Forum Moderators: phranque
The conversation always goes the same way or with very minor variations of the exact same thing! I have had 5 calls since last Friday from different SEO companies:
Caller: May I speak to the person in charge of your web site?
Me: That would be me.
Caller: May I say you have a lovely site and that you've done an excellent job with it.
Me: Thank you.
Caller: You're welcome. However, were you aware that it isn't ranking very well in the search engines?
I take exception to these calls. Aside from the complete lack of originality, it is also glaringly evident that they are cold calling and didn't spend more than a minute (if that) looking at the site or checking its rankings. My site does quite well in my little niche market "for the phrases I have targeted" ... in all major search engines, or at least the ones I care about.
I have purposely not gone after the "big game hunter" phrases or singular words because I only want qualified traffic from those who are experienced in what I sell and are specifically looking to do what I sell in my little part of the world.
I don't want to have to separate the wheat from the chaff every day prior to answering my inquiries. Why isn't that easy enough to understand? Its all about conversions ... not "traffic"!
I specialize in my area of the world and NO ... I don't want to be first for "keyword" or even "keyword, keyword", I am very happy being first or second or even third for "keyword, keyword, keyword". A very high proportion of these inquiries convert to sales!
Too much time is wasted trying to explain why I don't want what they are selling and being told "I am missing a lot of sales opportunities" by an SEO'er who has no idea what my industry or my clients are all about!
In fact, what I know I'm missing is dealing with a bunch of punters who will take all my time away from serious buyers who are busy buying what I sell from somebody else because I can't get off the phone with the punter who is picking my brains (for hours) ... only to ultimately inform me that they've decided they are going to Greece or Florida or Australia instead ... but thanks for the free advice!
Please guys, before you go cold calling people, at least make an attempt to look at the site of your "prospective client" to determine if (a) your services are in fact needed and (b) what phrases or keywords have been targeted and how that site stands.
Its pretty easy to do if you look at the keywords listed. If they don't list their keywords, reading a page or two should work!
Sorry everyone ... but these phone calls are starting to annoy me almost as much as unsolicited e:mail!
(End of Rant)
Liane, just remember, they are only doing their job. ;)
Can you set up a premium rate phone line and ask them to call you back on that line? ;)
... at least make an attempt to look at the site of your "prospective client" to determine if (a) your services are in fact needed and (b) what phrases or keywords have been targeted and how that site stands.
... but that hasn't been the case. ;)
But seriously. Do you think they actually knew more than you or were they just hoping you were clueless?
before you go cold calling people
I love it when they cold call me.
Caller: May I speak with the person in charge with your website?
Me: Which one?
Caller: Excuse me?
Me: Which website?
Caller: Uh, example.com
Me: That would be me.
Caller: [seo call dribble, blah blah blah]
Me: What's your website?
Caller: Uh, example2.com
Me (type type type, enter): Do you know you're not ranking in the top 10 for your keyword terms? Would you like me to help you with that?
9 out of 10 times, they hang up at this point. The routine works every time.
If I owned an SEO firm, I would definitely change the approach because not every webmaster is totally without some SEO knowledge.
I might use an opener such as;
My name is whatever with whatever Search Engine marketing company . We specialize in helping companies achieve top search engine positioning for keywords and keyword phrases the site owners determine are the market they would like to capture.
Are you happy with your current search engine performance and SEO firm? Make it sound as if it is a given that every site owner has an SEO firm working for them.
If the answer is yes to both questions, then say, "Thanks for your time" and move on. If the answer is no to either question ... then persue the call and best of luck landing your new client.
I beg you not to state categorically something which you yourself are woefully unaware, such as; ... "Were you aware that your site is not ranked well by the search engines?"
IMHO, that approach is rude and terribly unprofessional You might as well say, "Yeah, your site is real pretty ... too bad it does nothing for you! Bet you feel stupid for having paid all that money to your webmaster, huh?"
Gosh darn it, what has happened to salesmanship? Be creative without being insulting. Change the "script" every now and then. Subtlety helps some times too. When tweezers will do the job, pliers are a little over the top.
[edited by: Liane at 9:17 pm (utc) on April 15, 2004]
So what happens when they don't? Did you get the work?!
Can you set up a premium rate phone line and ask them to call you back on that line?
Me (type type type, enter): Do you know you're not ranking in the top 10 for your keyword terms
Isn't 24/7 internet access great? As soon as I get the name of the company I do a search. If I can't find them for their own name, I hang up. You would be surprised how many "SEO" companies don't come up for their own name in the SERPs.
You would be surprised how many "SEO" companies don't come up for their own name in the SERPs.
LOL, perhaps even if only one of their employees would get a subscription at WW we wouldnt see as many posts like this :)
So what happens when they don't? Did you get the work?!
No, usually they're too stupid to realize what they've done, and I have to explain to them what I do. :)
Invariably, they wouldn't have even checked out your site, except to get the phone number.
Once they've identified that you don't have any knowledge they know they have a live one. If you express any knowledge they will simply move onto the next opportunity.
Additionally, many of the companies are simply selling a PPC service, masquerading as something wonderful and unique to them.
By having a different tollfree number for each site I manage directly there is no need to ask "which site" and all I have to do is keep a current government phone number/manager list for each province/state/country of each of those clients.
The number of web site generated cold calls has diminished substantially since I started this several months ago. ;-)
I believe that you can tell them to "take you off their list" if they make repeat calls to you, then can threaten a lawsuite if they continue. I wouldn't know though, I don't get many phonecalls from telemarketers.
The laws are different if you are on a residential or business number (at least here in the US). If you advertise your phone number to potential clients, either through web or other marketing efforts then it can easily be accepted that your phone number is a business one and does not apply the do not call laws.
