Continuing with my series on The Path Forward Towards Making $100 A Day From Reseller Hosting, I want to give you another non-conventional way to go about getting clients into your reseller hosting business.
When I first launched NameHero back in 2015 I started to attend local small business “meet-ups” around the city. Most of these include sometime of presentation by a speaker along with refreshments and an opportunity to network/mingle with other small business owners.
The majority of these small business owners have little to no idea about web hosting, and are looking for a company to help keep their website online and updated without a hassle.
Since a lot of the “big brands” have neglected customer service, most of these business owners just want to have a “contact” at a reputable company they can trust. A lot of companies I’ve met, very seldom submit a support request, but just like to know someone is going to help them if they ever need it.
Search for local meet-ups in your community
My favorite site to look for such meet-ups is Meetup.com. Regardless where you live, it’s likely you’ll find some type of small-business group that you can meet with.
Here in Kansas City, there is a group that meets several times a month to just discuss WordPress. Talk about a targeted audience! If you attended each one of those meet-ups for six months how many customers do you think you could get?
I can almost guarantee you there are people that attend these that are frustrated/not happy with their current hosting solution. If you can be the solution and be helpful, you can gain a customer for life!
Important things to remember
When attending small business meet-ups there are a couple of important things to take into consideration:
- Be professional – You don’t have to wear a suit and tie, but dress as professionally as possible. Especially for those of you that are younger Entrepreneurs, you want to look like you mean business, and don’t want to be mistaken as a “kid.”(trust me I’ve been there before).
- Make eye contact – When introducing yourself make sure to make good eye contact and have a nice firm handshake. Don’t be staring at the ceiling or floor, look the individual right in the eye and let them know your name, your company, and a little about what you do.
- Be direct – Make sure to have all your details together about what services you can offer them. Don’t try to “bs” just to get business, be very direct in your offering, and let them know with confidence how you can help their business.
- Bring business cards – Don’t be “that person” who doesn’t have any business cards. This is key to getting your contact information inside their office. Get on Overnight Prints or Vista Print and have some printed out. They’re not expensive and you can have them design them, or can easily download a free business card PSD and edit in Photoshop.
- Don’t pitch – People hate this. Don’t go in with a “sales presentation.” Go in with the sole goal of meeting people and helping them solve their problems. The more helpful you are, the more people will like you, and will be more likely to do business with you.
This may take a little practice, especially for those of you that aren’t that extroverted. The more groups you attend and the more practice you have, will make it a lot easier.
How to leverage local meet-ups to get customers
I filmed about a twenty minute video where I explain all of this in a bit more detail and provide some tips/examples of how I go about this with NameHero:
If you take local small business meet-ups seriously, you will start to get customers that will be life-long relationships. Remember to always respect others for their time and offer the value that you promise (i.e. put the customer first).
I now challenge you all – how many customers can you close this week?
Ryan Gray is the founder and CEO of NameHero, one of the fastest growing independent web hosts in the United States. Ryan has been working online since 1998 and has over two-decades experience in Internet Entrepreneurship.
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