What’s on the iPod: Simple Song by The Shins
Hop on over to Jenn Mattern’s All Freelance Writing blog where I’m guest posting today. Give Jenn some comment love.
I’m making progress. Yesterday I spent a good bit of time framing in and researching an article. I felt like I was at it all day. In actual fact, I was at it a total of two hours. There were other projects that had to be handled, so the interruptions made it feel like I was at it longer.
I did some post-show marketing. I’m still working my way through the stack of business cards. The problem is without clear notes, you start to wonder “Did I meet these people or did I just pick up their cards at the booth?” If it hadn’t been such a busy show, I’d have been jotting notes on the back of every card. This year I just couldn’t. I was running (in one case literally) between meetings.
I have a few clients I’m still in talks with, and I hope to get something nailed down this week or next from them. I need to know May is going to have plenty of work so that I can start planning June and July. I’m talking with a client today to work out a retainer arrangement.
I get the dragging of the feet — for some clients, this is a new area for them. They may not be used to working with contractors or writers, nor will they always know what they’re going to need when it comes to writing.
So how do you get the clients from maybe to yes?
Do the thinking for them. Sometimes it’s more a matter of “I don’t have time to deal with it let alone plan it.” In that case, I usually provide some sort of game plan based on what they’ve told me they’re thinking of doing. They’re then free to add, subtract, or change it entirely. Sometimes they just want someone to get the ball rolling.
Price it a la carte. One of the proposals I sent last month included a breakdown of each project and the price for each. If clients aren’t sure about the entire proposal, they can opt for something small to start.
Show them you’re invested in them. Here’s where social media can be a great help. Tweet their news, share with them things that could benefit their business, give them an occasional public pat on the back for something they’ve shared or accomplished. Be genuine about it and don’t bombard them with tweet “love.”
Share other client recommendations. If others are saying nice things about you, make sure to include those things in your portfolio or proposal. Also, offer to connect them with one of your clients for direct feedback.
How do you get them to “yes”?
5 responses to “Open Thread: Getting Them to Yes”
With feature articles, you can always offer to throw in a sidebar, quiz or timeline. The trick is to pull those from the information you've already culled so you can knock it out in a couple minutes.
Good one, Paula. Also, don't forget the package price — I'm on the phone negotiating one right now. I bump the fee down about $50 and I get ongoing work. Not bad!
An important element of selling anything has to do with asking open ended questions of the prospect without it sounding like an interrogation in a courtroom.
One key question when working towards a "yes" is to ask what their experience has been when working with other freelancers on this kind of project.
Chuck
Sometimes I really wonder about clients… I just had a client ask me if my pricing structure was by the page or by the word… I responded I can do it either way and that I generally found a double spaced page was 275-300 or so words depending.
I don't even understand why they would ask such a question… do you?
Anne, I'd reply to that question with something like this:
"How did your previous provider price their work?"
As you can see, they can come back with a variety of answers and regardless of what they say it will help you to clairify your position.