“I bagged the elephant!”, shrieks Bud Fox, the fledgling stockbroker from 1987’s Wall Street, after learning that he’s just landed financial mogul Gordon Gekko as his newest client.
So, how does Bud hook the top-dog in the highly competitive world of stock trading? By raving about the value of his company’s services? Throwing out a few killer stock tips? Dropping the names of existing reputable customers? The answer - none of the above.
He does it through a combination of relentless persistence and delivering value. Bud wows Gekko with some information he got from his father – information that isn’t published in the newspapers. The information has, in a word, VALUE. The result? Bud quickly becomes Gekko's right-hand man. Wouldn’t you love to become your most prized target’s right hand (wo)man?
We all know just how hard it can be to win new clients. It usually takes a “special something,” just to gain their attention. That’s where “Mozbait” comes in. It’s that special something that lures your target into taking the next step.
Right about now you might be thinking, “Ok, I get it. But what is Mozbait and where can I get me some?” Glad you asked. Mozbait is the information that magically appears after we make an inquiry into one of the SEOmoz tools. It could be the results from a page strength query, indexed pages, strongest pages, term target report, etc. For you and me this information is very easy to obtain. For many companies constantly striving to find ways to improve their business, it can be magical and it can be considered as holding great VALUE. Remember – don’t ever underestimate that what may be a simple task for you as the expert, can seem like a monumental effort to someone that isn’t. At the very least, the fact that you’ve taken proactive steps to help someone is usually viewed in a positive light.
Have you ever gone fly-fishing? There’s a great analogy in there about landing customers.
You tie what seems like a nice tasty fly to your line and beautifully cast it in a precise path above your target. You allow the stream to gracefully deliver it to your awaiting fish, whereby the only action the fish need take is to open its mouth and gulp it down. Yet time and again, the fish waits there, seemingly uninterested. You’re thinking, “Perhaps it’s not hungry.” (Actually, you’re probably just cursing the fish under your breath). More often than not, however, you’re simply serving up the wrong fly or a fly that doesn’t have enough meat on the bone. Regardless of the reason, to this fish, your fly doesn’t hold enough VALUE to take action. Conversely, serve up the fly she’s looking for and - WHAM! It’s a beautiful thing. You’ve just delivered VALUE, and delivering value is directly proportionate to winning customers.
So, without further ado, here are my “Five Steps To Using Mozbait To Make Your Next Big Catch.”
Step 1
Do some research about the target company. Look through their website, make note of the business they are in, their products and services, leadership team and background, mission and values, etc. Find out the names of one or two of their competitors. Make a quick assessment about what might be of value to them, relative to the current state of their website.
Step 2
Run the term extractor on a key page or two to gain some insight into the terms they’re targeting (if any), and whether or not they are targeting effectively. I’ll usually also run the page strength, keyword difficulty on a term or two, and wrap it up with a term target report for a highly relevant keyword or two. Refine your assessment.
Step 3
Compile the information into a neatly formatted report.
Step 4
Prepare a short list of specific recommendations based on the information you’ve compiled. This will serve as the basis for a proposal.
Step 5
Contact the prospect to deliver a value focused message that goes something like this:
Hi Joe,
I recently read the article in the business journal about the success of Joe’s Paint and your future growth plans. After visiting joespaint.com, I was impressed with the layout, aesthetics, and content of your site. I hope you don’t mind, but since I’m an expert in website search engine optimization (SEO) and internet marketing, I took the liberty of running some analysis to see if your site is optimized to drive traffic and convert your visitors to customers.
It looks like your webmaster has done a nice job with the site; however, there appear to be several areas that, if addressed, will have a significant positive impact on both volume of traffic to your site and conversion rates.
I’ve compiled a concise ten page report that will give you specific, high impact insight into the current effectiveness of your website, with detailed steps you can take to improve it.
I’d like to suggest we meet (it will take about thirty minutes) to review the report results. I’ll also explain in layman’s terms the top 5 steps I would recommend you take to turn joespaint.com into a valuable asset that constantly works to bring in new customers.
While the steps I will recommend are a service I can provide, you’re in no way obligated to work with us, of course. We’ll simply review the material and leave it to you to decide on next steps. If you decide to do nothing or even perhaps try to accomplish our recommendations in-house, you can keep the report and consider it our way of thanking you for your time.
I’ll contact you tomorrow to see if we can schedule a convenient time to meet. In the interim, if you’re interested in seeing what our customers have to say about the quality of our services, just click here.
Kindest Regards,
Now, you might be thinking, “That sounds like a cheesy letter," or "Why should I do all of this in advance of contacting a company? Why not just make the phone call, or send the generic email and then, if they show interest, run the reports?” Exactly how you go about doing it really isn't the point. There are a million ways to skin and fry a trout.
The point is to leverage the resources and information you have at your disposal to deliver value and win new customers. What I’ve personally found is that by going through the research and report effort (it usually takes me about 30 minutes in total), I’m much better prepared to deliver a compelling and actionable message to my target. Subsequently, my win ratio is much higher.
Depending on the company, I’ll usually contact the VP or Director of Marketing or Sales, and in some cases the CEO. Sometimes this is done on the phone, other times through email. It just depends. What’s important is to adopt an approach that piques their interest and to keep testing different approaches (different flies) until you find the ones that work best – the ones that deliver value and compel your target to bite. Chances are, you’ll find that the right combination of Mozbait delivered in the right way will get them on the hook more often than not.
Oh, just one other thing – if you’re looking for a good stock tip, don’t tell anyone I told you this, but – “Blue Horse Shoe Loves Anacot Steel.”
Happy fishing!
Great post, Sean. I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially since Wall Street is one of my all-time favorite movies.
One caveat I'd give is that you'd better pick your elephants carefully. There are a lot of clients (including several prospectives) who will mine you for everything you've got & then just decide to do everything themselves. Make sure you don't make too many great recommendations initially or else you become expendable, in some sense.
Point taken David - and you're absolutely right. It's funny - every time you write an article, you want to include all the gotcha's, etc., but you have to end it at some point before you bore people half to death.
What's most impressed me here (and in most every other blog post on SEOmoz), is that every one of the commenters has added a very valuable piece of insight from personal experience. That's what I love about this community. You start with a simple concept and by the time you add everything up, you have some pretty darn good information. Thanks for your comment.
This is a great post. Thanks so much for giving us your sample letter.
I disagree with the person who said this is a 'big company' approach. I still consider myself a SEO newbie, but I used this technique for an interview and it worked.
I needed a way to demonstrate my SEO knowledge during the interview, but I didn’t have a previous job to verify my abilities. So, I made a list of everything I would do for my potential employer's website. The employer was so impressed she called twice to have me reconsider taking the job (I took a different one).
Taking the time to research a potential client is time well spent. Even if you don't land that client now, you never know how that research will benefit you in the future.
Aaaaaahh, the sweet smell of success!!!! Great story Ann. Thanks for sharing. It seems in your case, Luck has everything to do with it!
Nice job and entertaining. And any post that can combine a great movie from the 80's with SEO has to earn a thumb right there.
Of course, I couldn't help but also think of the underlying comparison... that being what happened to Bud Fox as he began utilizing more black-hat methods.
Some great points have come out of course in the comments to that further reinforce some of your foundation points... that is that you need to pick the right fish to go after as well as the right fly. Your information could be great, but if your services are completely out of the ballpark for your target, it probably isn't going to matter either way.
This can be a great way of reinforcing the purchase decision in your target client's mind, especially if they aren't as familiar with SEO, or whatever service you are offering. You've demonstrated your knowledge as well as your willingness and ability to help your client understand the information you are delivering to them. I've often won clients, even being higher-priced, because of the knowledge and my willingness to help educate the client as demonstrated in the pre-sales meetings.
Thanks Brian. Having been born in Brooklyn and worked in lower Manhattan in the early 80's right out of college (The Ivan Boesky, Michael Milken junk bond era), I guess it's fair to say I have a "just won't quit" affinity for movies from that era - and particularly Wall Street.
In a short time, I've learned a great deal from your contributions to this community, so I'm doubly thankful you took the time to respond.
Your analogy (and God knows I love a good business analogy that's tied to a movie, sport, etc.), is a great one. The Rise and Fall of Black Hat Bud...brilliant.
As usual, very insightful and articulate commentary on your part.
Terrific points in the article. I am also always impressed with how thoughtful the author's additional comments remain as various commenters agree and disagree and take on new directions in their comments. Very selfless.
The idea of providing value, as perceived by the client, is indeed critical. I always appreciate being reminded that what i think is 5 minutes simple, is often rocket science to the client.
I have begun to approach the Mozbait idea from another angle. No word yet no whether it is a good one, since I'm not done. A tool is being created that outputs all kind of wonderful information about a web site. The few test cases have been very revealing.
It is run by hand and produces a formatted web page with results that include some standard explanations. There is space for unique, per web site comments as well.
Results include information on links, key words, validation, domain name info, link checking, readability, spelling, meta data, most common words, dupe content, canonicalization, SE indexing, banned in Google, links in from .edu, .gov, dmoz etc, robots.txt, page load speed characteristics and some subjective observations about marketing and intended outcomes for the visitor.
I also plan to include a short summary of the highest priority items to address.
The intent is to charge a fee for the report. They can take it and run with it, or engage our services to get the job done. It would take about half an hour to run the tool and another hour to write the additional comments.
Next step is to come up with the marketing, promotion, pricing and delivery logistics. I have a inter-state computer repair outfit that wants to offer the service to each client.
It would be much easier to do all of these next steps if it was all for free. It may end up being for lead-gen if no clients appear.
Anyone else done anyting like this on your own? Feeling a little over ambitious.
Fairminder - Thank you for your very thoughtful complement.
I'm quite interested to hear more about your project. If you don't mind, I'd like to contact you offline. I visited your site and see that your contact info is listed. Is it Jim?
Sean, Glad to be in touch at your convenience.
This is called "creating a sense of obligation", and it is a passive-agressive(or maybe "set-it-and-forget it") sales technique.
This one gets me every time. When someone offers me something of value for free, I feel obligated to use their service(if not now, then in the future).
It is an excellent way to build goodwill and leads.
Bravissimo!!! Thanks for doing all the research, and distilling it into a how-to.
Please give us an update on your conversion rate, and case studies as you go along. It may become an industry standard.
Obligatory "thumbs-up"! :)
I agree with you buybigtires. Several of my clients were the result of some suggestions i made for them. At the time, I didnt even think of it as a 'prospecting' action on my part.
Sometimes, when you help people, MOST of them do respond in kind.
Great commentary Wilson. That speaks to another valuable lesson. Adopting a selfless and sincere approach - as you did in making your suggestions (ie. "I didn't even think of it as prospecting"), seem to be the times when we are at our best, and subseuquently, positive things tend to happen. I guess it's the Law of Karma.
I'm "obliged" to agree buybig. :) Thanks for the nice compliment. I have to say, although I have a love for marketing, I'm somewhat of a sales slug at heart, and as you know, we're the easiest ones to sell to.
I too am a sucker for anyone willing to give before receiving. In fact, most of my buying decisions are based on that. Not because I'm greedy, but because it demonstrates a person or company's willingness to invest in the relationship. I think that's my over-riding message in this post.
Actions speak louder that words and if we show a willingness to invest in something, it demonstrates our commitment to success.
Cheers!
When I worked in advertising sales, we would routinely have our artists develop something "on spec" - drawing up camera ready advertising with the clients name and logo already on it.
We would then set-up a meeting with a client - even if it was a cold call.
Then we'd just have to walk in, show them the ad, show them where it would be in the newspaper/magazine, and give them the price.
If we had done our research right in picking the client - we had the sale more often than not.
It's so interesting...even as as SEO/SEM grows, the basics of marketing do not change. It's nice to know, that no matter what arena you go into, some things are universal, and you take that skillset w/ you.
Nice point, Vin.
Thanks for the relative insight Vin. Another perfect example of a "give first" attitude. What company doesn't like to see their logo on a properly executed, high quality ad comp? I beleive that the extent to which you can help a prospective customer visualize the end result, is directly related to your ability to win business. How more visual can you get than showing them a placement ready comp before they buy?
sean - Just FYI, no need to respond to every comment :)
I only wish that you could show us one of these reports - it would be terrific to see how you take the data the tools provide and mock it up for potential clients. Perhaps we at SEOmoz could even start outputting data or offering larger chunks of data in ways that would be valuable for just this kind of technique.
Thanks Rand. I think my insomnia got the best of me tonight. :)
I'll need to pull the names from one of the reports and will forward tomorrow.
Yes please rand!
This was an ingenious tactic. Thanks for sharing!
Are those microwaves in Gordon Gecko's office? Oh wait. They're computers.
That's funny Chuck. I always wondered how Gekko had the time to catch such a good tan. You've uncovered the mystery. He was being fried by his computers!!!
"Here's the kid! Calls me 69 days in a row, and wants to be a player. What do you got for me pal?"
-Gordon Gekko, Wall Street(1987)
On the short list of fav movie quotes of all time.
Angle - I love that scene. Okay - I love the movie. But, just seeing the written comment gives me chills. I think you've just pushed me over the edge. I need to pull out the VHS tape, wipe the dust off the cover and pop it into my...oh crap, I don't have a VHS player anymore.
No worries, Blockbuster is just a stones throw away. Cheers.
Excellant post!!! I could see using this as a tool to connect with another company in non-SEO related matters as well. The feeling of obligation should cross over to other business matters.
Thanks Dojeda. I agree with you. I beleive that anytime you adopt a selfless approach to something in any area of personal or business matters, you are going to come out ahead and have a better appreciation in the process.
I think in general marketing terms, it's referred to as the "Reciprocity Principle". I can't stress enough that the key is authenticity - to adopt a mindset of willingness to give with no expectation of something in return. I never cease to be amazed at the core goodness and fairness of people when they are approached in this manner. Good luck.
Also remember, SPELLING COUNTS. In the last week I've received two letters from local businesses that put tons of work into a custom letter to attract my business and they spelled my name wrong.
This is also great advice if you are having an intro meeting with a potential client. Go to the meeting with some research on their current web site or if they have nothing, pick some keywords that relate to their business and research what others are doing out there.
No kidding Chris. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot right out of the gate. I wish I could say I've never spelled a person's name wrong, but despite the fact that I will usually make an extra effort to spell it correctly; even calling a company to ask if I have any doubt, I've had my fair share of mistakes.
Great advice, and once again something that I may have considered before on my own merit, yet would have never implemented on my own without seeing someone else use it successfully.
My only problem after that initial hookup is that I'm relentless and will chase the client into the women's toilet to get an answer out of them. While my persistence typically pays off, I do waste a lot of time getting a "No" after running through traffic and dodging buses.
I'm definitely going to throw some value around though, and start offering some of my reports for free, unsolicited, and see what I come up with. Great idea, and I see it grabbing a bit more attention than my usual salesy emails that most certainly get unceremoniously deleted. Thanks man.
Judd - that's funny stuff. Exactly the kind of sales guy I've also liked to hire - the one that simply will not stop - will not take no for an answer - a real pain in the A! The beauty - as you know, is that most people stop after the first few "no's", and it usually takes an average of eight "No's" before a yes. Endearing yourself to someone when you've pursued them through those eight "no's" - now that's the trick.
Keep selling.
That was very interesting.
I actually used the "Crawl test" tool today so show a customer that only 5 pages out of 100 were being crawled on his site and landed a Web redesign & optimisation contract .
But, I had never thought of using the tools on a "cold-call" basis. Thanks for the tip!
Sgiroux - yet another great success story. Yes - it works on a cold call basis.
That's a very sensible approach, and a very sensible letter. As an SEO outsider, and a businessperson in another area, it sometimes seems to me that SEO experts fondly but falsely imagine that their potential clients already know the value of what they are doing. In fact, many businesses which would benefit from SEO have no clue what it is or why they would want anyone to do that for them. Joe's Paint, in the example above, is far more likely to respond to that letter than to look up SEO experts in the phone book. Or, for that matter, to respond to a generic email or phone call about the competely mystifying SEO thing. A letter focussing on something Joe knows about -- his business -- is far more likely to gain a response. Sounds like a good use of 30 minutes.
Sean, fantastic post. I've actually just started doing this in the limited amount of free time I actually have. I also totally agree with what David says. You do have to be very careful about how much you give these guys.
The trick is giving just barely enough for them to talk to you and nothing more. The entire purpose of this should be to spark interest and get them on the phone with you. Then it's up to you to start the relationship and close the deal.
Rand, it would be awesome if you could help us to create these types of documents by using different data extraction methods.
Scott
Do people really cold call these days? God bless you if you do.
A time-less article. I really enjoy how you integrated a movie with a simple sales pitch. I just might adopt that technique. :)
That is a very big-company technique. Because you have to invest in advance in the templates and tools and you have to execute it a lot of times in a row, perfectly, to reap the reward.
It works better when you have staff to crank out those sorts of unsolicited RFW's, in my experience.
But very cool.
-OT
Oliver,
I really appreciate your post and I'm flattered that you would consider this a "big-company technique". I think the fact that anyone that visits SEOmoz can use the free tools (or better yet the subscription tools), to enhance their business approach, is a testament to this approach. SEOmoz gives before receiving. This removes a big obstacle to winning.
I know it requires an investment of time, but to be candid, I would rather focus like a laser on ten high value prospects, than take a half-hearted approach with thousands.
I can speak from 20 years of experience (God, I'm getting old), when I say that this type of HIGHLY TARGETED approach, is a formula for success. Not suggesting that exactly what I've written above will reap success, but the tactic will. I encouurage you to try it on four or five companies you would like to have as customers. You may be surprised with the results.
Continued success.
This is great advice.
I think a lot of times we get so caught up with either our current work load or just don't have the knack to self promote. This outline gives an easy angle to attack that next client.
Great post!
This is really great information! I just started pitching SEO services and I've been doing this informally for prospective clients but it's nice to have a more formal message for cold clients (not that I would copy this verbatim!!).
One more thing to add - we've never done proactive sales. It's a tough business and an uphill one, but I do like this approach - it's innovative, it's not too pushy yet it's forward enough that you'll get a response, and you deserve one for putting in so much valuable effort.
My only fear would be scammers who use a technique like this to land clients, then don't come through on the follow-up work.
Ok Rand - my last response for the evening - I promise. :)
I agree with your point about scammers. At the end of the day, this is one ingredient in closing a sale (albeit for me an important one), as it helps to work a prospective client through what I would call the "Visioning Stage" of a sales process - the point at which they can really see what the "pain" is and the prospective solution.
I originally adopted the approach years ago when I worked with companies building data centers, whereby we would show them some preliminary design mockups to both demontrate the capability and make it real to them. It was very powerful. We had a 75% + close ratio with clients we approached in this manner.
We also had the reputation and testimonials to back it up. In other words, we delivered the goods. thanks again.
"My only fear would be scammers who use a technique like this to land clients, then don't come through on the follow-up work. "
Would this not be a risk in any event? Would one not always need to back oneself up with a good profile and some references or a successful blog such as this. Basically the pitch will need to have some solid backing as much as solid backing gets you business through referrals and repeat business. None savvy clients really run that risk in any event.
As they say, buyer beware, and this is even more sadly true in SEO. Unfortunately, companies get burned, and if you've been doing this even for a little while, you've talked to some that have, simply because they didn't know enough about what they were buying in the first place.
The ones I feel really sorry for are the small guys who probably feel for a really cheap price, but ended up with nothing or in worse shape... so even by the time they find their way to someone legit, they no longer have the money to invest in real services, are completely gun-shy now, or even though they've been burned bad, now have that super-low price in their heads and can't accept the reality of what good SEO costs.
So I totally appreciate Rand's position. It is one of the unfortunate negatives of one of the best things about the industry... anyone can come along, plug in some domain, run a few reports, jazz them up a little, and then bluff their way through a sale with someone who just doesn't know enough to know better and are wowed by the pitch.
That's why anyone looking for SEO services should check out the Beginner's Guide to SEO. And maybe someday that can be distilled down into 5-10 pages of the absolute basics that anyone looking to hire SEO services needs to know. Talk about linkbait!
Fantastic post. Thanks!
Thanks White.
Nicely written article, Sean. That sound you hear is several new SEO's cutting and pasting your form letter to send to potential clients. :)
Thanks Columbus. If that's the case, I'm happy to give a little something back. You know the old saying - "Imitation Is the Best Form of Flattery"! Have a great day.
Sean you'll have to rewrite the letter for yourself now. I can already see the reaction of the company that gets the same letter from a half dozen SEOs telling them how they can improve things on the site.
nice work seanmag, thanks a lot. very useful and informative post!
Thanks Mate. Cheers.
Hmmm. I like the concept. But in my 12 years doing this, I've found that this approach will sometimes land you clients who undervalue your services.
I'd say be very, very careful who you use this method on. It works, sometimes too well :)
Another good point wrttn. I think I should have stressed that this is an approach that is ideally used when targeting your "must have" prospects.
Again, the idea is to feed them enough value to get them on the hook, but not so much as to bloat them and leave them feeling like you're willing to work for nothing. That wasn't the intent at all.
Perhaps an apropos analogy would be to say "Feed them a dish like the French would - small portions, great presentation, leaving you hungry for more." Thanks for your insight.
Very nicely written. Thanks for the v. practical advice!
Great article - well deserving of promotion. I usually try not to comment unless I have something to add, or at least think I do, but that's all I've got. Great article - had to say it.