The Business of Online Marketing

Practices that Close Deals

In this chapter and in this chapter we're going to discuss about some methods, practices and techniques so often networking and when you're out there doing the Chamber of Commerce meetings and the mixers and of book the speaking like we just discussed about it will lead to doing one on ones and at the beginning this is a great way to generate some business.

Basically what a one on one is where you agree where you've met somebody maybe at a networking event or a chamber or whatever it is. And then you agreed to meet at a coffee shop or maybe it's at their place of business for a more private meeting and basically is just to see how they want to evaluate further how you can help them and get started on this again.

At the beginning this is not the most scalable activity for sure unless you have a sales team of 1000 people. But it is a great way to get things started. So before you even agreed to meet with somebody be sure that they fit your chosen niche. Be sure that you're screening them already.

Let's say you focus on home services and that's an attorney that wants to meet with you. You can politely say well hey that's great. I'd love to help you. But actually our expertise lies with Home Services. Tell you what maybe you could refer them to somebody you know that does do that.

Or you could point them in or drive direction maybe even supply them with some tools that they can do it themselves. This is going to save you a lot of time. Be polite about it but it'll save you a lot of time from meeting or somebody that just isn't going to be one of your ideal clients.

So at the very beginning you might want to take on everybody but again station to your niche and it'll help your business grow that much faster. So once you've established you're one on one meeting with somebody in your target niche meet them and spend a lot of time asking questions just ask a question.

And listen this isn't a time to pitch your business. They've already they're already sold on you in some way because they've asked to meet with you. So all you have to do is ask questions and listen.

You could ask questions like what would your current on what about your current online marketing efforts aren't yet perfect. That's a great one because the they're going to get to perfect but you can ask them that question and they're going to be able to tell you what their pain points are and you will be able to see how you can help them where you can ask them something like What's your biggest challenge when it comes to marketing online or what have you done already to market online.

And how did it work out for you. You can ask them questions like this is going to open them up and really share give you a real good window as to what's happening for them in their business when it comes to marketing online. So after you've listened for a while and you really feel like you have a great understanding present a freebie to them maybe this is something that you drew up before the meeting based on their business when you agree to meet with someone actually be sure to do your homework online before we even meet with them and see what they've got going on and where they can help you improve where you can help them improve.

It's funny that quick story one time I was meeting with somebody at a one on one and this was a real estate broker and the broker wanted to kind of help his office he wanted to get more exposure on line. And before we even met they didn't have webs that they didn't have anything up on line. But he has put some other stuff up online. And I did a search of his name and found out that he was part of a like a Scottish bagpipe club and different things like that.

And I actually told him that during the meeting that he looked surprised. He was astounded that I knew that. And I said well if it's up on line we know how to find it. We can see it. And so you want to do your homework before you meet with somebody from a company before you even get there.

And again that's going to help and impress them and is going to help and know that going in with you is going to be the right decision. So at this time like I said you want to present them with a freebie. So maybe that can be something like a little PTF that you drew up like 12 immediate fixes that will boost your rankings in Google or are 12 things that you can change about your Web site to help get ranked better in Google right now.

Whatever it may be those are just a couple of examples but to make it scalable you can even create a generic but helpful tool. So you could even just make a generic word document and then drop their name on the front page make a few adjustments here and there and then make it relevant for them.

The point is to wow them by doing your homework and then to put them into your emotional. Put them into your debt in a way. By giving them something that is actually a really useful tool you're enacting what they call the law of reciprocation right. They'll often feel indebted to you and want to work with you to give you something in return. This is something I've found really works.

So take a look at this. I've had clients tell me that they chose to work with my company because I gave them so much stuff. And here's the wording that I used. I didn't say by buying my service you're going to. Instead I said I've taken a look at your business and here are seven specific things you could do right now to get more business.

Here you go. It's yours free. So can you see the difference one I'm putting on a hard sell buying my service and I'll help you locate a win for them because they're genuinely going to get some value out of my service. But it's hard when I'm saying here here's a gift for you.

Here's something that you can do immediately in your business to help your business grow. And if you want you know we can discuss. There's a bit of a difference there. And it's kind of like that hard to get game almost and businesses just like date.

There's even a as I'm sure it's probably already a book but you can see the difference there and that's that one on one approach I've found has worked really well to engender trust with your potential clients. And it also just is genuinely helpful even if they don't do business with you.

They still have something that you left behind that they if they put it into use would genuinely help them and that goes a long ways. So last thing to think about was one on ones. They're a great way to get going when ones are great when getting started or if you need to kick start your sales.

If you get some low sales numbers or a couple of members of your sales team aren't doing as well as they could get them to do one on ones. And this is again not the most scalable thing you can do. But again it's a great way to get in and meet with some clients right away. And generally if you do your job the right way you're going to close the deal.