A few sales tips from years of selling digital marketing to small and mid-sized business owners. I’ve spent countless hours putting together sales presentations, but I’ve found that simply pulling up a prospect’s website, walking them through what I’d do and why, and looking at their competitors and Google search results for relevant keywords has been more effective than any presentation I’ve ever put together. Send the presentation ahead of time. Don’t waste the call going through every slide. Use that time to answer questions, understand their business, and show them how you’re going to solve their problems. Put yourself in their shoes. Show that you’ve done your homework and genuinely care about helping them succeed. Be reasonable, don’t overengineer the process, and make it easy to do business with you. Be realistic about competition and expectations, too. If it’s their first time investing in marketing, explain that some of their competitors have been at it for years. You can’t expect results overnight. And if ten other companies in their market are outspending them, it’s fair to ask: how do you expect to compete? Sometimes a bigger budget is necessary. Other times, a more focused strategy makes sense. I like the crawl, walk, run approach. Show them the bigger picture, but start with a reasonable investment. Build a foundation, measure progress, and ideally demonstrate ROI before asking for a bigger commitment. You don’t have to sell them everything on day one. Selling digital marketing is a lot like being a financial advisor. You’re helping someone decide how to invest their money with the expectation of a future return. There’s a long-term horizon, and you need to help them understand what they’re getting into. Once they’re a client, communication and education are just as important. Manage expectations, document the wins and losses, show your work, and connect what you’re doing to actual business performance. Be honest about what’s working and what isn’t. Help them understand where their money is going and what you’re doing to improve results. At the end of the day, treat their money like it’s your own. Be reasonable, do good work, and make it easy for people to trust you.