Selling your internet marketing services to brick and mortar businesses is a great way to make a living.
You have almost no overheads, you can charge substantial fees and if you choose to you can outsource most or all of the physical work. You can even outsource getting clients if you’re willing to find the right people.
But some people get stuck…just not making money or not making the money they know they should.
When I do my email coaching I help marketers like you over these roadblocks and get them moving towards making some money quickly.
From years of coaching here are a few of the reasons you might get stuck and how to push through them fast…
# 1: Trying To Get Everything Perfect
It’s human nature to want to get all your ducks in a row before you take action but if you’re trying to think through everything that might happen you’re going to be paralyzed with fears and uncertainties.
Most of the things you worry about will never happen and most of the problems that arise you could never have anticipated!
Worse still all these mental gyrations are exhausting.
You’re not actually getting any closer to your income goals but your mind is working nearly every waking hour…trying to think through one imaginary problem or another.
The fastest way to get over those it to take some action immediately
that puts you in contact with business owners…
You can start sending letters or emails, you can go to a business networking meeting, you can start calling people you know and ask them who they might be kind enough to introduce to you.
You could even walk into businesses and start talking to the owners (or whoever talks to you).
Anything that gets you moving and gives you the chance of communicating with someone who can hire you.
Understand that you don’t need ANY skills to talk to a business owner. You can just ask questions and listen.
You’re not offering anything to begin with so there’s really no pressure on you or them.
But it is VITAL that you get yourself into the game by making those contacts and having those discussions. That’s where you learn how this business really works.
# 2: Coming Across As Needy Or Pushy
Business owners put up with sales people every day. You really want to avoid coming across as a pushy, hard sell sales person.
What you want to develop is a client/consultant relationship and ideally you want your prospects and clients coming to you.
So you need to use strategies that make that possible. I talk about multiple strategies to achieve that in the report 25 Different Ways To Get Paying Clients.
Another area where almost everyone messes up to one degree or another at some time is in looking needy.
In everything you say or do you need to be aware of
what you look like in your prospect’s eyes…
When you’re booking an appointment make sure you’re making YOUR time highly valuable.
In other words you don’t say things like “I can see you any time this week!”
That makes you look needy and in low demand.
If you say “I can make it on Wednesday but it will have to be later in the afternoon” that makes you look like an in demand busy business person.
Also you’re educating your prospects and clients on how to treat you with every interaction.
There are a pile of subtleties in everything you say and do and you want all of them to be pointing to the idea that you’re an in demand expert with a ton of valuable knowledge and skills.
This is an area where coaching can help. It’s amazing the things you miss.
But just being aware of it in the language you use and the way you interact with people can make a HUGE difference.
Finally there’s the cardinal sin…
# 3: Not Charging Enough
If you’re talking to prospects who can afford to pay reasonable fees or premium fees then you should be charging them.
If you charge too little or even worse, if the first price you quote is too low, you’re going to make your service look cheap and your prospects are going to wonder “this is so cheap. What’s wrong with it?”
There are two major pricing strategies…charging fees for single projects and ongoing fees (in most cases you can and should use both if it’s at all possible).
If you’re charging fees for single projects you really need to making enough money so that you only need one client every month or two to make the income you need.
Ideally with that pricing model you want to charge enough so that you only need one client every 3 months to make the income you need.
Charging ongoing fees you can charge less…
But that’s not an excuse to get cheap either.
Yes those monthly fees add up but so does the maintenance of ongoing clients.
With your monthly fees ideally you should be charging enough that you only need to 1-6 clients to make your monthly income.
Charging more makes your service appear more valuable and it gives you the incentive to work harder for the clients who are paying you.
It also helps to get you off the treadmill where you’re constantly chasing after new, cheap prospects to make the income you need to live.
Business owners who pay you more will respect your service and your expertise more and they’ll generally be easier to work with.
If you really are stuck usually taking action
is a fast solution…
For most people who get stuck getting into action instead of getting caught in a trap of mental gyrations is usually the quickest way to get out of the mire.
If you get to the point where you just don’t seem to be able to make things happen the way you want you might consider coaching or you just might need to examine if what you’re doing matches your own personal moral code.