Andy's Inbound/Sales Braindump

[Andy Black]

Let everyone know what you do

Make it a habit to naturally drop what you do into conversations.

You want it so that your name springs to mind when people you've talked to then talk to other people.

Try to be consistent with this positioning, and position yourself as how THEY would refer you on, not how YOU want to be referred on.

I might want to be "the guy who generates phone calls for tradesmen using Google Paid Search and mobile landing pages". They'll just go "Oh, you do Google Ads / AdWords?". Sigh.... Andy "The AdWords Guy" it is then. (Google have rebranded AdWords to Google Ads which is confusing while everyone transitions.)

(Note that this general positioning will be a problem later on when you get too many leads, but solve the first problem first right?)

Want to know how I get so much inbound work? I talk to everyone about Google Ads / AdWords. I help people with Google Ads. I am SEEN to help people with Google Ads. I do this in forums and Facebook groups even though I know that 99%+ of the people reading are NEVER going to hire me. But they will remember "Andy, The AdWords Guy" and the next time they speak to someone who needs AdWords help then my name will pop into their head, not Perry Marshall's name.

"Oh, I know an AdWords guy. His name is Andy Black. Here's how you find him..."



I've been doing this for nine years. NINE years I've been "The AdWords Guy" in my circles. (Not worldwide, but why does it need to be worldwide?)

I can't turn this machine off if I tried. I have inbound leads pretty much every day. Certainly every week.



What will this look like for you?

In your circles can you get known as "The Web Guy", "The Facebook Guy", "The Online Marketing Guy", etc?

 

[Andy Black]

I was asked this a while ago:

If you were to start your business from scratch, how would you approach prospecting? Given that you don't cold call. And you don't know many people in the business world to "spend your money on diesel and coffee" with. And you've already reached out to your friends and family and done some work for them.

I've been trying to gather up and arrange my thoughts. It's a bit messy but I'll keep coming back to add to this.

Feel free to add your comments and twists. Ask questions too. This is what's worked for me to date, and I welcome tweaks that can improve it.


EDIT: This is what’s meant by the microscript “Diesel and Coffee”:

• "Spend your money on diesel and coffee"

 

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[Andy Black]

The TL;DR about positioning yourself

Want to get known as "The XYZ Guy"?

1) Talk about XYZ.

2) Help people with XYZ.

3) Be seen helping people with XYZ.

 

[Andy Black]

Things to note about letting everyone know what you do:

Show, Don't Tell

Don't TELL people you "do AdWords" or "build Websites" or whatever.

SHOW them.

Tell stories that SHOW you do it. Stories are what people remember. Stories are what people will tell other people when they refer you on.

"Oh, I know a guy who does AdWords. He helped his electrician friend get going by running ads and finding out that 5,000 of the 10,000 searches one month were to do with washing machine, cooker, and oven repairs. They then built washing machine, cooker, and oven repair websites and shutdown the electrican website. His friend’s phone then leapt off the hook."



Don't say "PM me"

Add so much freaking value that people reach out to you instead.


Ask about them first

Him: "So what do you do Andy?"

Me: "Oh, I work for myself. What is it that you do again?"

Him: (Reply...)

Me: "Oh, so you're a plumber? Do you work for yourself?"

Him: (Reply...)

Me: “Actually, I help plumbers get more phone calls using those little ads on Google."

[Branch 1]: Him: "So you do AdWords?"

(Game on! I didn't call them AdWords...)

[Branch 2] Him: "I never click on those ads."

Me: "Haha. Everyone says that, but I think Google makes $200 million a day from people clicking on them."

blah blah

 

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[Andy Black]

When your back's against the wall...

Someone gave me this advice a few years ago and it's got me out of a bind quite a few times since. On one occasion I was 2 days away from our mortgage payment while staring at an empty warchest. This advice paid my mortgage that month.

The advice?

Start sending hand crafted emails to all the people you've ever done work with. Make it short, friendly, and non-needy.

Example:

Hi Bob,

Hope you and your family are well.

Just thought I'd let you know some space has cleared in my calendar. If you need any help with AdWords or know anyone who does then just reach out.

We must catch up soon. It's long overdue!

Speak soon,
Andy

...

The important part is saying some space has cleared in your calendar. This isn't needy, but has them thinking how they can help you fill it.

 

[Andy Black]

Reach out to people who already know you


In the last few weeks I've had to hustle up a few clients to get my revenue back up to minimum levels.

The approach of contacting people who have already done business with me has worked very well.

Also, I deal a lot with agencies rather than end clients. So when they know I am available again, they can bring a few new clients to me in one go.

The beauty of subcontracting to agencies is that they do the selling for you, because they want to sell in their whole bundle of services, and you're just supplying part of it.

Are there local agencies near to you? Can you connect with agency owners on LinkedIn and say you've just gone freelance and would like some advice on how to grow your business?

I know a guy who recently jumped from permie land to setting up his own agency and he's done this. The absolute majority of marketing directors or agency owners he's contacted have congratulated him on the move and congratulated him on reaching out. If they are free they have all accepted his request to meet for a coffee.

I met this guy for a coffee too.

When you meet people, be open, be honest, and listen to them. Take action, and let them know you have. Also, manners (please and thank you) go a VERY long way.

You need to specialise and have them remember you as "The XYZ Guy". For me it's "The AdWords Guy".

Maybe you specialise in skillset ("The Guy Who Does Google Shopping Ads"), or maybe you specialise in vertical ("The Guy Who Builds Websites & Campaigns For Vets").

Go into each meet with an open mind. Don't push an agenda. Let them talk and try to find out what it is they need.

Try to break the "dance" of two people talking formally. Open up and converse with them as person to person.

If they know what you do, how you do it, what results you get (preferably by telling stories they can remember and retell to others), then your actual work is likely to come from THEIR network, not necessarily them.

Ideally, they leave knowing you as "The XYZ Guy" so when one of their friends or clients says they are having problems with XYZ, your name pops into mind immediately.

A few good relationships where you've met and know them is worth way more than 100 cold calls imo.

Business is all about relationships.

Hope this helps.

 

[Andy Black]

Talk to *everyone*
(Similar to let everyone know what you do.)

When you’re starting out, get into the habit of talking to folks.

Don’t discount people because you don’t think they’re your ideal client avatar.

You do NOT know your ideal client avatar yet. Any work you do on this before you engage the market is pure action faking imo, and it’s going to limit you going forward.

When your barber/hairdresser asks what you do, tell them. Watch where they get confused. Watch where they glaze over. Figure out how to stop talking tech speak so that your barber/hairdresser can understand you.

I’ve literally been sat waiting my turn in a different barber shop than my normal one.

The two other lads waiting started talking about their vans.

When one was getting his haircut I asked about the routes the other guy took.

Before I knew it I was in the chair getting my haircut.

I couldn’t turn my head. I couldn’t move my hands as they were under the sheet.

“So what would someone search for on their phone if they were looking for someone to deliver a parcel from here to Dublin?” I asked.

My barber started giving the lad things to search for.

I could see him in the mirror doing the searches on his phone.

No, he didn’t become a client and I didn’t expect him to, but I got to practice helping folks ... in their language, not mine.

 

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[Andy Black]

How I sometimes sell after someone has agreed to speak/meet me

Here's a 3 min video.

View: https://youtu.be/TPX85thTqvA


It's very compelling for a business to "see" the search volumes (from the Google Keyword Planner screenshot), and then "see" the search results page with their competitors listed, but not themselves.

"Show people their bleeding neck." (Perry Marshall)


I'm also demonstrating my expertise/knowledge/authority.

• Again, I don't say "I know my stuff. I've worked for XYZ."
• That would be a "Tell".
• Instead I "Show", with the report that's about *them*, instead of waffling about *me*.
• "Show, don't tell."

In my rush to get out of the door I forgot to email the report to the guy too. With an email, he can then find it years later if needs be, and he can forward it to friends if he thinks they'll learn from it too.


I did another vlog after where I explained that I'm NOT going to follow up.

• I'm only interested in dealing with people who raise their hand.
• If he wants to engage and take it further, he has to make the next move.
• IMO, to follow up is wasting my time when there are so many other businesses out there that would bite my hand off.
• It's an abundance mindset for one thing.
• It's also a series of tests.
• They might be looking/testing to find a marketing/AdWords consultant, but I'm also looking/testing for clients who "get" it, and will grow into a regular income stream, and/or partner.

"The first purchase is a test."

• Every interaction, or lack of, is a test.
• It's not about passing or failing these tests, it's just about finding out whether both sides are a good fit.
• BOTH ways.

The chances are he'll not become a client, but I've learned another vertical, and there's one more person who knows what I do, and knows I know my stuff.


Oh, and in case you're wondering why I'd be after a little Kick-Boxing business as a client...

• Maybe he's a good operator and wants to build a franchise throughout the country.
• Maybe he knows loads of other business people.
• Maybe I enjoy doing the research anyway.
• Maybe I like to help open people's eyes, and giving them a better chance of putting food on the table is reward in itself for me.

The beauty of running your own business is that you can fire clients, not take on clients, and not "always be closing" if that's not how you choose to run your own business.

Just my 2c. Hope it helps.

 

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[Andy Black]

A GOOD USE OF YOUR LUNCH BREAK

A few of you are in jobs trying to get traction with your side hustle. Here’s what worked for me when I had a couple of Google Ads jobs:

I’d let people meet me to pick my brains about Google Ads. They’d ask if I could meet them and I’d say I’m working but could meet for lunch.

They’d offer to come to a pub near me for that lunch (which gave them more time with me than me traveling to meet them).

Invariably they bought lunch, which I always thought was a nice touch.

Once time the CEO of a company came along accompanied by the marketing director, finance director, and an IT person. So it was me sat with four suits, each of them with a pad and pen taking notes. They had a coffee and I had a big pub lunch. Ha... that must have been quite a sight.

Anyway, how it works is that you give 100% of the best advice you can in that hour. There’s no pitch. There’s no product or service for sale. Don’t even give them your website or email address unless they ask for it.

See it as practice at being a consultant. See how you can solve their problems in one hour, and by finding the single one thing that would make the most difference.

Guaranteed you’ll learn more than them if you’re listening to their problems and can figure out a process for them to find a solution.

Keep doing this and you’ll get slicker talking to folks.

People will start contacting you with messages like “Bob said you’re good at Google Ads. I’m wondering if we could meet up for a quick chat?”

I’ve since heard this called “diesel and coffee”. Meet folks for a coffee. Somewhere neutral, and for about an hour.

Talk shop. Shoot the breeze. Do NOT make it a sales call.

Enjoy it.

Good things will happen.

...

I still do this. More often it’s a Skype call for an hour. I have the mindset of helping folks the best I can, and then moving on. I don’t try to close. I don’t follow up. I create an imbalance in the universe and let it try to right itself.

 

[Andy Black]

The "WHO, WHAT, HOW" formula
(A meh to "elevator pitches".)

Here's 3 simple questions that can help you when someone asks what you do, or if you want a simple tagline on your website or business card.

More importantly, they help YOU focus on what your business is about.

1) Who do you help?

2) What do you help them with?

3) How do you do it?

Example: "We help blacksmiths get more phone calls and sales using Google Ads and mobile websites."

(We don't really have blacksmiths as clients. That's just a placeholder.)

If someone asks what I do and I don't know what they do, then I'll try to find that out first.

"Oh, you're a plumber?"

"We help plumbers get more phone calls and sales using Google Ads and mobile websites."

 

[Andy Black]

“Follow demonstrated cashflows.”
(From one of the Tropical MBA podcasts)

What do people *already* spend money on that indicates they have the problem you can solve?

Your market is not “all left-handed women who live in New York who like tennis”. That’s a demographic.

Your market is the people in New York who bought a left-handed woman’s tennis racquet. (I know these don’t exist!)


I help business already spending money on Google Ads, or some other marketing channel. That’s a big monthly demonstrated cashflow right there.

Personal Trainers get new clients at the gym. They don’t go door to door trying to convince couch potatoes to hire them.

“Help the people in motion.” (Amy Hoy)

 

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[Andy Black]

A SALES TIP FOR TECHIES

I’ve been meaning to write about this for years and it recently came to a head when someone asked me to review some cold emails they were sending out. It’s a bit long and rambling but I hope it helps.

Anyway, here goes...



A friend was made redundant after three decades as a pharmaceutical sales rep. It hit him hard, and left him with no desire to work for another company.

I suggested he work with me for three months and see if he could bring me clients. We spent hours going over stories how I’ve helped businesses and how I’ve signed them up.

He arranged a meeting for me with a prospect and listened while I chatted to her for an hour.

After that meeting my friend told me “You’re not a salesman Andy.” He explained how much more there was to learn about sales, and how big his library of sales books was. I smiled and nodded.

To help sign up a local car dealership, my friend went round with his laptop so I could have a Skype call with them.

I spotted instantly the business owners were a couple of regular guys hustling hard to build their business, and that they’d appreciate straight talking.

I did my thing on the call, the client signed up, and we’re into our third month helping them.

Last week my salesman friend told me he wanted to get me on calls with prospects more often, explaining that I bring a lot of value to those calls.

So why did he say that after he initially proclaimed that I’m not a salesman, and how can it help you?

What my friend didn’t realise back then is that I try damn hard to NOT be a salesman.

I’ve since explained to him that when I pop into my local garage with a weird rattle in my engine then I prefer talking to the guys in the oily overalls to the guys in the suits.

That when I ring up Google with a problem then I’d much rather speak to a technical specialist who can tell me exactly what’s up with my account, even if they’re not as smooth on the phone as an “account strategist”.

And that I know I’m a techie, a regular guy, and that I play to that deliberately.

On sales calls I talk too much. I get way too excited. I often speak first to fill in the awkward silence (a big no-no to the sales folks amongst us). I wave my hands in the air, interrupt myself, and go off at tangents. I propose solutions there and then, get carried away, and give away too much.

In short, I act like a techie who loves what he does rather than a salesman trying to close a sale. I do all the things a salesman accompanying me would want me to stop doing.

Except I know this works. I’ve been doing it for years.

I’ve had big agencies in Dublin wheel me into meetings to answer questions from the marketing team in a big corporate they’re pitching to. Apparently one marketing director was sold the moment I bounced over to the flip chart and started doodling to answer his questions.

I “allow” myself to get super passionate and excited about what I do. I don’t try and put a lid on it, or act how I may think a good salesman or good businessman would. If anything I ham it up!

I try to be that guy with oily overalls that loves cars and wants to chat about them all day long.

If you’re a techie then consider playing to it, rather than trying to dampen it down and become more of what you think a professional salesman or businessman would be.

Learn about sales by all means, but just consider acting more how a techie would than how you believe a professional salesman or businessman would.

Chances are you’ll do better at sales by not trying to make sales.

 

[Andy Black]

ALWAYS BE CLOSING?

If someone asks “Why should we work with you?” then they’ve just pissed me off. They’re running through their nice little questionnaire and will be comparing me to other apples.

So I’ll throw the kitchen sink at them and let them figure the f*ck out what to do with it. But they’re too late, I’ve already mentally shut that door and moved on.

Send in a Request For Proposal (RFP)? See ya.

Sales is a screening process. They’ve just told me they don’t know why they want to work with me. I’d much rather spend my time helping the people in motion.

“Our job is to find the people who see the value in what we do, not the cost.” (Blaise Brosnan)

While you’re trying to close someone who’s not that interested, there’s someone else up the road who’ll bite your hand off to work with you.

Always Be Closing?

I read that as “Keep moving till someone bites your hand off.”

(Your mileage may vary. I’m not selling high-ticket initial sales. I’m building long-term relationships with clients. Over the years it ends up high-ticket.)

 

[Andy Black]

Some advice on positioning

A few years ago I hired a marketing consultant at $500/mth to help me position away from being “The AdWords Guy” in clients eyes. It was because they wouldn’t take any heed of my advice about how their landing pages sucked and why they needed to improve them.

I learned quite a few good things from him, but never succeeded in my initial goal.

Why?

Because I realised myself that “The AdWords Guy” wasn’t the label I put on myself, but what other people put on me. It’s the label my market used, so I decided to embrace it rather than fight it.

It’s part of the advice I tell to prospects… Paid search can help you find out what people are actually searching for, so you can sell it to them. You might want to sell blue widgets, but if everyone’s searching for red widgets then maybe you should sell red widgets instead.

 

[100ToOne]

I love your thread because it's the real deal sales techniques that I've personally seen live and works best.

My uncle is 55 years old and never read a sales book before. He sells products here locally worth around 1 million Dollars a year. I went with him to some "business meetings" before and what you say in this thread is exactly accurate.

He goes there for 2 hours, and usually just drinks coffee, talks about life, listens to other business owners issues (issues that have nothing to do with business), offers them solutions and offers help (again nothing to do with business issues), then walks out selling $20K worth of products to this guy without the other guy negotiating anything. He truly cares about other people and their problems and that was such an eye opener. He would call them later to ask about their kids/parents/life even if the business between them is over. It's as you say the more you honestly help people from your heart not wanting anything in return, the more unexpected return that comes back to you.

 

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[Andy Black]

An example of getting known as "The XYZ Guy"

So my salesman friend has been out talking to business owners he knows. I was chatting to him today and he's tickled pink that a wedding venue he's been visiting a few times now know him as "The Internet Guy".

I told him this would happen. Ask questions about a particular subject. Talk about a particular subject. Before you know it people will start associating you with that subject.

You don't even have to be good at it. This is what's amusing him so much. He's in his early 50s. All this digital marketing stuff is new to him, yet he's starting to get known locally as "The Internet Guy".

I did this for years when I worked in Dublin. Business owners would regularly email me asking to meet for a coffee. "Brian Brown said you're good at those AdWords. Is it OK to meet up and have a chat about them?"

I was still working a 9-5, but I did two years of lunchtime meetings with local business owners. They'd buy me lunch, and I'd talk their ears off. I learned a lot about how to explain stuff simply. It was great to watch how this just snowballed.

I'm no longer meeting people for lunch. I work from home and my working day is 9am till 2:45pm. I'm protective of that time. What I do instead is "jump on a call" at the drop of a hat.

I remember someone telling me it was dumb to talk to people for free. I think it's been one of the best things I've done business wise.

People don't ask to speak to me, but I get a lot of inbound queries via email or Skype/Facebook PM. I'll chatter back and forth quite a bit to try and help them. Often I'll suggest a quick chat because that's easier.

That quick chat often becomes an hour.

Wow... do I learn a lot in that hour. I 100% try to help and serve that person for the hour. I'm speaking to a business owner, or someone who's trying to become a business owner, pretty much every week or two.

Here's an example:

• A chat with a consultant about escaping the time for money trap

 

[Andy Black]

A website designer I'm chatting to found this highly amusing. This is my business website. It's a holding page - a polite "bugger off if you don't already know me".

It's been like this for years. I'll make it a bit prettier this week, but I'm not adding any more copy to it.

Why have I never got round to it? Because I've found the best lead generation strategy for my own business is to spend all my time generating leads for my client businesses. AKA I focus on building relationships, doing good work, and word-of-mouth referrals.

Not advising that this is the only way to do things of course. Just showing you that you don't "need" as much as you think to get clients.

 

[Andy Black]

FOR THOSE INTIMIDATED SPEAKING TO BUSINESS OWNERS

Go book yourself into a local business course. Make it something you want to know about, and where you’ll meet loads of other business owners who are also trying to learn social media, email marketing, whatever.

You’ll learn stuff.

You’ll have a day out.

You’ll meet some great people.

You’ll also see those fellow business owners are people just like you and me.

You may even get some prospects out of it, but that’s NOT the point.

Better would be to start getting known locally as The Web Guy/Gal (or whatever your thing is).

Best is that you walk away realising business is all about chatting to folks and building relationships,

... and that YOU CAN ALREADY DO IT.

 

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[Andy Black]

Why do you have a simple website? Just curious. I am possibly going to do the same style.

My personal brandname website redirects to my LinkedIn profile. It’s for when I email someone from andy@andyblack.net. I know some will check out andyblack.net, and I figure they’ll learn what they need from my LinkedIn profile, and that they’re more likely to believe what they read there.

My business website is a pretty holding page. It has a link to a Contact Us form. I think of it like a velvet rope outside an unassuming door down an dark alley. Only people in the know will find it, and only people in the know will contact me through the form. I’ve been meaning to change the copy to “We’re currently not taking on any more clients. Fill in the form if you want a quick chat though.”


Some stories:

1) I worked in a business that spent €120k/day buying Google Ads. All those visitors went to their online properties, none went to their business site, which was pretty sparse. The deals the business owners made were done via diesel and coffee (they went to meet people and had long chats with them).

2) A salesman friend was learning what I do. I was helping him get setup as a self-employed salesman for websites and digital marketing. He started creating a Facebook page for his services. I told him not to bother, and to put all that effort into making sure his client websites worked well. I explained that the best sales strategy was to get unasked for referrals from happy clients, and for visitors to their websites to wonder who built them.

3) I went round in circles for years trying to figure out what to put on andyblack.net and my business website. As soon as I blew them away it freed up my mental energy to just go chat to people. My business has done way better recently just by building relationships and getting referrals. Not one single person in the past 10 years who’s been referred to me has asked why my websites are so simple.


Building your own website is a very inward looking activity. I prefer looking outwards and to focus on helping other people.

 

[TonyStark]

Don’t be afraid to be vulnerable

Honesty goes a long way in business, and in life.

 

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[Andy Black]

STOP BEING SO SALESY

Someone recently asked this (I have their permission to repeat it and my replies):

Hello guys, so, I found a prospect online & I invested 30 min in finding things about their website & made notes about it so that i can share it with them & then today I sent them this message:-

Me: I really like your work! your work is beautiful (which I really felt)
Prospect: thanks, very kind of you to say those words!

Me: is this the owner I am talking to?
Prospect: yes

Me: Hey, I know it's kind of random but I have some feedback that I wanted to share with you!
Prospect: Sorry, not buying

I am a bit sensitive, so, I am feeling hurt

Can you guys share your fail attempts & a few of the bad responses you got, this will help me ease my pain & my perspective of the typical "I think I am really unlucky, this is only happening with me" kind of thoughts, that I am having!

Thanks a lot!
​

Here were my replies:

Your second two messages told him you’re selling something. Why does it matter if you’re speaking to the owner? Why tell him you have feedback? Those two messages now invalidate the first message, which suddenly looks like a standard copy/paste opener (aka spam).

Here’s what I did recently: We’re looking to get someone to clear some junk from our garden. My wife sends me a link to a website where she spoke to the guy. I check it and then click the link to his Facebook page. It’s broke. I find their page on Facebook. I Facebook message him and introduce myself saying my wife already spoke. I also tell him his Facebook link is broken.

That’s it. I’m a potential client telling him his link is broken. I didn’t ask if he’s the owner. I didn’t even ask his name. I didn’t tell him I had some advice. I just said one thing.

Later on, after sending photos of the garden, and a bit more conversation back and forth, I then suggested that if he’s always this responsive then he should put a Facebook messenger button on his website.

No attempt to close. No mention that I’m in the digital marketing space. Just a helpful suggestion.

You’re clearing your throat too much (saying things before you get to your point), and you’re trying to value-bomb. People don’t want 10 bullet points of things they could improve. Give them one tip and keep moving on (to the next message or the next lead)?

Don’t use this as a tactic... because you’ve missed my point, but there’s a reason business owners carry phones and have ways they can be contacted. It’s because they want leads, NOT because they want to be sold to.

Don’t pretend to be a lead because that’s disingenuous. Instead, try not to be so salesy.

...

Another thing... why are you investing 30 minutes reviewing his site? Find one thing that could be improved and you're good to go. With that landscaping / gardening site my initial thought was: "Do you do residential? It looks commercial only from your website?" I could have mentioned that if I'd rung the number. Instead I wanted to Facebook message him because I was busy, and it was more painful than it should have been to do so.

...

And you should be grateful to him because he politely stopped you dead and stopped you wasting any more of your own time. That’s a typical business owner. They’re direct because they’re busy and don’t have time to beat around the bush. He also helped you realise you come across as selling. That has allowed you to improve.

...

Have an abundance mindset. There’s millions of potential clients out there. You don’t have to close the one in front of you.

Relax. Keep doing the right thing and the results will follow.

Enjoy it too. Build relationships. Have a laugh. Chat to folks, don’t have “sales calls” or “discovery seasions”.​

 

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[Andy Black]

An example of "Show, don't tell"

A prospective cleaning company contacted me.

I didn't TELL them about the experience I have of running campaigns for cleaning companies.

I asked questions that SHOW this experience.

 

[Andy Black]

This thread has some seriously GOLD networking advice in it.

Thank you very much Andy! Word of mouth guys like @Andy Black have some of the most impressive lead gen models. It is also an extremely solid foundation to build a business on which I am ALWAYS in favor of.

Thanks @Kak

I find it interesting that I’m known as an “AdWords Guy”, and some people think I should therefore use AdWords to grow my business.

AdWords is a way to get found by people who don’t already know you. I consider it the purest form of cold traffic because they’re searching when they find you.

It still doesn’t beat warm leads and word of mouth referrals though.

I think the trick is to master warm, then go to the cold channels. If you can’t sell to someone who’s been referred to you, then how can you sell to someone who has never heard of you?

What really tickles me is how we’ve sold over 40 landing pages without having a landing page to sell them from. And that I still don’t have a website to speak of, just a holding page for my business, and a personal branded domain that redirects to my LinkedIn profile - and I’m in the digital marketing space!

 

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[Andy Black]

STOP TRYING TO BE A SALESMAN

How would you say hello to someone at the coffee break when you’re attending a business course with other business owners?

Do that.

Stop with all this awkward throat clearing and value vomiting.

Stop trying so hard to be a “good salesman”.

Just be natural and build relationships like you’ve done all your life.

 

[Andy Black]

Other reasons I much prefer to start minimal with websites and landing pages:

1) It's quicker to get out of the blocks. Engineers and programmers in particular can get caught up rearranging pixels instead of launching and learning. Copywriters will agonise over every word, sentence, and piece of punctuation. F*ck that. Launch and learn. Put up a strawman and fire some pot shots at it. Add hotjar and observe what visitors do when they hit the page.

2) As a media buyer, the first question I'll ask is "How do the campaigns perform *without* all those fancy distractions on the page?". I'll ask to have them removed so I can get a baseline, then ask to get them added back in to see if they improve performance. So if I'm going to ask to have them removed, we might as well start without them right? ... which leads us back to 1).

3) You're less likely to talk yourself out of the sale when you're visitors want what you're selling and you stfu and let them buy it. I focus on getting the right people to the page initially.



We're doing this for clients, and I'm about to do this for my course.

We setup a simple mobile landing page that has:

• Company name/logo plus company tagline.
• One sentence statement.
• Call to action button to signup to an email series.
• Links in the footer to Privacy | Terms | Disclaimer | Contact Us (optional)

We call these info-seeker campaigns/pages/funnels. We focus on getting people who want information to the page, and see if anyone signs up. We don't have any auto-responder series setup before we go live. Why bother until someone signs up? If someone does signup to my own email series then I'll be all over them with a manual email. I'll apologise that we've not got the 7 day email series done yet. I'll try to get into a conversation. I'll send them info that will help them based on what they ask.

After we've gone live (not before!) we'll install Hotjar. If we get visitors and no-one signs up then we'll observe what folks are doing on the page. We'll come up with theories and test them by adding more content to the page and observing how folks interact with that content.

 

[Andy Black]

I AM NOT A SALESMAN

In my mind I'm not an agency or a freelancer, I'm a business owner. I think of myself as "building a marketing technology company".

When I speak to another business owner I do so as a peer. I'm not a salesman for my agency, and I'm not a freelancer trying to sell my services to them.

"Hey Jason. How's business going?"

^^^ That's me... NOT being a salesman. I'm curious what you're up to, and if I can help you in any way. I'm literally not interested in whether you buy anything from me or not.

The other thing about being a peer is that I'm on the same level as you. I'm not desperate, timid, worrried about how I come across, or anything that tangles people up. I've earned my stripes. I've had "the cheque is in the post" done to me. I know about the feast and famine of lead pipelines. I know about the struggle to detach my time from my revenue. I remember starting out. I remember the first sale. I remember the pita clients, the crap courses, and the wasted time fiddling with Facebook pages and trying to write About Us pages.

Also... because I'm building a marketing technology company, my focus is NOT to get more clients. I can attend a business course and explain what I'm doing, and people in the room won't think I'm there to get clients. But they'll still approach me if they need help with Google Ads for instance.

 

[Andy Black]

I see a lot of what you're talking about in what I've been doing, mostly because of your other threads. I think everyone in my circle knows what I do and I remind them on a regular basis. I still struggle with finding people outside of that circle to talk to, since the stuff I do is VERY technical. Even the simplified "I do Oracle consulting" requires a lot of explanation to most everyone I talk to. Not every business runs Oracle either, so true cold calls have been more of a miss rather than a hit.

I've tried providing help on the technet forums, but those threads get answered by Oracle employees, within one or 2 replies.

I'm not sure if it's a limiting factor in my head, but Oracle consulting/services is mostly driven by the Oracle salesreps. If you can help them close a sale, you'll be their go to consultant. It's very much an industry driven by who knows who. I've reached out to the few reps I personally know trying to get my company name out there. I remind them every now and then too. I've also reached out to a couple of the local chapters of the Oracle User groups with the same intent.

I was a contract Oracle (Production) DBA for about 10 years. I actually got out of that because I didn't like that I could only help large businesses. I prefer doing what I do now because I can help exponentially more businesses, and I can choose to only deal with business owners.

Are you running an Oracle Consulting business, or are you more of a contractor/freelancer?

I got a lot of my work through recruitment agents. They'd find me via my LinkedIn profile when it was geared to being an Oracle DBA. I'd also do searches on Google for "Oracle DBA contracts Dublin" and send my CV off to the recruitment agents so that I could get on the phone with them. This wasn't to get that particular role (because I knew it was already gone by the time it was advertised), but to get to know the recruitment agents that knew all the clients in Dublin who had Oracle DBAs onsite.

As you've said, it's an industry driven by who knows who.

Something else that worked well for me was to get to know businesses that provided complimentary services so that they could send me into their client sites either as a whitelabel subcontractor or just as a referral. One that springs to mind was a certified AIX and SAN shop. They didn't provide Oracle DBA services, but their clients often had a need for an Oracle DBA. I even got through to the interviews in a similar business to setup their Oracle DBA services wing. I didn't follow up on any of this because I wanted out of that industry.

This thread might be of interest to you:

• 10+ Years IT Contracting at €300-900/day (Learnings)

 

[Andy Black]

WHAT WOULD RICHARD BRANSON DO?

What would a business owner do as opposed to a salesman?

I don’t “follow up”. I don’t try to close. That would be killing the golden goose. The relationship is more important to me than a few extra €.

We started with a “chat”. I then continue the conversation by email. I’ll send a Thank you email and maybe point to resources that might help them. I do this because its plain old good manners.

I’m also a techie so I might chatter excitedly about the technology and things I’ve done, am doing, and hope to do. I might interrupt the person I’m talking to with some ideas or stories that pop into my head.

My salesman friend was aghast. “You’re not a salesman Andy” he told me. Yep, it’s deliberate. I don’t spend all my time listening like the sales book tell us we should. It’s probably 50/50, or sometimes I do most of the chattering.

If it starts where the other person thinks it’s a sales call then I’ll break out of that as soon as I can. It’s not the questions I ask, the tonality, or the body language. It comes from a place of me not trying to make a sale, and it not being a sales call. It comes from a place of one business owner chatting to another business owner. Actually, it comes from a place of one person chatting to another, with a goal of seeing how we can help each other.

I’m not saying I couldn’t do better as a salesman, just that I’ve no intention of being a salesman. I’m good at sales because I don’t come across as a salesman. I think that’s important. By all means, read, study, and immerse yourself in sales. Then throw the rule books away and find the style that suits you.

 

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[The-J]

Changed the name of the thread from "Andy's Inbound Braindump" to "Andy's Inbound/Sales Braindump".

Maybe one day it will just be "Andy's Sales Braindump"?

How to sell like Andy Black

1) Don't
2) See #1

 

[luniac]

This thread is so good i got an adrenaline rush yo
GOLD GOLD GOLD GOLD GOLD
It feels good someone successful like Andy is saying things i've been thinkin for awhile.

My most potentially promising app projects came from others who know I make apps, so they approached me with the idea.
I was never shy to talk about my fastlane journey and app development. I tell anyone who'll listen about my side hustle to get out of the 9-5, and i always ask for people ideas and promise that 50/50 split LOL

You gotta put yourself out there, your customers are people!
you're not selling to a flock of seagulls!

I really like Andy's Mother Theresa approach, in fact this helped me get my motivation back to work on some app projects that I personally wouldn't be interested in.
I look at it as helping a friend, I'm making the app for a friend, and maybe we'll both make some money out of it.