Many people deny it, but you have to admit that if you are a freelancer, sales is part of your job. In some sense, you depend on it, and that is how to increase those sales without losing quality, and we are going to look at it now.
Yes, selling the services is something different than selling cheese in a store, but we can observe some common features here. First of all, it is quality, which must be at the highest level, if you want more customers.
However, it is worth considering the fact that you are alone and you have a time limit on how much work you can do in a certain period of time.
There are other cases where we may communicate with the client one-on-one and discuss the future product and make changes to it together. Even if you are a master of your business who does everything almost perfectly, but you do not pay the proper attention to sales, you will simply be left without an income.
You Solve Problems
Let’s start with the basics of understanding sales. In short, you are a tool in the hands of the customer who solves his/ her problems a freelancer. People have a certain desire that they need to carry out, they consider the choices and select the best option.
The more favorable you look compared to others, the greater the chance that you will be contacted, recommended, and offered.
This is how you achieve recognition and popularize your name:
- Experience
- Guarantees
- Confidence in you (recommendations, portfolio, adequacy),
- Cost and deadlines.
If you want to become a desirable freelancer, provide the best conditions. But please do not dump the low price — this is the way to nowhere.
Understand that for many jobs the price is not primary, and it is important to be done in time and well. A client is looking for only the minimum price — not the best from our point of view. Their desire is normal, but it is absolutely not profitable for you.
But above all, you want to make money, right? So, accustom yourself to the simple principle — your work is valuable and must be paid respectively. And in exchange, you provide a high-quality service. Then everyone will be happy.
Your Value and Benefits
The amount clients pay is your value as a freelancer in their eyes. Therefore, the more useful you are, the higher the amount of payment. Everything here is relatively simple. The higher the worth and quality of your product or service, the higher the price customers will be ready to pay. For a simple example, let’s take two situations:
- Changing the background color of the page.
- A complete redesign of the site.
The question is, in which of the cases the potential payment will be higher: in the first or the second one? The point is very simple, try to train yourself to make services and products that will be of maximum value to the customers as a freelancer.
Where to Start?
In this section, we will quickly run through the basics. It is especially helpful if you are a new freelancer and simply confused and cannot even find first orders. Work for free is suitable when you are just starting, want to feel the ground, find small orders, understand in general terms, what it is and how it works.
You may be indignant, how can I sell my services for free? Is it? But do not rush to resent. It will be a great start, as well as fewer complaints from customers because they do not even pay for it.
Simple examples:
- Start with your close friends and family. It is the easiest and most effective way to tell them about what you do or ask them to tell their friends about services and offerings.
- Write posts on social networks about what you may be useful and periodically publish them again.
- Monitor job requests in thematic groups.
- Post ads for your services on message boards and forums or social networks.
- Create a resume and post it on job search websites.
What will it give you? The first orders, feedback, works that can be put into a portfolio, an understanding that your skills are in demand and some clients are willing to pay for your professionalism. Believe me, if you are just beginning as a freelancer, this tactic will give you a tremendous kick-start.
Working with Marketplaces as a Freelancer
Let’s give a couple of words to such an interesting and must-use trick, like working with marketplaces. Yes, you are a web designer and freelancer, and want to get a lot of money for serious orders. Cooperation with marketplaces is the most profitable way.
For example, you offer some works on MasterBundles. This web platform can bring you good profits, and there is a high chance that your products will be seen by thousands of customers. That means you have an opportunity to find clients and start cooperating with them.
Personal qualities
When you provide web design services a freelancer, it is very important who you are. The clients know that they will communicate with you and probably it will be quite often. They want to know if it is easy or difficult to find common ground with you.
Here and now is just the best time to show your potential. Professional communication is important, but most clients also prefer to work with people they like. It means that you need to be yourself and communicate with potential clients, and not be afraid to say an extra word.
The web design process involves intense interaction between the worker and the client. But be sure that customers may also be intimidated by this. If the client enjoys the first conversation with you as a freelancer and you win their favor, then you will have a better chance of getting the order.
This is where reputation plays a key role in sales. If you have a good reputation, if you have good reviews, then you have a better chance of attracting customers.
Besides, you also need to demonstrate or sell your own experience and knowledge. This can be on a general level. But for greater success, you should show examples of related projects. Demonstrate exactly how you can help clients in similar situations, and show that you are confident that you have useful skills that will benefit this project.
The examples of previous works can be especially helpful. If you may show how clients profit from your work, you have a greater chance of being noticed as a freelancer. Some designers publish detailed case studies on their portfolio sites. Another alternative is a printed case study guide.
Price Is Not Everything
When increasing the number of sales, sometimes you can lower prices if you can get enough revenue from such a move. Price competition is already a classic strategy and is applied when sales volumes increase. In other words, using price as the major selling point is best for products, not for services.
In general, it is a fairly effective way, especially if you are engaged in some, perhaps handmade products, such as making knives. You start buying more materials, thereby getting a good discount from the supplier for wholesale. Improving the equipment for faster production and so on, you get a good profit.
However, when you are a web designer such a strategy can be successful in very individual cases, even if you spend almost all of your day on this and adore your work. There may come a time when you just physically can not make a large number of orders for a short period and will simply be exhausted.
Quite a few freelancers try to play by this strategy, but you are not a robot. Certainly, such experience has a place in the work, but you have to be very careful with it. The question immediately arises, then what to do? You will find the answers next.
Quality Is Crucial
And so, if for some reason you cannot sell the services simply by lowering the price (and in many cases, it will be), then you need to interest the client in something else. It is likely to be the most important thing in the work — quality.
In order to maintain your services at a really high level, it is always advisable to pay attention to the following aspects:
- Keep only high-quality samples in the portfolio.
- Hone and improve your skills at every opportunity.
- Pay special attention to checking and testing the work after it is completed.
At its core, quality is your way to success. If you try to do everything at the top level and surpass the services of your competitors several times over, then you will succeed many times faster.
Persistence
Your persistence and desire to make deals will also help you a lot in moving the business forward. A very large number of freelancers simply do not achieve success in their work because they just sit and wait for something amazing.
You can get a few steps ahead of them, thereby making your way into a better world. Persistence does not mean that you will write or call a potential customer every 5 minutes and force them to buy your product.
As a freelancer who is probably not an experienced salesperson, you must be familiar with the feeling of backing away from a potential client for fear of seeming too persistent. However, you should not try to beg for a sale.
The potential client knows that you are in business. They expect you to try to make a deal. And you do not need to be persistent to ask for a sale. Remember, however, that sometimes “no” means “not now.” That is why it is essential to keep in touch with your potential clients.
Network as a Freelancer
Networking is not necessarily about becoming a robot doing tasks and constantly looking for clients. In fact, if you really want to sell web design services, it is better to become relaxed.
Since companies are looking for workers who understand their needs, you should focus on getting to the point where you understand them. Reach out to your local community looking for new clients.
Send an email to local businesses to introduce yourself and the services. Join a community business organization and provide some volunteer work if you can afford it.
These small steps will help you build relationships with people who need your services. When looking for ways to sell practical and effective web design services, you are better off moving away from traditional methods.
Forget about group emails, calls, or advertisements. To build a relationship that will lead to long-term clients, you will have to take a personal approach.
Final Words on Being a Freelancer
As we can see, in order to increase the sales as a freelancer, you will have to work hard. Making money is not a natural skill for most web designers or developers. However, sales is a very important aspect that will help you get ahead of the competition.
Fortunately, selling freelance services does not require you to be an elite salesperson. The tips in this article can help you succeed, but it is always worth remembering that they are worthless if you have nothing to offer.
Make sure you have a solid portfolio of work, including your own website, before approaching potential clients. If you can create case studies, do so.
Once you establish yourself in the business as a designer and freelancer who can be trusted, more clients will reach out to you. And then everything will go the way of growth: one shared with a friend, and the word about you as a professional began to spread.