New Client

[siryes]

Hi all,

I set up a meeting with a potential client for next week. I am starting out fresh, this will potentially be my first client.
My background:
SEO experience with my own sites (affiliate).
Going to a University for a bachelor of science degree in internet marketing (in progress)
Inbound certified

I ran a site audit then emailed the potential client about what I found. I called the potential client and a meeting was set up.

Now, the potential clients website is not optimized for search, no local listing and the website as a whole hurts the eyes.

The potential client needs a responsive site that is optimized for search, mobile and local. I have the ability to create a site but I plan to outsource the content to a VA that I have personally used etc.

Since this is my first rodeo, how do you experienced consultants go about explaining that the work will be outsourced?

Also, I plan on meeting with this potetial client and demonstrating the things that need done by going through online site auditing and competitor research etc.

Then, recommending solutions...

I just feel like I am missing something.
Any suggestions?

Thank you

 

[Dustybones]

Hi Siyes,

There is nothing wrong with outsourcing parts or all of a project. We outsource certain things like Copywriting and some Web Dev. Instead of saying you are outsourcing, tell your client you have partnered up with other companies or people in order to meet the needs of the client.

Or.....just partner up with others and not say anything to the client. The important part is that you deliver a product or service that helps that business. Does it really matter where and how you get to that point?

Good Luck....

 

[heckler]

Agreed w/ Dusty.

If you say "I'm outsourcing xyz" you're potentially opening up a can of worms. It is best not to open those if you can.

 

[JoshuaMackens]

I think everyone outsources. I don't tell my clients that I outsource. I call my outsourcers "my people" because they're my contractors. Never really thought of it as outsourcing honestly. I think of it as they're my contractors and they work for me (and others too of course).

Interesting, I've never thought of it that way. I've never had a client ask either.

 

[joedillon68]

Hey gang: going to offer a counterpoint here. I was working with a local SEO company and gave them access to my Google Analytics account so they could do whatever they needed to do.

One day while poking around in there, I noticed access had been granted to a user with an e-mail address ending in ".cn" from a domain I didn't recognize and I nearly lost it. I honestly thought I was hacked and someone from China was controlling my website. After getting in touch with the company and having a "chat" with them, it was revealed to me they outsource their work to China. Needless to say I was relieved but not happy. I told them I wished I knew that upfront. Not that it would have changed my decision to work with them but more because I want to trust the party that is getting under the hood of my website and making strategic decisions on my behalf.

I get it, we live in a border-less economy (or whatever the pundits call it these days) but being honest upfront with your clients can go a long way to keeping the trust alive in your relationship. My advice as an end user who got this surprise is to tell them you have partners or if you're not comfortable saying that, give these partners e-mail addresses from your company so they look like they're your employees should someone ever see a footprint in GA.

 

[JoshuaMackens]

Hey gang: going to offer a counterpoint here. I was working with a local SEO company and gave them access to my Google Analytics account so they could do whatever they needed to do.

One day while poking around in there, I noticed access had been granted to a user with an e-mail address ending in ".cn" from a domain I didn't recognize and I nearly lost it. I honestly thought I was hacked and someone from China was controlling my website. After getting in touch with the company and having a "chat" with them, it was revealed to me they outsource their work to China. Needless to say I was relieved but not happy. I told them I wished I knew that upfront. Not that it would have changed my decision to work with them but more because I want to trust the party that is getting under the hood of my website and making strategic decisions on my behalf.

I get it, we live in a border-less economy (or whatever the pundits call it these days) but being honest upfront with your clients can go a long way to keeping the trust alive in your relationship. My advice as an end user who got this surprise is to tell them you have partners or if you're not comfortable saying that, give these partners e-mail addresses from your company so they look like they're your employees should someone ever see a footprint in GA.

Good points Joe.

I guess there is a difference between outsourced and contractors that we didn't define earlier.

Your experience (which I am sorry for) was with a company that outsources. I think most of us here use contractors.

For instance, I have 3 different content people and a VA that are all contractors. I do all of the SEO myself and have the contractors do the parts I don't like and then I oversee their work.

I suppose outsourcing could be defined as complete Local SEO outsourcing. I'm not sure how many of us here actually do that. But just to frame our responses, maybe we should qualify our statements with whether we use outsourcers or contractors.

If you're using an outsourcer as a Local SEO company and you're not doing any of the work (including reporting), then you probably need to go ahead and divulge you're outsourcing the work.