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Very briefly, my directory offers stores within a very narrow business niche multiple ways for new customers to find them, get all the information about the stores that anyone could want, find the stores and my site by at least 100 or more keywords and phrases, and all for less than $10 a month. I've gotten out of the Google mess: the site is on the first page for 90% of the terms I want. The site does even more than that, but I want to keep this post short.
Many of these stores have their own websites, but they're the usual hackjobs done by the owner's kid. If I do a search for the store's name, my site comes up in the top ten, and their sites can't be found in even the top 800.
I'm delivering traffic to my site, and thus to their pages on my site. Traffic is now pushing 100,000 visitors a month, and should hit 200,000 by later this year if my previous experiences bear out my predictions.
So, all should be good in dickbaker-land, right?
Wrong.
When I call the owners of the shop, remind them that they've been on my site for nine months for what was supposed to be a free six-month trial subscription, tell them all the good stuff that's going on...they ask me to call them back in a week or two so they can look at their page on my site. I only need another ten or so minutes to update information on their pages, and to get them to commit for a six-month or one-year subscription.
Then they ask me to call them back again, because they've just been too busy.
Then they ask to call again, because they still haven't had the time to look at their own @%#%#$%^ page.
There are stores that I've called four or more times.
Looking at all of this, I see a couple of problem areas: my subscription price, combined with the free trial, may be causing them to forget that they're even on my site (if I were charging them $1000 a month, they'd pay attention); while they're likely getting new customers from my site, they don't know about them (do you walk into a store and say, "hey, I saw your store in the Yellow Pages!"?).
I've had enough store owners tell me that they think my site is a really valuable resource, and that the price is so low that it's a no-brainer. And they're right: my site provides a service that no other site on the internet in this niche provides.
What I'm doing now is calling, hat-in-hand, asking these store owners to pay to stay on the site.
What I need is a way to turn the tables, and have the store owners really want to be on my site, and be ready to close the deal.
Essentially, I'm asking for sales and marketing advice on how to get the store owners to buy in on the first phone call, thus freeing me to call new stores not already on my site.
Any advice or suggestions are much appreciated.
In my own defense, I've found that I've had many more store owners listen to what is sometimes a pretty long "spiel," because I don't sound like the typical telemarketer. I know their business as though I owned a store myself, know the hijinks the manufacturers are pulling on them, know the profit margins, and just about everything else. IOW, I know enough about their business to recognize what their selling points should be.
Many store owners have commented that they listened to what I had to say because I sounded sincere, that I knew what I was talking about, that I was forthright about what I was offering, and that I wasn't presenting them with a three month trial with an automatic invoice at the end. I've been on the receiving end of those "free trials," and have gotten burned. So have the shop owners I'm soliciting.
The six-month free trial can't go on too much longer, or I won't have the income I need. The only reason I'm continuing to do that is that I need more than four or six or eight shops in a particular state to keep visitors interested, and it takes a lot of time to make those phone calls. In fact, it takes a ton of time for phone-calling.
There are a number of all-purpose sites for auctions or classifieds--amazon, ebay, etc. Within my niche, there are three dominant sites for auctions or classifieds. No other sites can compete with them.
I don't do auctions or classifieds, but I want my site to rise to the level of a "must-subscribe" for the stores within my niche. Many store owners on my site have said that any store owner who isn't on my site is an idiot, or a dying dinosaur, in no small part because of the rise of competing discount stores and mega-marts.
Most of the store owners I'm calling to renew understand the need to increase their internet presence, either because they already have online stores or just because they know that they don't have any presence on the internet at all right now.
My problem is that, for every store owner who asks me to call him back multiple times to discuss renewal, I'm missing out on calling new shops to add to my site. Six months down the road, without those new shops to re-up, I've got money problems.
If it sounds like I'm rambling on, it's just because I'm thinking out loud. I need a way to convince these store owners--maybe in advance of my call--that being on my site is as important or even more important than being in the phone book.
One possible advantage I have is that I have mid-level connections with an organization that represents my niche market. It's the most powerful lobbying group in the US, and publishes several montly magazines. It's possible that I could call in favors and get even a small mention about my site in one or all of the magazines. That's a long-shot, but worth the effort.
My ramblings aside, any other suggestions on how to get trial subscribers to re-up in one or two phone calls would be most welcome.
Many store owners on my site have said that any store owner who isn't on my site is an idiot, or a dying dinosaur...Most of the store owners I'm calling to renew understand the need to increase their internet presence...
My problem is that, for every store owner who asks me to call him back multiple times to discuss renewal
Sounds like it's time to put your foot down, something that can undoubtedly be done in a non-confrontational way that will still deliver the message that the free ride over. Not to seguay too deeply into analogy, but ...
I am an elementary school teacher by day, working with 5 and 6 year olds. What these kids do every day, aside from scream and yell and hurt one another, is test their bounds. They're not doing it consciously, they're not being oppositional, they're just doing their thing, and it brings them close to the edge of the rules, and when it does they check to see what happens as a result. When they see the rules bend, they note that change and alter their routine behavior to match. So if the rule says no running in the hallway, and they start walking fast, and no one tells them to slow down, guess what they're going to do tommorrow? Walk faster in the hallway. In a few days, they'll be running and skipping. This is behavioral psychology at it's most basic.
Sounds like your business owners are doing the same thing. Not consciously, but as a result of their experiences with you. You call, they get you to agree to give them another week. Then they forget all about checking the site. A week passes, you call again, and they ask for another extension. When you agree, again and again, to extend their time, you establish a behavior. Whether they realize it or not, they've just learned that they don't have to give you priority in order to get your compliance.
I suspect the fact that your reminders are being made by phone has a lot to do with it, too. Every small business owner I've dealt with is frantically busy during the day. Things discussed on the phone are almost always forgotten; that's why I follow up any phone conversation with an immediate email summarizing what was said.
Sounds like you need to send your listed businesses a hard copy reminder that their listing is at risk of being pulled. Stamp each one with a deadline. Add a note that the site now has an initial registration fee of, I don't know, $100, and that if they don't upgrade now, changing their mind and wanting to join later will cost them even more. Follow that letter/email up with a phone call just a few days prior to the deadline and stay firm about the cancel date. (It'd be even better if you could get some else to make that phone call.) If they don't remit payment, pull the listing, send a notification email that it has been cancelled. Then call a day later and use your personal relationship to pitch resigning up, you know, "I just noticed that your listing was pulled! What happened? Tell you what, I'll waive that re-registration fee for you if you sign up now for a paid listing."
Take or leave any of those ideas, of course. It sounds to me like you're facing the challenge of needing to strike a balance between the personal service and giving them too much leeway. Not a fun place to be in, I'm sure. Still, they're businesspeople, and if they feel the way you've indicated above, they're likely to take the action you want when they realize that they have to.
That's what kindergarteners do, anyway. ;)
cEM
I wonder if you explain to these "call backs" that keeping a non-paying link on your pages might be somewhat unfair to those who do pay.
You said you need more than a few listings in each state to make it work. Is that because you need that many to make it financially worthwhile?
Or is it because of the keyword value of the listings? If that's the case, maybe you could compromise.
Keep the non-payers, but delink their listings. Instead of a link, list their business phone number, and ask your readers to mention that they found the business listing on your site.
I honestly don't know how that would work out, but it might be worth a try. And you still get the keyword value of the listings.
Maybe you've mentioned this and I just don't recall it right now, but do you have Adsense on these pages? If not, have you considered it?
As you alluded to in your original post, $10/month may not be taken seriously enough.
Only thinking about the biz-owner telling me “Cal me back etc...” raises my blood pressure”
I only started to get some peace of mind from the very day I did let it go
Major problem is that it is way too affordable! so why would they even bother thinking about it
They actually feel that they are helping you out.
I would try finding more web aware users with more of a mind set in marketing mode and that can afford more expensive services, personally I did not even tried to change my biz model and I just forgot about it.
It is in the human nature “One is supposed to get what one pays for”
So if it is dirt cheap why would they care about
Thanks
I am glad that you allowed me to vent out after quitting that form of biz almost 4 years ago
People tend to undervalue things that are free. Since you're offering a free trial, you're attracting people who don't necessarily want your services, but have nothing to lose by trying it out. The only way you'll get them to "want" your service is to demonstrate in a tangible way that your service has increased something your client wants increased -- such as the amount of customers. You're going to have to get creative and figure out a way to objectively measure that. One way companies try to measure an ad's effectiveness is to offer a discount if the customer mentions the ad. Another way is to survey new customers every so often, asking them how they found the company.
The problem with anything that "supposedly" increases a company's sales -- whether it be advertising, a website or sales training -- is this: Unless you have a system in place to objectively measure results, you don't really know how effective it is. Most consultants are well aware of this and tend to put these types of systems in place. But in the sales/marketing arena, it's not so commonplace. Somebody famous once said, "I know at least half my advertising dollars are being wasted. I just don't know which half." If you can help these clients see that the advertising dollars spent on your services are not only "not wasted" but are actually producing a positive return, you'll have no problem getting them to "want" it.
The reason I need to have a decent number of shops in each state is to make sure that visitors find it a useful resource. If there's only four or five stores in a state, it doesn't help someone who's a hundred miles away from any of them.
And, yes, the shop owners are becoming acclimated to the idea that they can just put me off for weeks on end. The last few days I've shifted toward asking the owner if he really wants to be on the site and, if so, if we could set up an appointment to talk. Either before he opens shop or after closing.
As for the idea of quantifying results, I've done that of sorts in emails where I mention a number of shops on the site who've received new customers. Perhaps it's time I did that with all the owners.
I'm also implementing a page view counter for each store, although only I will have access to it until I think it's time to give them access. I just hit the 3,000 visitor a day mark yesterday, up from less than 1,000 visitors a month in September, so any stats I would give them at this point would be pretty weak.
henry0, I can certainly empathize with you. In this particular niche, though, there are a lot of retailers who aren't internet-savvy. The ones who are respond fairly quickly, even if they don't have time to talk on the first call.
One shop owner started to object when I called, and said he already had a web site. I then did a search on Google, MSN and Yahoo, and told him that his site wasn't even in the top 800 for his store name. However, my site was in the top 5 for his store name on all of them. He changed his mind fairly quickly.
Lots to think about. Thanks again for the input.
The last couple of days working the phones have been very good. Only a couple of call-me-back's, and some almost instant renewals.
