How I Get Offline Clients Via Email

95 replies
Greetings warriors! Ryan Rush here,

I just wanted to take a few minutes and share some insight on how I manage to close offline marketing clients via email. I have learned a lot from this amazing forum and now it is my turn to start giving back. One of the biggest problems I had when I first started my marketing consulting business was obtaining clients, and like most people I absolutely hated cold calling. I actually quit cold calling after just one day, it wasn't for me and I knew there had to be an easier way to get clients.

After countless hours of research, I decided that I would give email a try because a) it's free and b) I can reach a large amount of businesses in a matter of minutes without even talking to them on the phone. I was a bit hesitant at first because I read a lot of negative posts where people were saying that their emails were getting ignored and that they considered it a big waste of time. One thing I learned is that the only way to really figure out if something works is to do it yourself. Just because someone else had a bad experience doesn't mean that you're going to have one as well. Trying something out firsthand is the only way to know whether or not it really works.

Before I started my offline marketing company, I worked for a few computer repair shops and a small marketing agency. One of the duties I had when I worked for that marketing agency was to spend around an hour everyday going through client's emails and deleting anything that was considered spammy. One thing that surprised me was how badly other agencies were trying to advertise their services via email. What they would do is briefly talk about their company and then list out their services one by one with their prices. Each client would receive around 2-3 of these emails daily, and I knew that these emails were ineffective. If I wanted to seriously get the attention of business owners, I had to do something completely different that would not appear as being spammy whatsoever. I knew that just blatantly trying to sell them my services via the first initial contact email was pretty much pointless because the business owner or secretary would delete it within seconds.

Instead I decided to advertise my services in a totally different way. I not only wanted the email to appear non spammy, but I also wanted to make it seem like I was helping them out instead of trying to sell them something. I accomplished this by creating an amazing free offer. This free offer was for a featured spot in a business directory that was local to their area. I got this idea while browsing through wordpress themes, and since most business owners already know the benefits of being listed in a local business directory, I'd figured this was a good free offer to give them. The response rate exceeded my expectations and completely blew me away.

Here is a breakdown of everything I did from start to finish, as well as the results I achieved.

First step: Created a business directory with a professional wordpress directory theme. For the domain I made sure to include the name of the city so that the directory was local. I found this to work much better than using a generic domain. Making your directory look professional is key to making this work because it increases the perceived value and gives you more credibility.

Second step: Scraped 100 emails from business's websites. At first I did this manually and then moved on to using an automated tool.

Third step: Sent them each an email that included a brief introduction about myself, talked briefly about the directory, and lastly asked them if they would like to be featured on it free of charge. I said that I was doing this to help local businesses in my area reach more customers and gain more exposure. I also made sure to make it look as non spammy as possible and didn't even mention anything about selling my services.

Fourth step: Waited for their response. In around 24 hours I got around 36 replies that said they were interested in being featured in my directory and to send them more information. A few asked if this was really free, and a few others asked me to call them and gave me a phone number. At this point I was ecstatic, and knew that I was onto to something huge.

Fifth step: Sent each business the information that I needed from them in order to put them on my directory. Once they replied I put them on it and sent them a confirmation email saying that they have been successfully added and included a link so they can see it.

Six step: Now comes the fun part, selling my services. After adding the business to my directory, I would wait a day or two and then analyze their website to see if any of my services could help them. Instead of selling my services like everyone else, I decided to first find a problem with their website and then email them telling them that I found a problem that was potentially hurting their business.

At this point they would reply wanting more information and I sent them an email explaining what their problem was and if they would be interested in getting it fixed.

Common problems I found with their websites were,
  • Outdated and needed a redesign
  • Not mobile optimized
  • Had no way of collecting customer's email addresses
  • Had no social media presence

If they didn't have any of the problems listed above, I would then look at their traffic and rankings. Generally though I avoided selling them seo because when I used to work for that marketing agency, that was the hardest service to sell because most businesses have no clue what seo is.

Final step: Sent them a paypal invoice and waited. To my surprise out of those 36 businesses that were interested in my free offer, around half were interested in hearing about the problem I found, and in total 8 paid me directly via paypal. A few wanted more information before paying, and a few wanted to talk to me on the phone. Those that talked to me on the phone just had a few questions and paid me once I answered them.

I believe this method is really effective because you are giving business owners something of value and introducing your service as a solution to their problem rather than just blatantly trying to sell them. Plus they will know who you are and understand why they need your service.

You can also take this a step further and make business specific directories like one for plastic surgeons, one for lawyers etc etc. I found that the more specific and exclusive the directory is, the much higher the response rate will be.

I hope this helps you get some clients and remember that the key to making your marketing business successful is by taking massive action.

Thanks for reading.
#clients #email #getting offline customers #how to get clients #offline
  • Profile picture of the author mydream247
    Hi Ryan, great post, Thanks for the information.
    Can I ask what wp directory theme do you suggest to build website?

    Thanks
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9378466].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Ryan Rush
      Originally Posted by mydream247 View Post

      Hi Ryan, great post, Thanks for the information.
      Can I ask what wp directory theme do you suggest to build website?

      Thanks
      Glad you liked my post. The business directory theme that I purchased was this one,

      GeoCraft - WordPress Directory Theme | InkThemes

      It looks professional, it's responsive, and it has a section on the homepage where you can add featured listings.

      You don't have to purchase this specific theme though, there are actually quite a few out there to choose from.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9378483].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Yvon Boulianne
    Already have a theme like that at montrealbiz.ca just didn`t monetize it yet (jury was still out on how to do it lol)

    i wonder, can you give us examples of the letter you sent them with the second follow up as well ?

    would be really helpfull
    Signature
    Stop Struggling With Your Website and Marketing
    30$ / task, pay after done!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9378497].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Ryan Rush
      Originally Posted by Yvon Boulianne View Post

      Already have a theme like that at montrealbiz.ca just didn`t monetize it yet (jury was still out on how to do it lol)

      i wonder, can you give us examples of the letter you sent them with the second follow up as well ?

      would be really helpfull
      Originally I was going to include my exact emails but then decided against it, however later on tonight I will include some example emails you can use.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9378516].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author massiveray
    36 replies from cold emails and 8 paying clients.

    If you can do this, like actually do it, do not share your emails, because they are made of magic.

    I would love to some of the replies from these biz owners though.

    I don't even get that kind of response from my current customers.
    Signature

    Join my private strategy group on Facebook or find out how I made £2000 recurring in 2 weeks.

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9378621].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Ryan Rush
      Originally Posted by massiveray View Post

      36 replies from cold emails and 8 paying clients.

      If you can do this, like actually do it, do not share your emails, because they are made of magic.

      I would love to some of the replies from these biz owners though.

      I don't even get that kind of response from my current customers.
      Those numbers are actually very low, but the main reason why I got 36 replies is a combination of both the email and the offer of being listed for free in my directory. Business owners are always looking for free ways to advertise their business and gain more exposure. Plus I made sure that my directory looked professional by using a premium theme, buying a logo from fiverr, and used a custom email address containing the domain name.

      There is no magic in my email, it's all a matter of creating an amazing free offer that has a high perceived value and then presenting it in a professional manner.


      Originally Posted by Underground View Post

      This method, and the interview method are great at getting massive response. I did plan on using the interview method, but was kind of relegating it in terms of importance in favour of some other methods I thought were more direct since I've never seen credible stats about how to move from that to selling and actually closing deals.

      I originally crafted my whole service on what would be a natural upsell for a directory listing. I went back to video production and marketing, as that is just what yellow pages do, but I've spent so long getting over various hurdles to launch I forgot about this method.

      Now that I've seen how many actually bought and weren't concerned it was a bait and switch, I will definitely be implementing this.

      Thanks so much for sharing.

      Glad you liked my post, I too was concerned about them potentially thinking it was a bait and switch. But by pointing out a problem they had on their website that could potentially cost them money, and then offering my service as a solution, that made them feel happy about buying my service. Plus after going through the entire process of getting their business listed, they are much more receptive to what I have to say.

      Originally Posted by jamesfreddyc View Post

      OP thanks for posting this... Love seeing success and the methods employed are really helpful!

      I've seen a couple of new (to me) concepts over the past couple of months that have caught my attention, including this one. I think these are working/successful because consumers (esp business owners) are smart and these kinds of methods allow for that to play out in the sales process. It's not so much about calling/emailing to make a sale as it is about calling/emailing to start the sales process.

      Great stuff OP!
      Glad you liked my post.

      Originally Posted by Yvon Boulianne View Post

      Here`s a thing i did and was working very good.

      Was going to the city, talking in face of peoples about my directory website and asked if they want to be featured there.

      I got something like 97% yes, everybody want free exposure (1 was thinking it was a scam, another 2 was saying internet not working)

      Never follow up, was splitting my resources too thin + shining object syndrome, but yep, that should work pretty good by email too.

      There`s an example of how i did it.

      Going in the store, saying hiya, how are you today ?

      You got a business card ?

      (lot don`t have, surpisingly)

      Take my business card with the business directory on it, giving them and telling this:

      I got a business directory on the internet where i put montreal business on it, that`s free as it only take me a couples of minutes and it give local business more traffic which is also good to me as it make the directory bigger, If you`r ok with it, i`ll put your business on it, there`s really no charge ?

      as i said everybody except a couples was very happy about that.

      Now i`ll just split my times between that door to door aproach + email and more important i`ll follow up as the OP said.

      only my 2 cents.

      Yvon
      Wow if you were getting a 97% yes face to face then you were sitting on a gold mine. If you would have just gotten their emails and followed up I bet you would have made a lot of sales. However I too have suffered from shiny object syndrome and know exactly where your coming from. What snapped me out of it was that I was tired of failing and decided to use what I already had to obtain clients in a way that I was comfortable with.

      I bet if you go to business owners face to face, get their information, list them on your directory, and then follow up, you will get a nice client base to keep you busy for a while.

      Originally Posted by Kent_Thompson View Post

      I have been looking for new ways to reach local businesses to sell advertising to that DO NOT involve cold calling, and I think this strategy is brilliant. Create the directory, then ask them if they want to be included for free. Of course they will say yes, and then you have the connection to say, oh by the way, would you be interested in reaching new customers via direct mail...?

      I have had a little trouble finding email addresses on local businesses websites...do you have any insight? Did you ever contact anyone via social media, FB message, etc...?
      Finding emails on local business websites can be a bit tricky, luckily the automated tool I use searches their entire site within seconds for any trace of an email. What I found that also works is by sending them your email via their contact us form. I'm currently in the process of hiring a VA to do all of the contact form emailing for me.

      I haven't contacted businesses via fb or social media, but I'm in the process of expanding and I'm going to be trying fb ads, direct mail, and some ppc ads.

      Thanks to everyone that liked my post, I will be sharing a few example emails soon.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9379032].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author massiveray
        Originally Posted by Ryan Rush View Post

        Those numbers are actually very low, but the main reason why I got 36 replies is a combination of both the email and the offer of being listed for free in my directory. Business owners are always looking for free ways to advertise their business and gain more exposure. Plus I made sure that my directory looked professional by using a premium theme, buying a logo from fiverr, and used a custom email address containing the domain name.

        There is no magic in my email, it's all a matter of creating an amazing free offer that has a high perceived value and then presenting it in a professional manner.




        My point was that your response rates from cold emails are exceptional, if true.

        I've been doing cold emails for years and general response rate is close to 0.1%, and you get 36%.

        I mean fo realz, what is your subject line? Why are they opening your emails?

        Your offer can be give me £1 and I'll give you £2 back immediately but if nobody sees your offer then nobody will buy it.

        Out of 100 emails, how many were opened? If less than all 100% were opened and you got 36 replies them the % just goes up.

        If these numbers are legitimate and you're not just bullshitting then your emails are magic.
        Signature

        Join my private strategy group on Facebook or find out how I made £2000 recurring in 2 weeks.

        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9381360].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author jamesfreddyc
          Originally Posted by massiveray View Post

          My point was that your response rates from cold emails are exceptional, if true.

          I've been doing cold emails for years and general response rate is close to 0.1%, and you get 36%.

          I mean fo realz, what is your subject line? Why are they opening your emails?
          Genuinely engaging prospects will likely consistently get you 20%-40% response rates. Those are conversation starters though, not sales copy.
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9381389].message }}
          • Profile picture of the author Ryan Rush
            Originally Posted by jamesfreddyc View Post

            Genuinely engaging prospects will likely consistently get you 20%-40% response rates. Those are conversation starters though, not sales copy.
            Yep exactly! An engaging email is really all it takes to get the conversation started and hopefully generate a sale.

            Most people try and sell their services right from the first email which is why they see terrible results, business owners are going to immediately mark them as spam.

            For those that asked, the tool I use to scrape emails is localizer leads tool
            {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9381430].message }}
            • Profile picture of the author jamesfreddyc
              Originally Posted by Ryan Rush View Post

              Yep exactly! An engaging email is really all it takes to get the conversation started and hopefully generate a sale.

              Most people try and sell their services right from the first email which is why they see terrible results, business owners are going to immediately mark them as spam.

              For those that asked, the tool I use to scrape emails is localizer leads tool
              It works. The hard part is bridging the gap between intro to sale --- but hey, that's with all forms of sales I suppose! The bigger point here is that, like you say, most go into email marketing with a "send an email, get a sale" mindset, which just KILLS your opportunity. But going into iit with "send an email, start the sales process" approach will be much more effective.

              ...you though have gone further in your OP and laid out the that sales process. Which is awesome and very beneficial to those who pay attention.
              {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9381440].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author Ryan Rush
          Originally Posted by massiveray View Post

          My point was that your response rates from cold emails are exceptional, if true.

          I've been doing cold emails for years and general response rate is close to 0.1%, and you get 36%.

          I mean fo realz, what is your subject line? Why are they opening your emails?

          Your offer can be give me £1 and I'll give you £2 back immediately but if nobody sees your offer then nobody will buy it.

          Out of 100 emails, how many were opened? If less than all 100% were opened and you got 36 replies them the % just goes up.

          If these numbers are legitimate and you're not just bullshitting then your emails are magic.
          If you are only getting a 0.1% response rate then you must be doing something terribly wrong. Either a) you are blatantly trying to sell them something b) getting emails from terrible sources or c) your emails are being marked as spam.

          After I scrape emails I go through them one by one and delete any that do not belong to the business and also delete all duplicates. This by itself has increased the open and response rate of my campaigns.

          I'm also pretty sure you must be doing a mass amount of mailings at once. When I did a mass mailing of over 1k, most of the emails got marked as spam and never reached the inbox. I know this because I always include a few of my own email addresses in each campaign. When I do smaller mailings, usually within 100-150, my emails almost always go to the inbox. Not quite sure why but I think it has something to do with a certain spam trigger.

          I don't always consistently get a 36% response rate, sometimes it's lower and sometimes it's higher. The stmp server and bulk emailer software that you use also play a huge role in whether or not your emails make it to the inbox.

          Your making me think twice about sharing an example email, might just keep it behind closed doors.
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9381415].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author jamesfreddyc
          Originally Posted by massiveray View Post

          If these numbers are legitimate and you're not just bullshitting then your emails are magic.
          No magic. This is probably why (from the OP):

          I also made sure to make it look as non spammy as possible and didn't even mention anything about selling my services.
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9381424].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Underground
    This method, and the interview method are great at getting massive response. I did plan on using the interview method, but was kind of relegating it in terms of importance in favour of some other methods I thought were more direct since I've never seen credible stats about how to move from that to selling and actually closing deals.

    I originally crafted my whole service on what would be a natural upsell for a directory listing. I went back to video production and marketing, as that is just what yellow pages do, but I've spent so long getting over various hurdles to launch I forgot about this method.

    Now that I've seen how many actually bought and weren't concerned it was a bait and switch, I will definitely be implementing this.

    Thanks so much for sharing.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9378639].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author jamesfreddyc
      OP thanks for posting this... Love seeing success and the methods employed are really helpful!

      Originally Posted by Underground View Post

      This method, and the interview method are great at getting massive response. I did plan on using the interview method, but was kind of relegating it in terms of importance in favour of some other methods I thought were more direct since I've never seen credible stats about how to move from that to selling and actually closing deals.
      I've seen a couple of new (to me) concepts over the past couple of months that have caught my attention, including this one. I think these are working/successful because consumers (esp business owners) are smart and these kinds of methods allow for that to play out in the sales process. It's not so much about calling/emailing to make a sale as it is about calling/emailing to start the sales process.

      Great stuff OP!
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9378711].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Underground
        Originally Posted by jamesfreddyc View Post

        OP thanks for posting this... Love seeing success and the methods employed are really helpful!



        I've seen a couple of new (to me) concepts over the past couple of months that have caught my attention, including this one. I think these are working/successful because consumers (esp business owners) are smart and these kinds of methods allow for that to play out in the sales process. It's not so much about calling/emailing to make a sale as it is about calling/emailing to start the sales process.

        Great stuff OP!
        With the first few companies I started out in, I tried everything to get sales, but one thing was clear: If you have something free and valuable to offer businesses, one being a way to promote themselves for free and be found by others, many will jump at the chance. 1000% more than trying to sell them. Give something first. Very simple. So simple I almost forgot it.

        After your amazing success rate, I was building on that, and had a few trip wire offers of low cost with high payoff to prove results upfront, and was going to run with that, but this adds that extra step that will logically make the trip wire offers, the too good to be true offers a very natural upsell to offer.

        If you can ramp this up to where around 10 people a day opt for the trip-wire offers, for me that would be around £500 a day just in that at £49 for a can't turn down offer. Then getting great results for them with the offers, like guaranteeing them 1000 real views in two weeks or double their money back and you just by some youtube advertising for 5-10-15 dollars to get them, you've made bit of money, spent far less of cost per lead, have proven your services, and greatly increased your chances of making an upsell on your bigger services by showing the value in them.

        I will catch up with you once I have that all in place. How are you getting on?
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9379304].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author jamesfreddyc
          Originally Posted by Underground View Post

          I will catch up with you once I have that all in place. How are you getting on?
          Doing the work consistently each day! Sticking with what is getting me some results, ditching things that are not working and learning from them.
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9379729].message }}
          • Profile picture of the author Underground
            Originally Posted by jamesfreddyc View Post

            Doing the work consistently each day! Sticking with what is getting me some results, ditching things that are not working and learning from them.
            Good to hear it. Best way to learn.
            {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9386016].message }}
            • Profile picture of the author StarkContrast
              Yes I'd be curious to find out what your subject line is too because many times I'll NOT open an email if it event hints of being spam. FREE anything hints of spam. You've done a great job on this.

              Also, how are you driving traffic to the directory or is that not a concern? This is pretty good stuff, Ryan. Thanks.
              {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9386903].message }}
              • Profile picture of the author StarkContrast
                Another thought I had about this, how big is the area you were targeting? I live in a Metro area that has oodles of suburbs but with 2-3 main cities (600K is the main city). Suburbs range from 90K down to 15K in population. I know I'm overthinking this but just wanted to get your thoughts.
                {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9386937].message }}
              • Profile picture of the author jamesfreddyc
                Originally Posted by StarkContrast View Post

                Yes I'd be curious to find out what your subject line is too because many times I'll NOT open an email if it event hints of being spam. FREE anything hints of spam. You've done a great job on this.

                Also, how are you driving traffic to the directory or is that not a concern? This is pretty good stuff, Ryan. Thanks.
                The OP said it was a question.

                I don't mean to speak for him but from my perspective it probably would go something like this. Hypothetical I have some accounting software that helps boost collections on past due accounts:

                Subject: "How do you handle your delinquent accounts?"

                Am I a customer asking about my account? Or am I a vendor inquiring about their curre t process?

                Most businesses will likely think I am a customer.
                {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9386940].message }}
              • Profile picture of the author jamesfreddyc
                Originally Posted by StarkContrast View Post

                Also, how are you driving traffic to the directory or is that not a concern? This is pretty good stuff, Ryan. Thanks.
                The OP scraped email addresses and cleaned the list very well to make sure good delivery rates.
                {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9386974].message }}
                • Profile picture of the author StarkContrast
                  Originally Posted by jamesfreddyc View Post

                  The OP scraped email addresses and cleaned the list very well to make sure good delivery rates.
                  Understand, but I was referring to the directory itself, the site all the businesses will be listed on. How did he get traffic to that site since there are a variety of businesses involved?

                  I'm in the process of scraping emails myself so that's no worries.
                  {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9387033].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author CityFlashJay
      Originally Posted by Underground View Post

      This method, and the interview method are great at getting massive response. I did plan on using the interview method, but was kind of relegating it in terms of importance in favour of some other methods I thought were more direct since I've never seen credible stats about how to move from that to selling and actually closing deals.

      I originally crafted my whole service on what would be a natural upsell for a directory listing. I went back to video production and marketing, as that is just what yellow pages do, but I've spent so long getting over various hurdles to launch I forgot about this method.

      Now that I've seen how many actually bought and weren't concerned it was a bait and switch, I will definitely be implementing this.

      Thanks so much for sharing.
      I have had great results with the interview method and never did any cold calling. An older company I was a part of grossed over 200 leads one week and we had fantastic experience scraping with Import.io I highly suggest taking Import.io out for a spin. It's a free service and super easy to use.
      Signature
      In 2014, mobile advertising is expected to grow 85% to $33 billion - If you blink you might miss it
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9426979].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Underground
        Originally Posted by CityFlashJay View Post

        I have had great results with the interview method and never did any cold calling. An older company I was a part of grossed over 200 leads one week and we had fantastic experience scraping with Import.io I highly suggest taking Import.io out for a spin. It's a free service and super easy to use.
        Great recommendation. Thanks. How many people did you contact to get those leads if you don't mind saying?
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9430663].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author CityFlashJay
          We contacted about 500 people. I was on a team of 5, and we put in 8-12 hours a day making connections and contacting as many small and medium sized businesses as we could.
          Signature
          In 2014, mobile advertising is expected to grow 85% to $33 billion - If you blink you might miss it
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9433701].message }}
          • Profile picture of the author Underground
            Originally Posted by CityFlashJay View Post

            We contacted about 500 people. I was on a team of 5, and we put in 8-12 hours a day making connections and contacting as many small and medium sized businesses as we could.

            Thanks for that. Amazing response of nearly 50%. All within a week.

            I did set up a directory last week but had underestimated the work involved in getting it all populated and working, so have put that off till I hire someone to do it up.

            Did think about just going the interview route instead of the directory. I have 350 named owner emails ready to contact.

            I could go the direct route and just do a qualifying sales call and will have success but will burn so many of them doing that who would be open to checking out some info once a amicable relationship of a sort occurs through the interview process, let alone spurning the opportunity of them perhaps recommending people if they weren't interested themselves.
            .

            I'll definitely get far more leverage doing interviews. I have great success with them in the past. I'll use http://twellow.com/ to find influencers going forward and get them to make sure they share the interview with their audience to increase traffic back to blog/website and have plenty of banner ads for my services about the place. All that fresh content will be great to. And a growing list to email market to and nurture going forward.

            Thanks for sharing your success to remind me to put sufficient focus on the interview route. Your website is absolutely brilliant too by the way. Great look and great copy. A real professional set up. Is that your own company?

            Who did the design. I need someone with just the skills right now actually as I put the finishing touched to a few things.
            {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9434414].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Yvon Boulianne
    Here`s a thing i did and was working very good.

    Was going to the city, talking in face of peoples about my directory website and asked if they want to be featured there.

    I got something like 97% yes, everybody want free exposure (1 was thinking it was a scam, another 2 was saying internet not working)

    Never follow up, was splitting my resources too thin + shining object syndrome, but yep, that should work pretty good by email too.

    There`s an example of how i did it.

    Going in the store, saying hiya, how are you today ?

    You got a business card ?

    (lot don`t have, surpisingly)

    Take my business card with the business directory on it, giving them and telling this:

    I got a business directory on the internet where i put montreal business on it, that`s free as it only take me a couples of minutes and it give local business more traffic which is also good to me as it make the directory bigger, If you`r ok with it, i`ll put your business on it, there`s really no charge ?

    as i said everybody except a couples was very happy about that.

    Now i`ll just split my times between that door to door aproach + email and more important i`ll follow up as the OP said.

    only my 2 cents.

    Yvon
    Signature
    Stop Struggling With Your Website and Marketing
    30$ / task, pay after done!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9378713].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Kent_Thompson
    I have been looking for new ways to reach local businesses to sell advertising to that DO NOT involve cold calling, and I think this strategy is brilliant. Create the directory, then ask them if they want to be included for free. Of course they will say yes, and then you have the connection to say, oh by the way, would you be interested in reaching new customers via direct mail...?

    I have had a little trouble finding email addresses on local businesses websites...do you have any insight? Did you ever contact anyone via social media, FB message, etc...?
    Signature
    Use Agency Ace to provide white-label directory, loyalty, rewards, direct-mail, email & SMS marketing services to local businesses: http://www.agencyace.com
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9378774].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author mojo1
      Originally Posted by Kent_Thompson View Post

      I have been looking for new ways to reach local businesses to sell advertising to that DO NOT involve cold calling, and I think this strategy is brilliant. Create the directory, then ask them if they want to be included for free. Of course they will say yes, and then you have the connection to say, oh by the way, would you be interested in reaching new customers via direct mail...?

      I have had a little trouble finding email addresses on local businesses websites...do you have any insight? Did you ever contact anyone via social media, FB message, etc...?
      Several warriors have reported success contacting businesses via FB messaging.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9378920].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author IrishEntrepreneur
        Originally Posted by mojo1 View Post

        Several warriors have reported success contacting businesses via FB messaging.
        I can confirm that this strategy has worked in the past, once they were members of a Facebook group I administered and I had given a 'lot' of free content in the months leading up to my first offer.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9384565].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author kbreezy
    Hey Ryan,

    What is this automated tool you speak of?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9379443].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Yvon Boulianne
    yes i second, what is this free tool ?
    Signature
    Stop Struggling With Your Website and Marketing
    30$ / task, pay after done!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9379719].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author BobyRurka
    What tool did you use to scrap emails automatically?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9381075].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Yvon Boulianne
    I did buy G map scraper (not afiliate) and it`s very good for that work, it even crawl the websites to find email adress and all that for $10
    Signature
    Stop Struggling With Your Website and Marketing
    30$ / task, pay after done!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9381080].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author massiveray
    0.1% emails are from years back! we used to scrape 100,000 and send them out through mail chimp. Obviously this type of thing is far more spammy than what you are doing here but back in the day it used to work and we made sales.

    My point here is that no matter how targeted and how non spammy your emails look. Getting 50 opens out of 100 is very very high.

    Getting 36 responses from cold emails is ridiculous.

    Believe me I run a directory, a very successful one.

    Even when people know about and use it these types of response rates are incredibly high.

    Again... magic.
    Signature

    Join my private strategy group on Facebook or find out how I made £2000 recurring in 2 weeks.

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9381646].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author jamesfreddyc
      Originally Posted by massiveray View Post

      0.1% emails are from years back! we used to scrape 100,000 and send them out through mail chimp. Obviously this type of thing is far more spammy than what you are doing here but back in the day it used to work and we made sales.

      My point here is that no matter how targeted and how non spammy your emails look. Getting 50 opens out of 100 is very very high.

      Getting 36 responses from cold emails is ridiculous.

      Believe me I run a directory, a very successful one.

      Even when people know about and use it these types of response rates are incredibly high.

      Again... magic.
      30% response is ridiculous if you are expecting a sale. The response the OP is/was expecting was not a sale, it was a response.

      If the message is about you/your business/your offer then you should expect low response. If the message is personal, 100% about them, engaging and expecting a reply then the response rate should be much, much better --- 20-30% is not out of the question.

      Let's see an example of what you are sending to get that 0.10% response.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9381683].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Ryan Rush
      Originally Posted by massiveray View Post

      0.1% emails are from years back! we used to scrape 100,000 and send them out through mail chimp. Obviously this type of thing is far more spammy than what you are doing here but back in the day it used to work and we made sales.

      My point here is that no matter how targeted and how non spammy your emails look. Getting 50 opens out of 100 is very very high.

      Getting 36 responses from cold emails is ridiculous.

      Believe me I run a directory, a very successful one.

      Even when people know about and use it these types of response rates are incredibly high.

      Again... magic.
      You seriously can't compare that type of emailing with the type of emailing I mentioned in this post. Scraping 100k emails and sending them through mailchimp is as spammy as it gets. That explains why your response rate was extremely low, I'm actually surprised you even managed to get sales from doing it like that.

      I decided to do quite the opposite of what you did, instead of focusing on high volume and low quality, I focused on low volume and high quality. As a matter of fact each one of those 100 emails addresses were gathered manually, and since this was my first email campaign I took every precaution imaginable to ensure that my emails had a very high chance of making it to the inbox. I used a premium smtp server, used a premium bulk email sender, scraped the emails manually right from their website, and spent hours thinking of the best way to position my email into an irresistible free offer.

      The subject of that email was a question. Plus I mentioned that I was local to them and included my phone number with their same local area code. I plan to do the same when I start targeting other cities because I believe this gives the email even more credibility.

      The very last thing I am going to share is this, in the email I also included that there were a limit of only 5 featured spots and that if they didn't reply soon a competitor might get their spot.

      If you guys can't get a client after reading all of this then you shouldn't be doing offline marketing.

      It's not magic my friend it's just marketing.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9382036].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author wb_man
        Do you mind sharing how much your 8 clients paid you?

        Do you have a business name? Or just use your personal name?
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9382422].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author Ryan Rush
          Originally Posted by wb_man View Post

          Do you mind sharing how much your 8 clients paid you?

          Do you have a business name? Or just use your personal name?
          A few of those clients paid me around $200 for a complete website redesign package, and the majority paid me around $100 for either a mobile website or one of the other services I listed in the first post. I used the name of the directory as my business name, but in the email I made sure to include my name, email, and phone number.

          Since this was my first mailing, I didn't want to price my services too high. However I have increased my prices since then.


          Originally Posted by kd123 View Post

          Do you think the same thing could work with similar results or better by sending them a direct mail "invitation" to the directory? I may try both methods.

          If anyone does a mailer I learned that if you put something in it, like say a smallish crumpled paper ball that is clearly felt through the envelop, your open rate will skyrocket because people will see what is in it.
          I personally haven't tried direct mailing but I think sending out a few invitations to your directory via snail mail will also work very well. Personally I would use direct mail alongside with email to increase your chances of getting a response. I too have heard about how including a small object like a crumpled paper ball or small dice that is clearly felt through the envelope will increase your open rate. I might just try this out myself soon.


          Originally Posted by Ochoco View Post

          Ryan,

          Thanks. That so simple and yet so powerful. I'm looking for various scrapers to scrape contact info from various sites. Any suggestions?
          I currently use localizer leads tool and a few virtual assistants to do all of the scraping for me. It's worked out quite well, sometimes my vas don't find any emails but they make a note of the contact form url and then I have a different va send my email via that contact form.


          Originally Posted by IrishEntrepreneur View Post

          A great thread, and followed.

          The title caught me as I am now in the process of prospecting and interviewing offline clients here in Madrid - and while it's not the same business model, the basic psychology of offer something for free, follow through (in your case a listing and link ) and then offer services once you have established credibility seems to work across industries.
          Glad you liked my post.


          Originally Posted by zoro View Post

          Thanks for sharing your success with us.

          What was your Email Subject Line?

          Do you monetize the directory?

          I'm going to be sharing some subject lines and an email example soon.

          I have my directory setup in a way where it costs $30 to be listed. I think this gives it even more credibility because there is no other way to get listed for free without getting an email from me.



          Originally Posted by Amanda786 View Post

          Hi
          It's really difficult to get client trust via emails I have read many post and they have their own approach and strategies to win client's trust. Your post have a different and unique approach and I really enjoyed reading it not all I am looking forward to win my clients trust using the above mention approach. Thank you Ryan for such powerful post.
          Glad you liked my post.


          Originally Posted by BacklinksPlus View Post

          Nice thread, how are you getting traffic to the directory

          At the moment I'm not focusing on getting traffic to the directory but I did make sure to seo optimize it for local keywords. I'm actually not worried about getting traffic but I'm expecting to reach page one for a few keywords soon.


          Originally Posted by StarkContrast View Post

          Yes I'd be curious to find out what your subject line is too because many times I'll NOT open an email if it event hints of being spam. FREE anything hints of spam. You've done a great job on this.

          Also, how are you driving traffic to the directory or is that not a concern? This is pretty good stuff, Ryan. Thanks.

          I'm going to be sharing a few subject lines and an example email soon. I'm actually not worried about driving traffic to the directory, as a matter of fact only a few business owners have asked if the directory receives any traffic. I told them that at this time it doesn't but that I was going to start marketing it soon.


          Originally Posted by StarkContrast View Post

          Another thought I had about this, how big is the area you were targeting? I live in a Metro area that has oodles of suburbs but with 2-3 main cities (600K is the main city). Suburbs range from 90K down to 15K in population. I know I'm overthinking this but just wanted to get your thoughts.
          I was targeting San Diego which is a pretty big city here in southern California.

          Originally Posted by jamesfreddyc View Post

          The OP said it was a question.

          I don't mean to speak for him but from my perspective it probably would go something like this. Hypothetical I have some accounting software that helps boost collections on past due accounts:

          Subject: "How do you handle your delinquent accounts?"

          Am I a customer asking about my account? Or am I a vendor inquiring about their curre t process?

          Most businesses will likely think I am a customer.
          Thanks for sharing those email subject lines James, you are 100% on the money. If businesses think you are a customer your emails will more than likely be opened and read.

          Originally Posted by SkyJarman View Post

          Thanks for the post, Was very informative. I have just started messing around with "Offline marketing" though i am trying a few different techniques, i will definitely use some of the information i obtained from this thread.
          Glad you liked my post.

          Originally Posted by Magax View Post

          Can you show the Mail Sample that you did in Step 3. I know I am asking you to spoonfeed but help is appreciated.
          I'm going to be sharing an example email soon.

          Originally Posted by hewlett View Post

          I love this idea. I've tried similar ideas in the past but got no where with them. I think my problem is my target demographic. Since I sell (enterprise) software consulting services, offering the decision maker (a technology manager at a big company) to help expand their business wasn't a big motivator for them. These guys often care considerably about the technology department at the company they work at, but tend to care little about how the business does financially from day to day. What can I offer a software technology manager that they would view as a favor? The other things I've tried to offer (beer, lunch) have not had many takers.
          I never targeted that certain demographic so I wouldn't know exactly what to offer them. Sorry.

          Originally Posted by kirbymarketingconcierge View Post

          I was wondering if the timing of this is really good.

          With Google's most recent change, maybe directory sites (yelp, etc..,) are getting better positions on 1st page.

          Anybody, have knowledge of this?

          I'm not an expert in this.

          Reading recent thread on this here :

          Major Google Local Algo Update Just Hit - Check Your Clients!

          thanks Ryan Rush for your contribution
          My directory is currently not ranking on the 1st page but it is climbing up rather quickly, it's actually on the second page for most of its keywords. Keep in mind that I haven't done any backlink building yet, so I'm expecting it to reach page 1 once it does get some backlinks.


          Originally Posted by Ernesto1 View Post

          The best subject titles I've used on my emails that has given me the best open-rates, are titles that look like "potential leads" to the business that I'm contacting.

          For example, instead of saying on the email's subject: "Increase Your Sales With Video!", or something that can tip them off that is an unsolicited sales pitch and send it to their trash bin without opening it, I would say this which works a lot better: "Hi Chris, about your chiropractic service.." Then, I follow inside the email with "Hi Chris, I saw that you didn't have a video explaining your chiropractic service on your website." And close them after that.

          If you got an email from a stranger that read "Hi (your name), about your (service/product name).." wouldn't you open it? ;-)

          Also, I love using two dots.. ".." it makes it seem like an imperfect real human wrote it.

          If you don't know the name of the owner, you could say on the subject: "About your plumbing service.." or you can ask a question.... Subject: "Question about your chiropractic service.."

          Make sure however, that you always follow with your question, never leave them hanging or they'll feel you tricked them and you could lose the sale.

          Follow up the body of the email with something like, "Hi, I noticed you don't have a video on your site about your chiropractic service? You are losing clients without a video explaining the benefits of Unicorn Chiropractics. For a limited time I'm offering a 50% discount for chiropractors in the Dallas area."

          I've gotten lots of replies and orders this way.

          I will try offering free value first like this thread suggests, sounds like a good idea. :-)

          I'll probably make a quick free short video of a business and send it to them as a free gift, then later offer them a longer 1 to 2 minute video for a fee and at a discount.

          By the way, be aware that some email services like gmail, lets the user see part of the body of your message before having to open it. Try not to tip them off in the first sentence of your email that is a sales pitch, or they will have no need to open it.
          Wow this is some amazing info! Thanks for sharing Ernesto.
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9394940].message }}
          • Profile picture of the author Ernesto1
            Originally Posted by Yvon Boulianne View Post

            Thank you ernesto, that's the last part of the puzzle i was missing
            Glad I could help Yvon.

            Originally Posted by mojo1 View Post

            "By the way, be aware that some email services like gmail, lets the user see part of the body of your message before having to open it. "

            Is anyone aware of an email service that doesn't show part of the body of your message?

            Thanks for these great tips Ernesto1.
            I'm not sure mojo1. As long as you re-write your first sentence a bit you don't need to worry about that, except making bank of course.

            Originally Posted by Ryan Rush View Post

            [B]

            Wow this is some amazing info! Thanks for sharing Ernesto.
            Thanks to you too Ryan. Awesome strategy you've shared.
            Signature

            {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9398149].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Edmundo Neto
        Originally Posted by Ryan Rush View Post

        You seriously can't compare that type of emailing with the type of emailing I mentioned in this post. Scraping 100k emails and sending them through mailchimp is as spammy as it gets. That explains why your response rate was extremely low, I'm actually surprised you even managed to get sales from doing it like that.

        I decided to do quite the opposite of what you did, instead of focusing on high volume and low quality, I focused on low volume and high quality. As a matter of fact each one of those 100 emails addresses were gathered manually, and since this was my first email campaign I took every precaution imaginable to ensure that my emails had a very high chance of making it to the inbox. I used a premium smtp server, used a premium bulk email sender, scraped the emails manually right from their website, and spent hours thinking of the best way to position my email into an irresistible free offer.

        The subject of that email was a question. Plus I mentioned that I was local to them and included my phone number with their same local area code. I plan to do the same when I start targeting other cities because I believe this gives the email even more credibility.

        The very last thing I am going to share is this, in the email I also included that there were a limit of only 5 featured spots and that if they didn't reply soon a competitor might get their spot.

        If you guys can't get a client after reading all of this then you shouldn't be doing offline marketing.

        It's not magic my friend it's just marketing.

        Hi Ryan

        I opened another thread before read that, that was exactly what I wanted to do. Can you say exactly which tools you use besides Localizer Lead Tool? G Map Scraper was suggested here too but the site of the developer say it have maps only for a few countries and Brazil is not included And what smtp server accepted your mail list? I tried some suggested inside Atomic Mail Sender but they denied saying my list was not considered opt-in.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9397941].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Jonwebb
    36% in any type of cold traffic is magic...
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9381664].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author kd123
    Do you think the same thing could work with similar results or better by sending them a direct mail "invitation" to the directory? I may try both methods.

    If anyone does a mailer I learned that if you put something in it, like say a smallish crumpled paper ball that is clearly felt through the envelop, your open rate will skyrocket because people will see what is in it.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9383330].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Ochoco
    Ryan,

    Thanks. That so simple and yet so powerful. I'm looking for various scrapers to scrape contact info from various sites. Any suggestions?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9384450].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author IrishEntrepreneur
    A great thread, and followed.

    The title caught me as I am now in the process of prospecting and interviewing offline clients here in Madrid - and while it's not the same business model, the basic psychology of offer something for free, follow through (in your case a listing and link ) and then offer services once you have established credibility seems to work across industries.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9384545].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author zoro
    Thanks for sharing your success with us.

    What was your Email Subject Line?

    Do you monetize the directory?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9384660].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Amanda786
    Hi
    It's really difficult to get client trust via emails I have read many post and they have their own approach and strategies to win client's trust. Your post have a different and unique approach and I really enjoyed reading it not all I am looking forward to win my clients trust using the above mention approach. Thank you Ryan for such powerful post.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9385695].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author BacklinksPlus
    Nice thread, how are you getting traffic to the directory
    Signature
    Venom Software
    Craigslist lead scraper mailer/Linkedin Bot
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9385851].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author SkyJarman
    Thanks for the post, Was very informative. I have just started messing around with "Offline marketing" though i am trying a few different techniques, i will definitely use some of the information i obtained from this thread.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9388104].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Magax
    Can you show the Mail Sample that you did in Step 3. I know I am asking you to spoonfeed but help is appreciated.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9388255].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author hewlett
    I love this idea. I've tried similar ideas in the past but got no where with them. I think my problem is my target demographic. Since I sell (enterprise) software consulting services, offering the decision maker (a technology manager at a big company) to help expand their business wasn't a big motivator for them. These guys often care considerably about the technology department at the company they work at, but tend to care little about how the business does financially from day to day. What can I offer a software technology manager that they would view as a favor? The other things I've tried to offer (beer, lunch) have not had many takers.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9391020].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Ernesto1
    The best subject titles I've used on my emails that has given me the best open-rates, are titles that look like "potential leads" to the business that I'm contacting.

    For example, instead of saying on the email's subject: "Increase Your Sales With Video!", or something that can tip them off that is an unsolicited sales pitch and send it to their trash bin without opening it, I would say this which works a lot better: "Hi Chris, about your chiropractic service.." Then, I follow inside the email with "Hi Chris, I saw that you didn't have a video explaining your chiropractic service on your website." And close them after that.

    If you got an email from a stranger that read "Hi (your name), about your (service/product name).." wouldn't you open it? ;-)

    Also, I love using two dots.. ".." it makes it seem like an imperfect real human wrote it.

    If you don't know the name of the owner, you could say on the subject: "About your plumbing service.." or you can ask a question.... Subject: "Question about your chiropractic service.."

    Make sure however, that you always follow with your question, never leave them hanging or they'll feel you tricked them and you could lose the sale.

    Follow up the body of the email with something like, "Hi, I noticed you don't have a video on your site about your chiropractic service? You are losing clients without a video explaining the benefits of Unicorn Chiropractics. For a limited time I'm offering a 50% discount for chiropractors in the Dallas area."

    I've gotten lots of replies and orders this way.

    I will try offering free value first like this thread suggests, sounds like a good idea. :-)

    I'll probably make a quick free short video of a business and send it to them as a free gift, then later offer them a longer 1 to 2 minute video for a fee and at a discount.

    By the way, be aware that some email services like gmail, lets the user see part of the body of your message before having to open it. Try not to tip them off in the first sentence of your email that is a sales pitch, or they will have no need to open it.
    Signature

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9392522].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Yvon Boulianne
      Ernesto got it right here, subject is critical (and you need to send a lot more email to have results)


      Originally Posted by Ernesto1 View Post

      The best subject titles I've used on my emails that has given me the best open-rates, are titles that look like "potential leads" to the business that I'm contacting.

      For example, instead of saying on the email's subject: "Increase Your Sales With Video!", or something that can tip them off that is an unsolicited sales pitch and send it to their trash bin without opening it, I would say this which works a lot better: "Hi Chris, about your chiropractic service.." Then, I follow inside the email with "Hi Chris, I saw that you didn't have a video explaining your chiropractic service on your website." And close them after that.

      If you got an email from a stranger that read "Hi (your name), about your (service/product name).." wouldn't you open it? ;-)

      Also, I love using two dots.. ".." it makes it seem like an imperfect real human wrote it.

      If you don't know the name of the owner, you could say on the subject: "About your plumbing service.." or you can ask a question.... Subject: "Question about your chiropractic service.."

      Make sure however, that you always follow with your question, never leave them hanging or they'll feel you tricked them and you could lose the sale.

      Follow up the body of the email with something like, "Hi, I noticed you don't have a video on your site about your chiropractic service? You are losing clients without a video explaining the benefits of Unicorn Chiropractics. For a limited time I'm offering a 50% discount for chiropractors in the Dallas area."

      I've gotten lots of replies and orders this way.

      I will try offering free value first like this thread suggests, sounds like a good idea. :-)

      I'll probably make a quick free short video of a business and send it to them as a free gift, then later offer them a longer 1 to 2 minute video for a fee and at a discount.

      By the way, be aware that some email services like gmail, lets the user see part of the body of your message before having to open it. Try not to tip them off in the first sentence of your email that is a sales pitch, or they will have no need to open it.
      Signature
      Stop Struggling With Your Website and Marketing
      30$ / task, pay after done!
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9425622].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Yvon Boulianne
    Thank you ernesto, that's the last part of the puzzle i was missing
    Signature
    Stop Struggling With Your Website and Marketing
    30$ / task, pay after done!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9393389].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author mojo1
      "By the way, be aware that some email services like gmail, lets the user see part of the body of your message before having to open it. "



      Is anyone aware of an email service that doesn't show part of the body of your message?

      Thanks for these great tips Ernesto1.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9394094].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author feresmarot
      Very Helpful and Clever ideas for get new Clients. I will try it!

      I think the Magic is in the all process that you create.

      Sometimes you may think that give something for Free is a waste of time, much more here in my spanish town, but the truth is that this is a very powerfull tip to "get your foot in the door"

      Thanks
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9403859].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author StarkContrast
        So how many businesses do you have signed up, both paid and free? Is it a natural that people would automatically choose the $30 paid signup? Is that recurring? How are you driving traffic? Thanks.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9406577].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author isaacsmithjones
          Originally Posted by StarkContrast View Post

          So how many businesses do you have signed up, both paid and free? Is it a natural that people would automatically choose the $30 paid signup? Is that recurring? How are you driving traffic? Thanks.
          From what I understand, he's not using the directory as the product for sale per se. The $30 option is just to show people the 'usual' price.

          He is just using the free listings as a lead magnet, and then selling people marketing services.

          So it would seem that he's not actively generating traffic for the site, although he said that he is gradually moving up in the search engines.

          Please correct me if I'm wrong OP.

          Great thread BTW.
          Signature
          Why wait for sales to earn an affiliate commission?
          Earn up to £20 per phone call as a MyCallPartners.co.uk pay-per-call affiliate!
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9409057].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author FacelessMarketing
      I have implemented this system. I'm just under 24 hours into the "email businesses for a free listing in my directory" phase. Results so far: 1 taker out of 47 emails.

      I didn't use a scraper. I sought out the email addresses myself and composed an email that I sent to each one separately addressing owners by name when possible.

      I created a Directory for an area in my State which I live in. This area encompasses 3 main cities and is surrounded by many more smaller cities and towns. Many of these have populations over 10000.

      There is no online directory dedicated to this area except ones from the usual places: Yellow Pages, local newspaper sites, etc. I have a decent domain, and I think my site is pretty pro-looking...for this area.

      Directory listings are FREE and pretty kick-ass. They include:
      • 300 words of unique copy
      • A large featured image
      • Interactive Google map
      • Google review integration
      • Detailed location and contact info

      And yet...I cannot GIVE them away for free, it seems. I even put it up on Reddit in the subreddit for the area. It got some upvotes...no down, but just one taker who was a friend of my business partner.

      Here's my email:

      SUBJECT: Hey, I'd like to list your business FREE in my T**** Business Directory

      Hello,

      My name is A**. I'm building an online business directory for the T**** area...the first of its kind.

      I'd like to offer you a FREE listing on T*******.com no strings attached. This is a small way that my company can support small, local businesses.

      What your listing includes:

      A link back to your website if applicable
      A large featured image representing your company
      A professional optimized description of your business
      Your location and contact information
      And interactive Google map so your customers can find you
      Google reviews integration

      Simply reply to this email if you are interested in listing your business. I look forward to hearing from you. If you choose not to reply, we will not contact you again. Thanks for your time.

      Best Regards,
      A** F****
      Co-Founder, Faceless Marketing, LLC


      What am I doing wrong? Too new? No stats?
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9425206].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author dunkinbbb
        Originally Posted by FacelessMarketing View Post

        I have implemented this system. I'm just under 24 hours into the "email businesses for a free listing in my directory" phase. Results so far: 1 taker out of 47 emails.

        I didn't use a scraper. I sought out the email addresses myself and composed an email that I sent to each one separately addressing owners by name when possible.

        I created a Directory for an area in my State which I live in. This area encompasses 3 main cities and is surrounded by many more smaller cities and towns. Many of these have populations over 10000.

        There is no online directory dedicated to this area except ones from the usual places: Yellow Pages, local newspaper sites, etc. I have a decent domain, and I think my site is pretty pro-looking...for this area.

        Directory listings are FREE and pretty kick-ass. They include:
        • 300 words of unique copy
        • A large featured image
        • Interactive Google map
        • Google review integration
        • Detailed location and contact info

        And yet...I cannot GIVE them away for free, it seems. I even put it up on Reddit in the subreddit for the area. It got some upvotes...no down, but just one taker who was a friend of my business partner.

        Here's my email:

        SUBJECT: Hey, I'd like to list your business FREE in my T**** Business Directory

        Hello,

        My name is A**. I'm building an online business directory for the T**** area...the first of its kind.

        I'd like to offer you a FREE listing on T*******.com no strings attached. This is a small way that my company can support small, local businesses.

        What your listing includes:

        A link back to your website if applicable
        A large featured image representing your company
        A professional optimized description of your business
        Your location and contact information
        And interactive Google map so your customers can find you
        Google reviews integration

        Simply reply to this email if you are interested in listing your business. I look forward to hearing from you. If you choose not to reply, we will not contact you again. Thanks for your time.

        Best Regards,
        A** F****
        Co-Founder, Faceless Marketing, LLC


        What am I doing wrong? Too new? No stats?
        A couple of thoughts

        I've done a fair amount of cold email marketing to businesses - and in my case I knew the email addresses were all good.

        Deliverability is a big issue - lots of emails get blocked for lots of reasons

        even without the word FREE sounding an alarm.

        With any publicly available email address - they get so much spam that they most likely don't even look at your subject line - just who its from - and then if it passes that filter - the subject line.

        I would not open any email from a stranger with FREE in the title.

        Would you?

        Honestly - have not read the full thread - but the kind of email you are attempting is a numbers game.

        Pretty sure Nameless talked about his experience extensively.

        IMHO -either go deep - personalized email about their company / website

        or go wide

        get tools or VAs to send hundreds/thousands of email daily

        47 emails a day is not going to cut it.

        HTH

        dunkinbbb
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9425525].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author jamesfreddyc
    Thanks for sharing those email subject lines James, you are 100% on the money. If businesses think you are a customer your emails will more than likely be opened and read.
    Any business owner or manager is going to view ANY incoming communication as a prospective customer if it appears legit. The blinders are on and they simply never consider the idea that the question may be from a vendor seeking to understand a bit about them and attempting to engage them into a little communication.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9395102].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Underground
    Anyone looking for scraper. If you can front the initial cost, zoominfo.com offer a great service to find good data that will more than return your investment.

    Check them out. Just hired two prospectors to go through linkedin and compile lists. 350 prospects a month each, reduced from 500 because it would just take too long.

    Then found this service immediately after I hired them. Will cancel those jobs. This does their job far quicker. This kind of service is excellent.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9400909].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author 328mike
    Hello, which is the premium smtp server and premium bulk email sender you used? Thank you
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9421228].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Edmundo Neto
    Several companies offer e-mail marketing services, they have a good inbox rate (the spam I receive in my inbox comes from those companies, the clients simply fake that I opted-in for something). Those companies have their own web system and send for you. I think the problem is as always the complaints, if too many people mark your message as spam your account is suspended without refund (some services only watch that, bounces and spam complaints). Im starting to think in using Atomic Mail Sender with free accounts, letting the process as more dynamic as possible, different smtp servers and accounts, rotation, impose small limits to the accounts don't have pikes of e-mails sent and start to build reputation (people need to read or reply to them to this happen), randomize the subject, randomize the content. I just saw that proxy use and rotation is almost useless (if you send through an IP far from you, you get an instantly message from gmail saying them blocked the access to a suspicious address, implying you was hacked and those IPs are probably already known by the servers). I ended up making an script to automate the change of IP, (pause the campaign, change IP inside the router, resume the campain), every x minutes. Will still test it, inserting test accounts in the beginning, middle and end of the campaind and see if everything was inside inbox. Reading rates are almost impossible to achieve, not everybody let the browser load images and gmail caches them in another place making the try useless. The link tracking I still don't have sure what I will do.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9422056].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Defacto
    If you can make a really impressive wordpress site you can offer to give it away as just a way to "make some contacts and possibly garner some recommendations for my work" (part of actual email). You don't even have to have an actual "offer" besides that. You will get business.

    Oh yeah, make sure you have cloning plugin handy...
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9431416].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author thefulltimer
    While I applaud the effort of the OP and I'm not sure about the laws in your country, but in Australia, using automated scraping tools while sending bulk emails is very much against our can spam act.

    Every email I send out is hand found and I always make sure to get the name of the contact.

    You are treading a very fine line by bulk emailing like this.

    The best results I get from my emails are from very short emails, 4 paragraphs max. People are busy and you need to get a very clear message across quickly.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9431723].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Underground
      Originally Posted by thefulltimer View Post

      While I applaud the effort of the OP and I'm not sure about the laws in your country, but in Australia, using automated scraping tools while sending bulk emails is very much against our can spam act.

      Every email I send out is hand found and I always make sure to get the name of the contact.

      You are treading a very fine line by bulk emailing like this.

      The best results I get from my emails are from very short emails, 4 paragraphs max. People are busy and you need to get a very clear message across quickly.
      The advantage of this method is in not having to send 10,000 emails, but a handful each day to build a database of leads you can much more easily market to and sell to than purely pitching everyone straight away.


      If you have an expensive product and just one or two sales a week will get you large sums of money, best to take a direct approach by phone where you either get an interest to buy there and then or move on. Or a certain email approach that gets high responses.

      If you need around 20 clients on a monthly basis to achieve your financial aims, then go the directory route or interview route and build a database and email list of hundreds of leads who have learned to open your emails and you can educate them in a Frank Kern kind of way with indoctrination, education and great offers. .

      Too many people pick the wrong strategy when selling their services or get locked into some dogmatic fixation on one or the other instead of suiting the strategy to their objectives.


      But you don't need to scrape to generate plenty of years. Just put in the few hours a day to build a quality list of prospects you've already pre-vetted as needing your kind of services
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9432470].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author steveclark
        Every business needs customer and consumer who can utilize their products properly. Like that if you will take the automobile sector that is known as one of the biggest one should be well maintained which can attract some customers towards it. How Long Does A Fuel Pump Last? | europeanmotorcars.net
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9432537].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author celente
        Originally Posted by Underground View Post

        The advantage of this method is in not having to send 10,000 emails, but a handful each day to build a database of leads you can much more easily market to and sell to than purely pitching everyone straight away.


        If you have an expensive product and just one or two sales a week will get you large sums of money, best to take a direct approach by phone where you either get an interest to buy there and then or move on. Or a certain email approach that gets high responses.

        If you need around 20 clients on a monthly basis to achieve your financial aims, then go the directory route or interview route and build a database and email list of hundreds of leads who have learned to open your emails and you can educate them in a Frank Kern kind of way with indoctrination, education and great offers. .

        Too many people pick the wrong strategy when selling their services or get locked into some dogmatic fixation on one or the other instead of suiting the strategy to their objectives.


        But you don't need to scrape to generate plenty of years. Just put in the few hours a day to build a quality list of prospects you've already pre-vetted as needing your kind of services
        I love frank kern stuff, but if people copy him, they will fail miserably. I think its about finding your own voice. Build a list and let them find the real you, even if you swear or cuss, peole like that you are REAL, with our businesses the real you, comes out and people like that, its a trust builder and more people buy from others they trust. Offline world is about that.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9443412].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author Underground
          Originally Posted by celente View Post

          I love frank kern stuff, but if people copy him, they will fail miserably. I think its about finding your own voice. Build a list and let them find the real you, even if you swear or cuss, peole like that you are REAL, with our businesses the real you, comes out and people like that, its a trust builder and more people buy from others they trust. Offline world is about that.
          That's true. I mentioned Kern because I happened to be going through Mass Conversion at the time, the first module about creating great lead magnets that zone in on the 4-5 biggest problems your market has. But really it could be any successful internet marketer or company who generate leads and have some kind of educational, valuable content in their funnel that does all the things necessary to help leads make the right buying decision and why doing that with your company is the best option.

          Not try to imitate the personality of Frank Kern and act rich and charismatic. Of course that will fail. I meant if they generate their own database of businesses owners they can do the following to that database. Rather than ring them up, pitch them looking for the laydowns and then throwing away their chances of doing any more of the following to those prospects because they've burnt through them by trying to sell them to early (by way of Dan Kennedy):

          1. Offer more products and services

          2. Make offers to them more often

          3. Reward frequent purchasers

          4. Reward high volume purchasers

          5. Incentivize greater usage

          6. Create "VIP" groups, memberships, with privileges

          7. Learn more about each customer, and tailor offers to match

          8. Make offers to them more oft en

          9. Communicate frequently, with information, education, even fun (not just another pitch)

          10. Communicate consistently

          11. Analyze your customers and separate into A-B-C groups based on responsiveness develop strategies to upgrade C's to B's, B's to A's

          12. Identify and focus on Hyper-Responsives

          13. Make offers to them more often

          14. Sell continuity programs

          15. Sell renewable products or services

          16. Become "the resource" in your category for your customers, via strategic alliances and joint ventures

          17. Periodically ask/survey your customers to find out what else they want and would buy from you

          18. Make offers to them more often
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9443431].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Rich Roberts
    That is a great post this is a different twist on email marketing.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9441726].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Underground
    Major opportunity to reach out to 10's of 1000's of potential customers and build a massive local list to then market and sell your services to as fast as you can gather large quantities of emails and send them.

    If you get on this, which you should, because an approach like this where you are giving something starts many times more business relationships than pure selling because it's pure WIIFM at, you should probably get this theme:

    WordPress - Business Finder: Directory Listing WordPress Theme | ThemeForest

    This theme allows you to automate the process of responses so they can sign up themselves right from the initial email and join your autoresponder email list at the same time when they sign up. First email tells them about your directory and then the calls to action lets them know they process is automated so they sign-up themselves. Have the call to action go to an email gate to gather their emails, and then direct access to the admin of your theme so they can add the listing themselves.

    Response rates may drop from 35% like the OP got a little due to the lack of personal touch that automating the second step poses, but if your site is good and has an audience of some significance on social media, you'll still get a lot of sign ups and email addresses if you can send email in bulk. Which you can do with this method.

    And then have lots of leads you can nurture through autoresponder nurturing content, warm-call, send out a welcome letter with offers or warm email to push your services.

    This model is about as good as you are going to get in building a massive database of prospects you can market and sell to with great positioning if you build a quality local niche directory.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9443138].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author sdentrepreneur
    I think that is an awesome idea....it seems like too much work for me though. I went to a Business Mixer last night and got 4 solid leads in 3 hours. Meeting in person and a handshake goes a long way.
    If you are in USA, check one of these out sometime Network After Work - Business/Professional Networking Events

    P.S. I am not an affiliate of them

    P.P.S. Even had some girl buy me a drink !!!
    Signature

    Learn Digital, Internet and Social Media Marketing For Your Business
    Click here to learn more - Digital and Social Media Marketing Training Course

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9443349].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Underground
      Originally Posted by sdentrepreneur View Post

      I think that is an awesome idea....it seems like too much work for me though. I went to a Business Mixer last night and got 4 solid leads in 3 hours. Meeting in person and a handshake goes a long way.
      If you are in USA, check one of these out sometime Network After Work - Business/Professional Networking Events

      P.S. I am not an affiliate of them

      P.P.S. Even had some girl buy me a drink !!!
      Nice work, that's great. Networking definitely can pay like most forms of marketing when done right, as your case shows. I don't want to make an adversorial post here as I know you not dismissing this method but want to point something out. And that is that there is an unnecessary either/or divide at play on here where people often say they made sales by just getting on the phone and phoning people for 8 hours, 5 days a week and so not to bother with setting anything up that isn't as direct and tactical as that.

      Very rarely do people advocate both and point out to add some direct approaches to their strategy as well.

      This approach is work to set up, around two days if dedicated to around a week if you really want. I jumped on this bought a theme and then was going to put in on the backburner because it was going to take a bit of work to set up. Now I'm hiring a few people to get it ready as I'd be a fool not to make the effort when this think can generate hundreds of leads a week.

      You need to come up with a theme for your directory or something compelling, buy theme, customize so it looks good with you branding, add some categories and get around a 100 seed profiles from google.

      One set up, it's a case each day of finding a few hundred people to contact for a few hours. So it's not really work once initially set up, and a lot more leads and potential buyers can be generated each day through this method without needing to be on the phone all day everyday making cold calls or going to meetings.

      If the OP scales up and contacted 4-500 people a day at similar batting averages as he's getting now he's get around 30 leads. That can be done in few hours with a good scraper and email sender.

      Going out and getting a few leads in a few hours is great, or getting a few sales from a few hundred cold calls a few afternoons a week, and some how seems more satisfying and less work for more pay off, but it isn't the case, although if you can network, it's well worth going out as many times as you can also, to events and offer everyone you meet a place on your directory if they haven't already become a lead and you might bag them later.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9443388].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author sdentrepreneur
    Very true Underground !!! I have NO desire to become a small or large agency and have employees....although, I will outsource some work overseas or to a stay at home mom. I prefer to raise my prices, cherry pick my clients and enjoy my life. :-)
    Signature

    Learn Digital, Internet and Social Media Marketing For Your Business
    Click here to learn more - Digital and Social Media Marketing Training Course

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9443399].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Underground
      Originally Posted by sdentrepreneur View Post

      Very true Underground !!! I have NO desire to become a small or large agency and have employees....although, I will outsource some work overseas or to a stay at home mom. I prefer to raise my prices, cherry pick my clients and enjoy my life. :-)
      I hear ya. This kind of thing requires outside assistance or it is just too much and you'll forever be tinkering with it and not have enough time to be selling and growing the business. Not desirable for some.

      You can still charge big money and cherry pick the clients though as it doesn't exclude that or mean only going for low paying clients on a mass scale.

      You can both cherry pick who you contact and mass email massive scraped lists so it's versatile.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9443451].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author JohnnyBattles
    Thanks for sharing the strategy. It's a great idea but most will fail for the amount of work it takes to setup a directory. It involves a lot.

    Not to be disrespectful but did anyone else notice or get concerned with how cheap the ops services are? Seriously, a website for $200 and mobile website for $100?

    I think it's great to see people take action but what kind of website is someone getting fot $200? There's no way you can earn a full time living off that unless you have enough volume knocking on your door.

    Word of caution, provide value and don't under price your services. You're only hurting yourself in the long run.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9443482].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Yvon Boulianne
      The OP said he did increase his price and i agree that higher price are much better (I'm selling website in the $1000+ range myself)

      Still, if you stay in country like India you can do a lot with 100-200$ so it's worth it, i even know peoples that do it here, in canada (a wordpress site with wp-clone strategy take less than 1 hours to do if you got some experience) it's way much better than working at mcdonald lol

      But again i don't like bottom price marketing, i prefer to go to the high price ticket, people value what i do much more just because of the high price i charge, crazy hey...

      Originally Posted by JohnnyBattles View Post

      Not to be disrespectful but did anyone else notice or get concerned with how cheap the ops services are? Seriously, a website for $200 and mobile website for $100?

      I think it's great to see people take action but what kind of website is someone getting fot $200? There's no way you can earn a full time living off that unless you have enough volume knocking on your door.
      Signature
      Stop Struggling With Your Website and Marketing
      30$ / task, pay after done!
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9443697].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Mark Singletary
    I decided to bump this instead of starting a new thread because this one already has a lot of good stuff in it and it's not that old yet.

    Just curious about a couple things:

    1. How is it going for those that have started or are using this method now that a couple months have gone by? Any tweaks/obstacles/problems you'd like to share?

    2. Has anyone gone the national niche directory route but using it as an "in" just like the OP is using this method for local?

    3. If you wanted to have a directory of massage therapists you could choose two different ways: 150 or more local directories let's say or one big directory. If you wanted to stay "local" (no matter where YOU are) what would be the best way to handle 150 sites or would it be best to go with the bigger one stop directory even though it would bring it's own set of challenges?

    Thanks for any input.
    Mark
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9733060].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Freebiequeen1999
    Rebump

    1) where did you get a google map scrapper for $10 please?

    2) the import .io is a cool site but how do you use it to get emails? or do you>?

    3) what has become of all this? I looked for the montreal site and could not find it
    I checked the OP on facebook and he has not made a post there since last july when he posted a link to this thread. I also checked faceless - nice site but his directory is empty I guess no one ever did respond?

    I really am curious about the "real world" results here, the software looks nice but I truly question how these directories perform

    I do remember when directories were popular - before Google - when it was hard to find stuff online (heck I had my own spider before the search engines were popular, you put in a Boolean search and found stuff on the 'information highway" lol)

    Now with Google, with people on mobile phones...and with very established popular sites such as yelp, trip advisor why would someone go to a small local directory? My own area has official tourism site listing so much and various other established tourism sites. People also like to go to Groupon, Living social and check out deal sites (me me - freebiequeen LOL)

    why would they go to a small bare bones site?

    IMHO a lot of people go about this the wrong way they go for the businesses but they do not get the people looking at the site.

    A local company did build a deal site (very 2002 looking weird site) and got many local businesses to list there....but who uses it? They had planned to charge but I guess that is not working, now thy have tons of "deals" but no one really uses it as you have to wade through various "out of biz" lisitings. It is a bear to keep up. I did work with a guy who had a deal site several years ago, he sold a "discount card" but that too was hard to keep up as biz change and go out of biz and won't honor deals

    Our local newspaper is really scrambling for ways to stay afloat (no one reads it haha)
    They started a "great deals in my city" site and it was a real flop, revamped, redone , no one used it, I spoke to several biz owners who did not get good results (or any results) from their listings, and now the site is "offline for maintainance"....their facebook page is gone and twitter was last updated in Oct.

    However at least a deal site or making them all have a coupon up has some reason for someone to go to the "directory". Otherwise why bother? I would be interested to hear from the directory people here - how is it going? Is this really viable? Care to show your sites? thanks
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9819457].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Underground
      Originally Posted by Freebiequeen1999 View Post

      Rebump

      1) where did you get a google map scrapper for $10 please?

      2) the import .io is a cool site but how do you use it to get emails? or do you>?

      3) what has become of all this? I looked for the montreal site and could not find it
      I checked the OP on facebook and he has not made a post there since last july when he posted a link to this thread. I also checked faceless - nice site but his directory is empty I guess no one ever did respond?

      I really am curious about the "real world" results here, the software looks nice but I truly question how these directories perform

      I do remember when directories were popular - before Google - when it was hard to find stuff online (heck I had my own spider before the search engines were popular, you put in a Boolean search and found stuff on the 'information highway" lol)

      Now with Google, with people on mobile phones...and with very established popular sites such as yelp, trip advisor why would someone go to a small local directory? My own area has official tourism site listing so much and various other established tourism sites. People also like to go to Groupon, Living social and check out deal sites (me me - freebiequeen LOL)

      why would they go to a small bare bones site?

      IMHO a lot of people go about this the wrong way they go for the businesses but they do not get the people looking at the site.

      A local company did build a deal site (very 2002 looking weird site) and got many local businesses to list there....but who uses it? They had planned to charge but I guess that is not working, now thy have tons of "deals" but no one really uses it as you have to wade through various "out of biz" lisitings. It is a bear to keep up. I did work with a guy who had a deal site several years ago, he sold a "discount card" but that too was hard to keep up as biz change and go out of biz and won't honor deals

      Our local newspaper is really scrambling for ways to stay afloat (no one reads it haha)
      They started a "great deals in my city" site and it was a real flop, revamped, redone , no one used it, I spoke to several biz owners who did not get good results (or any results) from their listings, and now the site is "offline for maintainance"....their facebook page is gone and twitter was last updated in Oct.

      However at least a deal site or making them all have a coupon up has some reason for someone to go to the "directory". Otherwise why bother? I would be interested to hear from the directory people here - how is it going? Is this really viable? Care to show your sites? thanks
      If you think the efforts of people on what is predominantly a place to buy and discuss get rich quick schemes is a true indication of the validity of building sites with a local theme that profiles businesses, then I don't think you are going to get a proper idea of their potential or lack of


      Find Recruitment Agencies at Agency Central

      If you're a recruiter or job seeker, then value props don't come much stronger than the one in that headline. And if you got a free invitation and a good onboarding process to show you how to make the most out of it so the traffic sticks, you could easily find upsells and revenue generators galore.

      Do you think most of the people you've see using this model even sat down to write answers to the question 'How can ''mysite.com'' help you?'', ike the guys above? Let alone have a list of good reasons and a very strong value proposition that fulfils certain functions to certain people that are very useful to them and which they'll pay good money for.



      There's leverage in having a directory. Even just a good way to start conversations with local businesses. Buying a theme, populating it, and expecting people to roll up and pay you even a $10 a month to be listed just because it's a local directory and without applying serious effort, thought and consistent action? No. Or very little and short-lived

      There's big money in certain areas. This site, a french rip off of Linkedin near enough, with 10 million people, generate revenue this way, and other ways that a steeper priced but I can't find the page right now:

      Publier des offres d'emploi sur Viadeo

      Some jobs sites, like the guardian job site, charge 499 a month to recruitment firms to post jobs. I've seen others around 300 for a few ads.

      Agency Central have the advertising model at work:

      Online Recruitment Advertising

      And again, top right hand corner, a very strong proposition to advertisers to want to advertise, A niche database of their target audience.

      If you study how successful people are doing it, and then use your own intelligence and marketing ability and originality so you're not just another asshat trying out some latest biz opp scam, then if you can do that well and build a brand that offers something good for everyone involved, it has legs if you're willing to commit, and not be trapped by convention.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9820151].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Freebiequeen1999
        Originally Posted by Underground View Post

        If you think the efforts of people on what is predominantly a place to buy and discuss get rich quick schemes is a true indication of the validity of building sites with a local theme that profiles businesses, then I don't think you are going to get a proper idea of their potential or lack of


        Find Recruitment Agencies at Agency Central

        If you're a recruiter or job seeker, then value props don't come much stronger than the one in that headline. And if you got a free invitation and a good onboarding process to show you how to make the most out of it so the traffic sticks, you could easily find upsells and revenue generators galore.

        Do you think most of the people you've see using this model even sat down to write answers to the question 'How can ''mysite.com'' help you?'', ike the guys above? Let alone have a list of good reasons and a very strong value proposition that fulfils certain functions to certain people that are very useful to them and which they'll pay good money for.



        There's leverage in having a directory. Even just a good way to start conversations with local businesses. Buying a theme, populating it, and expecting people to roll up and pay you even a $10 a month to be listed just because it's a local directory and without applying serious effort, thought and consistent action? No. Or very little and short-lived

        There's big money in certain areas. This site, a french rip off of Linkedin near enough, with 10 million people, generate revenue this way, and other ways that a steeper priced but I can't find the page right now:

        Publier des offres d'emploi sur Viadeo

        Some jobs sites, like the guardian job site, charge 499 a month to recruitment firms to post jobs. I've seen others around 300 for a few ads.

        Agency Central have the advertising model at work:

        Online Recruitment Advertising

        And again, top right hand corner, a very strong proposition to advertisers to want to advertise, A niche database of their target audience.

        If you study how successful people are doing it, and then use your own intelligence and marketing ability and originality so you're not just another asshat trying out some latest biz opp scam, then if you can do that well and build a brand that offers something good for everyone involved, it has legs if you're willing to commit, and not be trapped by convention.
        Thanks for the reply....yes you are showing job sites,recruit, linkedin type etc...which have benefits

        and my example - of deal sites - might work if handled right ...for instance letting local biz put up groupon type deals and they keep most of the money (minus listing fees)

        but the people in this thread - who were supposedly giving advice to others. apparently did not make a success of this. That's why I asked for follow ups....I do wonder if any of the posters sharing their "tips" will come back and give some updates?
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9820819].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author Underground
          Originally Posted by Freebiequeen1999 View Post

          Thanks for the reply....yes you are showing job sites,recruit, linkedin type etc...which have benefits

          and my example - of deal sites - might work if handled right ...for instance letting local biz put up groupon type deals and they keep most of the money (minus listing fees)

          but the people in this thread - who were supposedly giving advice to others. apparently did not make a success of this. That's why I asked for follow ups....I do wonder if any of the posters sharing their "tips" will come back and give some updates?

          I'm launching my directory this week if everything goes to plan as well as my job site, and a big part of it for users is deals. I will use facebook to advertise these deals and the clients pays for that plus I'll make profit. There's not better way to build user-traffic on directory site than making it a place where they can save money on service the use and need or want. A consumer doesn't care if an on offer that they like on a weekend away or a pair of shoes of a massage comes from from groupon, livingsocial or a well built and branded that isn't well known yet.

          People will always want to get deals on things. If you market it right and invest in marketing, advertising and promotion you will draw traffic and be able to build an audience no doubt. And if your building a directory that will be your biggest source of users, even more than reviews and way more than people using your site to try to find other businesses.

          It doesn't matter if the site was for recruitment agencies. It's a model. And I did say people need to take it and put their own spin on it.

          Secretsales.com focus on only fashion, or at least that's all I see in their emails.

          Mr & Mrs Smith - Boutique Hotels - Luxury Romantic Hotels & Holidays focus on hotel deals.

          You could build a niche directory in a certain area and monetize with the idea you have rather than selling job ads or advertising, just the same. And if you did build a big database, you'd quickly find other ways to monetize it.

          I don't know if I've posted here but get the impression I'm being called out. If not, fine. If so, I'm not showing my sites here. Even when post sites that are making millions most people are slovenly of mind to get anything from it.

          If you question really is are directories worth building and are deals and coupons still a draw, then it depends on you. There are plenty of success models to replicate and takes piece from and build your own thing.


          You have to get smart. How many new website businesses do you see advertising everywhere? Price comparison sites. Booking sites. Quote sites. There's advertising everywhere over here.

          Plenty of models to look at and replicate. But it's all about promotion and advertising. You need to learn to do this with guerilla tactics but you can get a lot of traction to site with good marketing and advertising.

          And yes, deals are proven response generators.
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9821225].message }}
          • Profile picture of the author Freebiequeen1999
            Originally Posted by Underground View Post

            I'm launching my directory this week if everything goes to plan as well as my job site, and a big part of it for users is deals. I will use facebook to advertise these deals and the clients pays for that plus I'll make profit. There's not better way to build user-traffic on directory site than making it a place where they can save money on service the use and need or want. A consumer doesn't care if an on offer that they like on a weekend away or a pair of shoes of a massage comes from from groupon, livingsocial or a well built and branded that isn't well known yet.

            People will always want to get deals on things. If you market it right and invest in marketing, advertising and promotion you will draw traffic and be able to build an audience no doubt. And if your building a directory that will be your biggest source of users, even more than reviews and way more than people using your site to try to find other businesses.

            It doesn't matter if the site was for recruitment agencies. It's a model. And I did say people need to take it and put their own spin on it.

            Secretsales.com focus on only fashion, or at least that's all I see in their emails.

            Mr & Mrs Smith - Boutique Hotels - Luxury Romantic Hotels & Holidays focus on hotel deals.

            You could build a niche directory in a certain area and monetize with the idea you have rather than selling job ads or advertising, just the same. And if you did build a big database, you'd quickly find other ways to monetize it.

            I don't know if I've posted here but get the impression I'm being called out. If not, fine. If so, I'm not showing my sites here. Even when post sites that are making millions most people are slovenly of mind to get anything from it.

            If you question really is are directories worth building and are deals and coupons still a draw, then it depends on you. There are plenty of success models to replicate and takes piece from and build your own thing.


            You have to get smart. How many new website businesses do you see advertising everywhere? Price comparison sites. Booking sites. Quote sites. There's advertising everywhere over here.

            Plenty of models to look at and replicate. But it's all about promotion and advertising. You need to learn to do this with guerilla tactics but you can get a lot of traction to site with good marketing and advertising.

            And yes, deals are proven response generators.
            Sorry I am not calling you out, have not seen your site...I am merely pointing out that the people here on this 5 star thread gave advice that apparently helped no one not even them?

            Theory is great but practical application is better. One thing I noticed bout their "directories" was they didn't seem to care about who would actually visit or use the site, they were just using it as method to get (potential) clients for other services

            I do agree coupons and deals and/or targeting are all good methods. Yet the OP and the others posting here did none of that. 5 stars? Nah LOL

            I am also amazed at the amount of "reports" and wso's being sold that are soooo out of date, the author is no where, his/her website is gone with the wind, and most important the "rules" have changed (an example is "fangate" pages which are no longer allowed on facebook yet I am sure you can buy a report to tell you how to set one up haha)

            Sorry if I inject a bit of cynical realism here (guess not appreciated much?)
            {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9822437].message }}
            • Profile picture of the author Underground
              Looking back I did post in the thread earlier, so obviously you're calling me out among the others, like I some kind of fraud too? Don't back down if you are.

              While this sad conditioning people have be subjected to only respond or take action on things that come with puffed-up, fabricated income claims and not what makes sense and is true, it's just the way things are.

              So what, you want people to come out and say what? ''Yeah, I'm doing this and making £1000 a week''.

              And if they do then what? You actually get down to business because someone is generating a bit of money from this model?

              Or is your intention something different than just to call certain people out?

              The way you quickly dismissed my other post and still insisted people give you an update you must be.

              Back then I was going through mentorship program with a Enterprise firm where at the end I needed to submit a business plan and if they thought I had a viable plan they'd give me funding. I had to wait till Sept to get the funding. And decided to go beyond just building a directory and offering marketing.

              It was the long road but I wanted to invest properly for the future. I decided to go for my full ambitions and started working on 9 sites all under one brand. A few are still under development so I'm nearly finished working with a guy where we've put sign up pages up over most of them with a link to join list or find out more by going to a landing page.

              Everything I know and have worked of for years has gone into this and I'm proud of what I've constructed and can't wait to reap what I've busted my ass to accomplish for years.

              The directory and job site are near enough done, am I going to launch with just those live, generate revenue, and be able to hire the right people and develop those other sites properly whilst building a list in the process over the next month or or.

              It's not easy and hasn't been, but I'm very close to achieving what I set out to do and all my objectives, which I've always been clear on. It takes fulltime dedication, investment, study. If I said yeah, I'm doing a 10000 a week through my directory, a good few people would go into full-on mode and think it's easy money and will put a massive effort in (with piss poor end product), thinking there is easy money to be made.

              They won't react to the truth though or take action on it, but silly little BS income claims gets them going everytime. The truth that building a successful, profitable business that you actually have the skills to run, operate and make successful on a continual basis is not something you can do in a few days on the instructions of some guy/gal on a forum who turned a short-to medium term profit on some method or idea. You have to set your plan, objectives, work out what you need to do to get there, be prepared to do it and stay at along as it takes, believe in yourself, invest, study, learn self-discipline. So many other things.

              You know because you made a thread about it.

              I suspect I know why you're calling certain people out here and what's it's to do with.
              {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9822471].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Underground
    It's not that your petty cynicism is unappreciated. It's that it completely foolish and typical IM stuff.

    It happened to me on another place with major losers and crackpots and I've no doubt this is linked to that. I did make the mistake of thinking things would happen a lot sooner then they did and that I'd have a straight run. But no such luck.

    Many false dawns. But I could not have set my self up better and given myself so many potential ways to profit and generate revenue than I have.

    I don't know why you felt the need to come on and pull this shit just for the sake of it.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9822504].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Freebiequeen1999
      Originally Posted by Underground View Post

      It's not that your petty cynicism is unappreciated. It's that it completely foolish and typical IM stuff.

      It happened to me on another place with major losers and crackpots and I've no doubt this is linked to that. I did make the mistake of thinking things would happen a lot sooner then they did and that I'd have a straight run. But no such luck.

      Many false dawns. But I could not have set my self up better and given myself so many potential ways to profit and generate revenue than I have.

      I don't know why you felt the need to come on and pull this shit just for the sake of it.

      Maybe because this is a "5 star" thread...with 1 star information

      I called out the 3 people - the Montreal site is gone....the OP has not been on his facebook since last july his last post was a proud link to this thread...the the other marketing person has not one person his directory - could not give it away for free apparently. Myself I would take it down rather than display it on his site (the rest of his site looks good)

      Sorry if you think I am pulling shit as you put it. Maybe I can go write a wso on how to give away free spots on a wordpress directory?
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9822520].message }}
      • OP's opening text, what was highlighted :

        Trying something out firsthand is the only way to know whether or not it really works.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9822528].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author Freebiequeen1999
          Originally Posted by kirbymarketingconcierge View Post

          OP's opening text, what was highlighted :

          Trying something out firsthand is the only way to know whether or not it really works.
          Yes but he did not come back to update, to say if it worked or not - obviously it did not
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9824133].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Underground
        Originally Posted by Freebiequeen1999 View Post

        Maybe because this is a "5 star" thread...with 1 star information

        I called out the 3 people - the Montreal site is gone....the OP has not been on his facebook since last july his last post was a proud link to this thread...the the other marketing person has not one person his directory - could not give it away for free apparently. Myself I would take it down rather than display it on his site (the rest of his site looks good)

        Sorry if you think I am pulling shit as you put it. Maybe I can go write a wso on how to give away free spots on a wordpress directory?

        Well you're calling me out too, but won't say it. I agree these people are the type of foolish people I always reference and I'll say that straight. Jump on something thinking it's going to be easy money, make a shitty attempt, chuck up a theme, and then move onto the next thing.

        I haven't, and would not do that. I have a decent enough USP and spin on my own directory just by itself. Coupled with others benefits and promotional opportunities I can offer them across my whole network, plus advertising and lead generation methods I can offer that will get them real results fast, then I've really created something that provides value. I've got a lot of integrity and ethics and I've know I've put in the graft to do that.

        The advice I shared here isn't some BS theory that deserves to go in a WSO. If you had the right mindset for success you would have benefited checking out some of the sources I gave and modelling them.

        When I first started out, and since, I did the 'free' thing, giving something a way for free, and response rates where always 20-30%. Others have done this in their company and shared their response rates. These are far higher than straight sales pitches and win you far more opportunities to pitch.



        Not all the advice has been crap. Maybe you need to get out of the spoon fed mentality of looking for things where others have done all the work. Because that mentality does not allow people to takes bit and pieces from all over the place and utilize them. It ignores everything that doesn't seem easy and convenient and complete solution.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9822558].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Underground
        Originally Posted by Freebiequeen1999 View Post

        Maybe because this is a "5 star" thread...with 1 star information

        I called out the 3 people - the Montreal site is gone....the OP has not been on his facebook since last july his last post was a proud link to this thread...the the other marketing person has not one person his directory - could not give it away for free apparently. Myself I would take it down rather than display it on his site (the rest of his site looks good)

        Sorry if you think I am pulling shit as you put it. Maybe I can go write a wso on how to give away free spots on a wordpress directory?

        You made it look like you were asking serious questions here. You're right about the flaws other people succumb by going after businesses and forgetting about creating a draw for users and drawing them to the site as repeat business. They have absolutely no strategy for that.

        Madness.

        I really don't know if you who are think you are from somewhere else, in which case I would think you just wanted to call people out just out of some kind of resentment, or whether you genuinely want to see examples of the viability of building a type or directory.

        We'll I'm in for the long haul with mine and have serious plans and objectives, and will be focused on using the directory as a way to start business relationships with business in my City and have many different ways to monetize those relations in the coming months.

        I'll be doing SEO, Facebook advertising with deals, coupons, competitions, events, blogs, press releases and print magazines to build my sites and create a userbase for my whole network and will be promoting the directory heavily to drive traffic and build the email list there.

        I'll give real feedback here on response rates to outbound communications, business sign-ups, social mentions, profits, users, traffic, rankings, how many upsells I've sold, etc.

        I can understand if you're genuinely looking for something like that rather than conjecture. I'll be able to provide that over the coming weeks and months.

        But is still stands. Do your market and competitor research. Understand human nature, consumer psychology and why people buy things (very predicable and evergreen. The world's oldest profession for one). Once you understand things like that, you'll know if something is worth getting into and worth the considerable time and effort setting up shop there.

        You're on hiding to nothing if your searching around for some opportunity someone else on a forum like this has made a few quid with. You're sharper than that, I can tell.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9823920].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author Freebiequeen1999
          I am not someone from another site or whatever

          I am experienced in mostly offline marketing, sales and also IM

          I have some experience with directories as I worked for a guy who had a pretty active directory /discount card site, started out well but became a hassle, ultimately I made money then not so much then got caught in the day to day headaches

          My interest in this thread was more that it was listed 5 star - and why? I am sure the OP meant well but apparently his business idea did not work for him or a few others.

          Yet we still have another newcomer who thinks this is a good means of "client acquisition"? The one thing that stood out to me about the OP was when he said he really didn't care about getting people to his directory! He was strictly using this to get potential business clients....ouch

          Your own business plan seems to be light years away from the one initially presented here
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9824132].message }}
          • Profile picture of the author Underground
            Originally Posted by Freebiequeen1999 View Post

            I am not someone from another site or whatever

            I am experienced in mostly offline marketing, sales and also IM

            I have some experience with directories as I worked for a guy who had a pretty active directory /discount card site, started out well but became a hassle, ultimately I made money then not so much then got caught in the day to day headaches

            My interest in this thread was more that it was listed 5 star - and why? I am sure the OP meant well but apparently his business idea did not work for him or a few others.

            Yet we still have another newcomer who thinks this is a good means of "client acquisition"? The one thing that stood out to me about the OP was when he said he really didn't care about getting people to his directory! He was strictly using this to get potential business clients....ouch

            Your own business plan seems to be light years away from the one initially presented here

            The method of prospecting here works well when presented properly. The OP did that, but he didn't give away his subject line or email copy. The steps he gave though display keen marketing and sales nous. He had a strategy and was patient. Offered something free. Provided further value, and then gave an easy, logical call to action about how they could sort the problem out now they were aware of it by taking up the upsell. I heard a stat from Chet Holmes the other day about how 50% of all purchases are impulse buys. This is perfect for that.

            I've no doubt this worked. I've used process like this vs straight pitches and 20-30% is the average. JamesFreddy in this thread has used a good prospecting approach with similar response rates.

            Another guy had a crack with some way OTT hype email about a FREE listing on their site and got nowhere.

            It's a lot to do with how you present it and your approach.

            But what's can be criticized is consistency. Why aren't people consistent? For the OP, maybe he is still doing this but just not posting here.

            Others just lack sales and marketing intelligence and considering their customers is alien to them. They just see quick money and jump in and drop it right away.

            There's no nurturing prospects, not on-boarding, no education, no providing value no long term strategy about how the business can expect to benefit and get something out of being on their directory.

            Maybe you could just keep going after clients day in day and upselling them services and maybe the op had done that.

            But with method that lets you send out 100 emails a day and get to pitch 36 businesses, when does with intelligence, is one of the better prospecting methods your going to find.

            What's in question is people's ethics, intelligence and persistence when applying stuff like this.
            {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9824451].message }}
  • This is one of those free threads that offers much more value than many of the paid WSOs. Thank you so much for putting this all together. I offer wordpress related services and build websites for my clients. Never really thought of this approach to client acquisition.

    Thanks
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9822772].message }}

Trending Topics