1. Charging a “Set-up” Fee.
Let’s start with the biggest business mistake search marketing firms make;
pricing their services. I can’t tell you how many SEO/M firms I see that
still have the following pricing model - $X,000 for set-up, then $XXX for monthly
maintenance. Yikes!
It’s not that I can’t empathize with firms that continue to offer
this model. You get a nice cash injection - before you even start work - and
the client has a low cost option to keep the service going. Unfortunately, what
actually happens is this:
a. You deter potential new clients who are not able to budget for such
a high upfront cost;
b. Those that do become clients, see the “monthly maintenance”
as an optional extra, something they often (wrongly) feel they can do without.
There are lots of alternative pricing options that work for search marketers,
but often just switching to a standard monthly payment, that remains the same
each month, can help potential new clients sign-on and create a mindset that
the service is an ongoing concern.
2. Offering Too Many Service Options
I’ve spoken with, and worked for, search marketing agencies that offer
a smorgasbord of search marketing service levels. Does this sound like your
service offerings: Light”, Entry”,
Bronze”, Gold”?, Platinum”,
Platinum Plus” etc, etc. Enough already! My head hurts
just from looking at the service names. Can you imagine how confused your prospective
clients get, when they actually have to decipher each service’s deliverables!
Ideally, your firm should offer just one solution – a service
that is customized specifically to the needs of the client. If you can’t
do that, my advice is to have no more than three different service levels. The
first is the lowest cost, but will still get the job done. The second is the
middle-tier, and the one you actually expect 80% of your clients to select.
The third is the most expensive, whistles and bells, service that you only expect
a few clients to actually sign-up for.
The reason for the three levels? Here’s what will likely happen when you
speak to prospective clients. Some will like the concept of the top-tier service,
but select the middle one, due to budget constraints. Some will not have much
of a budget, but will likely size-up” to the middle-tier,
so as to not appear cheap or short-change their business. Price the middle tier
offering to be the best value for them and you.
One other, quick tip on pricing. Never discount any service without removing
some of the options from that service. I’ve worked with thousands of clients
and each time we have simply reduced the price–without reducing the service–it
devalues the service and creates a what other discounts can
I get” mentality with those clients.
3. Their Business Doesn’t Scale
I am still amazed at the number of search marketing firms that don’t want
to grow their business. Honestly, they’re quite happy to have 10 employees,
15 clients and $500,000 in annual revenue. While that’s never been my philosophy,
I respect those are their goals for their company.
That being said, you should always structure your business so it can be scaled
to just about any size–even if you do decide to stay the same size. What’s
the best way to do this? There’s no quick answer, but one rule of thumb
that I find works is this; build your business as if you planned to franchise
it. Could you take the systems and processes, you have in place, and replicate
them elsewhere. If the answer is “No”, you likely have a poor internal
structure that probably relies too much on the skills of the CEO or some other
SEM expert. (See No. 7 below).
4. They Spend More Time on New Clients Than Existing Ones
How many of you get a little annoyed when your cell phone company wheels out
great new handset deals, while you’re using a brick”
because you’re 12 months into a 24 month agreement? That’s often how
your clients feel. Ask them! Most will tell you that the service you offered
over the first couple of months was a lot better than what they now receive.
It’s no wonder that the search marketing industry has such a high attrition
rate.
Instead of purely focusing on attracting new clients, realize that you’ve
already made a huge investment into your existing clients and figure out ways
to ensure that they don’t see a drop-off in quality and attention, once
they’ve inked that 12-month deal with you.
5. They Fail to Understand a New Client’s Goals
How much time do you spend discussing a new client’s goals and expectations,
when they first retain your services? I’m not talking about what was discussed
on the sales-call; I’m referring to after they’ve signed-up. My guess
is your company, like many SEO firms, assume what the client is looking for,
or apply some cookie-cutter approach to their goals.
You should spend hours, if not days, learning everything you can about your
new client, before you start any campaign work. Don’t just take the normal
client request of “I want more traffic” or “I want to be #1 on
Google for my top keyword”. Interview the client and find out what metric,
what results truly matter to their business. What will they be looking for,
in order to deem the campaign a success? Don’t ever make assumptions, and
don’t ever accept a generalized we want more” answer.
6. They Fail to Realize Clients’ Goals Change Over Time
Speaking of understanding your new client’s goals, did you know that they
change often? Don’t assume that the goals, agreed on when the client first
retained you, are the same goals each month thereafter.
While you’re moving ahead and achieving an increase in the number of keywords
ranking on Google, your client is now fixated on why a particular page doesn’t
have a PageRank. Never assume you know your clients goals. They change and you
should ask them to reconfirm them often.
7. They Rely On One “Expert” to Provide All Client Recommendations
How many search engine experts does your firm have? Be honest. How many employees
do you have, that you would have no problem speaking on your behalf at the next
Search Engine Strategies conference?
Too many search marketing firms rely on the knowledge and skills of one in-house
expert. Often that expert is the CEO or another high-ranking executive, who’s
plugged into the industry, written articles and spoken at conferences.
Many search marketing firms never grow, because they rely on the availability
of just one expert. It’s time to realize that you cannot, and should not,
rely on one person to provide all of the deliverables. Train your people to
know as much as you, in fact, give them an opportunity to learn more than you!
You’ll gain more credibility, grow your business, empower and retain your
talented employees, while reducing the crushing burden of being the gatekeeper
of information.
8. Client Information is Silo’d
Not only is it important to constantly check your client’s goals and needs,
but you should share that information with ALL those working on a client’s
campaign.
Too often, clients have a single point of contact within their chosen SEO firm
(a campaign manager for example). While the campaign manager and the client
are both on the same page and both understand the goals of the campaign; the
poor copywriter down the hall–the one asked to come up with some compelling,
optimized copy–doesn’t have a clue what the client is looking for
or what their business objectives are.
Many search marketing agencies could kill two birds with one stone–client
success and employee retention–if they would just make sure that every
employee understands the goals of the client and how their work makes a difference
in the campaign. Client goals and desires should not be kept to just one team
member. Instead, make sure everyone on the team has a chance to hear firsthand
from the client. You’ll find their work quality improves and their satisfaction
with their job increases.
9. They Turn Speaking Engagements Into Sales Pitches”
It’s a sad fact that most “expert speakers” don’t understand
what their audience wants to hear from them. I’ve seen too many speakers
stand-up and provide the audience with high-level theories and concepts. They
then hit their audience with a double-whammy of atrocity. First, they never
actually provide solutions to the problems they’re discussing–fearful
that they’ll give away too much information. Second, they compound this
by turning the presentation into a sales-pitch for the company they represent.
Arrgh!
Want to know which speakers end-up getting a fistful of business cards at the
end of their talk? It’s the ones who’ve shared so much great advice
and information with the audience that the attendees think to themselves:
“Wow, that’s really going to help our company, but it sounds so complex
and time consuming. I know what, that guy seems to know his stuff. If he shared
that amount of information in a 20 minute presentation, imagine the amount of
info I’ll get if I hire his search marketing firm.”
10. They’re Scared of Losing Their Top Talent
If you are running a successful search marketing agency, you need to embrace
the cold fact that you will, at some point, lose one of your top employees.
Unfortunately, this paralyzes many firms as they become concerned with giving
their top employees too much information or too much training. Have you ever
asked yourself this, “Should I send “Jane” to that conference?
What if one of our competitors offers her a better job?”
There are many questions that are similar to the one above. Unfortunately,
they often prevent CEO’s from training their staff to the highest levels.
They ask all new employees to sign non-compete agreements, hoping that they’ll
be able to keep their staff on a tight leash.
If you want to grow your company, you should invest in its people. Sure, you
may end up losing some of your key people over time, but that brings us back
to the idea of not relying on one expert to deliver client recommendations.
If you create a great environment, which takes care of clients, trains its employees
and gives them an opportunity to make a difference, you’ll build a company
that your key people will want to stay with. And if they do decide it’s
time to stretch their wings, by following the advice outlined above, your company
will still remain strong due to its great client relationships, service offerings
and expert staff.
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