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If you’ve been a reader of this blog for awhile then you’ve probably heard of me talk about my Grandfather. He pretty much gave me my start by teaching me web design when I was 14.
Too bad I didn’t take it seriously until almost 10 years later…
Well, after I dropped out of high school I took all the normal odd jobs that a high school dropout would get. I worked construction as an apprentice framer, I worked for the city as a hole digger and cinder block relocator, I worked at Wendy’s as a burger flipper, and I worked in some boiler rooms as a telemarketer.
It was as a telemarketer that my childhood entrepreneur started resurfacing.
I used to sell candy and juice boxes out of my school bag in middle school. Instead of waiting for the bullies to steal my stuff I just went up to them with shaky knees and said “If you help me keep my bag safe at recess I’ll give you free stuff everyday.”
Fun times! But back to the story…
So as a telemarketer I started getting the entrepreneurial bug again. I started reading sales books and I started moving up in the ranks on every sales floor I was apart off. I even got to move out of those shady boiler room jobs and into respectable sales positions.
During my first year of selling industrial lighting I was crushing all the 5yr reps in the company. However, I started getting tired of making only 35% and I felt like I was doing all the work. Which is why I started thinking of what I could sell on my own to make 100% like when I used to sell candy out of my bag.
The light bulb above my head went off and I said “I’ll open up a web design business with the skills my grandfather taught me!”
To spare you from all the gruesome details of a man who quit his job to early and had to feed his family mayonnaise sandwiches, I’ll tell you that my idea didn’t work for the first 5 months.
No income for the first 5 months until I figured out a system for getting web design clients like clockwork. In fact it’s such a killer system that I’ve recently been asked to be a co-writer of a book being published in 2010 about this system (which is what made me wanna blog about it too).
The System
Forgive me if this seems kind of short from here, but it’s a pretty easy system. Please don’t mistake it’s brevity and simplicity for less effectiveness. Sometimes it’s the so-simple-why-didn’t-i-think-of-that systems that are so great.
- First you are going to look for some local businesses that have websites. Which is much easier today then it was when I started this in 2005. Now you can search Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, and many other sites.Once you find the businesses with the websites find 5 or 6 that look like they were designed a long time ago or could really use some improvements. This shouldn’t be too hard since most local business websites are horrendous.
- Next you are going to pick one of them and re-design their website (or higher someone on scriptlance for $50 – $150). Make sure you take notes as you redesign the site about your reasons for different colors, navigation, buttons, functions, and anything else you change. You’ll need those notes in just a minute.
- Now that you are finished you call up that company and say… “Hi, my name is Justin Brooke and I’ve redesigned your web site for free and I’d like to show it to someone. Who would that be?”
The gatekeeper won’t be used to this response and will usually be confused enough to just pass you on to the owner/CEO or the right person to talk too. If not just ask for a way that you can make sure he see’s your re-design without taking up his time like an email, fax, or OMG “Snail Mail.” Just make sure you get a way to get your design in front of the decision maker. - Once you get the decision maker on the phone you are going to introduce yourself and use this little script that I perfected over the years. “Hey Bob, thanks for taking the call this will be real quick because I know you’re busy. I’ve redesigned your website and I’d like to show it to you. This won’t cost you a thing and you are under no obligation to buy. I just want to show it to you and if you like it you can buy it. If you don’t then we go our separate ways with no harm done. Would Tuesday or Thursday be best?”
That’s it…
Just keep in mind that you aren’t selling anything on this phone call, just getting an appointment. After you ask for the Tuesday or Thursday… SHUT UP! Silence is the strongest sales tool you’ll ever experience because it forces the person on the other end of the call to make a decision.
Seriously, I don’t care if you have to wait 45 minutes, DO NOT be the first person to talk or you will relive their pressure and possible lose the appointment. People are much more comfortable with saying yes then they are saying no so usually they agree to the appointment.
After all it’s free, they have no obligation to buy, and you’ve just redesigned their website… They want what you have.
Closing The Deal At The Appointment
We would then setup the appointment and I would either show them via remote desktop sharing (webinar) software or in person. I would explain all the reasons for my changes and the benefits of the re-design (those notes I told you to take). They would naturally ask how much for the design and I would start off with $2,500 but say that I can work with their budget if they needed a sliding scale.
Then, I would say that I needed a decision in a week though because otherwise I would have to delete theirs. That I only get paid when I sell one of these re-designs, so I can’t afford to wait on them forever.
The urgency along with the sliding scale discount really helped nail down the sales and create impulse buys. Finally I told them that I accept checks through my bank and credit cards thru Paypal.
This system worked just fine until I ended up pursuing other interests like blogging and information marketing. Feel free to use this system exactly as I’ve mentioned to create your own web design business.
What Would I Change Today
If I were to pick this business back up, and I’m very tempted too, then I would most likely outsource the whole thing.
I would hire designers from Scriptlance and pay them either weekly or per project. Then I would hire sales reps from Craigslist and pay them on a commission only structure. The designers would get about 25% of the project and the sales rep would get 25% for each design he sold. Leaving me with 50% for just managing the business.
If the sales rep sold more then 4 designs in a month then I would give him a bonus 10% on his sales to give him an extra incentive to perform at his best.
Well I hope you’ve liked this little peak inside how I do things. If you are the type that likes the “Offline gold” or “Offline to Online Riches” reports out there then you’re really loving this, because this is the real deal.
This is how I put food on the table for quite awhile when I was just starting out.
If you have any questions or just want to tell me you liked this post then please do in the comments down below. I’ll stick around for a few days answering every comment.
P.S. If you’d like to use this blog post on your blog, in your membership site, or info products then please do so but with full credit to myself and a link back to the original post.
Go Bigger,
Justin Brooke
“All It Takes Is Action And Action Builds Confidence”
