can do it when THEY CALL YOU!

3) Don't worry about this yet, learn to generate leads through pay per click, learn to adapt that method to other industries and it's like printing money. Testing is your new business plan, test everything, document all results and learn to analyse those results.

The key is to control the whole process, you create the ads, you create the audience, you control the funnel. You just rent the funnel to the highest bidder.

If you do it right you basically only have to answer the phone and send out invoices (after the initial set up of the funnel).

Cold calling and selling stuff is great, it works, very well but.... to do it alongside full time study is a hard thing to do, it takes time, and a lot of it.

Learning and testing to generate these kinds of leads is a much less time consuming process and could (potentially) be done alongside your study.

I'm not too knowledgable with PPC. I've attempted it a few times in the past, online, and had some conversions but was still in the negatives. The only problem I see with it is you need a significant amount of starter money to test out different keywords until you find a winner. I'm not currently in a position to spend that much money just testing keywords.

I like your answer though. If I'm wrong about the spending a significant amount of money part, let me know and I can do some more reading up on PPC. Yeah I figured cold calling would be time consuming. That's why I was thinking about creating a website or having a website created and getting leads through email and/or flyers/posters.

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massiveray

11 years ago

There will be some spend involved, it would be naive to think otherwise. and obviously the more you have to test the more accurately you can predict results.

However it doesn't have to be expensive, you need to learn a few things:
How to make somebody click your ad
Once they click your ad how to get them into your funnel
How to make your funnel suck money out of their account

Once you can do this for yourself to generate leads to you, adapt the same process to your clients.

The key is to actually understand the 3 things above, understand why what you do is or isn't working, that way it can be adapted and isn't just a one off.

Also do online grunt work to finance the testing or make one sale through cold calling, whatever it takes.

Originally Posted by iRunThis

I'm not too knowledgable with PPC. I've attempted it a few times in the past, online, and had some conversions but was still in the negatives. The only problem I see with it is you need a significant amount of starter money to test out different keywords until you find a winner. I'm not currently in a position to spend that much money just testing keywords.

I like your answer though. If I'm wrong about the spending a significant amount of money part, let me know and I can do some more reading up on PPC. Yeah I figured cold calling would be time consuming. That's why I was thinking about creating a website or having a website created and getting leads through email and/or flyers/posters.

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LasseKohau

11 years ago

I run a seven figure lead gen business - along my dayjob, a wife and two kids. Everything except customer retention and invoicing is automated.

Learn the proces of LG, start with small customers and expand on niches with high ticket items or high value services. Then you make six figures with 2 to 4 clients.

regards, Lasse

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wb_man

11 years ago

Originally Posted by LasseKohau

I run a seven figure lead gen business - along my dayjob, a wife and two kids. Everything except customer retention and invoicing is automated.

Learn the proces of LG, start with small customers and expand on niches with high ticket items or high value services. Then you make six figures with 2 to 4 clients.

regards, Lasse

Wow, a seven figure lead generation business? Is it revenue or profit?
Do you have employees or outsource?
What tools do you use?
Can you give some examples of niches that are willing to pay you that much money?

Thanks
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LasseKohau 11 years ago

I dont talk revenue, only profits.

No employees, not even salesforce (to complicated). I outsource articlewriting for my blogs to native american writers.

I use reallysimplesystems for client control, Google adwords and facebook ppc for traffic, phone.com for leadtracking and freshbook for invoicing.

No, I never discuss businessmodels and clients in public space - however, you should investigate medical and educational subniches.

regards, Lasse
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wb_man

11 years ago

Originally Posted by LasseKohau

I run a seven figure lead gen business - along my dayjob, a wife and two kids. Everything except customer retention and invoicing is automated.

Learn the proces of LG, start with small customers and expand on niches with high ticket items or high value services. Then you make six figures with 2 to 4 clients.

regards, Lasse

Wow, seven figures doing lead generation? And it isn't revenue?

You still have time for job and family? How is it possible?
How do you manage your time?

Can we see proof of your earnings?

Thanks

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DaniMc

11 years ago

Originally Posted by iRunThis

I'm unsure about which service to provide yet, I don't have any favorites at the moment.

All the advice in the world is completely useless until you resolve this. You have no product. You have nothing to sell.

Watch this brilliant video (5 min) from my buddy Mike: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNArUQXhW1U

Sit down - do some thinking and research about where your market is going in the next 12-18 months.

You want to sell B2B? Sit down and think about what their struggles are and what that means they will need. Come up with a solution you think you can implement.

Iron out the details and start talking about your ONE solution - become the expert. Test the waters and see if people are interested. If not - move on.

Here is a great way to do a simple, cheap test: Idea to paying customers in 7 weeks: how we did it - The Buffer Blog

Once you have something that is ahead of the trend curve, you can do, people really want and need, then you can begin selling. You are a marketing student - this is a good project to work on.

At first, sell at break even or maybe a loss just to figure out what works. Do the work yourself. Maybe recruit some of your hard-working classmates into the business. Notice I said "hard-working" not "smartest." You need people who are willing to grind out tasks and help you move forward. Don't offer any equity in the company yet. Some people will help just to help.

Once you have a solid product to sell, are very knowledgeable, and know you can deliver - start talking to every group you can find. Any group where your customers are members - go to them, become known as the expert, and start speaking to them.

The biggest mistake people make is wanting to "sell" and have a "business" but they have no product and no idea which direction to go. So, you set off in any and every direction, constantly meeting failure. Treat this like business. Real business. And you can get somewhere. Treat it like a hobby or something you are dabbling in, and join the masses of people who want to be in business, but never make any real money.

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ashclevermtkg 11 years ago

OP, take it from me, STOP planning. START selling. Start making money. Constantly planning will take away from time you're doing something that actually makes you sales.
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savidge4

11 years ago

Originally Posted by iRunThis

What's up WF, It's been a while. I'm a 20 year old college student attending a University in North Carolina, US. My major is Marketing (Thanks to WF and my many ventures here since about 09 - FUN FACT: I switched my major from Mech. Engineer).

I have a huge interest in business, always have. My goal in life, for my career, is to be my own boss. I want to spend the least amount of time possible working for others and only if absolutely necessary.

Now to the point, I really want to come up with a business plan that I can put into action ASAP while still being able to stay on top of my school work and possibly (probably not) getting a job on the side. If I really go forward with this, I plan on developing a brand to continue and expand on when I graduate, but for now, I'm only trying to focus on one form of marketing since it'll only be me for a while. I know I want to sell marketing services to local companies because that's probably what's best for my situation right now. I'm unsure about which service to provide yet, I don't have any favorites at the moment. I just want to provide something that I can be sure about, this is why I don't really want to get into SEO. I'm not that great at creating websites so that's out the window for now as well.

Here's a few questions I have in order to make this thread a little easier to reply to:

In your opinion, what service would you recommend that I offer to these companies?
What's the best way to generate leads/appointments? I gave cold calling a shot, but I'm absolutely TERRIBLE at making it past the gatekeeper.
Any tips as far as the business plan goes?

Also, please list any reading materials or forum posts that you think I might find useful. Currently reading http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...t-selling.html because I'm sure I'll be put in the situation to sell before I'm completely comfortable with it.

Thanks in advance for any feedback,
JaVaun T

I personally focus on long term outlook a lot. What I sow today I reap tomorrow. Examples would be a blog is not a success over night. An etsy store is not a success over night. you have to build and nuture these things with a bit of time and patience.

I am assuming that where you want to work after graduation is in or close to the community you currently live? You don't know WHAT you want to do, you just know that you want to develop a business around marketing local business'. So what do you have to offer these people now? What do you think you will be able to offer once you have a degree?

You don't want to do SEO, you don't want to build websites ( That's fine, that's what guys like me are for - not soliciting just making a point! ) In order to walk into a business you have to have a product or service to offer, as much as what you have to offer is yourself, something a bit more targeted is kinda the idea.

I might suggest developing a site that is designed around the local business' you want to service. Not so targeted as such just a general idea. A place where you leave reviews, and the like. This is what I would consider a base to build apon.

In your case I might go so far as to look specifically at the business' marketing. Compare what they DO, with what you are learning. See if you can do interviews with these business' ( that's a foot in the door by the way ) Write your report, A does this, in my class we learned about this. I spoke with A, and he stated this... I concur, or I disagree based on this learning etc.

This type of method is #1 good for your education. #2 Because you are in College, and you are asking for an interview, the barriers are down with the business owner, they would be proud to assist you in your education. They in turn may HIRE you after you show them your report. ( That you would post online as well without using the Company name ) #3 you start developing Authority in the market. You will have a documented background at looking what IS being done, and how it COULD be better. And better yet you may get to display RESULTS.

Short term the idea is crud, pop 3-4 of these out a month, and you would have an impressive body of work, and people will take notice. You are not having to focus on what you are selling, You simply have to match what your current interview/client needs.

BTW, the stuff I would be looking at is TV Radio ads, Billboards, printed advertising, The take out menu from your favorite Chinese take out... basically anything advertising.

Hope that Helps!

Thanks

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20 Years Old. Trying to set up a business plan.

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