In getting new clients, one of the techniques that has worked well for me is what I like to call the “Shock and Awe” campaign.  This has worked extremely well for me and I am going to show you how this works. 

The first thing you need to do is to list down companies which you think could benefit from your services.  Think of all the people and companies you know of who would be interested in acquiring your service.  Go through all the business cards you have collected through the years and create a shortlist of people who you would like to approach to offer your services.   

Once you have determined who your prospects are, it is now time to make the call.  Plan your call well and arrange to finish the call within six minutes.  Practice what you are going to say and keep repeating it until you have perfected it.   

Make your presentation brief and to the point.  Remember that this may be your only chance to get them on the phone so do not waste this opportunity by rambling on about trivial matters.  You only get one chance so do not blow it up. 

Do not waste time convincing prospects how great you are because quite frankly, they do not care.  Do not bother to show them examples of your previous work because they are not interested.  They don’t care about what you have done for others.  What they care about is what you can do for them. 

They are interested in knowing how they can improve their site.  They want to know about their problematic areas as well as areas for improvement.  Remember that they are looking for a solution for their problem.  Keep that in mind and do not lose focus of it. 

Another thing you should not do is to criticize your competitors nor to disgrace them in front of others especially your prospects.  This will not be beneficial for you and in fact, will do you more harm than good.  Be warned that if you choose to do this and your prospect is currently working with them, your prospect may become defensive about their choice and shut you off.   

Instead, what you need to do is to outline the differences between your competitors and yourself.  Let them know the advantages of working with you and provide them with a clear understanding of your skills and capabilities.  Doing this will help them understand why you are the right person to do the work for them.   

Work on earning their trust by showing them the areas where they can improve and then outline a solution to address it.  Quickly and briefly point out their areas for improvement and provide them with action items. Aim to give this at the end of your phone conversation with them.  

MAKING THE CALL 

People have often asked me what the secret is to a successful sales call.  My answer always has been – “Be a great teacher.”   

There is nothing more frustrating than talking to a sales person who is reading off a sales page.  If you want to be successful, always teach your prospects something of value and they will instantly connect with you.  That instant connection is the secret to fast closes. 

When you get your prospect on the phone, casually ask if they have six minutes to learn about the problem areas of their website.  It is always advisable to let them know how long the conversation will last so they know that they will not be stuck on an hour-long phone call.  People are more receptive on the phone if they know how long the call will be.   

When you have been given the green light, stick to the schedule and never go beyond the six minutes you have promised.  This will show that you respect their time and they will be grateful for it. 

Always ask them questions which will make them discuss the details of their business.  Understand that a “cookie cutter” approach is not the solution that most companies want.  Know that each company is different and as such, would have different needs.  They all want a personalized plan and you can only give this if you know what their needs are. 

When they ask you what you can do for them, always ask about their business first.  Avoid answering this question until you have a clear understanding of their business and their needs.  Answering this question will be like a shot in the dark if you do not have the proper information.   

To start the conversation, you can make use of the following basic questions:

• What is your domain name? 
  
  Write this down and quickly look up their domain on one window and open Domain Tools in another.  You can also run YSlow on their site to get additional information. 
  
• Do you have a current SEO strategy in place?  
  
  
• Their answer should either be a “Yes” or a “No.”  There is no middle ground for this.  It’s either they have or they do not.  Do not allow them to ramble on as this will only consume your six minutes. 
  

While your prospect is answering all these questions, quickly work to get information on their site using the tools I have mentioned above.  Do all these and listen to them at the same time.  Write down the important details especially their biggest stress.   

Once they are done explaining, lay out the six-minute “Shock and Awe” campaign on them.  Use the information you have gathered while listening to them.  For example, you may say:

“Your site is about six years old which is a huge plus in how Google treats “aged domains” (info from DomainTools.com), your total link count is about 3,500 which is pretty weak (info from Yahoo! Site Explorer). For a six year old domain, the link count should be at least 20,000. Your traffic is pretty weak too, around 12,000 per month (pulled from TrafficEstimate.com), is that about right? And did you know your site has an issue with loading quickly in major browsers and it looks like you have about 5 external JavaScripts and a whole bunch of images loading, which is hurting the performance of your site. It’s fixable, but this could be a cause for your stress (info pulled from YSlow). I also notice you’re on the latest version of Apache for your server. This is good as you’re protected from a lot of security holes that you competition is vulnerable to (pulled from the HTTP Headers Firefox extension). So whoever set up your server did a good job.” 

Note: Always give at least one piece of good news on an opening call with a prospect.

“In looking at your site you’re trying to go after the keyword “discount magazines”, right?  (Keyword taken from Title Tag of the home page.)  Well, the good news is you’re close and you probably don’t realize how close you are. All you need are more targeted links and your competition can be overtaken. But before we get into that, let me ask you, have you verified that “discount magazines” makes you money?” 

Now, teach them the difference between getting top ranking and making money.  You will be surprised at the number of people who are not aware of this difference.  Their eyes will be opened and they will freak out because no one else has taught them this.   

While your competitors call them to convince them how great they are and what they can do for them, you, on the other hand, have earned their trust by teaching them something of significance.  You have told them more about their site than any other SEO ever has.  And you did it in six minutes.   

When they ask you how you know all these things about their site, do not tell them what you did.  Instead, just say, “That’s my job and I’m damn good at it!”  A little attitude in this business is never a bad thing. J

THE PROPOSAL 

Most prospects would ask for a proposal.  The problem with proposals is that 82% of them go unread and end up in the trash.  That can only mean wasted time and effort on your part.   

We all know how time-consuming proposals are. They take you away from working on your current clients’ projects and away from income-generating activities.  I no longer need to point out that the time spent on proposals is non-billable. 

Moreover, in a survey I have conducted, I have found out that most businesses hire SEOs based on how he “felt” on the phone. Knowledge and confidence over the phone certainly closes the deal more than a well-written proposal. 

When your prospect requires a proposal, politely decline and explain that you prefer a more personalized approach.  In lieu of this, offer to provide them a written summary of what they need based on your discussion and what their investment cost would be.  Keep it brief and to the point.   

Assess and review their site, target their problem areas and create a strategy to address these issues.  Give them what they really want and then ask them if they’d like for you to give it a try.  More often than not, the answer will be yes. 

Follow these tips and you will find that, more often than not, businesses and companies will hire you because they like you and because they trust you.