“I’m so frustrated,” a freelancer complained to me a few weeks ago. “I just can’t seem to get any new clients.”
To drum up some business, she was about to sink a lot of money into a direct-mail campaign. But she wasn’t sure that was the right move for her.
“Before you make that investment,” I said, “Let’s figure out exactly where your marketing is stuck — and then see if mailing out a bunch of letters is the best way to get unstuck.”
She was intrigued. Stuck? Unstuck? She hadn’t looked at her marketing in that way before.
After asking her a few questions, it became clear that her marketing was already generating plenty of leads. (Prospects who have demonstrated at least a modicum of interest in her services.) The problem was, instead, in her difficulty in turning those leads into “opportunities.” (An opportunity to discuss a real project with a client and provide a quotation.)
That’s where she was stuck. Not in generating leads. But in turning those leads into opportunities.
Fortunately, it was a simple fix. I recommended a follow-up strategy she could use with leads and it worked like a charm. Not long after, she called me to report that not only was she getting more projects to quote on, she had just landed a great new client!
Now, imagine if she went ahead with that expensive direct-mail campaign? She would have spent a lot of time and money generating more leads — exactly what she didn’t need — only to end up with the same problem. No opportunities.
So if you want your marketing to get better results for you, first determine where it’s stuck.
Marketing your freelance services works something like this:
- You identify prospects that have a high likelihood of needing your services — and who are a good fit for you.
- You select the right marketing activity (or two) to generate lots of leads from amongst those prospects.
- You follow-up with those leads in the most effective ways to convert them into real opportunities.
- You have a good sales conversation and quote effectively so you turn the majority of those opportunities into new paying clients.
Where is YOUR marketing stuck?
Don’t make assumptions. Take a close look at how well you’re doing in each of those four areas.
If you’re not doing a good job turning opportunities into new clients, then you need to brush up on your personal selling skills.
If you can’t identify enough prospects, then you need to work on that area.
If you (like the freelancer I referred to earlier) are not turning enough leads into opportunities, then you have to find out how to follow-up better.
Find out where your marketing is stuck. Then get it unstuck. All it might take is a simple fix to open the floodgates to more clients.
