Selling Techniques For Seo And Web Design
Contacting a business about Web Design or Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is easier if you spot a problem for which you can offer a solution. Some sites are outdated and need design work; others don’t show up where they should in organic rankings so it can be pointed out that there is an opportunity to get a bigger market share by being more visible in the search results for their industry. There are usually many web site designers going after them via telemarketing so independent designers must dig in and phone cold to get a chance to show a portfolio. This can be disheartening for those who haven’t done sales for a living; it will soon become apparent that a large percentage of business owners will talk the talk but when it comes to making a decision, it could take many months of wasted time. Businessmen pretend they have money for a few months until you get tired of calling them back.
You must talk with a decision-maker who can authorize payment of a contract and you must qualify the prospect. Qualifying is the procedure of finding out if this company needs your service enough to deal with you. It also requires you to know that your solution will work for them. For example a distributer of vacuum cleaner parts has a list of repair shops and stores that need his particular line of goods. The shops know who the distributer is and have been doing business with them already. The distributer does not sell directly to the public and has no need for website traffic through organic rankings or a re-design of his site to make it more search engine-friendly. No matter how good the design interface looks and how high the quality of your website content writing the distributer has no need for your service and is therefore unqualified to be a client and should be left alone – even if he likes to sit and talk with you it will be a waste of your valuable time.The task of surfing the Web for sites that need work is time-consuming so advertising for people to contact you is ideal provided you some get response from your ads. If not, then it’s back to the phones to get someone interested in doing something to improve the company website. Operators will try to screen your call so it’s most important to research ahead of time to find the name of the boss from the website or through a Google search of the company name followed by “president” or “owner” so that you sound legitimate enough to know who you want to talk with. Then a question will be asked: “May I say what this is regarding?” and you don’t answer correctly you won’t be put through. It’s time to identify yourself as a private web consultant rather than use a company name. The reason for this is that the average business receives an average of 70 telemarketing calls per day from call centers so you don’t want to be placed in that category…you want to sound special and important. Learning to generate a sense of urgency is a subtle art that helps to close contracts. Let them know your work is time-sensitive and that there’s a timetable opening for his project to get underway before all those new campaigns you’re starting in two weeks.
Whether selling on the phone or in person, let the prospect ask questions and listen carefully so that you can probe a little deeper into his or her personality and the situation of the company. Usually they will relate a story of getting burned on a similar deal, so that allows you to spend more of your talking time on building your credibility…remember that you have a limited amount of time to pitch and close the sale. There are always objections, some major and some minor. Answer possible objections before the prospect brings them up so that the last objection is a weak one (usually a money objection) that can be overcome with a straight question: “Other than the cost, can we do business today?”
Remember that some objections can remain hidden, so all objections must be dealt with. A good salesman will close on a minor point – would you like red or blue as the background color, thereby putting the prospect on the other end of the sale as if he already bought it. This follows the principle of “assuming the sale” and all the prospect can do is try to back out with another weak objection that can be overcome more easily. Looking for the opportunity to close is essential…if you keep talking after the owner was ready to get out the checkbook you may oversell and will lose the contract as you chatter yourself out the door shaking hands…the buyer’s tension disappears and the prospect will tell you: “someday we’ll get together and do this, I’m going on vacation for 3 weeks but call me when I get back”. Many experienced salespeople have talked themselves out of a deal. By: Pat Boardman