Good Client Relations 4: Communication
I’ve talked a lot about the importance communication so far, but let’s delve into some of the specifics. Be Dumbo Any salesperson worth their salt will tell you that the key to success is to listen more than you talk. Often freelancers feel they need to prove themselves and so they ram their entire CV […]
Good Client Relations 3: Time
Hitting deadlines is key in any working capacity, especially when you have been the one to set the deadline in the first place! A client can be as late as they like (within reason) but you can NEVER BE LATE. Chunk Of Time Here comes some super obvious advice: always build in more time than […]
Good Client Relations 2: Managing Other Freelancers
Normally when you’ve been putting your bid together, you’ve thought hard about time scales, the order in which things need to be done and who needs to be involved. One of the most frequent questions I get asked is about managing other freelancers/colleagues and the best way to do so. “When should I tell a […]
Good Client Relations 1: First Steps
You’ve pitched, you’ve converted that pitch and now you have a contract signed off. In this next section I want to cover a good client relationship, and what to do to avoid one going bad. Let’s start off with those first steps though… Who is a client? It sounds like a stupid thing to ask, […]
How to Convert Lesson 8: Deposits
The last stage before you start any work I taking a deposit. Money for nothing?! Some of the newer freelancers I talk to are a little apprehensive about asking for a deposit. I can understand why, you’re asking a virtual stranger to give you money before doing anything. A deposit is standard industry practice, lowers […]
How To Convert lesson 7: Contracts
We’ve been covering all the bits from putting in a pitch to actually starting the job. Next I want to include the basics of what should be included in a contract, please note in no way am I a lawyer…this is not proper legal advise. Covering your ass The main point of any contract is […]
How to Convert Lesson 6: Negotiation
We’ve been covering how to convert a pitch into an actual sale and have been talking about persuasion, objection handling and now negotiation. For me objection handling is part of the sales process and a negotiation is where you’ve been selected and now just need to sort out the details. Walking Away The number one […]
How To Convert lesson 5: Persuading a Prospect
We’ve been covering how to convert a pitch into a sale. So far we’ve covered spec work, small jobs, following up & objection handling. Now I want to ask a key question: should you persuade a potential client? My answer is no. Let me make myself clear. Everything you do as part of your pitch […]
How To Convert lesson 4: Objection Handling
We’ve been covering hot to convert a pitch into a sale. So far we’ve covered spec work, small jobs, following up and now I want to cover objection handling. A no is a yes? This is the first thing that many people don’t realise. When a prospect has buying objects, what they are actually telling […]
How To Convert Lesson 3: Following Up
In this series of lessons we are covering how to convert a pitch into a sale. One of the most common questions is about following up. Pipeline The first thing to do when chasing up a client is to add them into your customer relationship management system. This can be a piece of paper, an […]
