Chosen by Asker

Hi Bob, Good advice from Carlos T, don't e-mail them, you would be wasting your time. The hardest thing to do is to go to someone with no samples, so I'd recommend starting Local, with local businesses, to get some testimonials from happy clients. Get a copy of the local phone book and a note book. Look up any business that you visit / use. Check if they have a web site. If they have a web site, but it's not good, make a note of it for later, when you have some completed work to show them. If they don't have a web site, then they are a potential client. Note them down. When you are finished, look at your list of potential clients and make a plan to actually visit them. It's best to start with a business that may recognise you as a past customer. Learn some facts about how the Internet boasts business, so you can use them in conversation. Don't hype anything. Don't sell your service, sell the benefits of a web site. When you go in, ask who looks after their marketing and say that you are a QUALIFIED web designer, you are setting up a web design business and decided to start locally. Make them a good offer, between $500 and $1,500 depending on the size of business. Don't do it for free and always get 50% of your fee up front. Expect that only 1 of ten will say yes, so prepare for the rejection by remembering that they are rejecting the idea... NOT you. This exact plan has been used by thousands of web design start ups in the past and it works very well. Once you have some clients, it becomes much easier to get more. Eoin

by eoin.oleary

11 months ago

Asker's Rating: 

I would really recommend contacting prospects offline. Maybe start with a personalized letter and then follow-up by phone. Emailing someone out of the blue to sell your services really is spam even if you have good intentions.

by Carlos T- 11 months ago