Far too often, SEO agencies are consumed with the challenges of lead generation. The more inquiries we receive, the greater the chances that we can land enough clients to hit our revenue targets. To that end, we rightfully focus our efforts and resources towards our own lead gen campaigns: SEO, social media, content marketing and paid search being the primary channels. However, few agencies give a lot of thought on how they can actually close business deals once a potential client asks for a meeting.
Getting leads may look like the end goal for a lot of SEO agencies, but in fact, it’s only the beginning of the sales process. When a potential client sends you an inquiry and sets up a meeting, you can bet that the person has done the same for at least two other service providers. The real battle for the client’s contract actually happens after all the candidates have stated their cases.
GDI VS the Field
At GDI, we’re often asked to pitch to a wide range of clients: local business empires, SEMs, foreign powerhouses – you name it. At almost every instance, we’re pitted with local and foreign SEO agencies that have these to their advantage:
- Much larger teams
- Better rankings on Google
- Equal or greater reputations
- Lower service prices
- Presentation decks with better design
Yet, we find ourselves consistently coming out on top whenever we go head to head with other Philippine-based SEO agencies. Around 90% of the time, in fact, we’re able to edge multiple competitors out.
The secret? It’s a combination of several things but our entire sales pitch is anchored around a presentation template that emphasizes the following:
- Clarity of strategy
- Straightforward messaging
- Simple Visuals
- Sampling of Expertise
- Social Proof
It may sound counter-intuitive but it’s true. Today’s clients are attracted less to superficial attributes and they’re more into the substance of a pitch. More than that, they’re attracted to real people with sincere messages while they shun heavily stylized corporate messaging that try to mask a lack of substance with big words and stunning visuals.
GDI’s SEO Service Pitch Deck: An Overview
If you’re a freelancer who wants to get an idea of how professional SEO agencies do their presentations or you’re a competitor who wants to know why we keep beating you, this is your lucky day. We’re sharing our SEO pitch template for public consumption and you can feel free to use it, tweak it, or pretend you didn’t copy it – it’s all good.
Yeah, the design is pretty basic – like a fifth grader can do it. Try not to judge me based on that cause that deck was instrumental for more than a million dollars in revenue. Anyway, here’s a list of what each slide is and what you’ll want to fill it with:
- Logo and slogan. Self-explanatory.
- Client Logo. The client’s company logo and the title of the presentation.
- Company Profile Title Slide. Self-explanatory.
- Company Overview. About 4-5 bullets will do where you state your company’s history, size, unique attributes, client demographics, core competencies, etc.
- Presenter Information. A few bullets about the person doing the presentation. Ideally, this is someone with a high degree of prominence in your company.
- Client Portfolio. A collage of logos from your most prominent clients.
- References. A list of 4-5 people who can talk to the prospective client about your services. Ideally, these should be your happiest clients.
- SEO Proposal Section Title. Self-explanatory.
- How SEO Helps. This slide illustrates how SEO can help your client’s business. If your prospect already knows what SEO does exactly. Feel free to skip this one.
- The SEO Process. A diagram showing the main components of the SEO campaign and how each one fits in the overall optimization process.
- Technical SEO. An overview of the technical optimization process of a website and what tasks are involved.
- On-Page SEO. An overview of the on-page optimization process of a website and what tasks are involved.
- Local SEO (if applicable). An overview of the local SEO process of a website and what tasks are involved.
- Content Creation. An overview of content assets that will be developed for the campaign.
- Link Building & Promotion. Specifics on the number of backlinks to be built for a client and the specifications for each one.
- Reporting and Analytics. An overview of the reports and analyses that the client can expect from you.
- Timelines. A tabulated view of the deliverables that a client can expect from you.
- Dependencies. This is the slide where you’ll let the client know what you need from him to run the campaign. This will include your fees and support from their end.
You may also like:
- The SEO Proposal Template that Converts 71.4% of Leads into Clients
- The SEO Service Contract Template We Use
Of course, you can’t rely on a deck alone to sell your services. The person doing the presentation matters just as much. In one of my next posts, I’ll provide an in-depth guide on how to deliver a killer SEO sales pitch that’s been proven to beat the Philippines’ top SEO agencies in high-stakes contests for the country’s biggest conglomerates.
