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More Qualified Prospects? Web Design/SEO

by TakenAction
10 replies
The ultimate goal is prospect via cold calling and find a better way to get these prospects more qualified
to work with us rather than trying to call and schedule a phone appointment and close.

How:

I had an idea to use the "mockup" approach along with a form for the prospect to fill out.
Specifically what I want to do is have my cold caller make the calls as usual but instead of getting them to commit to a phone appointment from the call, we would have them fill out a 10-15 minute application [(about 10 questions) Would send the form via email after the call and once we receive back a filled out application we would follow up with a phone call] that qualifies them further with questions such as:

-What are you looking to get out of a newly designed/re-structured website?
-What is your average lifetime value of a customer?
-What is your budget?
-What is your monthly profit from your business?
-Why do you think we would be a good fit to work together?
-etc.

In return when they complete the form we would then create a free mockup design for their newly designed website (which would move us closer in the sales cycle) and go from there.

Thoughts? Suggestions?
#design or seo #prospects #qualified #web
  • Profile picture of the author iAmNameLess
    My thoughts are that when you're cold calling and trying to set an appointment in order to sell them by phone just isn't going to work very well... maybe you can make 2-3k/mo from that but it's not effective.

    The mockup approach isn't one I would ever want to do because it takes nearly as much effort as just selling them.

    My suggestion would be to call, find out if there's a need for what you offer, and go from there. You don't have to one call close it.

    Call, determine if they're dead or a real lead. If they're in front of a computer have them go to your website to see information and samples, if they're not, then get their email address to send pricing info, whatever other info and samples. I also like to put them into an autoresponder sequence when they give me their email. That way if they're not ready to do something for at least a few weeks or a month, they're warmed up to you, you're educating them, and building trust which makes closing very simple.

    I feel that you're adding an unnecessary additional step that is going to make closing sales a bit harder for you.

    Usually when you're cold calling in this business, it is volume based. Your inbound efforts are likely to bring in more qualified leads.
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  • Profile picture of the author internetmarketer1
    Again, during the cold call, it cannot just be like, "hey, we're going to sell you something, but we want to see if we can cater to you." You have to make sure that you approach them just right or they won't even go through with the survey.

    The question, "Why do you think we would be a good fit to work together?" irks me simply because they don't want to work with you. You are trying to work with them. You want to qualify them without literally showing it and being too obvious. I feel like this question should be removed, or simply modified to not sound like it is them who are trying to get you but a mixture of you both working together to get their business to the top.
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  • Profile picture of the author jamesfreddyc
    Scanning page 2 of this section there are a couple of posts that may be beneficial. Also, this inbound method has some similar elements to your plan and you may get some good insights

    http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...ointments.html
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  • Profile picture of the author internetmarketer1
    "The mockup approach isn't one I would ever want to do because it takes nearly as much effort as just selling them.

    My suggestion would be to call, find out if there's a need for what you offer, and go from there. You don't have to one call close it."

    I agree with this 100%.

    You don't always have to get sales straight away from just one single call.
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  • Profile picture of the author misterme
    Originally Posted by TakenAction View Post

    The ultimate goal is prospect via cold calling and find a better way to get these prospects more qualified
    to work with us rather than trying to call and schedule a phone appointment and close.

    How:

    I had an idea to use the "mockup" approach along with a form for the prospect to fill out.
    Specifically what I want to do is have my cold caller make the calls as usual but instead of getting them to commit to a phone appointment from the call, we would have them fill out a 10-15 minute application
    No.

    The way to "get these prospects more qualified to work with us" is to educate the teachable.

    Unless you really meant to say, " get more qualified prospects to work with us."
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    • Profile picture of the author TakenAction
      Originally Posted by misterme View Post

      No.

      The way to "get these prospects more qualified to work with us" is to educate the teachable.

      Unless you really meant to say, " get more qualified prospects to work with us."
      haha yes that is what I meant to say, nice catch.
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      The best thing you can do is put yourself out there.

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  • Profile picture of the author misterme
    well then, I'd say educating them still isn't a bad idea. That's to say, feeding them stuff that enlightens them about what they're looking for, but weans them on to your way of doing it

    Then what happens is they get aha moments and realize you're the one for them. The right prospects eat up whatever information you give them if you're hitting their buttons.

    And if they refuse to take in the information they won't get to that fever pitch, so when they refuse to be educated, you know they're not the best prospect.
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    • Profile picture of the author TakenAction
      Originally Posted by misterme View Post

      well then, I'd say educating them still isn't a bad idea. That's to say, feeding them stuff that enlightens them about what they're looking for, but weans them on to your way of doing it

      Then what happens is they get aha moments and realize you're the one for them. The right prospects eat up whatever information you give them if you're hitting their buttons.

      And if they refuse to take in the information they won't get to that fever pitch, so when they refuse to be educated, you know they're not the best prospect.
      So what do you think about sending them some kind of free information or report of their website in the time between we set the phone appointment and when the time for the phone appointment actually happens?

      Schedule the phone appointment, get their email (before getting off the phone) telling them we will create XY for them and send it to their email to look over before the phone appointment.

      "feeding them stuff that enlightens them about what they're looking for, but weans them on to your way of doing it"

      What would you recommend on doing that would accomplish this?

      Since I'm selling web re-design/SEO, I could create a short report that could tell them how many visitors they are missing out on by not having their website ranked for X keyword etc, as well as give them a few free tips on how to increase response rate on their website
      [For Example: if they added a contact form on the homepage or a phone number in their headline of their homepage etc.

      Try and build some trust from that before the phone appointment.

      No idea if this is going anywhere or goes along with what you said in your comment and I might be coming off as an idiot, I am just thinking out loud.
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      • Profile picture of the author misterme
        Maybe a booklet which states your top most important distinctions in a way that's informative, not salesy as in "here's why we're the best" - more along the lines of here's what is out there, here's your choices, here's the pros and cons of each. Here's what costs are like for this and for that across the industry and what you'd expect to pay. And also, because we find doing it this way and not that way lasts longer looks better is less costly for you, here's what backs up our take on things. Do we make sense to you Dear Mr and Ms Businessperson? Do you find you agree we have the preferable widget? We think we do, and if you think so, give us a call to chat a bit more.

        Something like that. It ought to be your best converting stuff if you've ever had stuff out there.
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        • Profile picture of the author savidge4
          Being in the same trade of sorts, I am having a hard time with some of the logic and thinking here. What about sending them a report or something... You simply are offering points of objection. At the very least you are arming YOUR prospects with the information needed to shop around a bit.

          It just seems that you are trying to add steps to the process. They are interested or they are not. it is really that simple. if they are on the fence in any way shape or form, then you can approach them with the education angle.

          You need to understand that Time is Money. you are a web designer. you can only do so much in a day. If you are spending all of this TIME trying to get new work, when would you have time to complete the work? Its a circle. you can get work, or you can do work, with what you are doing you can not in any way do both.

          I stopped phone sales a long time ago. I set personal appointments with my clients. I TRY not to do so during business hours. I simply REFUSE to have a sit down during their business hours in their place of business. We can meet at my office. We can meet over lunch. We can meet over dinner. we can meet at there place of business after hours.

          This is what works for ME. I purposely remove the distractions from the prospect. They are now on MY time. The future client sees the value in this, if this is something they want to persue. If they are waffling.. they are not a good match and I move on.

          Every step in the process should be doing 2 things and 2 things only for you. Qualifying the Prospect, and Selling the Prospect. Thats it, nothing more nothing less. And in case you are wondering... Educating the Prospect is part of the selling phase. if I am educating, I have already qualified them. Educating in my case is bring the client up to speed in what I offer, and what it will do for them.

          Anything out sided of those 2 points is simply a waste of time for YOU. Some of this stuff you are asking about may benefit the prospect, but like I have said, you are just opening points of objection. Sales 101 - how many times can you get a prospect to say "Yes" ( hopefully not 1 short of the gavel coming down and the words "Sold" are ringing from the hill tops! )

          I am sure you have read many articles in this forum. Time and again the idea of churning through the calls is the key to success. Don't try and reinvent the wheel! get on the phone and do the 100 - 300 calls a day. do the time and quit looking for short cuts. In the days that you have been on here trying to feel out a system, you could have already sold a few clients!
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          Success is an ACT not an idea
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