Transcript
Joe Troyer: How can I start an agency or social media marketing business? At the end of the day, guys, I really think it’s the same thing though. Coaching business, agency business, social media marketing business, they’re all fundamentally the same, right? You’re helping a client get from where they’re at now to the result of, or their goal of where they’re trying to go. You could be selling different services, you could be selling coaching, but at the end of the day, whatever it is that you’re selling is what is designed to help people go from their current result to their desired result. At the end of the day, you can put a lot of different titles on it from agency to social media marketing agency to marketing company, coaching, but at the end of the day, they all kind of mean the same thing to me when you boil it down.
Joe Troyer: So how can I start an agency or SMMA business and get clients with a full-time job? So for those of you guys that have a heard me answer this question many, many times, forgive me. We’re going to try to answer this one really quick, short and to the point.
Joe Troyer: So my suggestion always when you’re starting out new and you’re green and you’re coming into an agency or SMMA business, I think you’re at the right place at the right time because you’re essentially getting paid to be an intern and getting paid to learn. You’ve just got to make sure that you pick up a client or two so that you actually get paid to learn. So know that you’re at the right place at the right time. And I think that there will always be a market for coaches and agencies and SMMA businesses. No matter how you define the business type, there will always be a need for it. People will always need help. People will always be busy and want expertise. One of the questions that I get a lot is Joe, how long do you think this market’s going to be around for? I think that there will always be a market for us.
Joe Troyer: So now that that’s out of the way, ultimately there are two main angles that I would suggest in terms of pitching prospects. Angle number one is kind of reaching out and really reaching out in a consultative type of sale. So you’re reaching out almost as an expert and you’re saying here’s where you’re at, I see that you’re struggling and I think I can help. Would it make sense to jump on a strategy session or on a consultation? I realize that is horribly misspelled, consultative sale.
Joe Troyer: And really when you’re doing this consultative sale, most people would teach you to that you’re going to need to be an expert. And when you’re just starting and you’re just getting into this business and you’re trying to get clients and you’ve got a full time job, this might not work so well because you might not be able to showcase or endorse or or feel like an expert. At the end of the day, I want to push back on you a little bit with this because if you’ve picked up a course on whatever it is that you’re going to help people do, whether again, whether it’s social media marketing, whether it’s pay per click, whether it’s Facebook ads and you spent dozens and dozens and dozens of hours going through the training, by all means compared to 99% or 99.9% of the rest of the world. I need you to understand you are already an expert. You can reach out with this way.
Joe Troyer: But I think that ultimately once you get past the hurdle of thinking that you’ve got to be an expert, I think it is a little bit harder to close deals for people that are brand new, reaching out and running a consultative sales process. So what I would rather see you do and what I would suggest and what I do suggest for people that are greener or are newer to running a coaching business, an agency business, a social media marketing agency is to instead lead with a problem/opportunity.
Joe Troyer: So do your research on a prospect, right? So pick a niche, do your research, find a problem, and then show them that they have that problem and offer to fix it for them. So lead with value. Show them that you’re different from everybody else in the marketplace. You’re willing to put some work in.
Joe Troyer: Then ultimately once you do this and you fix whatever the problem or opportunity is, then transition into the consultative sale, like by asking questions. We’re going to talk a little bit later about some of the questions that we should ask, but you should be thinking about where are you right now in business, where are you trying to go, and then you’re trying to fill the gap. We’ll talk about that in the next question that’s coming up here.
