I am not that great at sales and I really need to get my business off the ground. What would be best? Buying traffic? Starting an affiliate program/ Any suggestions are welcome.
That's a pretty big question. What are you selling? If your ticket price is high and your niche is quite specific then you'd have a different strategy from an impulse purchase of low value. Would your product or service suit being sold by untrained third parties? Any chance they could misrepresent your product and damage your brand?
Getting clients is based upon alot of small factors, what you're selling, your pitch, your approach, your price etc etc...
Well I'm providing web design and social media services. There is an issue with perhaps somebody misrepresenting SEO services as those are the easiest to skew. My services aren't cheap but for the value of what a consumer would get, it is a good value. I guess my issue boils down to is this. I can provide the services and I have no idea on how to get my first customers. I've tried visiting local business owners and it's pretty apparent that I have no sales skills. I need help but I can't afford a full time sales employee.
You could try promoting your services online to forums such as this one, since people are more aware of what you're offering and could potentially be a slightly easier sell. Have you looked into brushing up on your "sales" skills? You generally don't need to be too sales-y to get some local clients (which is a great place to start), but sometimes you could be doing one or two simple things wrong that are scaring them away. Don't be afraid to play around with your pricing and how you present your offer, and don't go in there letting yourself wonder how they'd ever go for it... be confident and just present to them how you can HELP them, and WHY they NEED your help. Don't give up!
Thanks. I really appreciate the advice. I guess reading up on sales wouldn't hurt. Thanks for the motivation boost too!
Agree with the above posts. You could also look at developing a client list for your services by bidding on jobs through freelance job sites.
Dear Rito, you need to clearly understand one thing. You can not engage in sales of expensive services without good experience in sales.There is a high risk of getting holed below the waterline. Just because in the sales of expensive products, potential customers are more whimsical and very sensitive to the quality of work. Therefore, I recommend you first of all to involve a partner who has the experience.
Try word of mouth. Place your ads on forums, directories that relate to your service. Put your service in your signature and post on forums, that works well too.
I'm no sales person either but there are two things I do that help: 1. Be passionate and enthusiastic about your services, but not cocky. 2. Depending on who I am trying to sell to I may tell them up front I am not a sales person so they won't be getting any sales pressure. It can relax prospects.
You have a nice site. Get it listed in quality directories such as local business directories. Bid on some Adwords, but make sure you target very specific, low-cost keywords. Don't forget to add your city to the keywords. These have less competition, more targeted and cost less. A well optimized press release can bring in a lot of business. I launched my marketing firm with Adwords and a press release. I optimized the press release to target a low competition keyword. The press release ranked #1 for that keyword for over a month and generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in business. It sounds like you just launched your firm, so an optimized press release announcing your new firm is a good way to go.
Post a service gig here once you get 25 posts. It's free and you can majorly under charge yourself in hopes of competing with other people that have crappy skills at whatever service they're promoting.
From what i've seen word of mouth is the best way, but as you're looking for your first set of clients this probably won't apply for you. Maybe discount the price start with and attract clients in. If your service is of good quality, i'm sure some of the future business will be from recomendations; other than that try and get as much exposure by press releases, site linking etc
The key in the beginning is HELP. Help your sister, friends, family and offer a free design/layout. Even to a small company, they will remember you long long time. The next key is promote: every new design/layout/website is done, post it in your fb. share it on webdesign groups. hope that help buddy, and good luck..
Hello, There are many clients will buy online product or service. So you start business so will get client. All the best, Thanks