No one likes being sold. No one. People love to buy stuff that’s going to satisfy a need they have. They love to spend money to make more money.
About 8 or 9 weeks ago I volunteered to change jobs here at AboutUs because we had more people expressing interest in our article-writing service than we could phone back to give them more info. Since then, I’ve been on the phones every day, talking with all kinds of people about their businesses and how an article on AboutUs can help with their visibility and credibility on the internet. It’s hard work! Every day I dial between 30 and 50 phone numbers, leave lots of voicemail messages (busy people out there building their own businesses!), and talk with about 10 people.
So how do I speak with people on the phone in a way that conveys to them how great the service is, that helps them see how it will benefit their business, that doesn’t make them feel like they’re being sold? I find it very difficult. And why is that? I know how much our articles can benefit a small-business. I’ve seen it first-hand …
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Your idea is good about the writing articles.
However you need to find a way to make it more scalable imo.
Try to make the service about giving control to the advertiser/ pr representative.
This way you won’t have to answer the phone all day.
My 2 cents
Thanks for your comment, John. Could you say more about what you mean? I’m not quite getting you. Thanks!
I know when selling real estate here in Vancouver Washington, most folks don’t like a cold call. The warmer you can make that first call, the better your success rate should be. I think as well, as I believe Seth Godin says, get us your constituents to spread the word for you to help make that first call a warm one!
Good Hunting!
John
Thanks, John. We’re only calling people that gave us their info on AboutUs.org and clicked a button that said “I want more info”. So why does it still seem so cold so much of the time?
Ted, I think perhaps Bill Gates misled us a little with a remark attributed to him to the effect that: ” the Internet is Free.” In my experience you can spend a modest amount of time and funds for your Internet venture with a variable range of results, from zero to a very high amount. You can also spend much more and not improve on those results. Thus for me, I can become numb to the plethora of pitches out there to get me ranked No. 1 in Google. What I think I need are Better Quality hits (warmer leads) to pages that are sticky to where appointments with real people and sales take place.
What I like about your article approach is that a prospect can learn about our team’s services and approach to the real estate business and either “warm up” to us and visit our main site or, move on with their research. The added benefit of better visibility with Google is certainly a plus.
For your business, I think you are probably generating warmer leads, and learning to work those leads. There will always be some calls that seem cold, no matter how sunny it is (finally!) in Portland / Vancouver and especially if the price of gas jumped another 10 cents overnight!
I’ve often wondered about that idea of AboutUs generating warmer leads for businesses. It’s one of those things that seems like it should be true. I really like the way you frame the issue.
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