Effectively selling SEO services to the local enterprises can be a tough process due to constantly changing rules and algorithms. Certainly, it’s not a rocket science to sell the SEO services to the needful clients; but it’s definitely not a walk in the park either.

Even though modern buyers are well aware of the necessity of digital footprints to lead the competition, many are still naïve about the fact that SEO is core component in achieving that goal.

Admittedly, to sell the SEO with more efficiency, one has to fully take in consideration the core knowledge of the industry and put more emphasis on the major points of the client and its business.

Therefore, we have gathered some fundamental steps to assist you in maximizing the overall sales efforts and eventually, drive more traffic and leads to your agency.

Step 1 – Knowing your Customer

In spite of the fact that SEO services are valuable for any business field, yet there are some sectors of industries which are more frequent in purchasing these services than others.

Here are some important traits of those businesses which are more likely to buy SEO services:

• Reportedly, Corporations which buy SEO services very often, spend more than 60% of their weekly time on marketing affairs.
• These firms also have way more practical knowledge and experience than other small and mid-size businesses.
• Most of these industries either belongs to healthcare or retail corporations and twice of them are likely to be from a franchise industry.
• Apparently, 47 % of these firms pay for Google Adwords, expending around $43,836 yearly.
• Moreover, many of these companies spend frequently on classifieds ads, online banner ads, business listings and content marketing.

Step 2 – What makes SEO services different from other digital marketing modules?

Substantially, SEO is a diagnostic sale approach where it’s not just a product being sold, but it rectifies the major hurdles of the client with the product itself.

The fundamentals of a significant solution sales pitch must include the following points:

• SEO will make sure to make the clients site as the most relevant response to the search engines.
• Additionally, SEO will encourage the overall growth rate as the site reaches the number one spot on search engines.

Step 3 – Ensuring the client that SEO is the right option for their business

Generally, many clients struggle to understand the “why” of the SEO. Undoubtedly, clients might have some hesitations and worries to opt for SEO for various reasons. It should be noted that convincing the client the actual value of SEO and by ensuring that how it will attenuate their worries is core elements of closing the deal.

Here are some tips to fulfill this goal:

• Summarize the process in simple steps to the client for better understanding.
• Describing the process and explaining why each step of the campaign is pivotal.
• Moreover, also clear up on why each step’s will require certain time frame to be completed, how it is determined and what can be done to complete it in an efficient manner.
• Likewise, also clarify the constantly changing digital framework and other aspects like Google algorithms and rising competition in digital field.

Step 4 – What if your client wants to follow DIY approach?

Although, many firms are oblivious to the benefits of SEO, some technophiles are much aware of the basic framework and would consider doing it all by themselves while totally neglecting the importance of an expert. However, ventures like this can lead to false sense of belief and due to lack of complete knowledge and poor strategies this could also lead to substantial amount of loss.

Here is how to approach those tech-savvy ones:

Signify in details about hiring a professional SEO to accomplish the job and express the benefits on how it will bring better results than DIY tactics.

Explain to the client how it will be both time and money saving option in the long term, as professionals have appropriate resources like workforce, authenticated tools and marketing links to outreach a larger audience.

Furthermore, keeping up with the current trends and rapidly changing technologies can deplete a huge amount of resources of any small to mid-scale business firms. Conversely, SEO companies are always keeping track of the latest trends as it is an integral part of their business model.

Last but not least, SEO professionals provide in-depth reports and data to the client keeping track of how successful the campaign is doing and also saves a lot of time of reporting by the client itself. In Addition, SEO firms can provide a hybrid business connection as their services includes various strategies like – Web Designing, Analysis and Optimization & Branding of the product.

Step 5 – Differentiate between “PPC” and “SEO” to the client properly

Admittedly, many clients are aware PPC campaigns and want to uplift their online presence through that only. However, many of those clients are not aware of the simple fact that these kinds of strategies generate revenue as long as they are run. As a result, just when the campaign stops running, the revenue gets halted too.  So it is not a continuous solution to their problem.

Here is how to describe the clients about the main focus should be on SEO, while coupling it with PPC for more rapid success rate and ROI.

• Analytics & Optimizations – Higher Conversion rate is the desirable result for any client. Thus, by describing the process of milestone set up in Google analytics, you can provide better understanding of the process and the gradual increase from one point to another.
• Cost Effectiveness – By showing the comparison between organic results for both PPC and SEO with respect to the amount to be spend on both will clear things up to the client, as SEO is obviously less costly and more gradual result wise rather than PPC.
• Point out the Competitors strengths and weaknesses – With the help of various tool you can provide an in depth insight of what strategies the competitors of the clients are currently implying and how to outrun them in the competition with counter strategies or the parts of own strategies which need to be steeped up for better results.

By and large, these are some of the important tips to keep in mind while selling SEO services to any client, However it is just the start. Out there in the digital world there are all sorts of selling techniques, but again, these are some the basics that every SEO seller should consider before approaching the client. If you’re also an aspirant SEO professional, please provide your thoughts on the comments section below to let us know your techniques and expertise tips on the subject.

About the author

Kunal Seth is the co-founder of KVR Web Tech. He has more than 11 years of experience in client handling and has been behind the success of various major brands worldwide.