Making the Sale

Now that you’ve completed your marketing campaign strategies you should be getting a few inquiries for your services. Have realistic expectations. Not every inquiry is going to be a sale. It does take work.

Marketing is only the first step. You have to make those marketing dollars and time pay off. You constantly need to seek ways of increasing your percentage of potential clients into real sales. This increases your profit and ensures your freelancing  business is a success. Your job is to convince those potential customers that you are the right person for the job and that their money will be well invested in you and your work.

First, make sure that the person you have been contacted by is a serious inquiry. Not all inquiries are. Some may only be curious browsers. In other situations the person you are communicating with is not the person who can actually approve the sale. They may not have the power to make decisions.

If a person makes an inquiry and is not offering an adequate compensation or you cannot fulfill the requirements of the project, then politely decline. You need to focus your energies on the serious inquiries. You need to make certain that you are talking to the right person. If possible, arrange a meeting with them. You want to talk to the person who can actually make a decision concerning a project. Your time is valuable, so there is no sense in spending unnecessary time with someone who cannot help you.

Once you have determined that you have an actual serious client and that they are the right person to speak to, then you must consider your first contact with them. The first contact can make or break a deal. In fact, in many circumstances a client decides within the first minute whether or not they will use you for a project.

More often than not your clients will want to contact you on the phone first. Keep these tips in mind when speaking with a client over the phone:

• Consider a second phone line or second cell phone that you only use for business purposes. This helps you separate business from personal work and the more organized you are the more successful you’ll be.

• Answer the phone professionally and always be polite and attentive.

• The first time your customer or client contacts you, treat them like a customer. Once you’ve got to know your client well enough that they consider you a casual friend you can speak more casually but stick to formal talk at first.

• Answer the phone in a completely silent room. Background noise like children playing or the TV blaring gives you a sense of unprofessionalism and could negatively impact potential sales.

• Answer your calls with the name of your business, your name, and a request for how you can help the caller. “Good morning, thank you for calling the Freelance Production Company, this is Julie speaking, how may I help you?” This lets the caller know you are a professional even though you may be the only person in the company.

• Practice speaking. Speak clearly and with confidence. Set a good, but not fast pace. There is nothing more annoying than talking to someone who is speaking so muffled or so rapidly that it is impossible to understand them. Remember, this is the first impression a potential client will have of you. Make it a positive experience. Remove any unnecessary language such as “umm.” You can practice by recording some of your conversations and playing them back. Critique yourself and keep practicing! Have others listen to you and give you their feedback. There are books you can get that teach you breathing and diaphragm exercises that can greatly improve how you sound. The confidence in your voice will instill confidence in a potential client.

• Listen carefully to what your potential client is asking. Listening means clearing your mind from the slightest assumption that you know what your client wants and responding based on that assumption.

We live in an era where people are always in a hurry. The consensus seems to be the faster whatever it is can happen, the better. When you actually take the time to listen and respond to someone by repeating back to them what they are asking, chances are that that client will feel personally acknowledged. They will know you understand what they need. “Mr. Johnson, I understand that you are looking for someone to write a short book about your experience traveling through Ireland. You kept a diary and would like the personal experiences along with your traveling itinerary to be part of that writing. You would also like to add tips on how to save money. Is that correct so far, Mr. Johnson?”

Below are suggestions for what to do when making contact through other mediums.

• Proceed with caution if your initial communication with a client is via e-mail. E-mail is extremely convenient and fast but since you’re communicating though type you and your client have no subtle ways of conveying emotion so it’s extremely easy for an e-mail to be misunderstood. With the advent of the internet and, to a lesser extent, the advancement of cell phone technology, the art of writing has had a huge decline over the past few years. With email and chats online, a new kind of on- line short hand has emerged. It is a whole new way of corresponding, complete with its own unique language. While it may be tempting, you should avoid the use of modern short hand or “Chat speak.” Never use acronyms or misspelled words in your letters.

Imagine that you’re going to show your letter to your High School English teacher. If you would receive anything less than an “A” then you need to rewrite it.

• Research your potential client. The internet is a powerful and effective tool for doing research on your clients. Go to “advance search” in Google and type in their name. You will probably be amazed at the amount of information that comes up about them.

• Arrange a face to face meeting. If your potential client lives close enough. The internet will never replace what reading someone’s body language can tell you about them. It makes it much easier to close a deal if you have this advantage. It also makes it easier to establish a long term relationship.

––––––––

• Bring or send samples of your work. This should be part of your resume. If you are meeting your client face to face, bring the samples with you. If not, send your samples as quickly as possible. Remember to send samples that emphasize the type of work you want to do for the potential customer.

––––––––

• Arrive on time. Remember the saying, “to be on time is to be early.” Make sure you have plenty of time to arrive at your destination. Get directions (or use Google Maps, Waze, etc. to be sure you get to the correct place).

• Dress to impress. Look like a professional at all times. Pick appropriate clothes to match your profession. Look clean and neat. A tidy haircut and a shave if you are a man, and natural looking makeup if you are a woman, will make a good first visual impression.

• Remember the first impression is the only one you will ever make so make sure it is your best.

• Thank your potential client for their time and consideration. Use language that indicates your willingness to help.

––––––––

TO ADD TO THE LIST of how to sell yourself to potential clients I have listed below the ten commandments of human relations. These are tried and true ways for freelancers, and for that matter, anyone looking for a job to make a good and lasting impression.

*****

Speak to people. There is nothing as nice as a cheerful word of greeting.

Smile at people. It takes 72 muscles to frown, only 14 to smile.

Make a conscious mental note to remember the name of the person you are speaking with and call them by their name as often as possible. The sweetest music to anyone's ears is the sound of her/his own name.

Be friendly and helpful. If you want to have friends, be friendly yourself.

Be cordial. Speak and act as if everything you do is a genuine pleasure.

Be genuinely interested in people. You can like anybody if you try.

Be generous with praise - cautious with criticism.

Be considerate with the feelings of others. It will be appreciated.

Be thoughtful of the opinions of others. There are three sides to a controversy: yours, the other person’s, and the "right one”.

Give excellent service. What counts most in life is what we do for others.

*****

LOOK AT EACH ONE OF these rules and try to review them every time you meet a new potential customer. It could mean money in the bank. Don’t pressure anyone into a sale. It may take more than one conversation for a customer to commit. Provide helpful suggestions and employ active listening. If they have an issue or problem, reflect it back to them to show you understand and are being attentive. At some point you will have to try and close the deal. If you have handled the rest of the suggestions appropriately, the closing of a sale should be easy and natural.

There may be, however, some objections made by the client. They need to be sure you will deliver what they want, when they want it, and that you are the person for the job. In these situations it is important to be more proactive then reactive. What this means is that you have thought ahead to what potential problems may arise and you have already worked out solutions before you even met with your potential customer. This means that you have to be empathetic.

Empathetic means you have to try to be in your potential customer’s position and think about what objections they might have.

Once you have worked your way through the objections and the deal looks like it is a success you move to the next component, taking the clients order. This means that you have the sale worked out and that the client is ready to buy. Sometimes this is a written order; sometimes it is a contract. Have the contract ready prior to the meeting. You can leave areas blank to write in the particulars. If there is a major revision to be done make sure you set a time to sign the contract in order to formally close the deal. If you do not have the order you may lose the sale. Be prepared. Be ready to close the deal before the negotiation begins.

If the client is still not completely ready to sign make them a trial offer to do some of the work as a sample for their approval. This enables the client to see what they are paying for with little risk. Once you produce the sample, you can set another meeting to get the order complete. Once a client is satisfied with your work, they are more likely to use you again. It is more profitable for both you and the client to develop a long term relationship rather than trying to find a new freelancer for every project they may have. That is why it is so vital to make a great first impression. It is not only to land the deal you are currently working on but to develop a regular influx of work.

Remember the old adage, “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” Do not be discouraged if you are turned down for a job. See it as a learning opportunity. Try to review what you can do differently with the next potential customer. As you become more experienced and your reputation grows, so will your number of clients. Even though it can be discouraging don’t give up. Nothing in life is “easy.” It takes work but the rewards are numerous. So keep your head up and your goal in sight.