Find out how to close those who are sitting on the fence to going with you
This is something that is normally best done over a call or face-to-face. It’s much harder over email.
But when done a few times, you’ll know exactly what you are missing in your sales.
If someone says to you “I need to think about this” or any of the variations of that.
Respectfully respond with empathy on the decision and then follow up with asking them what it will take.
You do this by simply asking them, on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being we’ll never start this project together, and 10 being let’s do this right now, where do are you right now?
If they answer 6 or 7, which is probably where most will sit, follow up by asking “what do I have to do to make that a 10 for you?”
Add in a tactic to get more leads to your business with your current clients
I’ll be honest, I haven’t tried this tactic myself, but I’ve heard others do it pretty successfully.
When you get a brand new client, before you present your proposal to them, ask if they want to get $X off of the project.
When they say “yes”, then explain to them at the end of the project, if they can refer to you names of 5 other people who could use your services, they’ll get that discount.
I’m not a fan of discounting, but I can see this being a pretty successful campaign because if you landed 10% of the referrals, that would totally cover your costs on the discount.
Add in a strategy that involves you reaching out to new people
For example, every single day, reach out a business or to someone who could be your target client on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or your platform of choice.
By using a quick DM to say very quickly that you admire something that they are doing, something that you do and how you can add value to what they are already doing, it’ll go a long way.
If you do that every single day for a quarter and only close 5% of those leads, you’ll have 4 new clients. If you continue to do that over the course of a year, that’ll be 18 brand new clients this year.
I think you’ll agree that these 3 things aren’t hard at all to put in place today, right?
If you do all 3, then you’ll be improving aspects to bring more business opportunities in with leads, hot leads, and clients. Can’t beat that!
Which one are you going to try first?
In fact, let’s do this. Tweet me @rezzz on Twitter with a 1, 2, 3, or multiple of them and hashtag #askrezzz.
So if you are doing the 1-10 rating, put 1. If you are doing the referral discount, put 2. If you are doing the DM per day, put 3.
Can’t wait to see how successful you are.
Running your freelance business
More episodes in this topic:
17
What do you do when a crisis hits?
18
How to start building an email list as a freelancer?
20
How do you manage time wearing so many hats as a freelancer?
28
What software tools do you use for business? What is best?
32
How do you prevent, manage scope creep in your projects?
34
Do you schedule in time for exploring or reading articles online?
38
What is the best way to get income fast?
40
What happens if you can’t define a scope of work on a call?
41
What do I do first thing Monday morning?
47
How can I focus on my business when I’ve got a ton client work?
53
Do I have to be concerned with GDPR?
65
What are the tools and services that you use and would recommend to freelancers?
70
How do you have time for all that you do?
74
What podcasting gear do I use?
78
Does live chat bring you in business?
81
How do you followup with a lead after a proposal?
84
Did hiring a mentor really help you with starting up your business or your career?
87
What is my writing process
88
What is the easiest way to get a remote testimonial?
91
How do you determine a quality prospect?
115
How do you step away and actually take a vacation?
116
Are job boards reliable?
123
How to decrease the sales cycle or time to close?
127
How would you write a cold outreach email?
130
How to present different services that could potentially diminish your abilities in the minds of clients?
132
Should I bundle projects for clients or keep projects separate per client?
133
What product do you use for your business that you can’t live without?
135
What makes you stand out from other freelancers?
136
Do I drop this client?
142
How do I set a goal?
143
Do you meet leads and clients face-to-face?
144
How do I work “ON” my business and not “IN” my business?
147
What is the best structure for setting a goal?
152
How do you do a review of your week?
156
What do I say when a potential client says I’m too expensive?
159
What is activity based selling?
165
How to get more clients?
167
How to have a productive week?
168
Do you use a CRM for your business?
171
How do you choose the technology for your clients?
180
What is the structure of a weekly review?
181
What is the structure of a monthly review?
191
What are lead generation techniques to get me out of the feast and famine revenue cycle?
193
How do I know if I should buy a course?
198
What’s a polite way to tell existing clients you are raising your rates? And what is a reasonable percentage to go up?
199
How many email follow-ups should I send to a lead?
201
What do I do? I’m afraid to filter the tire kickers coming into my business because they are the only leads I have.
202
How to take the next step from contracting resource to solo business owner?
205
What do you think about Gutenberg? Schmutenberg!
206
How do I get better at sales?
207
How to overcome objections in sales?
208
How do I respond to an RFP?
209
How to respond to “I don’t need strategy, can you just do…”?
210
If you don’t have experience, how to you prove the quality without the education/experience?
212
How do you handle a client that has ghosted?
218
What do you ask during a sales call?
219
How to improve your sales process as a freelancer?
222
How to charge more as a freelancer?
225
How do you push past the imposter syndrome?
229
How do you segment your email list?
236
What to say when a client insists on adding something new?
257
What kind of content should I promote to potential clients?
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