Fucking Fatigued

[animalstyle]

My project is weighing me down like a mother fucker right now and I just needed to vent it out.

The situation I am in is unique - I have built an asset with quality traffic. There is probably thousands of dollars of traffic running through my site right now, but the monetization has to be set up manually. I have run tests and proved my traffic is quality and have some small paychecks because of it (maybe 150-200$/mo right now).

Businesses have profile pages on my site, I have developed a Basic vs Premium profile program that essentially shows their contact information only on the premium version. The basic does not, and I throw an additional ad on their page. The premium version charges them at CPC rates depending on how I refer traffic to them - website phone email etc. I think this business setup is sweet as it will scale as my site grows.

I have about 100 potential clients spread across the world who I have been calling & emailing. I have to sell myself and my site to every single one, and now two weeks in I have probably been in contact with 20 of them, a few interested, but no signed business contracts.

This shit is tiring - cold calling, waking up super early to talk to people via skype across the world asking for a business deal is hard fucking work. Any motivation, ideas, funny stories? Anything???? I am fucking tired, an hour of emailing and I am fried and two weeks of work for $0 to show for it is tough.

 

[CCarter]

2 weeks... try going 12 months without checks or with zero dollars to show for your work of 18+ hours a day, 7 days a week. I've done several of those iterations over a dozen times, this life isn't easy and isn't for everyone. Some projects take years to start generating revenue - this ain't a motivation speech it's a reality speech. You have to have enough passion AND faith in your project and believe in yourself that will keep you going during the downward rollercoasters and the loneliness.

The CEO of Gravity did the same thing, signed up all his customers one by one, over the course of years, a lot of companies started out like this. It ain't no picnic, but at the same time it might make more sense for you to market your website so the viral aspect creates the demand as well. Right now you are going door to door (digital), but you should be creating buzz within your industry and with the customers of your industry so the word of mouth spreads down to potential clients that they need to get listed.

Assuming your website is suppose to drive customers to your clients, the question is - IS YOUR WEBSITE DRIVING CUSTOMERS TO CLIENTS? If so, use those numbers to sell your new clients. IF NOT, fudge those numbers and sell the clients then figure out how to get customers to your clients, so they stay onboard. If you can showcase how current clients are making great returns on their investment then it's a no-brainer to would be new clients - you are showcasing that right?

 

[Alex VanDavid]

 

[animalstyle]

Thank you guys. I believe in what I have with this project. There is value and traffic. In some cases LOTS of traffic. While I showcase traffic, I haven't done a great job plain and simple showing the expected return on that traffic. Getting back to it and pushing harder.

 

[juliantrueflynn]

Maybe change up your business model if it's not working as efficiently as possible? This would be possible if you tracked your total investment (including time) and information on your traffic. It sounds like yours is structured like a web directory (i.e. businesses make profiles to be listed).

I have some history with web directories, maybe switch the model so there's 3 levels instead of 2 for membership: Free, Basic, and Premium. Having 'Free' allows for you to capture more emails and potentially leverage into Basic and Premium. You can also track 'view count' in the frontend or backend of their profile (I recommend frontend). Having free also allows you to make a profile for a business and then message them saying: 'hey I made this for you, let me know if you want to add anything'.

 

[animalstyle]

I have some history with web directories, maybe switch the model so there's 3 levels instead of 2 for membership: Free, Basic, and Premium. Having 'Free' allows for you to capture more emails and potentially leverage into Basic and Premium. You can also track 'view count' in the frontend or backend of their profile (I recommend frontend). Having free also allows you to make a profile for a business and then message them saying: 'hey I made this for you, let me know if you want to add anything'.

I have done pretty much this. All businesses (I have complete coverage in my industry) have a free profile. I use those to capture emails, and that has been quite successful. I have done an email blast and updated profiles exactly as you say: hey I made this for you, is everything correct?

I have been sloppy with this process. I dream of being able to erase all the little mistakes and moves. I have probably emailed a couple times to some businesses at different stages in this development and through the discovery and setup of various different business schemes.

Something I am battling with the most is I can't get in touch with marketing contacts. MOST of the emails I send receive radio silence in return so I can't even get in touch with the right person. About half are outside the US so maybe its a language barrier? Maybe its time to invest in an international plan and start cold calling at 3am my time, not sure.

 

[juliantrueflynn]

Maybe if you set up the views you can start up an automated email strategy for the accounts. If their account reaches let's say 100 views, you send an automated email about it (which they can turn off too). Marketing automation like this might be a good area to look into for growing here, especially if you're tired.

Ideally with this kind of model you're not doing as much cold calling and more teaming up with resellers along with just messaging. For example, if you have a dentist directory and I get a lot of dentist clients, if you contact me saying you would give me cheaper prices to get everyone on there I would do it (for reselling).

Edit: and to add to this, all the big directory sites if you do a free account there's always a sales rep that ends up reaching out pretty quickly to try and move people up and the reasons why. I believe this is categorized as person-to-person marketing (I could be wrong though, going off top of my head).

 

[animalstyle]

Really good info and I appreciate the ideas. I am doing things very manually now, I have added all the locations, and I have maxed it out. Occasionally I get a random one off business that slipped through the cracks asking to be added, but the bulk I already have. There are just under 150 locations worldwide.

I am creating this business model in this industry, so its a tough road, but hopefully I can end up establishing myself and see some longevity.

 

[emp]

..now two weeks in I have probably been in contact with 20 of them, a few interested, but no signed business contracts.

So... you average 1.5 calls a day?
And this fatigues you how?

OK, but seriously, I think you need to step back and look at how you are doing things.

You mention a lack of real contact info - you don't get the person you need to be selling to.

1. Get the right person
Think about who that person might be. VERY few companies of medium size have a dedicated marketing person. So you might want to get the VP, CTO, the COO or some other nice acronym instead.
You might also just want to talk to the guy doing their internet presence. (This you might find on their website)

Tailor your telephone calls to this. Basically "Who do I need to talk to about... " is your first question.

2. Batch your tasks
Tackle one type of task at a time.
- set up a day to just research contact information.
- Spend the rest of the week calling, calling, calling.

3. Think automation and outsourcing
So you are making 100-200$ a month? Set a part of that to outsource tasks or get a script done.
As you are going through the motions, write down exactly what you are doing. This needs to result in a foolproof, step by step instruction on how to do things (for example, find companies in that space)
You can then automate or outsource that task.

Bonus:
Have an excel sheet ready

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1dVuBg4NWRWbbQ0O0UDHO-LTiSrqNQBd7D-XeXq9kp2Y/edit?usp=sharing

(Feel free to copy and adapt to your needs)

::emp::

 

[lion1978]

You got some really great advice here.
I really think you need to look at some other way to generate sales than through cold calling and emailing if the numbers you wrote is fatiguing you, I can't count the days that I've spent making 200+ cold calls per day and sending out 100's of emails every day, remember besides what @emp said about many mid sized companies not having a marketing person that those who do recieve your email maybe getting houndreds of emails every day, so try to see things from their perspective and ask your self "if I was recieving this mail, would I even care to open it?" and be brutally honest with your self.
consider hiring either freelance sales reps working on a commission or a telemarketing company to do the cold calling, then while they are doing the selling you can focus on creating a buzz arround your business by exploring other means of marketing.

 

[animalstyle]

Thanks guys. I do keep an excel list, but I like the structure of yours @emp Ill improve mine. Yesterday I sent maybe 20 emails, deep down into the businesses that I really don't have too much traffic to offer them, but still trying to make the contact.

Recieved one "no" this morning and sent an email asking as many questions as I could as to how I could improve my service. Feels SO GOOD to receive a definite response and fingers crossed I can get some more feedback to improve my offering and sales pitch.

Most of the list of potential clients are in Europe, going to get some way to call internationally going, revamp my followup materials and start making calls, not sending emails. Thanks for the help guys.

 

[lion1978]

@animalstyle you should have replyed to the guy who said no that it is OK it was a mistanke that he even recieved the email in the først placeret your normal custumors are a little higher up than his business and i promise you he would have shown intresst and become a cusyumor

 

[Ryuzaki]

@animalstyle you should have replyed to the guy who said no that it is OK it was a mistanke that he even recieved the email in the først placeret your normal custumors are a little higher up than his business and i promise you he would have shown intresst and become a cusyumor

Not sure if drunk or on mobile!

I like this advice. I caught myself initially against it and that's always a red-flag to stop and consider why. With about 3 seconds of logic I agreed with it. The guy already said no. All you can do is try to snag him again, in this case by playing to his insecurities. He might get offended, but who cares, he already said no. If he's a sucker, he'll bite your hook and you can reel him in from there. I like it! Especially because he responded, so you know he's going to read the next email. I'd say that you have a better chance of converting a flat out "no" than most of the emails you'll send in the future, because most of those aren't going to bother to respond at all. A "no" is a foot in the door!

 

[animalstyle]

Drunk on mobile

What I did with my No (and another that I received today) was took a long hard look at what I was offering and how I pitched it, PLUS I asked them for feedback. My pricing calculator for my CPC rates was a bit bold I believe which caused me to be quoting really high prices. One person remarked on the price being too high. Haven't made the decision on a final rate, but I know it will be lower. Its OK too as my business model scales with the traffic I send and as new businesses open - both of which are growing at consistent rates. What may be $1000/mo today can easily double, triple and beyond.

I have a couple quotes out with the current inflated pricing, see if they sign up. If they do then I can adjust from there, if not I can try again with lower pricing.

Improved my marketing kit (presentation of all the data to sell the program strongly outlining my benefits and improving my presentation) and worked out a phone centered work flow as I believe an introduction to whoever handles marketing is much much better if done over the phone. Had a call today and it was very productive. Can fit so many details in, plus I sell myself as the ambassador of my business since I am very connected to the industry. My workflow is now:

Dig out the contact -> phone introduction (email if absolutely impossible) -> send marketing kit which includes custom tailored info for their location as well as a discounted first month surprise proposition to start things off -> close.

If I can't get deals closed this way with tweaking within this system then next step is to start by doing simple free setups and asking for any data the business can provide me about the traffic I send them. This will allow me to beef my marketing kit, tighten the pitch and swing again.

 

[contract]

Aren't we all...

Phone Ninjas, look them up on Youtube.

Jerry puts up some incredible presentations about talking over the phone. (He's a great guy too)

From future appointments to qualifying, price objections, etc.

(Sure, it's for car dealerships, but the same sales principles apply for closing deals/clients)

Go to his site, get the free trial phone call. Tell them what you're trying to accomplish.

They'll grade you on the phone, but more importantly tell you exactly how to improve.

....

It takes time to get paid for your hustle.

I love instant gratification when it comes to data and cash, but that shit takes time.

Sometimes years, regardless of how hard you work.

 

[lion1978]

Not sure if drunk or on mobile!

on mobile ! and with far to little sleeep.

I guess on point that I should have wrote is that the fact that he even responds is actually a showing of intrest, after all how often don't we get a mail where someone is trying to pitch something and just delete it.

I'll stop this writing now and catch some zzzz, bcus 72 hours with only 4 hours of sleep is messing my brain up and makes my writting weird but "I'll be back"

 

[envy]

More modafinil, keep grinding mate.

 

[animalstyle]

The first NO turned around and gave me a bunch of feedback. Lots of which I was already doing which helped me improve my sales pitch because I simply wasn't putting it out there.

Some good feedback was in their message as well - one of the bigger things I implemented this weekend. They should see that it happened naturally - I won't pitch them saying hey I did this, they will see it in a separate email solicitation.

I responded to their concerns, thanked them for their feedback and offered a month free trial. See if they bite.

Everything else is moving forward, the grind continues and it's starting to feel much better. The day I started this tread, the struggle had paralyzed me. The next day I felt a new sense of clarity though and managed to push to a new level. The lesson I learned is sometimes you need to push push push, and sometimes you need to rest the body and mind and come back after a reset. Continually pushing hard while in the midst of mental paralysis didn't help me achieve results - but pushing to that point and past a bit was helpful.

 

[animalstyle]

From the NO: "Thanks for your email. Your offer is pretty cool."

One month test with a potential to sign a deal on the other site is happening.