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This lesson is called how to be an excellent communicator, and it will show you how to provide amazing

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customer service through best practice communication tactics.

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The reason this lesson is important is because communication is what will make or break everything you

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do in freelancing, and it all begins with that initial outreach.

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But it doesn't stop there.

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Being able to communicate well throughout the entire freelance sales process will have a direct impact

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on your success.

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Being able to use different communication tools, phone calls, texts, emails, video chats, et cetera

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is vital for your success.

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Understand how important it is for you to remain in constant contact with all of your clients and potential

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clients.

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That is how you can become a profitable freelancer because you need to keep that line of communication

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open and show those clients and potential clients that you are going to be there with them for the long

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run.

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That is how you can build long term clients and profitable relationships.

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In this lesson, we are going to go over the first call you have with a client.

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This is after you send out that proposal.

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The client gets back in touch with you and you schedule a time to get on the call.

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I'm going to show you how to handle that first call.

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And different ways you can approach it so you have the most success possible.

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Then I will show you how you can approach the sales demonstration.

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Followed by rules for profitable phone calls.

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Here, I'm going to show you how you can focus on the right things when you're on these phone calls

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so you can move the freelance sales process forward.

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After that, we will get into qualifying leads, this is another important part of freelancing because

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you need to make sure you're only working with the best clients that are a good match for you.

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This will lead to good reviews and more work if you work with the wrong clients and you don't take the

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time to qualify them first.

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You're jeopardizing your reputation and you're not spending their time where you should be, which is

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on high ticket clients that you've already qualified.

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Lastly, I will cover how to effectively follow up the follow up is one of the most crucial parts of

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any sales process because most sales don't happen on those first few interactions.

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They happen after a few follow ups have been consistently maintained.

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When you continue to follow up with clients and potential clients, you're showing them that you're

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hungry for their business.

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You're not going anywhere, and now you're confident you can solve the problem they have.

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That is what is ultimately going to get you paid on a consistent basis.

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Now, let's go over the first client meeting, the goal of your entire proposal is to get this secure

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and in order to do that, you need to write an amazing proposal which you've already done by this point

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because now you're on the call with them and on this call, you need to keep it very simple.

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Make the focus on them.

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Introduce yourself, put the buyer at ease, stay calm and then start to get on some common ground with

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them.

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Once the buyer turns their control over to you, that's when you can go into explaining more of your

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proposal and going into more detail on how you are a good fit.

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So the first thing is to be yourself and act calm throughout the process.

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Just remember, these are hot leads that need your help and you're there to just solve their problem.

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So don't be intimidated, just get on the call with them.

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Stay calm, make sure you're breathing and you're not getting too emotional or excited, or you're not

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cutting them off too much.

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Make sure you show them that you're the best fit for them because you're there to hear how you can help

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them and solve their problems.

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And you also want to remain professional the whole time, so this isn't just about keeping it, just

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about business, but you do want to act normal, act rational, don't be overly thankful that they took

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the call with you or anything like that.

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You don't want to do anything that throws them off.

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So just really build a relationship with them.

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Get to know them a little bit.

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Ask them about their business.

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Keep it very focused on the professional items at hand.

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You will get better at this as you go through your freelance journey.

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But as they start to ask some questions, there might be a little off topic.

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Make sure you guide the call back on the journey so you can get to the next step of the process.

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And that's exactly why you need to use a call script during the call, using a call script that has

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relevant questions on it and different things that you want to get answered by the client is vital for

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you to have success on the first client meeting call.

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So have it open on your HubSpot CRM.

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You can also have a pen and paper handy just to take quick notes, and the HubSpot CRM is located in

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the profitable tools and apps bonus so you can access that and start taking notes on all clients during

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the call.

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This will also help you tremendously when you're on the call, and it lacks direction because then you

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can just look at your call script that you wrote and you can ask the next question on it.

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This helps you progress the call forward.

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If you didn't have this, you'd end up on some tangent and you'd never stay on the right track.

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In addition to staying on track, you also can use the call script to take notes and write down any

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additional next steps that you need to do.

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Whenever things happen, it's human nature to say, Oh, I'll remember that I'll do that.

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But if you don't write it down in the moment, chances are something else will distract you.

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And you'll never remember to do that, especially on that first client meeting, because you need to

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make sure you're writing everything down.

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That is what you're going to use for your follow up.

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And that is the info you're going to use to close the deal.

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Then talk about similar projects you've done when you're on this call.

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Think about any accomplishments or similar clients or projects you've worked on and talk about while

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you're passionate about this skill.

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Don't get too involved in any previous details of clients or projects, but just talk about them overall

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and talk about how you help businesses with the skill you provide.

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Make sure that your passion shines through here, because this is what a lot of freelancers also lack

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is their passion.

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They're focused so much on getting the deal clothes, getting the client's money, and sometimes they

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take a step away from just being personable and letting their passion for their skillset shine through.

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Another way you can have success in the first client meeting is to continue asking questions about the

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client's business once they turn the floor over to you, and it's your turn to give suggestions and

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tell them what you think about everything.

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Take that time to not only focus on your suggestions, but to also turn it back on them and ask them

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more questions.

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This shows them that you're extremely interested, and this is also used to help you qualify them and

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learn more about their business.

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The more questions you ask, the more you'll learn.

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You'll be amazed at this.

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They'll tell you what's important to them.

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All you have to do is just ask questions and make sure you get an answer and listen to them.

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Once you get those answers like we just covered, make sure you write those down in your call script

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document so you don't forget them later on.

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Next, after you've asked them questions, qualified the client and learn more about the project at

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hand.

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Then you can start to give a recommendation of how you want to tackle this.

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Your recommended plan of action.

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What that does is it shows them that you have some specifics put together about the project and that

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you already map some of it out.

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This goes above and beyond a lot of the times because freelancers on average don't do this.

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They don't think that far ahead.

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They'll focus on what the client wrote in the job description, but they won't map out an entire plan

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of action.

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Different timetables and things of that nature.

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That is why you can still be a profitable freelancer, even though you might be starting out or there's

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a lot of competition.

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It's because you need to know how to approach these things in the right way.

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And if you start to use all these different tactics, we're going over in that first client, meeting

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your chances of closing the deal are going to go through the roof.

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If you just try to wing this, however, your chances are going to go down dramatically.

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So take the time before every client meeting and start to put all of these things on paper in your CRM

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so you can make sure you're hitting every single point.

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And this might sound simple, but you need to get their response when you're asking them questions,

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when you're recommending your plans of action, if they don't give you a response and they just change

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the topic or ask you another question.

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Make sure you're not moving on until you get their thoughts on what you recommended or what you propose

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to them, because this is another way that will show you where you're at in the sales process.

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If you get their response and they say, That sounds awesome, I'm ready to get going.

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You know it's time to move into the close.

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But if they start to provide some objections, that's when you know where you need to provide more information

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on.

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Also, you can tell them that you can put together a demonstration which will show anything in your

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proposal in more detail for them.

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This is a great way to set up a second meeting and make sure that you're moving that freelance sales

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process forward.

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That leads us right into the final step, which is establishing those next steps.

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Once you've gotten their response, once you start to throw some ideas for next steps out there, make

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sure you repeat them, make sure you read them out loud and you say, This is what I'm going to do and

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this is what you are going to do.

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And that is another way to show the client you're very serious about this.

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You're outlining what both of you need to do.

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And it's another way to get any last minute objections from the client.

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So after you've gotten their responses, you've asked them a bunch of questions to qualify them.

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You've learned about the project and you've already started to get some ideas for what the next steps

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are.

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Then you have to establish those, and I like to do that by repeating it out loud what my next steps

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are and what the client's next steps are.

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So if the next step is to get a demonstration ready, I will say that and I'll secure the time for that

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next call.

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On the other hand, if it's in the client's hand and I've already sent them enough information and the

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client said that they have five other meetings with other freelancers.

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What I would say is OK, on my end, I'm waiting to hear back on you after you've spoken to those five

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other freelancers to see if I'm the best fit by establishing that next step.

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You're showing them that you're a true business person and you're making sure that both of you know

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what to do next.

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So many times in the sales process, things get messy, things get confusing, people get distracted.

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So everything you can do to just repeat what the next steps are will help you get to that next level

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of ultimately closing that deal.

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That is when you can move on to that second client call, which is more of a demonstration.

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For this second call, the sales demonstration call, you can go into more detail about the specifics

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of the project.

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For this, I like to do screen shares with the client and show them exactly how I will go about their

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project.

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Walk them through everything.

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Show them how different things work.

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I like using crank wheel for this or Google Hangouts.

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Those are both in the profitable tools and apps hand out, and those are softwares that allow you to

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share your screen easily with clients.

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And all they need is to just click a link on a phone or a computer.

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And this is where you can get away from using words and start to show them by showing them either the

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reports, previous samples of work or some sort of graphic presentation.

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You can even add the client's logo to it and go above and beyond.

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This will separate you from the pack because very few freelancers are going into that much detail,

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and this will help you win jobs at a very high percentage.

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On the sales demonstration, you can walk the prospect through how you were going to approach the project.

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Talk about why you suggested everything you did and why it makes sense for their specific situation.

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And then from there, you can go ahead and ask them if they're ready for you to start.

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If they're not, you can go into more detail.

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But if they are, you've just took in the power back of the whole sales process and you put it in a

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position where you're showing them everything you can offer and you're continuing to ask for their business.

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If they don't ask, when can you get started, then what you can say is something to the effect of.

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We've had a few conversations.

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I feel we're on the same page.

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What will it take for us to get started on this?

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Don't be afraid to confront and ask for the clothes.

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A lot of times it's as simple as just asking for it.

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So don't leave that out.

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Don't forget to actually ask for the sale, and that is why the sales demonstration is so important.

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It helps you not only separate yourself from the pack, but it shows the client what you can provide

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by making them sit down and watch a demonstration.

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This way, there's no questions that can get left unanswered.

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And when you start to work with them, both parties know exactly what to expect.

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Now, let's discuss the rules for profitable phone calls.

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The first is to never disagree with a client, even if they're saying something you don't necessarily

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agree with or that isn't true.

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Find a way to see it from their perspective.

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And then to give your point of view when you flat out disagree with a client that is a red flag.

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And it shows them that your ego is too big, you're just worried about being right.

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So don't be worried about being right.

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Make sure you're never disagreeing and you're showing them that you're understanding where they're coming

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from.

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This will help you learn way more clients.

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Next, never handle a call unprepared.

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Never try to do a call when you don't have your call script pulled up when you're preoccupied doing

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something else.

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100 percent of your attention needs to be on the call with the client.

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And this goes for anything you're doing with clients, whether it's a video call, just a phone call,

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even if it's a conference call with multiple people.

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Make sure you're focused and you're ready to answer questions on the spot.

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Next.

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Never give one price for one product.

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Always provide options in a written format and avoid giving the price on the phone.

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When you give different options, you're showing them that you can provide different levels of value

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depending on how much the client wants to pay.

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The next rule for profitable phone calls is to always extract as much information as you can from the

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client, even if it's simple things like asking them why they decided to hire a freelancer now and if

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they've hired anyone for this type of work in the past, you'll be surprised how much they open up and

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tell you.

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And then we'll also show you what's most important to them and what you can focus on moving forward.

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You can also get information such as their cell phone number, email address and different ways to contact

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them.

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Don't hesitate gathering this info because this is how you're going to follow up at a massive scale.

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You're going to get creative and you're going to follow up on every different medium and platform you

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can.

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That's how you can separate yourself from the pack and be at the right place at the right time when

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that client's ready to hire.

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And next, never argue with the client.

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So if a client gets upset at something you did and you know you're in the right once again, put your

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ego aside, don't argue with the client.

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Give them some space.

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If it's through email, don't respond right away.

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If it's on a phone call and they're getting really worked up over something.

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You can always say, you know what?

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Emotions are running a little high right now.

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Let's schedule another call.

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But ultimately, make sure you're never arguing with the client, because once emotions get involved,

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people don't act rationally.

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They just act out of emotion.

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And that's not where you want to come from as a profitable freelancer.

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Everything you do needs to be well thought out using the profitable freelance sales process.

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That's how you're going to have success.

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Next, never keep the client on one product or one service.

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This is how you can qualify clients and see what skill set you can offer them.

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There are statistics out there that show that over half of the time clients are actually looking for

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a different service than they initially posted.

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They might not know this, but that is where the freelancer with the skill set and the expertise comes

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in.

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So if a client says they want a specific skill, for example, let's say they just said they want Facebook

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ads, offer them Instagram ads in Google ads and buying ads and see how they respond to them.

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They might not even know exactly what they want.

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They might have thought that Instagram ads was different than Facebook, but in reality, they're both

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on the same platform.

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So this opens up the door not only to more services you can provide, but it also opens the door to

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a long term relationship.

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Because you're showing that client, you're there to help them, and you're giving them different options

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for them to choose from.

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The next rule for profitable phone calls is to text the client while you're on the phone with them,

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if possible.

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Texting has an immense power to help you close deals.

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It can help you increase your appointments by up to 500 percent.

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And if you text a client while you're on the call with them, it can increase your conversion by 320

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percent.

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When you texted during an interaction, this is the most memorable, because when you text them while

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they're on the phone, you can tell them to save your number in their phone and you can also make sure

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that they got it.

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This also helps build more relevance, and it helps you stand out from the pack.

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Not a lot of freelancers are doing this.

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And once you get that information, that cell phone number, that is going to be one of the most valuable

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pieces of info you can use later on.

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So if you're speaking to the client, you can ask them if they're on their cell phone.

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Most of the time they are, and if they are, that's when you can send that text right over.

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If they say that they're not and they're on an office phone, that's when you can ask them for their

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cell number.

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Remember the part we said about always get info?

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Don't be afraid to ask them what their cell number is.

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And then if they ask why you can be one step ahead and already include that in your question.

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When you do this, you're reaching the client wherever they are because people always have their cell

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phone on them.

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So that gives you the ability to reach them no matter where they are at any time of the day, even if

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they're not at their desk.

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Moving on to the next rule.

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Always remember to qualify their client, even if they seem like the best client and the budget for

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the project seems high and the phone calls are going well.

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Make sure you qualify them first, make sure they're on the right services and that you're the best

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fit for them when everything is looking great.

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Taken this extra step and taking this extra precaution also shows them that you're a serious business

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person and you really want to make sure that you're the best fit for each other next.

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Never brag about yourself.

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Clients want to hear about their project and how you can help them focus your energy on how you can

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solve their problems.

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This doesn't mean you can't share previous successes you've had, but don't use blanket statements like

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I'm really good at this or I'm amazing at that.

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Show them, show them through case studies, reports or even sales demos.

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But make sure you're never coming off as bragging because that is going to turn clients away.

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And as you're on these calls and you start to have different conversations with different personality

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types.

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Try to keep all of the small talk to a minimum high ticket clients.

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The ones that you should be going after and working with have very busy schedules.

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Their time is extremely valuable, so that doesn't mean that you can't break the ice and get to know

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them a little, but always make sure you're moving the call forward by asking questions and keeping

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the focus on the business.

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Then make sure to recap the call and state the next steps out loud.

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This reminds both parties what to do next and make sure the client understands what is expected.

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Log all of your notes in your CRM as you go through this whole process.

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Even after the first call, you want to keep very good notes because that will help you follow up and

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it will help you close more clients.

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I like to do this to a very high extent, to the point where I write down the tone of the conversation

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that was had, what the client mentioned, their general outlook, whether it sounded like they were

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in a good mood or a bad mood.

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All of this is information that you will likely forget, but is vital when you start to follow up and

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when you land clients.

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That is the information that will help you maintain them for years and years to come.

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And the last wolf or profitable phone calls is to stay positive.

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I like to put a smile on my face, even though on a phone call they can't see it.

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It helps you stay more positive and it helps you just keep that light in your eyes and that passion

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in your voice.

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No one wants to work with a boring freelancer who isn't motivated.

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So make sure your voice isn't monotone and you're staying as positive as possible throughout the entire

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phone call.

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Sometimes it's easy to forget this, but remember, positivity sells and people will pay more for a

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positive attitude.

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Now that you understand how to find high tech clients, how to create and send winning proposals, and

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the rules for profitable phone calls.

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Now let's dive deeper into how you can qualify clients.

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The first step is moving into a fact finding phase, this is where you ask them questions and you start

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to dig into why they're hiring a freelancer in the first place.

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One of the biggest mistakes that freelancers and salespeople make is that they don't ask what's important

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to the customer.

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They don't ask good questions and they don't write that information down.

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So avoid asking hard questions that don't give you any good info.

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Quality questions have to be relevant about the project that they posted and about their business.

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You can think of it as the what, why and how.

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Those are questions like what do you want to do with your business?

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Why do you want to do it and how do you want to do it?

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This will help you navigate the different categories of questions you can ask, because our goal here

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when we're talking to these potential clients is to find out what their real problem is.

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And that's how we can solve it.

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Sometimes the real problem isn't what they say it is.

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This is also why it's important to make sure you're on the right product for them, because if you find

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out what their real problem is and the service they're asking for won't solve that.

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That is when you can introduce what skill will solve their problem because they're not the expert.

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That's why they're hiring a freelancer.

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So this is where you can provide even more value and even a level of consulting before you close the

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deal.

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You can also ask them straight up what's most important to you when you're hiring a freelancer?

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Knowing the answer to this helps you close more deals, and it helps them makes more sense of the purchase

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when they hire you.

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All of that fact finding helps you have more info as you move forward on the calls.

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Then you can start to use the information you just gathered to establish what they really need.

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From there, you can verify by offering those other alternatives.

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You can do this by offering alternatives above and below what they were looking for, so you can show

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them ways you can help save the money.

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And you can show them ways where they can get even more value for a more premium price.

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You can ask them questions like Would you also consider option one an option two?

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And this helps them have their brain thinking of the value you're providing.

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So don't just offer choices after the problem comes up, you need to initiate this.

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Don't wait on offering these alternatives.

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So once you've determined what they really need, that's when you can start to offer different ways.

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You can help deliver that.

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And don't forget, over 50 percent of clients are asking for the wrong service or the wrong product.

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So by offering alternatives, you can make sure they're on the right service to start.

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Then you can get into asking and seeing if you're a good fit.

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This is where you need to get real with yourself and with the client, ask yourself, are you going

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to be able to deliver the work that the client is looking for?

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Are you going to be able to help them solve the problem that they really need solved?

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And on the other end, if you do that, are they the type of client that is going to give you a five

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star review?

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And do they sound like a client that is going to help build a profitable freelance business for you

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by answering those questions?

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That's how you can see if the client is a good fit and it needs to be a good fit on both ends.

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During this process, you might not have the answer right away if a client's a good fit because in the

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world of freelancing, there is no black and white.

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A lot of things lie in that gray area.

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So you might not know if a client's a great client from the start.

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And for this, I like to listen to my gut.

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Sometimes your gut and just your instinct will tell you things that your mind necessarily won't.

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So if you just have a bad feeling, or if you just have a good feeling about a client and you don't

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have any other info to make another decision, go with your gut.

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A lot of times it's right.

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The other way you can continue to qualify clients is understanding that the follow up process also is

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there to help you qualify them.

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So even after the initial call in the sales demo, you can still use follow up to see if they're a good

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fit for you and to see if the services you're sending them.

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All this info on is something they're interested in as you follow up.

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It's showing that you want their business and this is imperative to any sales process you need to follow

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up.

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The truth is, 48 percent of all sales people don't follow up.

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Sixty five percent of all companies don't nurture the leads that they paid for.

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25 percent of salespeople never make a second contact.

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And as you start to hear these stats, also remember this one only two percent of all sales are made

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on the first contact.

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So what you can learn is that number one, most freelancers and salespeople aren't taking the time to

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follow up even once, let alone multiple times.

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And number two, you learn that only two percent of sales are made on that first contact.

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So everything that helps make you money as a freelancer is going to occur after those initial calls.

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Think about it like this if you get on the phone with a hundred clients, only two of them on average

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are going to become your client right away.

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The other 98 are going to require follow up.

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So understand that as you follow up, you're also using that as a way to qualify the client.

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This is a stat that stood out to me that I know is going to be helpful for you because if you can follow

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up within the first 60 seconds after you contact someone or after they contact you, your chances of

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conversion go up by 320 percent.

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Speed is certainty.

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And people follow certainty and speed.

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So therefore speed is power.

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If you get an upward message, if you get an invitation to a job, if you get a call or a text from

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a client, if you can get back to them within the first 60 seconds, you were going to skyrocket your

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chances for actually obtaining that relationship with them.

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It shows you were so serious about what you offer and the value you want to provide that you're there

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to get back to them in under a minute.

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So now you know how to be an excellent communicator so you can use this on your entire freelance journey.