Please HELP!! I have my first potential customer
This topic contains 8 replies, has 8 voices, and was last updated by 
Robert Labedz 6 years, 3 months ago.
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Topic
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Hi guys,
I need some help if you please. Yesterday before heading out for a day of rest and relaxation with a friend, I noticed my favorite eatery’s website was down. Since they know me there, (by face if not name) while I was at lunch I offered my services for free, to get their website back up & back online, in exchange for them being the first in my portfolio and a testimonial. I was honest with my potential new customer and said I did know some stuff about WP but was by no means an expert, but I had build some personal websites. We have tentatively agreed to meet after the first of the year.
Here’s my issue.
While I have a few ideas what to ask I would like some input from you guys to have a solid & complete list of questions for my new customer so I can at least LOOK like I know what I’m doing.
Just for the record, I am interested in building websites but my ultimate goal is to set up online and be a one man shop for my business. My other thought with building up a few clients this way is it would force me to stay more updated with my information than I might otherwise.
Note: this is solely for building their site. No advertising nor seo or anything else.Thanks in advance!
Julie
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Replies
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Julie
here’s a starter list:
Take a look at their site (pull it up during your meeting)
ask them:
what do you like best about it?
What is the one thing you would improve on it?
How important is having your site up and running to you?
How important is it to your customers, to having it up and running?
Would you be interested in adding a daily special to the site, and encouraging folks to connect via facebook?
Would you be interested in having an email list or facebook list of people who eat at your restaurant so you can invite them back, let them know about a new menu item, etc.
And now to you, Julie, what are 3 more relevant questions you could add to this list?
Sean
Do you want to learn how to start a coaching program that stabilizes your income and changes lives? If so, visit http://www.AnyoneCanCoach.com
Sean
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After you get the “job,” ask them:
1. Why do you have a website? What is it’s purpose?
They will probably tell you that they want people to read what’s on it.
2. Then you can ask them how they’ll know when people have visited the site.
Google Analytics will tell them the number of people who visit, but what you really want them to do is take action as a result.
Then you can explain to them about building a list. They could offer a 2-4-1 coupon, for example, or 50% off their first meal, or something like that to get people to sign up.
And then they can email their list and tell them about how they carefully prepare their food, why they have a restaurant, specials that only their list qualify for, etc.
This might be a way for you to not just fix their site, but also take over their marketing.
Bruce Hoag PhD
The Internet Marketing Psychologist
The Mindful Writer - for deep and persuasive copy -
Julie
how did your sales conversation go?
we would love to see some feedback here to see if our suggestions were helpful!
Sean
Do you want to learn how to start a coaching program that stabilizes your income and changes lives? If so, visit http://www.AnyoneCanCoach.com
Sean
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Brick & Mortar businesses and their websites
Julie,
I’m not sure if you have had your sales conversation with your potential client yet because we haven’t seen any feedback yet but if you haven’t, what I’ve done over and over is to ask the client if they have websites of similar businesses that they like. If they do ask what they are. If they don’t have them search a bit and find some websites they like so you know which direction to go that you know in advance will make them happy. THEN… I go into the questions posed by previous posts and use the answers to build their site in a way that incorporates what they need but remember… YOU are the expert. YOU know better than they do what a website should include (and if you don’t know, ask here or do your research). The most important thing in building sites is to ask yourself as you go what the purpose of each page is. Don’t have any pages without a purpose.
Good luck and we look forward to great feedback in this great new year for you.
SteveIf you're looking for a someone to bounce things off of in the IM world, I'm your guy and I really would love to help you out. Helping others is just who I am!
To Change Your Life Forever check out me out at http://IM-Specialist.com
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Julie,
A couple of things I might add…
1. Make sure you put a limit on FREE. For example, 3 pages, 5 pages, etc. So you don’t get set up for a project that never ends. Don’t over complicate it. Some of their later additions you can charge for, maybe even at 1/2 price if you want so your portfolio project will look bigger.
2. If there will be ongoing work like weekly specials, make sure you get paid for it.
3. You said their site was down. If you need to see an archived version, put their domain name into archive.org.
4. Ask for the sites of their main competitors. Compare and contrast.
5. I’ve done custom contract programming since 1986. A portfolio was almost never an issue. I often dropped names of previous clients, but I can’t remember EVER being asked for examples of my previous work. Kind of amazing, and maybe I’m the exception.
Mostly just talk like you know what you are doing. No need to apologize more than you already have. You can do this!!!
All The Best,
Mark
All About Health And Healing
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Julie, you might just casually ask what happens when a customer searches for them online to find out their hours, or to get a phone number, or to look at a menu, and their site is down? I would hope they see that as a problem, and it’s always interesting to hear the answer. Usually opens the door pretty quickly.
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Questions to ask
Hi Julie,
How about if you went to web site building sites like you were wanting them to set up a sight for you and use the questions they ask you as a template for your own questions to your clients? Other you could just show the clients several type of sites like theirs (things you can make or build yourself) and then ask the client “What would you like your site to look like and do?
Hope that helps.
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