1 00:00:01,340 --> 00:00:08,360 Lesson three, this lesson is called the basics of selling, and it will show you how to approach sales 2 00:00:08,510 --> 00:00:10,220 as a profitable freelancer. 3 00:00:11,480 --> 00:00:16,160 This lesson is important because no one is born a good salesperson. 4 00:00:16,580 --> 00:00:19,400 It's important to understand the basics of selling first. 5 00:00:19,820 --> 00:00:23,930 So when it comes time to speak with potential clients, you are well prepared. 6 00:00:24,650 --> 00:00:30,410 It takes a lot of practice to be able to be comfortable presenting your products or your services to 7 00:00:30,410 --> 00:00:30,830 people. 8 00:00:31,310 --> 00:00:36,560 Does it matter if that's a one on one presentation or to a group, whether that's in person or whether 9 00:00:36,560 --> 00:00:38,930 that's on an online video conference? 10 00:00:39,410 --> 00:00:40,280 It doesn't matter. 11 00:00:40,820 --> 00:00:47,720 Everything you do when you're talking to a potential client or group of potential clients is the art 12 00:00:47,720 --> 00:00:49,400 and the act of selling. 13 00:00:49,790 --> 00:00:56,510 So it's very important to know that everything you do as a freelancer is going to be achieved through 14 00:00:56,510 --> 00:00:56,930 selling. 15 00:00:58,630 --> 00:01:03,580 Selling is essential no matter what you do, you are selling something. 16 00:01:04,270 --> 00:01:09,220 So if you're not selling your services or your products, then you're selling yourself in a certain 17 00:01:09,220 --> 00:01:09,940 situation. 18 00:01:10,450 --> 00:01:14,320 Even a waitress, they're selling the restaurant's food to people. 19 00:01:15,070 --> 00:01:18,910 As a teacher, they're selling their students on the knowledge. 20 00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:28,020 Selling is critical for you to survive, being a profitable freelancer means, you know, selling is 21 00:01:28,020 --> 00:01:30,300 the lifeline behind your business. 22 00:01:30,660 --> 00:01:37,170 Being able to get new clients and to maintain those clients and continue to sell your services is ultimately 23 00:01:37,170 --> 00:01:39,810 what's going to create your profitable freelance business. 24 00:01:39,810 --> 00:01:42,900 So it really is crucial to your survival. 25 00:01:44,490 --> 00:01:46,050 Commit to getting good at sales. 26 00:01:46,410 --> 00:01:56,400 Give up the mediocre and the autopilot mode and go all in towards your goals, commit yourself 100 percent 27 00:01:56,400 --> 00:01:57,870 to whatever you want to do. 28 00:01:58,110 --> 00:02:01,420 Eliminate all other options and just make where you're going. 29 00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:02,730 Your sole focus? 30 00:02:03,790 --> 00:02:06,580 Commitments cannot take place without an action to follow. 31 00:02:07,030 --> 00:02:09,970 So don't just use that law of attraction. 32 00:02:10,510 --> 00:02:17,410 Use the law of massive action with it because remember, good salespeople are made, they are not born. 33 00:02:17,500 --> 00:02:21,070 So you need to first make that commitment to getting good in the first place. 34 00:02:22,610 --> 00:02:29,600 Next, have confidence in yourself and in your products, having confidence is having the conviction, 35 00:02:29,900 --> 00:02:34,550 having the belief that you know, you provide value to business owners. 36 00:02:35,540 --> 00:02:42,110 The word convict actually comes from the word to conquer, and conviction is the ability to be so convinced 37 00:02:42,110 --> 00:02:47,480 in your beliefs, so convinced that your products work, that your services are valuable, that you 38 00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:52,220 demonstrate that to the client and that is what sells the client. 39 00:02:52,340 --> 00:02:59,340 Your utter certainty, your belief and your conviction needs to be stronger than someone else's. 40 00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:01,100 That is when a sale takes place. 41 00:03:01,790 --> 00:03:02,960 So what can you do? 42 00:03:02,990 --> 00:03:06,710 You can start to learn how to get people to change their conviction. 43 00:03:07,250 --> 00:03:10,130 You need to be unreasonable if you want to achieve greatness. 44 00:03:10,730 --> 00:03:16,070 So convince yourself if you have to, but you need to get sold on this yourself. 45 00:03:16,280 --> 00:03:17,510 Be completely sold. 46 00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:21,980 Don't let anyone alter your conviction, even if it's family or friends. 47 00:03:22,550 --> 00:03:29,150 Don't let people have an impact on where you are going in life to build conviction. 48 00:03:29,810 --> 00:03:34,130 Ask yourself Why should someone go into debt to buy your product or service? 49 00:03:34,610 --> 00:03:37,340 Why should they choose you over another freelancer? 50 00:03:37,820 --> 00:03:43,280 These are the type of questions you need to start asking yourself to get good at the basics of selling. 51 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:46,040 Always agree. 52 00:03:47,150 --> 00:03:49,040 The customer is not always right. 53 00:03:49,250 --> 00:03:55,130 However, you do always need to agree with the customer or with a potential customer. 54 00:03:56,420 --> 00:04:02,660 This is one of the most commonly violated rules in all of selling because you need to be agreeable. 55 00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:04,640 You always need to agree. 56 00:04:05,270 --> 00:04:07,610 You should be practicing this with everyone. 57 00:04:07,880 --> 00:04:08,870 You come across. 58 00:04:09,320 --> 00:04:14,840 So even if you disagree with something they said and you want to come back with a different course of 59 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:15,320 action. 60 00:04:15,860 --> 00:04:20,480 Still open up with the fact that you understand that you were with them. 61 00:04:20,960 --> 00:04:27,680 You need to make the client feel comfortable like you're putting yourself in their shoes, because at 62 00:04:27,680 --> 00:04:31,010 the end of the day, agreement is about understanding. 63 00:04:31,460 --> 00:04:35,960 So when you're able to see things from the customer's perspective, they can feel that. 64 00:04:36,260 --> 00:04:37,940 And that's when an agreement happens. 65 00:04:38,780 --> 00:04:43,190 So if there's a price is too high, objection always respond with I'm with you. 66 00:04:43,580 --> 00:04:45,020 Of course, the price is too high. 67 00:04:45,410 --> 00:04:47,900 And then you get into your real answer. 68 00:04:48,500 --> 00:04:50,000 Well, of course, the price is too high. 69 00:04:50,270 --> 00:04:53,000 You haven't seen what it can provide for you yet. 70 00:04:53,600 --> 00:04:57,620 Let's get on to a strategy call so I can show you how we can hit your goals. 71 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:02,090 We are going to get more into handling objections like that. 72 00:05:02,930 --> 00:05:09,800 But I want to show you how powerful it is to always open up with that agreement and then move on to 73 00:05:09,800 --> 00:05:10,850 the next step of selling. 74 00:05:13,060 --> 00:05:16,720 Remember, trust is critical to every single sale. 75 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:21,370 Be aware of this and be aware that especially has a freelancer. 76 00:05:22,030 --> 00:05:25,600 There's no reason a client needs to have any trust in you. 77 00:05:25,930 --> 00:05:28,300 So distrust is not the buyer's problem. 78 00:05:28,870 --> 00:05:31,720 Take responsibility that it is your problem. 79 00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:36,970 The decision to shop around it always comes with distrust. 80 00:05:37,390 --> 00:05:42,490 So when a client is looking for multiple different freelancers, they're interviewing a bunch of people 81 00:05:42,490 --> 00:05:43,720 they can't make a decision. 82 00:05:44,260 --> 00:05:51,310 The reason is because they haven't found someone that they can fully trust yet, so start to take responsibility. 83 00:05:51,730 --> 00:05:56,920 Make sure you're always acting with confidence and you're building that credibility. 84 00:05:57,460 --> 00:05:59,060 How can you build more credibility? 85 00:05:59,080 --> 00:06:06,190 Well, you can do a lot of different things, but everything remember comes back to how you make people 86 00:06:06,190 --> 00:06:12,520 feel, so always make sure everything you do is towards building trust. 87 00:06:13,120 --> 00:06:16,240 People believe what they see, not what they hear. 88 00:06:16,990 --> 00:06:19,450 Be sure to always provide things in writing. 89 00:06:19,990 --> 00:06:21,910 Show the client what you can do for them. 90 00:06:22,270 --> 00:06:26,680 Don't take it for granted that they're going to remember what you said. 91 00:06:27,870 --> 00:06:33,060 Now that we understand that trust is so important to the sale, let's go over why this is even more 92 00:06:33,060 --> 00:06:35,220 important when it comes to freelancing. 93 00:06:35,940 --> 00:06:42,750 So I had a recent client story that ties right into this, and when we first started out working together, 94 00:06:43,020 --> 00:06:45,060 the client was very, very on edge. 95 00:06:45,300 --> 00:06:46,350 They were open with me. 96 00:06:46,350 --> 00:06:51,240 They said the last freelancer they worked with gave them bad results and a bad taste in their mouth 97 00:06:51,240 --> 00:06:52,560 when it came to freelancers. 98 00:06:53,130 --> 00:06:57,360 But they were impressed by my profile and my proposal, so they wanted to give me a shot. 99 00:06:58,050 --> 00:07:02,820 What happened was in the beginning, they were very, very, very on my case. 100 00:07:02,820 --> 00:07:07,500 They wanted to see video reviews of what I was doing every single day. 101 00:07:07,890 --> 00:07:11,230 They wanted me to log every single task I was doing. 102 00:07:12,090 --> 00:07:14,310 And ultimately, they were all my case. 103 00:07:14,880 --> 00:07:20,130 But what happened was I understood that they just needed me to build that credibility with them. 104 00:07:20,190 --> 00:07:23,280 All they wanted was a freelancer that they could trust. 105 00:07:24,180 --> 00:07:25,590 So I sucked it up. 106 00:07:26,580 --> 00:07:28,410 Especially during those first few weeks. 107 00:07:28,770 --> 00:07:35,940 And what happened was amazing because not only did they ease off of micromanaging me, but they gave 108 00:07:35,940 --> 00:07:40,380 me even more freedom than I ever thought a client would. 109 00:07:41,010 --> 00:07:43,380 They really let me be part of the team. 110 00:07:43,650 --> 00:07:48,030 Not only that, their client also led to multiple referrals. 111 00:07:49,300 --> 00:07:55,090 Remember, this is all just from building trust first, every single potential client you work with. 112 00:07:55,360 --> 00:07:57,820 Make sure you keep these factors in mind. 113 00:07:58,940 --> 00:08:04,460 First showed things in writing, Do not be afraid of contracts, you need to bring your tools to the 114 00:08:04,460 --> 00:08:04,820 game. 115 00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:06,770 You can't stray away from this. 116 00:08:07,130 --> 00:08:09,440 You are not someone that's running a scam. 117 00:08:09,440 --> 00:08:15,080 You were selling services to take care of people as a freelancer, you were there to solve their problems. 118 00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:19,850 So when you're presenting information, show them the benefits in writing. 119 00:08:20,450 --> 00:08:27,230 Send them articles, show them case studies, keep in evidence manual of success stories and testimonials 120 00:08:27,560 --> 00:08:30,260 that you can copy and paste in the blink of an eye. 121 00:08:31,230 --> 00:08:35,310 And then you can even show them what the competition's documentation looks like. 122 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:39,780 Remember, never so with words, always show documentation. 123 00:08:40,110 --> 00:08:42,300 That is how you can build credibility. 124 00:08:43,920 --> 00:08:51,420 Next, use third party outside data, the buyer nowadays is more dependent on facts than ever before. 125 00:08:51,430 --> 00:08:55,960 We are in information age, so don't tell people what you were going to do. 126 00:08:56,010 --> 00:09:02,160 Show them an informed buyer is always better than an uninformed buyer because an uninformed buyer cannot 127 00:09:02,160 --> 00:09:02,910 make a decision. 128 00:09:04,200 --> 00:09:08,880 They need to go back out there in the marketplace, do more research and gather more data. 129 00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:16,080 On the other hand, a buyer or a client that is completely informed is the one that is the most valuable 130 00:09:16,080 --> 00:09:17,820 because they are ready to make a decision. 131 00:09:18,570 --> 00:09:24,570 So always remember to use this third party outside data so you can build more credibility with potential 132 00:09:24,570 --> 00:09:25,140 clients. 133 00:09:26,960 --> 00:09:31,100 Next, never give your price or a quote over the phone. 134 00:09:31,940 --> 00:09:37,910 This is important because when you start to try to negotiate, especially as a beginner with sales. 135 00:09:39,260 --> 00:09:42,620 You are not going to put yourself in the best position to succeed. 136 00:09:43,460 --> 00:09:45,680 I suggest to never negotiate with words. 137 00:09:46,250 --> 00:09:51,140 Instead, write them down on paper, form them into proposals like I will show you in future modules, 138 00:09:51,740 --> 00:09:57,500 provide the prices different options in writing and then let the client come back to you from there. 139 00:09:58,010 --> 00:10:02,390 Because in my experience, this helps so much, especially on Upwork. 140 00:10:02,810 --> 00:10:07,700 You can phrase it something like this if a client is really pushing you for a price on the phone, you 141 00:10:07,700 --> 00:10:14,090 can say, I understand you want the price, but in order for me to get you the most accurate price and 142 00:10:14,090 --> 00:10:19,250 plan and options, I need to understand what your goals are and how we can get there. 143 00:10:19,730 --> 00:10:20,630 Does that sound good? 144 00:10:20,660 --> 00:10:21,800 Can we schedule a call? 145 00:10:22,730 --> 00:10:29,270 That is how you can get past those initial price questions and objections and build that credibility 146 00:10:29,270 --> 00:10:29,900 with the client. 147 00:10:30,320 --> 00:10:35,030 Because once you tell them that you want to understand their goals before you give them a price, you're 148 00:10:35,030 --> 00:10:39,800 going to differentiate yourself from the competition, automatically build that credibility because 149 00:10:39,800 --> 00:10:42,050 you're not just showing them that you're there for the money. 150 00:10:42,350 --> 00:10:47,330 At this point, you're showing them that you're there to help them, and that's how you become a profitable 151 00:10:47,330 --> 00:10:47,990 freelancer. 152 00:10:49,840 --> 00:10:56,290 The more data you provide, the better, the more information and the more informed your client can 153 00:10:56,290 --> 00:11:03,490 become, the better chances you have for succeeding and for becoming a profitable freelancer with them. 154 00:11:05,540 --> 00:11:07,510 Have your information ready in real time. 155 00:11:07,840 --> 00:11:12,190 So if you're on the phone with a client, be ready to get their email or their phone number. 156 00:11:12,640 --> 00:11:15,430 This is also a great way to get that information from them. 157 00:11:15,850 --> 00:11:18,550 So let's say you don't have their email yet or their phone number. 158 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:23,170 You can do is say that you have some information right on hand that you want to send them. 159 00:11:23,560 --> 00:11:28,750 Tell them you have a case study pulled up that fits directly with what you were talking about and ask 160 00:11:28,750 --> 00:11:29,770 for their cell phone number. 161 00:11:30,340 --> 00:11:32,710 That is how you can build immense credibility. 162 00:11:34,680 --> 00:11:36,790 Use tools like screen sharing as well. 163 00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:40,350 This is also in the profitable tools and apps PDF. 164 00:11:40,620 --> 00:11:46,920 I have a couple of screen sharing tools I love to use, and screen sharing can be used as a video conference, 165 00:11:46,920 --> 00:11:52,020 and it can also be used to capture your screen and send it as a video to clients. 166 00:11:52,950 --> 00:11:54,930 This is how you can build trust. 167 00:11:55,230 --> 00:12:00,840 This is how you can go above and beyond and differentiate yourself from what all the other freelancers 168 00:12:00,840 --> 00:12:01,290 are doing. 169 00:12:01,950 --> 00:12:07,770 Because chances are, the client doesn't trust you, so you need to give them reasons to trust you. 170 00:12:08,690 --> 00:12:14,720 So now you understand the basics of selling and how it applies to being a profitable freelancer.