Freelance Business And Client Acquisition

Freelance Business And Client Acquisition

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When it really comes down to it, if you want to "go out on your own" and do anything "freelance", you only need one thing - clients. If you have clients, you'll have work. If you have work, you'll get paid. If you get paid, you'll make it as a freelancer. Its as simple as that

The best freelancers are those who always have a new client primed before they leave their last client. Finding clients is not their issue, managing them is. This is true at the start of their freelancing career and throughout their career. You must be able to find clients.

There is not one best way to win clients. There are many many different methods you can try. We have summarised some of the main ones here but you are pretty much only restricted by your imagination and your tolerance to rejection. Here are some ideas.

1. Contacting Clients Cold

In the old days, there was cold calling. Now, with the plethora of communication mediums available to us, I prefer the term cold contacting.

Cold contacting prospective clients is a hard gig. It means approaching and pitching to people you have never met, who don't know or trust you and who were not expecting your approach. Its basically a numbers game. You need to approach enough prospective clients that you find they ones who say yes. If your pitch is good enough you will be successful, you just need to get past all the "nos" to get to the "yesses". You will probably need a very thick skin as there will be plenty of nos too.

2. Marketing and Advertising

Straight up, advertising can be very expensive. You have to pay someone else to put your message on their medium (Ie. radio station, TV station, magazine, billboard or newspaper) The benefits of paying money for advertising include that you can reach a much broader spectrum of prospective clients than if you do anything else, and that you prospective clients call you. This makes closing sales much easier.

And it is not as easy as spending a bit of money either. There is so much advertising out there, you must do your homework (or pay someone else to) to get it right. Some things you need to consider include location, capturing attention and your message. You need to put your advert where your target audience will see it. You need to create it in a way your audience will take notice and you must structure you message so your audience understands, takes action and calls you. This is quite a complex process. Getting it wrong will cost you. Getting it right could make you.

3. Networking and Referrals

This form of marketing is similar to cold calling as the emphasis is on you making contact with your prospective clients. It isn't cold though as it entails you have been introduced by someone.

The idea is to ask everyone you know, professional and personal, if they know someone else who may need your services. If they do, you ask them to introduce you and give you an appropriate recommendation. This can be a particularly effective method of client acquisition as it is based on trust relationships. That is, your contact trusts you, and their contact trusts them. When you are referred, some of this trust then is assumed between you and your contact's contact.

4. Go Where Your Clients Go

This marketing technique depends on you asking yourself the following question "Who already has a relationship with my prospective clients?". Make a list. A placement service does not have to be a professional placement service, it can be an industry related organization you set up a joint venture with. If you can isolate organizations that already have your clients on their books, you might have an easier task if you sell yourself to that organization and get them to place you with your clients. I did this once with an ex employer of mine. I just paid them a percentage of what I earned, which I was happy to do as I had no marketing expenses anyway.

There are no hard and fast rules for client acquisition. The ideas above are broad and just that, ideas. As your freelancing career develops, you may use one specific method of getting new clients, you may use parts of all of them, you may have your very own technique. The best thing is to work out a system you are comfortable with, one which wins you clients and use it to line your pockets.

About the Author:
Gnifrus Urquart wanted help with his business SEO needs. He found the best search engine optimisation company in Australia, on the Gold Coast.



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