Selling Your Website Services
One of the most important things is to learn how to
sell the value and the need of a website.
Most important is the strength of your track record.
and portfolio.
Also important are referrals and testimonials.
.
First question often is how much it costs to create
their website?
Client is shocked. “Forget it! I have a nephew who
could give it a shot for free.”
Now’s your chance to sell the value of the web.
A Website Is An Investment with a major return on
investment.
.
Educating clients on the ROI a website can bring is a
great first step to closing deals.
Educating clients on the potential return on
investment of a website is a great first step to closing the deal.
His business will be open 24/7
With just a free Google Analytics account, he can
track so many more metrics for a website than you can with print ads and other
traditional advertising channels.
This is a wonderful selling point, because it will
reassure that he can always look at the metrics and visualize whether his
investment in the website is paying dividends.
And if the results are not ideal, then those metrics
will tell you what to change.
Client needs to know that without a website (or with
one that is poorly designed or that lacks compelling content), his online image
will stretch as far as Google reviews or Social Media.
The money spent on online advertising to drive
prospective clients to a website is much more manageable and trackable than
money spent on traditional advertising like newspaper ads, flyers and phone
book listings. Online ads and listings, SEO and web content are in a unique
category of advertising. Not getting as many hits as you would like?
Adjust! Change your content and experiment. Not on the
first page of Google for a particular term? Optimize! Rewrite some content and
change some keywords..
Client wouldn’t have such control and accuracy with
his advertising if he didn’t have a website, so this is a great point to sell
him on the investment.
This is probably the last thing client expects from a
website, but if properly thought out, a website can certainly enhance a small
business’ overall productivity and free up time that is used for manual tasks.
Take a simple contact form. More people are willing to submit a form online than
to pick up the phone. It’s just easier and a lower barrier.
Client gains more leads, but now he has more time to
research thoughtful answers than he would have had he gotten questions over the
phone.
And he can set aside a certain time of the day for
written questions, which is better than being distracted by a phone call while
drawing a blueprint or repairing a roof.
Educating your client on why they need a website and
why you’re the right person to deliver it is all that’s standing between you
and that money.
.
Many people don’t know what they can achieve with a
website: bill payments, sales, content management, newsletter registration,
customer portal, email drip campaigns, subscriptions — the list goes on.
If client is clear on what can be done, he’ll
understand that an expert is needed to pull it all off.
Make sure, however, that you’re not just selling a
list of features. You want him to see you as a partner who will share in the
joy of the success that your services will bring.
.
Aside from search rankings, analyze some of Ned’s
competitors’ in front of him. Point out what’s good and not so good about them.
helps them understand our expertise in a context they’re familiar with.
Bring Social Into The Mix Link
Make him understand that their social pages should
ultimately drive people to their “home”: their website.
Join the local Chamber of Commerce, Roatary and local
business groups.
Above all, make sure that your own website is killer.
Unlimited earning
potential!
You'll receive up to 40%
commissionon nearly all product sales* made
through your affiliate link.
|
||
|
|
Additional Service to be Offered
Website Goal- What to tell your
prospective clients
Will your Website Supporting Your Business Goals?
What’s the purpose of your website? What are you
looking to achieve with it? Who is the
website for? How will it support your business? What are your website’s
overarching goals? This is an absolute conversation killer.
From a client’s perspective I’m asking all the wrong
questions. They think I should be asking what their brand is, and what logo do
they have and what fonts. All of this is secondary to the purpose of your
website and it’s goals.
What are your website’s goals?
Be honest… Do you have any?
You want to make money, but how will you make it? Does
each page on your website have a goal? If so, does the goal of the page also
support your business goal? When you have your goals in place you may talk
about your ideas for colours, logos and fonts.
Because your goals impact upon these too!
Your website goals might include:
To sell a product
To sell a service
To stimulate an opt-in
To inspire a visitor to click on an affiliate
advertisement
To provide information and receive ad exposure and PPC
income
Each page of your website will have a different goal,
or their will be multiple pages with the same goal. A page does not have more
than one goal, or one single focus. For example, one page may be designed to
promote your opt-in offer. In addition to your call to action, there are other
things you can do like move to the previous page or move to a new page. The goal
of that page is to persuade the visitor to opt-in, although they may do other
things.
Who are your visitors?
What content and tools will you need to help or
convince your visitor you’re the one, and at the same time accomplish your
goals?
For example, you want them to sign up for your opt-in
form. What content and tools are you using to motivate that action?
Are you providing them with a sample of the offer? An
ebook? A resource guide or checklist? Do you make it easy to opt-in or do they
have to jump through flaming hoops, backward?
How does your visitor move through your site?
When someone visits your landing page, where do they
go next? Is it where you want them to go? Does it support your business goal?
Use your
website goals to help you create content and determine the path your visitor
takes. Each piece of content on your site should influence an action that
ultimately leads to your goal. Again, imagine you want to motivate an opt-in.
Does the path support the goal?
Each piece of content, form and promotion on your site
should lead to your business goal. Take a look at your flow of information and
the path your visitors take when they’re at your site. Does their path support
your goal? When adding or removing something on your site does it support your
business goal? If it doesn’t, don’t do it.
Include a call to action with each website page.
Every article, every page, every form, every video and
every single image on your website needs to support your end goal.
They do this by having a call to action that supports
your goal and purpose. Your visitors shouldn’t have to read between the lines
or read your mind – guide them. Tell them. Nurture them.
Finally, make sure to respect your visitor’s time.
Whilst it may be nice to know your visitor’s shoe size, if it’s not essential
to the goal, don’t ask for the information.
Dragging them through a never-ending cycle of
questions to achieve your goal isn’t going to win you any friends. If you want
your visitor to sign up for your opt-in list, make it as easy as possible. If
you want them to buy a product, make it happen. If you throw up blocks, expect
visitors to stumble on them, and then leave.
Audit your website. Check all the pages, new and old.
Determine if it supports your business goals or detracts from them.
Help your visitors. Make it easy for them to do what
you want them to do. If you don’t, they’ll go somewhere else.
436
Web Graphic Designer Jobs in New York City, New ... – ZipRecruiter Allows for Geographic Targeting
Building Your Web Design Program
The good news is that there are
plenty of different ways you can go about promoting your own design services.
Some are more aggressive than others. Some will require only a small amount of
your time, and others will require more time and/or money.
The Basics
68
Easy Ways to Promote Your Design Services for a Steady
Flow of New Clients
Browse through the list and find
some options that are a good fit for you. Before you start aggressively
promoting your services it is important to consider these basics:
1. Decide What Services You Want to
Offer
There are a lot of different
services and types of projects that can fall under the umbrella of web and
graphic design.
Just some of them include customer
website design, web development, e-commerce design and development, custom
WordPress themes, website maintenance, search engine optimization, social media
marketing, logo design, print design, illustration, package design, and the
list could keep going for a long time.
It is important to know specifically
what services you want to be able to offer to clients.
Potential clients may have a hard
time knowing if you would be a good fit for their projects.
2. Define Your Target Audience
Defining your ideal client will help
you to know how and where to market your services.
An example target audience could be
small businesses in your local metro area with no existing website, or an
outdated website.
3. Know What You Have to Offer
It’s important for potentrial
clients to know what you have to offer, and what makes you unique. Use your
strengths to your advantage.
Your Portfolio
The portfolio is a critical
marketing tool for designers of all kinds. Here we’ll look at some things you
can do to get more impact with your portfolio.
4. Have a Great-Looking Portfolio
Site
If you are a web designer potential
clients will be judging you based on the design of your portfolio site. Many
portfolio sites are clean and minimal in style, allowing the work samples to
stand out and capture the attention of visitors.
5. Create the Site with Your Target
Audience in Mind
Don’t forget about your target
audience when you are designing your portfolio site.
Show how you have been able to get
results for other businesses and organizations like them.
6. List Your Address and Phone
Number
If you are targeting clients in your
local area it is very helpful to list your mailing address and your phone
It can also help to improve the SEO
of your site for local searches and allow you to reach more of your ideal
clients.
7. Submit Your Portfolio Site to
Design Galleries
Design galleries like CSS Mania are
not as popular as they were a few years ago, but they still provide an
opportunity to increase your exposure with just a small amount of effort or
money.
First, you’ll need to have a great-looking
custom design for your portfolio site in order to get it showcased in the best
galleries.
Once that is done, all you need to
do is submit your site for consideration. You can do this manually by submitting
to the galleries of your choice, or you can use a service like The CSS Gallery
List to do it for you.
They will submit your site to 100
galleries for $49. While gallery sites are mainly viewed by other designers,
having your site showcased at a few popular galleries can still provide some
good exposure and some links that will send traffic to your site.
8. Showcase Your Best Work
One common mistake that is made with
portfolio sites is showcasing too many work samples.
Just showcase your best work and let
it tell potential clients what you can do.
9. Publish Case Studies
Instead of simply showing images of
your work, consider adding case studies as well. A case study will provide some
background information on the client and the project, explain the services that
you provided and what you accomplished, and (ideally) the results or outcome
for the client.
Case studies take your portfolio to
the next level and can help potential clients to get a better idea of what you
can do for them, aside from just designing something that is pretty.
10. Showcase Testimonials from Your
Clients
Including testimonials from certain
clients can be a great way to establish your credibility.
Whenever you have a client that is happy with
your work it is a good practice to ask if they would be willing to provide a
testimonial. If you do this consistently you will always have a number of
client testimonials that you can use on your portfolio site and in your
marketing materials. Including a photo of the person providing the testimonial
can also help to make it feel more personal and relatable to potential clients.
11. Focus on the Results
Potential clients are more
interested in the results of your work than how it looks.
12. Create Your Own Design Concepts
If you are just getting started and
you don’t have much to showcase in your portfolio, consider working on a design
concept of a popular website. There are loads of design concepts and re-designs
posted on various sites
it is recommended that you mention
that your work was not commissioned by a client and is just a personal project.
Gmail
13. Offer Free Estimates or
Consultations
One way to get in touch with more
potential clients is to offer a free estimate, or even a consultation
A free consultation can take this
even a step further. The good thing about a consultation is that it gives you a
chance to interact with a potential client, and its easier to gain their trust.
14. Use a Call to Action
At your portfolio site you don’t
want to simply showcase your work.
Be pro-active and include a call to
action. It could be a button that encourages them to get a free estimate, it
could be a simple contact form that let’s you know they are interested, or you
could even ask them to call you to talk about your services.
.
15. Use Third-Party Portfolio Sites
In addition to your portfolio on
your own domain, third-party sites like Dribble, Behance, and Coroflot can also
be a great way to get some exposure. These sites will allow you to set up a
profile in a matter of a few minutes, showcase your work, and start interacting
with other designers and possibly with potential clients.
16. Use Professional-Looking
Proposals
As a designer you should be presenting
a proposal that looks attractive and professional. You could use a proposal
template, design one yourself, or use a web app like Bidsketch to help you
craft your proposals. Having a professional proposal will add to your
credibility and help your work to look more desirable to a potential client.
17. Only Show the Totals
Rather than including an estimated
number of hours, hourly rate, and subtotal for each line item, just provide the
client with a total price.
You want to keep your clients
focused on results, not on hours.”
18. Emphasize What the Project Will
Do for Them
Clients are more interested in
results than they are about design.
19. Give Them Choices
You can increase your rate of
converting proposals to paying clients be giving the client a few options.
If you offer them a lower-priced
option that would give them all of the most important things it may help you to
save the sale.
20. Provide Your Own Ideas
When you are talking to potential
clients don’t forget to use your own expertise. Of course you want to know what
they are looking for. But show that you are interested in doing the best job
possible for them, not just simply following instructions.
21. Avoid Industry Jargon
As you are talking with potential
clients and drafting proposals, be sure that you are using language that they
understand. Explain things clearly and in simple terms.
22. Follow Up After the Proposal
After the proposal is provided to
the client, follow up to see if they have any questions or if they are ready to
move forward.
Blogging/Writing
Blogging can be one of the best ways
to gain exposure, establish your reputation in the industry, and ultimately
attract clients. Here are some tips for using blogging to promote your
services.
23. Add a Blog to Your Portfolio
Site
Adding a blog to your portfolio site
is simple. With a CMS like WordPress you can maintain your portfolio and blog
together, quite easily.
Hero WordPress Theme
By having your blog at your own
site, rather than using a free option like Blogger or WordPress.com, you will
have full control over the content and the site
24. Use Blog Posts to Target Long
Tail Search Phrases
Phrases like “web design” and
“website designer” draw huge numbers of searches every month, but the
competition for top Google rankings for those phrases is insane..
What is far more realistic is being
able to rank at the top for long tail search phrases, and blog posts can be
very helpful for this. You can do some keyword research with a tool like the
Google Keyword Planner to find less competitive search phrases.
If you create blog posts to target specific
phrases you can see a jump in search traffic thanks to the power of the long
tail. These phrases may only receive a fraction of the search volume of the
major phrases, but ranking on the first page is an attainable goal.
25. Write for Other Design Blogs
Not only is at beneficial to publish
posts on your own blog, but writing for other blogs can also provide great
opportunities.
26. Use a Photo of Yourself
If you are blogging and are active
at social media I recommend using a photo of yourself on your blog and on your
various social profiles. People will feel more connected to you if they can see
your photo.
27. Write a Book or E-book
Blogging isn’t the only way to use
your writing skills. If you want to establish your expertise and reputation,
one way to do it is to write a book or e-book. You could sell it and make some
money, or if it is an e-book you could give it away for free to generate some
exposure for yourself and your business. The added exposure and the credibility
that comes along with it could help you to land more clients for your services.
28. Write an Article for a Magazine
or Newspaper
Another option for writing aside
from blogging is to write for a magazine, newspaper, or journal. There are a
number of magazines in the design industry that accept article submissions. If
you are targeting local clients writing an article or even a regular column in
the local newspaper can be a great way to get some valuable exposure.
Social Media
Social networks provide unlimited
possibilities for exposure. If you do choose to use social networking be sure
that you are not spending too much time to justify the results that you are
getting, as it is easy to lose track and spend hours on social networks without
any real direction.
29. Set Up Profiles at the Major
Social Networks
One of the keys is to be where your
target audience will find you. The major social networks like Facebook,
Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest all have massive user bases, and so they are
great options. You don’t have to be extremely active at all of the major social
networks, but it’s helpful to at least have a presence. Find one or two that
are the best fit with your target audience and dedicate most of your resources
and time there.
30. Design Custom Graphics for Your
Profiles
As a designer you have an
opportunity to stand out and make a positive impression through the use of
custom graphics for your social profiles. Almost every social network has become
increasingly visual over the past few years, so take advantage of this by
creating attractive, branded graphics for your profiles.
31. Showcase Your Work Through Your
Profiles
Use your social profiles to show off
the work that you are doing for clients. You can share links to sites that you
have completed and upload images and screenshots to showcase your work. At
Pinterest you could even create boards for the different types of projects that
you do.
32. Run a Contest
Another good use of social media is
to run a contest. Apps like Heyo make it easy to create your own campaigns and
contests, and this can result in a lot of exposure and possibly some new
clients. Most social networks have rules regarding contests, so be sure that
you check and follow all of the rules to stay in compliance.
33. Promote Your Blog Posts Through
Social Media
As you publish new blog posts you
should also promote them through you various social media profiles. Sharing the
links can result in added exposure, and possibly lead others to share the link
with their own followers. You can also share links to older posts in your
archives. Apps like HootSuite and Socialoomph allow you to schedule the sharing
to make it hands-free.
Email Marketing
Email allows you the opportunity to
stay in touch with clients and followers, and to reach a new audience. Here are
some tips related to the use of email marketing.
34. Collect Email Addresses at Your
Website
If you are not offering your
visitors the option to subscribe to a mailing list you are missing
opportunities. The vast majority of your visitors will leave and never come
back. If you can convert some of those visitors to subscribers you can continue
to stay in touch with them in the future, and maybe some of them will wind up
becoming clients.
Email marketing services like AWeber
will provide you with a simple form to put on your site so your visitors can
subscribe to your newsletter. If you really want to maximize your conversions
you can offer some sort of free bonus or incentive for people to subscribe.
35. Set Up an Autoresponder Sequence
After visitors join you list you can
send newsletters periodically, and you can also set up specific emails to be
sent at certain intervals after they subscribe.
Setting up an autoresponder sequence of
several emails is a great way to stay in front of your potential clients
without dedicating a lot of time to it. Once your autoresponder is set up
(again, this is easy to do with AWeber) it will work on its own without any
involvement from you.
36. Send Emails Regularly
If you have an email list it is
important to stay in regular contact with your subscribers. As an active
designer you don’t need to send emails every day, but sending 1 or 2 per month
is a good start. If you go months without email your list your subscribers will
forget about you and it will defeat the purpose of even having the list in the
first place.
37. Showcase Your Completed Projects
Your email list is another excellent
option for showcasing your client projects. In your monthly or bi-monthly
emails you can show screenshots from projects that you have been working on,
and link to case studies on your portfolio site.
38. Mention New Services or Options
Whenever you add new services or
offer new options to clients it is a good practice to mention this to your
email list. For example, if you opened a re-seller hosting account you could
send an email to your list and let them know that they can get hosting from
you. Or if you recently started working with a particular CMS you can let them
know that you are available for projects of that kind.
Referrals
Getting referrals is one of the best
ways to build your business. Referrals are not only great because they come to
you, but also because many of these potential clients will be more likely to
hire you since you have been referred by someone they know and trust.
39. Ask Your Clients for Referrals
This is a simple thing, but many
designers fail to do it. Be sure that you are asking your clients for names and
contact information of people that may be able to benefit from your services.
Don’t wait for them to make an unprompted referral because many clients will
not think of it on their own.
40. Ask at the Beginning and at the
End
There are a few different times when
it is ideal to ask your clients for referrals. When you have first secured the
project and received the signed contract is a good time to ask if they know of
anyone else who might be a good fit for your services. And then when the
project is completed and the client is excited about the great work that you
have done you can ask again.
41. Ask Your Friends and Family for
Referrals
Friends and family can also be an
excellent source of referrals, especially if you are just getting started. Let
them know a little bit about the services that you offer and chances are they
will be able to refer you to some people that they know.
42. Stay in Touch with Your Clients
Some clients may be able to give you
a great referral right away, but you can also get referrals down the road if
you stay in touch with your clients.
43. Exchange Referrals with People
Offering Complementary Services
Another possibility for referrals is
to partner with someone who provides services that would target the same
audience. For example, someone who does SEO may be able to refer clients to
your for web design, and you could refer clients to them for SEO services.
44. Develop Relationships with Other
Designers
There are also opportunities to get
referrals from other designers if you are well connected. It’s possible that a
particular client may be a better fit for your services, or perhaps they are
currently booked and have no availability for the new client. Maybe you
typically work with entrepreneurs and small business owners and you have a
friend that runs an agency that focuses on medium and large businesses. That
friend might send some referrals to you for projects that are too small for
their agency but would be perfect for a freelancer.
Networking
Networking is a critical aspect of
building just about any type of business. Here are some tips to get more out of
your networking efforts.
45. Attend Local Networking Events
You may be able to find clients in
your local area by attending events sponsored by a chamber of commerce or some
other local organization. These types of events are great for meeting new
people, especially small business owners.
46. Lead a Seminar or Workshop
There is also an opportunity to lead
a seminar or workshop that might introduce you to potential clients. You could
check with your local chamber of commerce and see if there are opportunities to
run a seminar on having an effective web presence for small businesses and you
are likely to meet some people who would be ideal clients. Don’t use the
seminar to push your services, but if you demonstrate a level or expertise some
of those attending may be interested in hiring you.
47. Offer Free Webinars
Webinars are a great way to hold
online seminars and reach people outside of your local area. The same thing
applies here. You don’t need to push your services, just provide valuable
information and people may be interested in hiring the expert.
48. Respond Promptly to Inquiries
Whenever someone reaches out to you,
whether it be by email or phone, always make an effort to get back to them as
quickly as possible. move on to another designer that responds before you do.
49. Talk to Potential Clients on the
Phone
Email is a great method of
communication for client work, but many clients will like to speak with you on
the phone at some point. You can still use email as your main mode of
communication, but even having a brief phone call can help clients to feel more
connected to you.
50. Meet with Local Clients
Face-to-Face
Likewise, face-to-face meetings can
help to sell your services if you are working with clients in your local area.
You don’t want to waste time with face-to-face meetings, but if you are trying
to secure a project or looking to build rapport with a client, a face-to-face
meeting can go a long way.
Advertising
Advertising is not a preferred
method for many designers, but it can be effective. This section includes a few
tips for both paid and free advertising.
51. PPC Ads
Pay-Per-Click ads, like Google
AdWords, allow you to get your services in front of your target audience pretty
easily. You can target particular searches, keywords, and phrases, and you can
also target your local area to really keep it tightly focused.
A local PPC campaign can be
surprisingly affordable. PPC is also flexible because you can stop or pause the
campaign when you are busy and don’t need any new projects.
52. Facebook Ads
Facebook ads are another option for
paid advertising. Facebook has such a huge user base, and with their ads you
can target people very specifically, so it is a good option.
53. Craigslist
Over the years I have been surprised
at how many designers I have met that got their first clients through
Craigslist. Now, you’re probably not going to pick up high-priced projects from
a classified on Craigslist, but if you are looking for small projects there are
a lot of possibilities. Just writing a quick ad and post it in a relevant
thread in your local area and you may get some inquiries.
54. Local Business Directories
Business directories, both online
and in print, can also provide some opportunities. This includes directories
through your local chamber of commerce, as well as major business directories
like Manta, Google My Business, and MerchantCircle.
Stock
Creating stock graphics or templates
is not only an alternative way to make money as a designer, but it can also
lead to more client work.
55. Sell Templates/Themes and Offer
Customization Services
You can sell website templates or
WordPress themes and offer your services for those who would like to have the
template customized. You can list your templates for sale at a marketplace like
ThemeForest, or you can sell them on your own. Going with a marketplace is a
good option if you don’t want to invest the time to build up your own audience.
The marketplace allows you to reach a large audience quickly.
Having your own templates and themes
can also serve as starting points for clients who are working with a limited
budget. Instead of being forced to pass on a project because the budget is too
small you may be able to offer them a customized version of your template that
will take a lot less of your time and save them some money.
56. Use Free Graphics or Templates
to Attract Links and Traffic
In addition to selling stock
graphics and templates you can also give them away for free and attract some
links to your site as a result.
Quality free resources often attract a lot of
links from design blogs and through social media, but if you don’t already have
a large following you may need to reach out to bloggers and social media users to
tell them about your freebie and ask for the link.
57. Include Your Best Stock Designs
in Your Portfolio
If your portfolio is limited you may
want to use some of your stock designs to add to your portfolio.
Branding
Branding yourself and your services
is a great way to attract more clients, and the right kinds of clients. Here
are a few tips.
58. Specialize
Rather than simply offer design
services consider specializing. There are plenty of possibilities. If you are a
web designer you could specialize in a particular platform like WordPress, or
you could specialize in terms of the types of clients that you work with.
For example, you could target a
particular audience like photographers, churches, restaurants, or other types
of businesses. Specializing allows you to narrow in on your ideal client and
become an expert. This wouldn’t mean that you couldn’t take other types of
clients as well, but specializing can help for marketing and for allowing you
to stand out from other designers.
59. Become an Expert
This is especially relevant if you
are specializing. If you can brand yourself as an authority or expert people
will want to work with you. For example, if you are known as a leading
WordPress developer clients will want to hire you when they are looking for
someone to design and develop a custom WordPress theme.
To brand yourself as an expert you
could write blog posts about WordPress, write guest posts at other blogs that
focus on WordPress, write a book or an e-book on the subject, speak at WordCamps,
or anything else that will help you to demonstrate your knowledge and
experience.
60. Master a Platform
There are a lot of CMSs and website
platforms out there that have the potential to bring a lot of business your
way. For example, e-commerce platforms Shopify and Bigcommerce both have
directories of designers/developers that users can hire for custom projects.
I’ve read in multiple places that
some of the leading Shopify experts get about 1/2 of their clients directly
through the Shopify directory. If you master a popular platform and get listed
as one of their experts it can send a lot of new business your way. Mastering
the platform also gives you a specialization that you can use in your own
branding and marketing aside from just relying on a directory listing.
Shopify
Be Pro-Active
Some of the things we have covered
so far involve doing things that will help potential clients to find you. There
are times when you may get the best results by being more pro-active and taking
action.
61. Cold Call Potential Clients
If you are looking to find a new
client quickly sometimes the best thing to do is call people and businesses
that would be an ideal fit for your services. You could look for small
businesses in your local area that need some improvement to their website, have
no website, or would fall into your area of specialization.
62. Email Potential Clients
Another option is to reach out to
potential clients by email. In many cases getting a phone number is easier than
getting an email address, but this is still an option. Many businesses get lots
of solicitation through their contact forms so expect that many people will not
respond to you. But if you reach out to the right people you may be able to
find some new clients this way.
63. Offer Additional Services to
Your Current and Past Clients
Your current and past clients are
also a great audience for you to target. Instead of trying to find new clients
you could try to increase the amount of work that you are able to do for each
client.
It’s a good practice to reach out to past
clients every now and then just to stay in touch and see if there is anything
that you can do for them. You can also add a new service and reach out to past
and current clients to see if they would be interested in hiring you for these
services.
For example, if web design is your
main area of focus you could add a package that would provide clients with a
custom designed business card, stationery, letterhead, invoices, etc. Some of
your clients may be happy to hire you to design these items for them.
64. Offer On-Going Services
One of the best ways to reduce your
need to constantly find new clients is to provide on-going services for the
clients that you have. This could involve general website maintenance,
management of social media profiles, email marketing, web hosting, or anything
else that the client would need on a regular basis. This type of work is great
because you won’t have to be constantly looking for new clients and you can
dedicate more of your time to billable services.
65. Follow Up with Past Clients sure
you are following up with past clients. This could be just to see how their
business and their website is doing, to see if they need anything from you, or
to let them know about something specific that you can do for them.
Pro-actively following up with past clients and identifying ways to help them
is one of the best ways to stay busy with client work.
66. Run a Limited-Time Discount
You could also consider running a
limited time special and promoting it to your past clients or to those who
would fall into your target market. The discount could be on a new service that
you are offering, or you could just use this method when you don’t have enough
projects and you need some income quickly.
67. Ask for the Sale
Most designers struggle with the
sales aspect of landing clients. You don’t have to be an expert salesperson,
you just need to communicate effectively (which includes listening to the
clients wants and needs). One thing that you will need to do is ask for the
sale. Don’t just provide the client with a proposal and then leave it open
ended. Let them know that you want their business, that you are excited to work
on their project, and ask them when you can get started.
68. Identify and Overcome Objections
As you are talking to potential
clients who are slow to take action, make an effort to identify the objections
that are holding up the project, and find ways to overcome them.
If the objection is price you can
show them how the project will benefit their bottom line and make more than
enough sales to offset the cost. You can also offer them a smaller package that
would be less time for you and thus a lower cost for them.
What Makes a Good Salesman
Hunter's Mentality
The Discipline to Follow Up
Charisma
Pure Motivation
The Trifecta: Intelligence,
Personality and Drive
Resilience
A great salesperson isn't easily
discouraged, and doesn't take the rejection on a personal level.
Empathy
Salespeople have to relate to the
customer and support them in choosing the right solutions, so personal empathy
is an essential quality. It shows up as listening more than talking,
Existing Relationships and Product
Knowledge
