Web design start-up

[Abdullah Tayeh]

Hi Superstars,

I have recently started a web design company and I have about 15 clients (all of them word of mouth) and I have a great testomonials I always try to over deliver, and I would like to grow my company and have 100+ clients, and my budget is tight I cannot afford marketing etc...

My question is how can I hire somone 100% commison based to get me clients (only gets paid if they closed the sale).
I appreciate everyone's time for taking the time to answer

Best wishes

 

[fisicx]

What sort of commission?

10% on a £500 project isn’t a lot. 10% on a £5000 project is a bit more reasonable.

 

[Abdullah Tayeh]

What sort of commission?

10% on a £500 project isn’t a lot. 10% on a £5000 project is a bit more reasonable.

You are right, it depends how big the project is gonna be, I am comfertable discussing the percentage with numbers that make sense for both parties.

 

[fisicx]

What’s the average cost of your current projects?

 

[chappers27]

You don't have to share that information.

 

[Mark T Jones]

I'd say that commission based sales isn't your way forward here - good commission sales people won't be interested. Bad ones will cause you a whole load of problems (if they actually bother to sell anything)

There are plenty of low-cost marketing avenues - which ones to use will very much depend on where you are pitching yourself and how are differentiate yourself.

The first stage is to leverage your existing clients and their social media

 

[chappers27]

You could sign up with Upwork and offer your services there. There's obviously a lot of competition but it might be a good place to start looking for work if you don't have a budget.

 

[fisicx]

You don't have to share that information.

No but knowing if the average price was £100 or £1000 will indicate the viability of commission based marketing.

 

[Mark T Jones]

You don't have to share that information.

It's an open online forum - nobody has to share, justify or agree with anything.

2 realities though:

1. If you want to get good advice, you need to give good information.

2. If you want to be credible, you need to back up your claims.

On the other hand, if you're just here for fun, there's no need to reveal anything.

 

[Abdullah Tayeh]

It's an open online forum - nobody has to share, justify or agree with anything.

2 realities though:

1. If you want to get good advice, you need to give good information.

2. If you want to be credible, you need to back up your claims.

On the other hand, if you're just here for fun, there's no need to reveal anything.

What’s the average cost of your current projects?

£500-£700

 

[fisicx]

£500-£700

That’s not enough to pay a decent commission. Unless you want to give away 50%. But even then you only really want one project every couple of days. It’s not going to attract anyone with the right skills.

Which brings us back to marketing yourself. Have you got a GBP? Are you active on local social media? Are you subscribed to freelancer sites? Have you tried knocking on doors?

 

[Abdullah Tayeh]

thanks for taking the time to reply, I will defo start doing it

You could sign up with Upwork and offer your services there. There's obviously a lot of competition but it might be a good place to start looking for work if you don't have a budget.

start doinit

 

[Socio South West]

A commission structure on £5-700 projects isn't going to be great for you unless you can get an ongoing hosting plan and/or ongoing maintenance contract that you will be earning from after builds are complete.

Yes there are plenty of opportunities on Upwork, People per hour etc, but the customers there are mainly after extremely low rates - eg a fully functioning web shop for £100. You are also competing with other contractors who can see these rates as realistic.

I have seen some very effective advertising by other web designers through local groups on Social Media which needn't cost anything - but check group rules before you start posting, and work on your post to get it sounding friendly and approachable. .

Your own site and SEO should obviously be A1 and should be targeting customers, I know others will disagree but there is still a place for a small ad in the local free rags - there are a lot of technophobes out there that want websites but cant/dont/wont use the internet for their searches.

 

[fisicx]

Another suggestion is to research and operate in a niche.

I know a chap who only builds websites for churches in the USA. Someone else specialises in dog walking sites.

 

[NickZ]

Incredible is that many people here don't need those £50 to £70 per deal.
Selling 10 of them is already more than many people have in the world per month plus you can use it as a side hustle.

 

[Shopclicks]

Incredible is that many people here don't need those £50 to £70 per deal.
Selling 10 of them is already more than many people have in the world per month plus you can use it as a side hustle.

The naivety is through the roof.

 

[fisicx]

Incredible is that many people here don't need those £50 to £70 per deal.
Selling 10 of them is already more than many people have in the world per month plus you can use it as a side hustle.

How long do you think it would take to find and convert the lead? It could take days to get just one good lead. That makes the £70 a very poor return.

 

[NickZ]

How long do you think it would take to find and convert the lead? It could take days to get just one good lead. That makes the £70 a very poor return.

That depends on the quality of the lead, if fetched from fiverr surely.
Someone having a database of outdated sites could convert 10 a day. All depends on the willpower and quality of Data.

 

[fisicx]

That depends on the quality of the lead, if fetched from fiverr surely.
Someone having a database of outdated sites could convert 10 a day. All depends on the willpower and quality of Data.

Have you ever done this? Or is this just conjecture?

 

[NickZ]

Have you ever done this? Or is this just conjecture?

My line of work is not good enough for affiliate, or commisionbased. We make shops and websites User-friendlier, lower drop out rates and such. Anyone offering to bring in clients we are happy to take those.

The way people in this thread think no Amazon would exist. In fact there are hundreds of organizations using affiliate marketing. Amazon gives just a few $ per product.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Commission sales and affiliate sales are two very different things.

 

[fantheflames]

Welcome to UKBF @Abdullah Tayeh! Commission is a great idea if you can't afford sales but as everyone has mentioned, it would be incredibly difficult to find someone good for that level of commission.

Actually, when I first started, I found that looking at my current clients and creating additional services was the best place to start. You can offer them additional services with your own in-house marketing. I found it was easier to get more work from existing clients than finding new ones.

Nowadays, it's a mixture of the two. I promote on Facebook and LinkedIn very often, and Google ads to attract potential clients. Have you tried LinkedIn before?

Thinking out loud, could you offer a small salary with a commission? My only concern here is if you can't afford marketing, that option might not be feasible! Perhaps a higher commission, say 20-30% might be better then, without the small salary, if the person can upsell more longterm contracts?

If we take the salary out of the question, perhaps the commission structure could be:

Base commission of 10-15%
20% commission for longterm contracts
£200 bonus for signing 3 clients within 30 days

It's a good question you've proposed and I think you could explore different ways of getting more clients/work. Could you keep us updated on how it's going?

 

[Gecko001]

If you have got 15 clients by word of mouth, why do you think this will dry up? You have 15 people who will spread the word and that is not to be down-played. I would not rule out knocking on doors as has been suggested. Visit small businesses and if you cannot speak to the owner, leave your card with them. Do this yourself. A couple of dozen well targeted businesses is all you need to start with. The personal touch will engender trust. Putting your address on the card as well as just a mobile phone number remember will be very greatly appreciated by prospective clients.

 

[Craiglincs]

That’s not enough to pay a decent commission. Unless you want to give away 50%. But even then you only really want one project every couple of days. It’s not going to attract anyone with the right skills.

Which brings us back to marketing yourself. Have you got a GBP? Are you active on local social media? Are you subscribed to freelancer sites? Have you tried knocking on doors?

What's GBP? All I get is great British pound on Google.

 

[fisicx]

Google Business Profile. Used to be Google My Business.

Get Listed on Google - Google Business Profile

List your business on Google with a free Business Profile. Turn people who find you on Search & Maps into new customers.

www.google.com

If you have a local business you'd be daft not to have one.

 

[Craiglincs]

Google Business Profile. Used to be Google My Business.

Get Listed on Google - Google Business Profile

List your business on Google with a free Business Profile. Turn people who find you on Search & Maps into new customers.

www.google.com

If you have a local business you'd be daft not to have one.

Oh right thanks. I didn't know it changed it's name.

 

[fisicx]

Oh right thanks. I didn't know it changed it's name.

Changed about 3 years ago. It's stopped being a profile for anyone and changed to one focused on local businesses. As long as you have an address Google can find it's worth having as you can collect reviews and reviews are great for ranking.