Okay, you might be one of the few people who can close a deal faster than me. There’s probably 1 or 2 out there. 😉
Kidding aside, I do know the MOST important sales tactic, and I learned it the hard way. Take advantage of my experience to save yourself a lot of stress and regret…
My first business sucked! Definition of sucking: Not making enough money for your time.
I had no problem finding customers, or providing quality services. But I still wasn’t making enough money.
Dealing with potential customers just took FORR-EVV-ERR. I had trouble communicating my value, identifying their needs, and collecting their money quickly.
So I used this basic strategy to fix my business:
Simple 3-Step Troubleshooting Strategy
- Identify the Problem. My problem was a sales problem! If you think about it, you can define sales as “any interaction with a potential customer that can affect your revenue.”
- Define Your Focus. For me it was selling faster and creating good products and services –something that makes the customer happy. Period. Anything else is subjective.
- Create a Plan to Execute. This is the secret, and this is what ALL great freelancers do! They all have some kind of plan or strategy. A plan helps you focus on making quick sales, while still providing value and making the customer happy.
Here’s the plan I made to win new clients over faster:
Step 1 – Build Trust and Rapport
This is the first step in any new relationship.
If you’re reaching out to someone for the first time, you need to do one of two things: offer to help them or establish a friendship. If you don’t, they will just think you are trying to sell them something (which you are).
It’s good practice to think of all potential customers as friends – friends that you truly want to help. This will ensure you are providing value and building trust.
Step 2 – Set the Agenda
Once they show some interest in your services, it’s time to set the agenda. This is the first step in the deal-closing process, and it’s your way to take control of the situation. You do this by telling the potential customer what to expect from you at each stage.
Step 3 – Figure Out What They Want
This is where you get the customer to tell you EXACTLY what they think they need and what they’re willing to pay you for it. You can always adjust their expectations, and try to convince them to change their target price or their service choices. But first, you need to get an idea of where they stand.
Think of some questions that will get the customer to tell you what they want. You can make the questions detailed or simple; more detailed information may give you a deeper understanding of what is important to the customer.
I don’t like asking them for a specific budget, because that can be limiting. If price is super important, it will come across in the other questions. And start by quoting high, because you can always do it for less if they say no.
Step 4 – Show How You Benefit Them
Once you have a good idea of what they want, and how much they are willing to pay, you need to show them exactly how you plan on meeting and exceeding their expectations.
Explain everything you’ll do for them, and how awesome the results will be. If you can tailor the benefits to what you know they need, then they’ll be dying to hear the price.
Step 5 – Propose and Close
At this point, you want the customer to feel totally comfortable because you understand their needs. Now you just need to deliver a custom proposal based on those needs, along with a quote.
Remember, this is all very liquid. In fact, plan on making some changes to your first proposal 9 out of 10 times. If you quote them 5k they could say “Holy shit, that’s a lot of money!” Or they could say “Sweet, when do we get started?” I’ve seen both reactions.
That first response is no problem at all. They’re still ready to buy. They just need something a little cheaper; so offer them a package with fewer features, and work with them until you find their comfort zone. You’ll have built up enough of a relationship by now that they probably won’t go somewhere else to buy, as long as you keep up the good communication.
Once I put this plan into action, I doubled my customers per month. If you implement just one step from this plan, I GUARANTEE you will close more deals.
Even if your freelance business is already making a killing, you can always find room for improvement. The best entrepreneurs and sales people are always looking for new ways to be more efficient. And you should too!
Leave a comment to tell me about your sales strategy, or how you improved your business. If it’s really awesome, I’ll promote it. 🙂
Image: Richard.Asia
If you wan’t more help getting customers/traffic/blogging gigs, hit me up. I’ll respond to comments 🙂
I like how this post could be applied to anyone who is in sales, not just freelance blogging. I was just talking to someone in a networking group about how to get testimonials. I told them all I did was ask. My first clients are people I consider friends. Just in a different city. I’m glad you went beyond just having a basic rapport/professional relationship.
Thanks Willi! And you’re right, it definitely applies to all forms of sales. The best sales people are givers. They’re constantly looking for opportunities to help people. It’s a great way to live your life in general, and it always comes back to you over time.
I think time factor is not as much important in closing a deal as the acheivement of your objectivement. The best deal is the one that you do with maximum benefit to you and full satisfaction to your client. This is art of salesmanship. There is a little difference in conventional marketing and internet marketing. In conventional marketing you approach to market to convey your message and affect the desired response. In internet marketing you grab the attention of your market and then serve the concners of your marketing by offer best possible solution initiall free of cost and then diverting them to your products and services on price.
A wonderful post by Rob McNelis; thanks for sharing such nice info, thanks to you and Sophie
Thanks Edson. Glad you like the post!
I would agree that satisfying the customer is a top priority; however, I’ve found that if you are trying to earn a full time income from freelancing, you must focus on managing customers quickly. If you don’t, it’s hard to make enough money to continue servicing those customers. Again, both aspects are important. But you definitely have to find some kind of a balance to be profitable.
You’ll have built up enough of a relationship by now that they probably won’t go somewhere else to buy, as long as you keep up the good communication.>> This line reminded me that effective communication is essential in any business and that includes blogging.
Excellent Rob! I can apply these tips right away.
Glad to hear it Anthony! Some of it sounds fluffy, but I really tried to make it actionable.
Hi Rob,
Great post and step 1 really resonate with me. It is always easier to conduct business with someone who trusts you and it is a great way to build trust by just offering help and making friends. I would even say that the longer you can invest into building the relationship without asking for money, the easier it would be to actually get the money from such customer. The best question I like to hear is “how can I pay you back?” 🙂
Cheers!
I love it! So true about waiting, but it’s easier said then done.
Rob,
I love the line part about thinking of them as friends first. You want to solve your friend’s problems. Excellent approach to take.
Loved these steps. Time for me to get started on them!
taking action is the underlying key of everything… glad your ready to dive in! Good luck and let me know if you need help with anything. 🙂
Hi, Rob. Good post, and I like the Foreeeeeever part. Might want to take apostrophe out of “want” (not wan’t) in that first graph.
Thanks Karen! Actually heard “Forrreevvver” from Sandlot in my head when writing that. And thanks for calling me out on my grammer. Reminds me that I need to improve it. 🙂
What’s your recommendation for not “losing” them when you quote your price?
I’ve been in this situation multiple times before, where a marketing director really likes the idea of my work, but says the company can’t afford my prices. We negotiate, she/he takes it to the boss, and it’s turned down, even at the lower price.
Any way I look at this, it’s my fault for either a) not knowing how to negotiate or b) for picking a company that wasn’t actually ready to improve their blog. Or maybe I’m just being uber-cynical today. 🙂
Great question Bree! First, I would be sure to negotiate with ONLY the decision maker, if possible. That’s whats killing you. It’s nearly impossible for someone to focus on anything but price if they havent met you. Also, if you are talking to the decision maker, and they are worried about price, you can lower the price, but show them what features they will miss out on.
Thanks, Rob! I’ll aim for that from now on.
That’s some excellent advice, Rob. Trying to negotiate with someone who then has to clear it with a third party is hideously unproductive. I’d either ask to meet the decision maker, or ask the negotiator to confirm the budget approved by the decision maker before we start talking details.
I like that you specified that you should offer a package with fewer features if the customer balks at your prices; I think it sets a bad precedent to let clients know you’ll work for less whenever they ask. And some people will ask, even when they can afford your prices. I once quoted an autoresponder series to a potential client, only to have him come back and ask for a lower price (no reasoning, just “Can you do it for less?”). I told him I would be happy to reduce the number of emails and lower the price, and gave him two options. He came back with “I like the way you negotiate”, and agreed to the original price and number of emails.
Totally agree! Never lower your prices. Just offer less value if they wan’t a lower price.
Do you use results from website ranking tools as part of your pitch? Some of the free online tools such as woorank.com rate a sites quantity of content. It might be easier to close a sale with independent recommendations for increasing content.
In my experience (in sales and freelance writing) so far I find that you have to push more than you realize. That, and if you don’t communicate well, you’ll end up sounding wishy-washy, and customers rather go to someone confident in what they are selling.
Very good point. Helps to have a plan. You wan’t to be friendly, but you need to sound like you know what you are doing if people are going to give you money.
I always hate this part, and would rather just move on to getting the work done. Of course, that can be a terrible mindset going in for pushing for what you want and making what you’re worth.
I think a lot of freelancers know they have a skill they’re good at, but have to little by little learn all about the business skills and know-how needed to keep that skill profitable as they go. It’s nice to have so many resources out there to help.
It’s great that you realize you don’t enjoy that part. Good self awareness is important for successful freelancing. It’s just a constant learning process, and Sophie’s blog, “Be a Freelance Blogger,” is a really actionable resource.
Step 1 – that is some great common sense advice right there. I’ve been sending out LOI’s lately and though I’m careful to talk about the client more than I am about myself, the one thing I’m not doing is asking how I can help – with no strings attached.
People love it when you offer to give even just a few small gems of wisdom that can help them out. Thinking in terms of blogging gigs, just contacting potential clients and saying something short and sweet along the lines of “hey, I noticed your blog hasn’t been updated lately, could I offer you a few ideas on how to get that going again?” instead of a full blown pitch might be just the ticket.
I think something like that really takes the pressure off. I mean think about it: how often are these people being solicited via email by folks who want something in return like, yesterday?
Thank you for putting this out there, it’s certainly given me a new perspective through which to view my own marketing techniques.
It’s interesting that you brought that up. Some people (like my friend Danielle, The Clear Copywriter) have had great success with the “I noticed blah blah…” technique; however, world-famous copywriter Robert Bly recently issued a rant in his daily newsletter about how much he HATES when he’s approached that way. Haha.
It’s a mixed bag!
If that technique works for you, then keep using it. 🙂 However, if you ever notice that it’s not bringing in the results you desire, you might want to switch up your pitch.
Marketing properly is all about what works for YOU!
Thanks for commenting, Hermine!
hey Rob – interesting article. I just started freelancing and I’ve found much of this to be true. Freelancers that don’t spend time looking for prospective clients are destined to fail – even though it takes quite a bit of time, it’s worth it in the end.
I just read an ebook by Base CRM that touches on some of these points and digs a little deeper into the selling aspect. Take a look here if you’re interested: http://resources.getbase.com/close-deals-faster-ebook
Glad you liked the article, Jackie.
It’s SO true…freelancers always need to be on the lookout for clients. And we have to constantly market ourselves, even when we DO have clients.
Thanks for commenting!