Got my first client meeting on Friday

[mmartin028]

Well, I got my first lunch meeting with a possible (actually probable) client this Friday. The reason I say probable is because of the way I found him. He's a mortgage broker.

First, here's how I got him and how it was a by-product of something else I was doing.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I've own a video company (mainly taping weddings and events) for the last 20 years. I've had an idea for a while that I finally implimented last month. I wanted to create a local networking group of other companies that are in the wedding and event industry. Photographers, florists, bakeries, DJs, etc. So two months ago I started contacting some businesses and talking about how I wanted to create this group to share marketing ideas, leads, and do other networking stuff.

Well, we had our first meeting last month and one of the businesses that showed up was a mortgage broker who was targeting brides and grooms as first time home buyers. There were about 7 other businesses that showed up at that meeting, and since it was the first one, it was more of a meet & greet meeting and we talked about the future direction of the group.

A few days ago was our second meeting. Since I know a few things about SEO and how to get websites ranked higher, I did a presentation showing everyone some simple things they can do with their websites to beat out their competition on Google. So not only am I known as a wedding videographers to our group, I now positioned myself as the online marketing expert. With this new role that I created for myself, the mortgage broker came up to me after the meeting. He was all excited about creating a bunch of FAQ and promotional videos for his website. He also mentioned how he wants me to evaluate his company's website and give my ideas to improve it.

So if you think about it, I basically created my own client base with this network of local businesses and positioned myself not only as a wedding videographer they can refer, but also as an online marketing expert they can possibly hire. But I think the important thing I did was that I gave away a ton of useful information during my presentation which told them that I know my stuff. Some of the business owners will take the info and work on their own websites, which is fine. But hopefully others will rather hire me to do it instead (like this mortgage broker).

As this networking group grows with more businesses joining, I'll have more of a chance of getting them as offline clients as well as getting any wedding video referals they send me. And of course, I'll do the same for them as well. In fact, there's one business that does embroidery and she's going to be making some custom shirts for me.

So that's how I got my first offline client.

Now, I need some suggestions as far as pricing or packaging or charging monthly, etc.

Here's what I believe what he wants.

1. Various FAQ and promo videos that will be uploaded to his site and youtube. Should I charge a certain dollar amount for each video? Or should I charge him monthly and say I'll create 3 or 4 new videos every quarter so his inventory of videos will keep growing?

2. Look at his website and give suggestions for improvements.....and possibly build a new one for him? How do you charge for website consultation and/or website creation? Is is a certain dollar amount per hour or per page? Or do you do the monthly charge thing and offer to update it with new content every couple of weeks or so?

Based on what I've read on these forums and on others, here's what I think I'll do at the meeting. We'll sit down and I'll ask him what the vision for his site is and then sit back and listen. Then depending on what he says, I'll offer some of my suggestions. But I don't know if I should start talking price right then....or wait to get home and type up some sort of proposal with the price. And as far as a price, this takes me back to the two previous items I mentioned above.

Sorry for the long post and I hope it makes sense.

I'm looking forward to everyone's input.

Thanks.

Mike

[Dexx]

Good job Mike! Keep up the great work!

Couple quick pointers (gotta get back to my client project):

1) Before trying to figure out what you'll sell + charge -- find out where his business is, where he wants it to be, and what he is already doing to get there => now tailor YOUR recommended solutions to what HE is already looking to buy.

2) Research his competition and see what they are currently doing and where opportunities exist (for when you present your solution)

3) Identify his marketing budget, what he currently spends, and what he'd be willing to spend get his desired results from Step #1 (this helps to eliminate being rejected due to being out of his budget range etc.)

Go get 'em!

~Dexx

[mmartin028]

Had my meeting today and it went even better than I thought it would. This mortgage broker is really into videos/web marketing. He has a huge game plan that he wants me to be a part of which includes not only building an interactive website, but also creating many instructional videos and designing promotional printed materials. Both our heads were spinning with ideas (I'm also a part time real estate agent so I could speak his "mortgage lender" lingo which helps).

As we were wrapping up our 2 hour meeting, he gave me some interesting info. He said his company has spent over $74,000 for marketing on things such as trade show booths and literature. I then asked the magic question of what his budget would be for the ideas we were talking about and he basically said that if the results mean more business and he's making more than he's paying out, then there's basically no budget He also said that this is a project that will never be finished. It will continually grow and expand. That was music to my ears.

We're going to have another meeting next week to lay out a game plan on paper and break everything down into phases. I'm not sure if it's best to give a price for each phase, or simply collect a monthly retainer fee to do the work instead? Do you have any suggestions or opinions on that?

As we ended he wanted me to give him a quick quote on a simple 5 page website to get up and running immediately. This will be the start of a huge project. I'm thinking of offering a couple of different packages for that site. For instance...

1. Wordpress website with their content and basic SEO
2. Wordpress website with new keyword rich content and basic SEO
3. Wordpress website with new keyword rich content, more SEO including article submissions and press releases

What else could I offer as a package? Am I missing something?

Needless to say I'm excited and looking forward to your input.

Mike

[Dexx]

Way to go Mike, I just popped in so a couple things:

1) Do NOT create "website packages" as that just makes you a commodity. Design ONE combination of marketing resources that should be implemented into the website (multimedia, autoresponder, contact us section etc.) and talk to him about the RESULTS that your proposed website system will generate...and then relate those results a value amount.

2) Never-ending project, budgets, etc. all seem nice in theory, but quickly become a pain in the a$$. Next meeting you MUST outline exactly what goals he has, what expectations he has from you, and what you CAN deliver.

This will prevent problems and claims of "disappointment" when he says he thought you would have generated more results, or established more marketing strategies, than you have. Once again connect results to value.

3) All things have a budget, he might be willing to invest MORE money as money flows in, but for right now he only has X amount of capital to work with (unless he owns Google). You should have got an exact number to build your marketing system around, but no big deal, get that out of him, otherwise you'll end up having your time wasted.

4) Take this momentum, excitement, this success, and go get your next client!

Keep us posted!

~Dexx