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Your Best Pitch on SEO

by TheCG
18 replies
My business consists primarily of building websites, FB Pages and claiming Google+ listings for businesses. I have recently had alot of success with lead generation and have, much to my surprise, actually been contracted to build lead generation sites for several businesses.

Here is one area where I am having a hard time. SEO...

It generally seems to be a hard sell to businesses and honestly, I sometimes feel I am doing them a disservice by building them a website and claiming their Google page then it just sits there with no "gas" to get them really good placement because they are too cheap to spend a little monthly for some SEO work.

I met with a local carpet cleaner yesterday who is keen on the site and Google listing but looked at me like I had 3 heads when I tried to explain to him why he needs to spend $197 a month for at least 6 months following up to get a decent position in the SERPS.

I think I could do a better job if I had a better pitch on why they need the monthly work done after the real estate is built. The "the site and listing is the car and monthly SEO is the gas to move it" doesn't seem to be cutting it.

In the past I have not tried too hard to sell it because it seems like a really hard sell and as a result, I haven't done much of it. I really want to get more residual income from my clients so I know I need to be doing this.

Anyone care to share their best pitch on why SEO is needed?
#pitch #seo
  • Profile picture of the author Aaron Doud
    If you have a laptop do something like this.

    1. Bring up google.
    2. Tell them to search for a product or service.
    3. Ask them which they would choose (likely will be above the fold.)
    4. Ask them to scroll down.
    5. Point to one of the listings on the bottom.
    6. "Why didn't you pick this one?" (answer will likely be they didn't see it.)
    7. Ask them to click on one of the numbers at the bottom.
    8. Point to one of the listings on the page.
    9. "Why didn't you pick this one?"
    10. You close....

    "John do you have any idea why I had you do this?"
    "Not really"
    "People believe what they see. I just showed you that you naturally pick from the first results on google. That is what most people do. (pull out sheet with info on where google clicks happen). As you can see here 9?% of clicks happen on the first page of google and ??% of clicks happen on the first 3(or 5) listings. So John what do you think will happen if your brand new webpage isn't at the top of page one when people search."
    "They will never see it"
    "Exactly. Now I love the designs my web team creates. And I know you will love them too. But you don't buy a Lamborghini to not be noticed. You want to be noticed don't you John?"
    "Of course."
    "Well that is what are SEO (please come up with a better name for what you do vs this) packages are for. My SEO Teams understands how google ranks sites. And what they do is create positive signals that google will pick up on. The more positive signals and the longer and more regularly they do it the more "juice" your site has with google. Does that make sense?"
    "Yeah I think I understand."
    "Don't worry if you don't understand completely. I don't understand all the details either. That is the reasons our company hires experts. It's no different than me trying to ________ (whatever his business is or something they do). I wouldn't know where to start. But you have a team of experts to handle it for me. That's why we trust experts, isn't it?"
    "yes (likely to tell you a story here)"
    "So John here is the contract for the web design. And here is the contract for the SEO. I will need your signatures here and here." (then don't say anything till they talk or sign)

    If they still have objections address each (note to change your presentations in future) and offer the contract again on addressed. "If that was all of your questions here are the contracts again."

    EDIT: Thought this was a webpage to SEO upsell. So wording is a bit off."
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    Aaron Doud - Sales & Success
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    • Profile picture of the author TheCG
      Originally Posted by Aaron Doud View Post

      you don't buy a Lamborghini to not be noticed
      Nice...I like it.
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      Yes, by the way, I AM in the Witness Protection Program. I could tell you who I am but then I would have to kill you.

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  • Profile picture of the author Aaron Doud
    I'm a car guy. It shows at times lol
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    Aaron Doud - Sales & Success
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  • Profile picture of the author Dannn36
    You're right, it is a hard sale if you try to sell SEO -- Google as the medium.

    Business owners get pitched all of the time with it and don't want to wrap their head around it (jargon, and all of the elements of it).

    Simplify it for them; sell the results. Most business owners don't care if they are on page 1 or page 10000001 if it means they will get the same results from their website. They want leads and new business, so get that for them.

    If you're SEO'ing their website (which is enough of a hassle as it is - very surprised that you're willing to deal with all the headaches, liabilities, etc. for only $197 month) show them how many people are searching for their product or service in their city. That's the main stats that they care about. If you tell them 500 people a month are looking for their carpet cleaning business ... that captures their attention more than the "theory" that there could be people searching for them. The only reason you're "ranking their website" is so that you can gain visibility in front of those 500 people versus a direct-mail type of campaign.

    I don't sell "SEO" "SMO", but I sell new customers and business.

    Personally, I think you should just continue with lead generation. It's the easiest sale that you can make. Almost every savvy business owner that I have met could care less about which medium is used to bring in leads and customers ---> direct-mail, tv, craigslist, videos, radio, SEO, PPC, etc.... they're too busy running their own business handling all the business that I'm bringing them.

    You should focus on selling that. You're having success with lead gen because it's a gold-mine of a business model .... do all the SEO for yourself since YOU understand the value of it (and now you own that powerful asset as well). Then, you can charge a premium because you already have what those business owners are looking for. It's worth a lot more than just $200 month, that's for sure.
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    • Profile picture of the author TheCG
      Originally Posted by Dannn36 View Post

      very surprised that you're willing to deal with all the headaches, liabilities, etc. for only $197 month
      Yeah, well, that is my entry level price. They don't get a whole lot for that but it is some place to start.

      SEO is definitely not my favorite part of the biz. Maybe that shows, too.

      Just looking for a way to maximize my time spent with each customer and get more recurring income.
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      Yes, by the way, I AM in the Witness Protection Program. I could tell you who I am but then I would have to kill you.

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    • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
      This is more directed at Yellow Pages advertisers...


      Best,
      Ewen
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  • Profile picture of the author misterme
    Originally Posted by Aaron Doud View Post

    If you have a laptop do something like this.

    1. Bring up google.
    2. Tell them to search for a product or service.
    3. Ask them which they would choose (likely will be above the fold.)
    4. Ask them to scroll down.
    5. Point to one of the listings on the bottom.
    6. "Why didn't you pick this one?" (answer will likely be they didn't see it.)
    7. Ask them to click on one of the numbers at the bottom.
    8. Point to one of the listings on the page.
    9. "Why didn't you pick this one?"
    10. You close....

    "John do you have any idea why I had you do this?"
    "Not really"
    "People believe what they see. I just showed you that you naturally pick from the first results on google. That is what most people do. (pull out sheet with info on where google clicks happen). As you can see here 9?% of clicks happen on the first page of google and ??% of clicks happen on the first 3(or 5) listings. So John what do you think will happen if your brand new webpage isn't at the top of page one when people search."
    "They will never see it"
    "Exactly.
    ...Now lets look for your site... put in the keywords... hit search, and...

    Where's your listing?

    Ummm, let's try the next page?

    Ouch.

    Do you think those results near the top of page one had better SEO?

    How do you think better SEO would help you, John?

    And if you were on page 1, near the top... you'd probably get more customers, wouldn't you?

    You said your average profit per sale is $XXX. So even if I got you 10% more customers by ranking your site higher, you'd net $XXXXX a year?

    The good news is my ranking service is only $XXX. Even if you get more than a 10% increase. Sounds like a win to me, how about you?

    (Or something like that)
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    • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
      [ Sounds like a win to me, how about you?

      )[/QUOTE]

      Love that type of finishing question.

      I came across it from a sales trainer recently.

      So smooth.

      Best,
      Ewen
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  • Profile picture of the author Rus Sells
    The concept that you need to convey is that all the buyers are using Google. Doesn't it make sense to place your business in front of those buyers, just like the Yellow Pages used to do, "before" the internet. Or, when you use television commercials, you put yourself in front of the buyers.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
    Here we have the classic focus on How you do it rather than Results the prospect wants.

    Find out what your prospect wants--what their vision is for things going great. Your methods of achieving that are secondary. They don't really care how you do it...and as you've seen, they are even scared witless of some words and phrases of the How.

    Get a picture of what your prospect wants. Then if you can get them there, charge for the results you're going to get. Do not get descriptive and detailed with the How; in fact, you might even want to call your methods by something else (ie. not SEO).

    Include the SEO as the "gas" for the "engine" of their website being a prospect-converting machine.
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    • Profile picture of the author PanteraIM
      Originally Posted by Jason Kanigan View Post

      Here we have the classic focus on How you do it rather than Results the prospect wants.

      Find out what your prospect wants--what their vision is for things going great. Your methods of achieving that are secondary. They don't really care how you do it...and as you've seen, they are even scared witless of some words and phrases of the How.

      Get a picture of what your prospect wants. Then if you can get them there, charge for the results you're going to get. Do not get descriptive and detailed with the How; in fact, you might even want to call your methods by something else (ie. not SEO).

      Include the SEO as the "gas" for the "engine" of their website being a prospect-converting machine.
      As soon as you mention SEO, links, content, authority etc people instantly tune out. You have to find a way to explain it which makes sense to them and how it's going to help them get from their current situation to where they want to be.

      This is where consultative selling shines; if you understand the problem and its' implication clearly enough there is no need to really sell the idea of SEO at all, you are only making recommendations.

      Not every business wants more customers or more sales.

      The answer to your question I think lies in each prospect's specific problem or want. It's not the product or the advantages they are buying, but what it actually does for THEM personally, which are benefits.
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      • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
        I guess you could loosely call what I sell SEO.

        I have a group presentation that goes through these steps, and I follow it pretty closely in personal sales.

        "Do you advertise?" "Yes"

        "Where?" "Yellow pages, direct mail, radio...."

        "Is it workingas well as it used to?" "No"

        "Where are the buyers going to find what you sell?" "Online"

        "85% of the people who go online use Google. Can we use Google as an example?" "Yes"

        "Let's take one of your products. Leather sofas. If someone in your town is looking for a leather sofa...what do you think they would type in?" (I give whatever help is needed here) They end up saying "Leather sofas Akron OH"

        "OK, lets do that search" (They see the results)

        "Now, if you saw a top ten listing out of 100,000 listings...what would you think of that company?" "Biggest, best, best selection,most customers, best reputation, highest rated...(Whatever)"

        "That's right, and your customers would think that too. Do you see your website listed?" (I'm going to make this a little harder) "Yeah, I'm listed in the 6th position".

        "And how many of the top ten positions are you in?" "One. Why?"

        "So you have one chance in ten to grab their attention. If you had three listings on the first page, what do you think would happen?" (I lead them to say "I'd have three times the chance of getting that customer")

        "And would you think that people looking up "leather sofas" on Google are thinking of leather sofas?" "Sure"

        "And if they are looking to buy a leather sofa, would you like to increase the chances that they will come and see you?" "Yes"

        "How about reducing the chances that they will go see a competitor. Would that be OK with you?" "Absolutely".

        (I'm taking out the idea of selling videos and other content. and it's now just about SEO)

        "Let's say we worked to get you higher on the first page of Google, and maybe got you another page one listing or two. How many more sales a month would you imagine that will bring in?" "Maybe two. Maybe three"

        "Let's take two. How much more business is that on average?" "Let's see, maybe another $1,500 a month"

        "OK, so if I did all the work to get you higher on Google..and that brought in just an extra $1,500 a month...how much would that be worth to you monthly?" Maybe $750...maybe $1,000" (I'll work it until they say "Anything less than $1,500")

        "So, would you absolutely pay $500 a month for these kind of results?" "Sure"

        "Well, let me think about that. You sound pretty interested in this. Are you?"
        "Yeah, I think so"

        "And how soon would you like to see that increase in business? If I start now, you'll start seeing results in a month or so, is that soon enough?" "A month?"

        "Yes. Sometimes we can start work right away, but it takes Google a little time to find and index everything we do for you. But we can show you more website views and a higher listing within a month or so...your results continue to improve as time goes on. Fair enough?" "How much do I need to pay you right now?'

        "We're getting ahead of ourselves a bit. Why not let me call my office and see what our schedule looks like for the next week or so. If we can fit it in now, I'll need a check for $500 to start.OK?"


        That was kind of off the top of my head selling a $500 a month SEO service. I left out a lot of video, article, blog, keyword...stuff. A real presentation may take 90 minutes.

        You can see Misterme and Aaron know what to say...and the video from Ewen was very helpful. I almost didn't post, because this subject was handled so well already....

        But I can't pass up an opportunity to stick my nose in.
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        • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
          The CG, you are so lucky witnessing a master persuader
          do his magic with out much thinking
          but skillfully have the listener think this is
          the right thing to do.

          That's what Claude wrote.

          If you look at what he wrote,
          you'll see he used the following...

          Getting agreement what they are using
          isn't working so good

          Asking questions after every statement

          Using logic

          Using there own business as an example

          Getting the business owner involved

          Working out a plan to implement

          Implying he would be interested

          Take away the offer

          Think of the presentation by it's structure.

          What goes where and in what order.

          We are so lucky to have Claude laying out
          a sales presentation like this.

          Best,
          Ewen
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  • Profile picture of the author bizgrower
    Say Search Engine Results instead of Search Engine Optimization. As Jason is saying, this gets to what they want, not the process. (A lay person will be wondering what SEO is and perhaps embarrassed that they don't really know what this term you are throwing around so casually really means. Or they may think it means something else that is entirely wrong. Avoid our industry jargon and speak their language.)

    And, by saying Search Engine Results you can cover that you will get him more relevant traffic as well as better appearance/placement on the search engine page.

    Also, if you do sit down and show him examples of being above the fold, ask how much more business he thinks the top company has versus the lower ranked ones. Or, how many more calls they get, or how many more customers they get.

    If you actually show him his business before SEO, make sure your work will help him. My hotel has two competitors in this small town, so we already appear above the fold without any work. If your work will help in the serps and appearance on the search engine page, and his competition shines above him, then ask him how that is helping his competition in terms of revenues, more business, more customers, and more inquiries. He will likely have an idea of how much business his competition is doing, begin to understand why and that he needs to get on the ball.
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  • Profile picture of the author johnben1444
    Also input there keywords in Google Keyword Tool and show them how much visitors they could get monthly and FREE after the job has been done..

    I think another problem you might want to look at is finding a good SEO expert, a lot of the so called expert might be cat-fishing....
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  • Profile picture of the author trader909
    crumbs i nearly signed up for a $500 S.E.O. package.

    I guess you could loosely call what I sell SEO.

    I have a group presentation that goes through these steps, and I follow it pretty closely in personal sales.

    "Do you advertise?" "Yes"

    "Where?" "Yellow pages, direct mail, radio...."

    "Is it workingas well as it used to?" "No"

    "Where are the buyers going to find what you sell?" "Online"

    "85% of the people who go online use Google. Can we use Google as an example?" "Yes"

    "Let's take one of your products. Leather sofas. If someone in your town is looking for a leather sofa...what do you think they would type in?" (I give whatever help is needed here) They end up saying "Leather sofas Akron OH"

    "OK, lets do that search" (They see the results)

    "Now, if you saw a top ten listing out of 100,000 listings...what would you think of that company?" "Biggest, best, best selection,most customers, best reputation, highest rated...(Whatever)"

    "That's right, and your customers would think that too. Do you see your website listed?" (I'm going to make this a little harder) "Yeah, I'm listed in the 6th position".

    "And how many of the top ten positions are you in?" "One. Why?"

    "So you have one chance in ten to grab their attention. If you had three listings on the first page, what do you think would happen?" (I lead them to say "I'd have three times the chance of getting that customer")

    "And would you think that people looking up "leather sofas" on Google are thinking of leather sofas?" "Sure"

    "And if they are looking to buy a leather sofa, would you like to increase the chances that they will come and see you?" "Yes"

    "How about reducing the chances that they will go see a competitor. Would that be OK with you?" "Absolutely".

    (I'm taking out the idea of selling videos and other content. and it's now just about SEO)

    "Let's say we worked to get you higher on the first page of Google, and maybe got you another page one listing or two. How many more sales a month would you imagine that will bring in?" "Maybe two. Maybe three"

    "Let's take two. How much more business is that on average?" "Let's see, maybe another $1,500 a month"

    "OK, so if I did all the work to get you higher on Google..and that brought in just an extra $1,500 a month...how much would that be worth to you monthly?" Maybe $750...maybe $1,000" (I'll work it until they say "Anything less than $1,500")

    "So, would you absolutely pay $500 a month for these kind of results?" "Sure"

    "Well, let me think about that. You sound pretty interested in this. Are you?"
    "Yeah, I think so"

    "And how soon would you like to see that increase in business? If I start now, you'll start seeing results in a month or so, is that soon enough?" "A month?"

    "Yes. Sometimes we can start work right away, but it takes Google a little time to find and index everything we do for you. But we can show you more website views and a higher listing within a month or so...your results continue to improve as time goes on. Fair enough?" "How much do I need to pay you right now?'

    "We're getting ahead of ourselves a bit. Why not let me call my office and see what our schedule looks like for the next week or so. If we can fit it in now, I'll need a check for $500 to start.OK?"


    That was kind of off the top of my head selling a $500 a month SEO service. I left out a lot of video, article, blog, keyword...stuff. A real presentation may take 90 minutes.

    You can see Misterme and Aaron know what to say...and the video from Ewen was very helpful. I almost didn't post, because this subject was handled so well already....

    But I can't pass up an opportunity to stick my nose in.
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  • Profile picture of the author Fernando Veloso
    Grab what Aaron told you and record a video - the slower the best. Then use that video often and explain anything else AFTER showing the video.

    Then people will ask the dreadful question:

    "Well, why don't I invest 200$ per month on Adwords?"

    And thats when you play the second video... Why choose long term SEO instead of rapid PPC...
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    People make good money selling to the rich. But the rich got rich selling to the masses.
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