“We spoke on Friday, but I didn’t want to feel too needy so I am waiting until Wednesday to email them back.”
I have heard some variation of this statement time and time again from my clients.
They get a warm lead and hop on that initial call.
But then after the call, they are afraid to reach out too often.
Out of a fear of “annoying” their client, they wait and wait to follow up, often giving a 2-week gap between communications.
This is a HUGE mistake!
Read MoreTHUMP!
That is the sound of my palm hitting my forehead as I listen in on one of my client’s sales calls.
They just got the opportunity to hop on the call with the VP of Marketing at a rapidly-growing company.
It’s a perfect client and a perfect fit for their service.
Yet I sit here in horror as they are botching the call.
The worst part is that they don’t even know they are botching it…
Most agency owners and consultants don’t have any sort of structure or format for their sales calls.
They just show up, have a conversation and hope it turns into a sale.
In this post, I am going to share with you a framework that you can use for your sales conversations.
This will help increase your close rate and improve the dynamic you have with your customers.
Read MoreYou do not sell code.
You do not sell design.
You do not sell services.
Yet, this is how most people approach sales for their agency.
They treat what they do like a commodity.
And as a result, clients buy like a commodity.
They buy based on price.
They compare based on “features”.
And they treat you like an order taker.
Many agency owners just think that this is how it is…
But there is a better way.
Read MoreFor years, I operated without an entry level offer. Both when I had my agency, and as a solo consultant.
But eventually I decided to make a shift and try out selling an entry level offer. The first few months were rocky, but eventually, I saw the light and decided never to look back.
Utilizing an entry level offer has drastically changed my business and my income.
This article outlines the journey I made with selling an entry level offer, mistakes I made along the way, and it gives you a roadmap for creating your own offer.
Read MoreStrategy. To many people strategy seems intangible.
It seems like something that companies either do right, or they do wrong.
But the truth is, strategy is tangible.
And creating an effective strategy is a skill that any person can learn.
If there is one mistake that nearly all creative professionals are culprit of, it is this.
They make promises to clients, and then they don't deliver on them.
They tell a client "I will have that to you tomorrow."
Then tomorrow rolls around, and they break the promise. They don't deliver. This broken promise upsets the client and it hurts the relationship.
Read MoreYou know the situation.
A prospect comes to you with a project and the scope is just unclear.
So how to we handle these situations when a client comes to us and the scope is unclear?
How do we proceed forward and not commit ourselves to something we later regret?
My goal with this post is to outline a method to handle these situations and also get paid for your time.
Read MoreOne of the biggest questions that I get is from people who are seeking to start their own business for the first time.
They have spent their whole life working in jobs for someone else, and thus the idea of starting a business seems scary and overwhelming.
My goal with this post is to share with you my biggest recommendations for first time entrepreneurs.
Read MoreThere is a recurring trend I see among nearly all creative professional who are considering starting their own business or are in the early phases.
They overcomplicate what they do.
Learning to easily communicate what you do is one of the most important things every creative professional must learn.
Read MoreCreativity. There are few sellable goods or services that have such a wide range of pricing as creative work.
Why is it that one painting can cost millions of dollars, while another can't even be sold?
Why is that one designer can charge 10x what another designer charges for the exact same service?
My goal with this post is to share with you two examples of creative pricing in action, and then explain to you why they are priced the way they are.
Read MoreAll of us that do creative work face a similar challenge.
Despite our best efforts to be unique, at times we can feel like a commodity.
While we may have our own unique style, there are hundreds of other creatives out there with their unique style as well.
So it begs the question, ‘How do I differentiate myself in the creative field?’
My goal with this post is to share with you the single most powerful way to differentiate your creative business.
Read MoreDirect outreach includes e-mail prospecting, sending letters in the mail, etc.
Many don't believe direct outreach works. They are inundated with spammy requests all day and thus, they think all direct outreach is spammy.
But the truth is, direct outreach is an effective method of acquiring new work and it doesn't have to be spammy.
Personally, direct outreach has lead to 30% of my income this year.
My goal with this post is to share with you a few methods on utilizing direct outreach to grow your freelancing business.
Read MoreIf you are like most people, you hate networking.
The idea of walking into a room and schmoozing a bunch of people hoping to find an ideal prospect probably sounds horrible.
But networking doesn't have to be that way.
My goal in this post is to share with you just a few ways to expand your network without feeling sleazy about it.
Read MoreOne of the biggest areas of freelancing that many people fail to even think about is client communication.
Client communication may be one of the single most important factors in building your business.
How you connect with clients has the ability to turn one off jobs into repeat clients, referrals, and raving testimonials.
My goal with this post is to teach you some of the basic concepts of client communication.
Read MoreThere is one question that I get over and over again from creatives.
How do you handle the sales process of a creative project?
Sales is scary when it is foreign to you. Yet a strong understanding of how a sale flows from beginning to end will make it much easier to handle.
My goal with this post is to walk you through the entire sales process from beginning to end.
Read MoreOne of the biggest struggles for many freelancers is building a steady income. There is always this constant fear of not knowing wear the next job is coming from, and that drives many freelancers either crazy or bankrupt.
It doesn't have to be that way.
In this post I will give you some simple strategies and tactics that can help you build a steady pipeline of clients and flow of income for your freelance business.
Read MoreThe first place that creatives should look for sales when getting started or when thing slow down is their existing network.
Your friends, coworkers, past employers and acquaintances can all be great sources of freelance projects and quick wins.
But if you don't handle these project properly, it is easy to ruin a once great friendship.
My goal with this blog post is to teach you how to work with friends and acquaintances and keep those relationships strong throughout the process.
Read MoreOne of the biggest problems for creatives is figuring out how much do I charge?
In this post I am going to break down the traditional guidance about pricing and teach you a non-conventional pricing strategy that will rock your bank account.
Read MoreA few months ago I adopted a new proposal system and I have been astonished by the results.
I am closing twice as many clients and at higher budgets than ever before.
In this post I outlined the proposal process in it's entiretey and also include an example proposal for reference
Read MoreFor many creatives, sales can feel sleazy.
For others, they simply don't know what to do and botch every potential sale they come across.
In this post, I am going to cover a sales technique that is extremely easy to learn and that will help you turn sales from something intimidating, to something fun.
Read More
