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Get It Right: How to Make It While Freelancing

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About one in two American workers will participate to some degree in the Freelance labor market by 2027, according to researchers at Statista, the German global business intelligence platform, who project that about 86.5 million workers, more than half of the U.S. workforce, will earn their living as Freelance professionals or other independently employed workers.

That more smart and ambitious professionals are expected to join the Freelance labor market is a powerful vote of confidence, but a growing numbers of professionals will inevitably result in a marketplace crowded with competitors and making it increasingly difficult to stand out and build a thriving, sustainable Freelance business entity.

As a new year approaches and the “fresh start” impulse kicks in, you may be inclined to take up some future-proof thinking; your brainstorming may lead you to remember that the best defense is a good offense. What proactive and assertive strategies can you explore and enact now to strengthen your position in a marketplace that is destined to become more competitive?

A defensive strategy known to augment the power of your brand is to include in all marketing initiatives and collaterals campaign messaging that describes and promotes your brand’s Unique Selling Proposition—those singular benefits that appeal to your ideal clients and distinguish your services or products from competitors. It is imperative that USP attributes are consistently and unambiguously communicated in marketing messages, to ensure that your marketplace offerings are recognizable to those who value them.

Robust marketing is just one vital component needed to build and sustain a successful Freelance venture. Below are a few basic actions that, if enabled by big-picture thinking and working smart, along with a dose of good luck, can help you to climb to the top of the Freelance earnings pyramid. Here you go!

1. Freelancing is sales

Freelancing means that you must work so that you can work—and the work you must do is selling. It’s an unavoidable fact that in order to be hired for client work, Freelancers must persuade prospective clients to become your paying clients. That can occur if your capabilities are superior to any competitors who are also vying for the assignment. Furthermore, you must demonstrate that you are well-organized and efficient, pleasant to work with and that you are good cultural fit for the client’s company and team. Finally, you must have two or three credible references to provide third-party verification of your abilities and good qualities. If the client, which could be represented by a hiring committee, is satisfied with your competencies and credentials, you will be awarded the contract.

Note that the primary ingredient in this process is sales. To make money, Freelance professionals (and all business owners) must become adept at sales and that includes understanding the “pain points” that motivate clients to seek out the type of services or products that you offer. Before client work is obtained, the Freelancer must sell—and that begins with identifying and connecting with viable prospects who may have a project scheduled for which you are qualified. Selling is probably the most important competency a Freelancer must develop, whether you are a software developer or a make-up artist, because you can’t entirely outsource it. The owner of the company must be able to sell the product or service to prospective clients.

Face2face networking is the most effective way to meet those who might hire you, although quite a few Freelancers regularly connect with prospects who become paying clients when working through a Freelance marketplace such as Xolo, Upwork, Freelancer, or Fiverr, which vets the legitimacy of Freelancers and prospective clients. In addition to possessing the necessary skills to satisfactorily complete the project, the Freelancer must also communicate that s/he is trustworthy, dependable and, oftentimes, has done work similar to the project in question, in order to instill sufficient confidence in either online or in-person prospect introductions to extend an invitation to interview for the project and green-light the hire.

2. Identify your market niche

What services will your Freelance consulting business provide and who can you expect to become your clients? Freelancers must acquire expertise in a marketable skill and understand the typical “pain points” of prospective clients. You must learn to articulate the problems can you solve, which goals you can help the prospect achieve. Aspiring Freelance professionals cannot simply decide that you’d like to earn a living as a social media marketer or special events photographer and voila, you will receive offers of work. High-level skills and significant experience are needed before you can go out on your own and expect to make a living.

When pondering the possibility of launching a Freelance business, research the marketplace need in your geography of the current and trending demand for skills that you can demonstrate at expert level. That you are “passionate” about certain activities is not enough. Which trends are emerging and which once-dominant trends are waning?

Finally, research and learn how those who would be your prospective clients getting their needs met now. The answer to this question will reveal your competitors. Research who is making money in your niche. Visit websites and social media accounts to find out the identity of big clients and learn how your prospective competitors sell to clients.

3. Freelancers are business owners

Freelancing calls for more energy, determination, savvy and creativity than social media cheerleaders let on. As detailed above, Freelance professionals do more than provide the contracted services by providing an effective solution that solves a problem or achieves a goal. Freelancing also means you must become adept at managing the business aspects of your entity.

In all likelihood the best way to obtain comprehensive business development skills capable of building a robust and sustainable Freelance venture is to contact SCORE, The Service Corp of Retired Executives, the nation’s largest network of volunteer, expert business mentors who, at no charge in most cases, will help you, a small businesses owner-operator, plan, launch, manage and grow your entity.  SCORE is a not-for-profit organization launched by the Small Business Association in 1964 and is dedicated to developing thriving small business communities through mentoring and educational workshops.

4. Your story Is your power

Storytelling can be an opportunity to share your unique experiences that differentiate you from competitors and help you and your company, services, or products to stand out in the ever more crowded marketplace. Your stories communicate your brand identity and brand persona as they connect you with potential clients in a memorable way. Your stories are one of your most important relationship-building marketing assets.

You can share professional experiences, personal reflections, obstacles you’ve faced and tackled and observations that have taught you powerful lessons. Regardless of the type of story, you should follow a clear structure by ensuring you highlight what exactly happened (the context), the lesson to be taught through the challenge or crisis in the story and conclude with the positive outcome or result—even if it was unexpected. Your stories bolster your relatability, build transparency and trust, demonstrate your resilience and resourcefulness and might also opens doors to opportunities like speaking engagements and co-hosting workshops. A resonating story is all about how you tell it and for that bit of magic, I refer you to champion storyteller Kelly D, Parker.

5. Price like you understand the job

Don’t allow fear to cause you to under-price your services, including all the “extras” that collectively represent the quality of the customer experience your clients have come to associate with your organization. Like the classic L’Oreal tagline for Preference Hair Color said, “Because you’re worth it“. Freelancers who underbid projects, thinking that low project fees result in more work only misinterpret the psychology of sales. Freelancers who don’t ask enough questions to apprise the scope of the work and client expectations, don’t account for revisions and don’t build in a buffer zone of time to mitigate timeline delays caused by unexpected complications that could undermine achieving the preferred project completion date don’t really understand the meaning of cost-effective.

Your project price quote tells a prospect that you understand the scope, you’ve thought things through and that the client can trust you to stay calm and in control, whether in the best-case scenario, when all goes according to plan, or when something goes sideways. If your price is too low, the client may silently worry that you’re missing something important. On the other hand, if your quote is too high as compared to others that were received, the client may suspect that you’re padding the estimate as a way to enrich him/herself.

The pricing sweet spot is a balancing act that must satisfy both the client and you. Your project quote must be not be so low as to raise red flags, nor so expensive as to create anxiety, but realistic and competitive enough to suggest you know exactly what you’re getting into. Price like you understand what it takes to do the job right and clients will trust you to do it.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: ©Edmund Dantes/Pexels for iStock

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Make Marketing Messages Memorable

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What is effective marketing in the 21st century? Communication technology has gone through so many game-changing upgrades—radio! television! Watson the IBM supercomputer!—but the essence of human beings hasn’t really changed over the centuries. The basics of buying and selling resources that we value, whether they are integral to survival or ego-boosting bling, are still governed by a group of fairly standard actions that comprise what’s known as the buyer’s journey. Circumstances and other factors that spark buyer interest and may lead to a sale haven’t changed much in about 8,000 years of civilization as we know it. I think it’s safe to say that buying and selling, and the marketing strategies designed to influence the process, are at their core about the same today as marketing was in Shakespeare’s England (early 1600s) or during the reign of the pharaohs.

Successful marketing campaigns have as their foundation good storytelling and the story must be distributed to potential buyers of the product or service. Marketing stories must appeal to prospective buyers and be accessible on media outlets (channels) that target prospective buyers follow and trust. Beyond those qualifiers, it’s incumbent upon sellers to create and distribute marketing content with a message that persuades potential buyers to stop, look and engage. Sellers need a marketing message that tweaks curiosity or strikes a familiar chord with those who experience it. How can you ensure that your marketing messages will consistently deliver? Read on to learn a few actions that will optimize the power of your marketing messages.

How are prospects meeting their needs now?

As usual, it makes sense to begin at the beginning. Before you can create trust inspiring, right-on-time marketing messages, it’s necessary to know what your customers are doing now — who or what are you competing against? You cannot make a battle plan until you know your opponent and the strengths, weaknesses and perceived value that’s made customers buy (until you arrived to shake things up)?

BTW, more often than you’d guess, your competition is neither a rival Freelancer nor a traditional business entity; your competitor could be inertia, AKA doing nothing. The status quo could be your client’s hiding place and coaxing him/her into the fresh air and sunshine of problem-solving could be a difficult endeavor. “Kicking the can” may have powerful defenders on your sale’s decision-making committee and one or more of them could have budget influence that can be weaponized and used to shut down spending or any move toward progress.

So, if one or two of the prospect’s decision-making committee members are comfortable with what’s being done now, you must demonstrate why deflecting what could be considered a reasonable problem-solving action, or doing the same dance with the same partner, is less effective and in the end more costly than bringing in your solution. To do that, you’ll need a marketing message that is powerful and persuasive. To figure out how to shape the narrative you need, start by exploring these issues:

  • Examine and analyze lost sales. When you lose a sale, diplomatically attempt to discover who your prospect decided to buy from, if possible. Perhaps even more important is to ask the prospect directly or ask someone who can speak for him/her, what shortcoming(s) motivated the decision to select another vendor. You must learn how you dropped the ball in order to fix the problem. Once you’ve identified lapses and/or weaknesses, you’ll decide on the most efficient corrective actions.
  • Examine and analyze successful sales. When the prospect hires you and becomes your client, discreetly inquire about their decision process. It’s seldom easy to learn the identities of competitors on your now-client’s shortlist but is a definitive way to confirm your competition. Equally valuable intel is learning which factors or characteristics of yours motivated decision-makers to bring you on board. What is it about you and your organization or skill set that makes you stand out?
  • Get input from your best customers. If your product or service didn’t exist, what would your customers do instead? Their answers will reveal the real-world alternative solutions you’re up against. To get started on building your case, consider these tactics:

Describe your value proposition, as your buyers define it

Once you have a good understanding of your typical competitors, identified weaknesses you must address and strengths that distinguish you and instill confidence in prospects, incorporate your findings in your marketing messages. Your story will be best served when you think beyond predictable product or service features; standing out in today’s hyper-competitive marketplace requires more than a recitation of product or service features and benefits. Put yourself in the prospect’s shoes and envision what s/he must achieve and what it takes to do so and use those insights to predict which of your product or service features and benefits to showcase. Develop a marketing message that will “paint a picture” that enables your prospect to “see” how your solution helps them to achieve their goals or please their customers. Adopt a “what’s in it for them” mindset as you customize your marketing message with a story that goes beyond generalities:

  • Superior customer experience (e.g., fast and uncomplicated new customer onboarding or the availability of end-user training and/or other post-sale support.
  • Expertise in a specific market or problem area.
  • Flexibility or customization that others lack.
  • A track record of success with companies similar to your target customers.

Edit marketing message talking points

Make it easy for prospects to remember (and also value) features and benefits by paring down your list and building your message on three or four powerful and persuasive talking points, so that you’ll avoid overwhelming prospects with too much information that is bound to get lost in the shuffle. A short list of strong value points makes a bigger impact than a long list of features. These 3-4 marketing message talking points become your core value proposition for you to use in all of your marketing materials. Choose your list of customized, high value talking points guided by these suggestions:

  • Relevance: Which benefits speak most directly to your audience’s most urgent goal or problem?
  • Uniqueness: Which of your strengths is most difficult for competitors to copy or claim?
  • Defensibility: How does your marketing message communicate a story that demonstrates in a clear and persuasive narrative that your solution and company are the best option for the client?

Customize messages for market segments

Your carefully selected and vetted marketing message should quickly resonate with your customers and prospects, literally “speak” to your audience so that its members can recognize the information they care about most. Adjust your core message based on who you’re talking to and where they are in the buying journey. Be sensitive to the need of different information or incentives that are useful to prospect as they progress through the buyer’s journey. Prospects who are establishing a familiarity with your company and its solutions are not the same as prospects who are in the process of making a final determination between two or three potential vendors. Supporting information should align with the questions a typical prospect has when progressing through the buyer’s journey.

  • Decision-makers: Emphasize high-level results, like return on investment for users of your product or service, or overall cost savings.
  • End-users: Focus on ease of use and practical features.
  • Awareness stage: Talk about common problems and introduce your solution.
  • Decision stage: Show clear proof and highlight what makes you stand out.

Message at every touchpoint

A messaging hierarchy helps you stay consistent across all channels — from your website homepage to sales meetings. It starts with your core value points, then moves into supporting messages and ends with evidence. Structure it like this:

  1. Value proposition talking points: The top 3-4 benefits you chose to highlight (above).
  2. Supporting messages: Additional advantages or benefits that reinforce why you core value proposition makes a (positive) difference for the prospect.
  3. Case studies: Real life experience helps a prospect understand how your service or product performs in the real world. Present performance metrics, share a case study or other stories that document and illustrate how you (and your team) provide solutions that solves problems, achieves goals and delivers on promises made.
  4. Technology: Demonstrate to your prospect that you are a capable and prepared professional who is comfortable with commonly used tech solutions by using an online calendar platform (such as Calendly) to schedule and confirm your sales meetings, as you reduce the incidence of missed appointments or cancellations—frustrating time wasters. Doing so demonstrates not only your knowledge and proficiency of useful technology, but also signals to prospects your intention to deliver a seamless and pleasant end-to-end customer experience.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: ©National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) 1972. Eugene Cernan, commander of the Apollo 17 mission and the last astronaut to walk on the moon, holds an American flag during his mission in December 1972. 

 

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Reinvent and Rescue Your Failing Business

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Those of you who follow astrology know that the planet Mercury is currently in retrograde meaning, as a result of an optical illusion, the planet appears to be moving backward in its orbit. Mercury began to retrograde on August 5 and the phase ends on August 28. The third and final Mercury retrograde of the year will occur November 25-December 15 (the first retrograde Mercury of 2024 was April 1- 25). All nine planets can appear to retrograde and it is said that when they do, the effect can scramble our best laid plans. For example, signing contracts is said to be ill-advised during retrograde Mercury (and also during retrograde Venus, Mars, or Jupiter). However, there is an upside associated with the downside of retrograde Mercury—you may be able to rectify what went off the rails.

Astrologers claim that Mercury is the planet most closely associated with business activities. You would never launch a business during retrograde Mercury (or retrograde Venus, Mars, or Jupiter), when the planet seems to be orbiting backward, because the venture would almost certainly fail—you want forward movement to get things rolling. Instead, astrologers advise you to use retrograde Mercury to figure out whether a failing enterprise can (or should) be rescued and is worth the effort and money needed for the resurrection.

The prefix re– conveys the spirit of retrograde and signals that it’s time to pause and reflect on what has transpired and anticipate how the outcomes might influence next steps. The ancient practice of astrology recommends using retrograde Mercury to revisit, reconsider, repair, recuperate, or reimagine what appears to be broken but, with careful reassessment and cost-effective reengineering, can be successfully rebuilt.

Oh, why not? Do not allow the heartbreak and frustration you feel as your dream of entrepreneurship crumbles convince you to abandon ship too soon. You owe it to yourself to discover what might respond to a well-executed pivot and put the remedy in motion.

Review what went wrong

Conduct a thorough post-mortem to reveal which factors caused the failure. Was it the product or service offered, or were you too far ahead of a developing trend? Did you overestimate the size of your target market, or become too optimistic about demand for your offering? Were there operational problems that, e.g., interfered with product manufacturing or delivery, or was cash-flow the problem?

A comprehensive review of financial statements, sales data and customer feedback will help you recognize the glitches. With an accurate diagnosis of what has not been working, you can redirect your focus and develop a reinvention strategy.

Rethink the business model

A business model describes how the venture will make money—methods the company will use to sell the product or service to customers and how the business will drive sales, for instance. A business model also determines the type of products and/or services that make sense for the company to sell and how to effectively market and brand those products or services. The will identify the ideal customers the company should aim to capture, the depth of customer demand and anticipated operational and selling expenses. Miscalculations in the business model planning are almost certain to eventually result in unmet revenue expectations. Appropriate market research is the remedy for an ineffective business model. Study direct competitors and industry trends.

Reconfirm customer demand

Understanding your target customer’s needs and priorities is integral to start-up success, so obtaining psychographic data will help you clarify what is essential to them when they shop in your product category. Whether or not your business failure was a lapse of product-market fit, identifying and then learning how to communicate your offering’s value proposition is a key component of brand-building and achieving sales revenue goals. An insufficient product-market fit results in the product or service failing to resonate with prospective customers and results in weak demand.

Revisiting the buyer persona of your ideal target customer will also be instructive. Let your market research lead you to identify the right customer, the right product-market fit and just maybe, reveal a niche target audience with a readjusted offering, that differentiates you from competitors and paves the way to a loyal customer base that is your springboard to sustainable growth.

Reassess pricing

Pricing problems limit sales revenue, whether you’ve priced too high or too low. Incorrect pricing is often implicated in cash-flow and revenue difficulties. Get your bearings by researching three or four competitors to verify the price tolerance range for your product or service category and get an idea of how you might readjust your pricing—and maybe customer payment options, too. Being flexible and creative with how customers can purchase and pay for products and services—on your website, on social media, on consignment, with free delivery—can boost sales and build your customer base. But first, do your price comparisons to ensure any new pricing is competitive and fits your market tier and brand, whether luxury, midlevel, or economy.

Reexamine the sales strategy

Again, make it easy for customers to do business with you, whether you are a bricks & mortar shop, sell on line, or offer your wares through a subscription service. Also, shipping and delivery should be easy and priced at a level that customers accept.

Furthermore, inefficient or cumbersome business procedures can drain time and resources away from serving customers and growing the business. Investigate technology—marketing, financial, operational— to simplify workflows, delegate tasks, improve organization, speed up processes and reduce expenses associated with day-to-day operations.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: © iStock for TheSchoolRun. The solar system.

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Making Sense of Your Data

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When you think about it for a minute, you might agree that basically every aspect of your business can benefit from relevant and timely information—-i.e., data. However, your potentially helpful data can leave you with a puzzle to put together, unfamiliar terrain to navigate, before you can make sense of the information and understand the picture it’s trying to show you.

The puzzle pieces that contain your data could be expressed in various formats, e.g., columns of numbers, pie charts, bar graphs, or the written opinions of researchers and thought leaders. Furthermore, the data sources often use different benchmarks and measuring standards and make getting a sense of things sort of a wrestling match.

Analyzing data reminds me of buying produce at Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods. At Trader Joe’s, the bananas are 19 cents each and there are no scales. At Whole Foods, bananas are 49 cents a pound. How can I calculate what I’m paying for the fruit or the other produce that I buy at each market and compare prices?

Data analysts and other experts say that for much of the information we access, tools that cut through the maze and bring focus to the picture, such as identifying patterns and trends for you to consider, are a must. Otherwise, you’ll be unable to fully comprehend the data’s story, unable to make good use of the information and enable it do what you need it to do, which is to support good decision-making. Micrsoft Excel or Power BI, Python, Jupyter and Apache Spark are among the most highly rated data analytics tools.

Among the most common functions that data analysis is called upon to provide insight are:

Marketing teams use data to examine website visits, often by way of Google Analytics and social media stats, by way of services such as BuzzSumo, Sprout Social, or HubSpot. Understanding what’s happening in the company’s marketplace and revealing customer behavior by analyzing Descriptive Analytic data is a typical goal.

Sales teams use data to understand the customer buying journey and learn what motivates a sale, along with revealing customer buying patterns. With access to unlimited online information, prospective customers are better informed about potential purchases than they’ve ever been. B2B sales researchers have documented that prospects are usually 80% of the way through the buying cycle before making contact with a sales team. Customers are in the driver’s seat.

Finance/ Accounting teams have always had access to the reams of data that’s attached to invoices, accounts payable and receivable transactions, sales revenue, inventory counts and other movements of money and resources.

Operations teams are charged with continually reviewing any number of business processes, from how to source or manufacture the products and services that a company sells, to recommending the most optimal methods to connect those products to customers, to ensuring that company offices are equipped with effective HVAC systems. Obtaining data that reveals operational efficiencies and enables business functions to be executed in the easiest, fastest and least costly or risky methods is the eternal goal.


Yet the question has always been, how can anyone—-multinational conglomerate or Freelance solopreneur—-maximize the value of your data?

  • Put data to work Your data is wasted unless you examine it, interpret it and let it guide your actions and decision-making.
  • Sort and analyze Appropriately grouping, categorizing and analyzing your data makes business intelligence tools necessary when working with large amounts of data. Today, data analysis means Artificial Intelligence. AI-powered systems will in mere seconds collect, sort, analyze and make meaningful recommendations for you and your team to review and evaluate. If that’s not enough, your AI tool will ”learn” from the data you feed it and the recommendations it makes to continually refine and improve the outcomes.
  • Strengths into opportunities Let your data show you where you shine. Maybe it’s your amazing referral rate or customer retention rate. Maybe it’s the memorable customer experience that you create or the loyal followers who’ve turned into brand cheerleaders for your company.
  • Prioritize Get clear and pragmatic about goals and objectives the organization would be wise to pursue over the long and short terms. Your customers and their emerging preferences and priorities are certain to influence the strategies and actions that emerge at the head of the line. Let the marketplace guide you.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: © Warner Brothers Pictures. Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange (1971), directed by Stanley Kubrick 

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Moving the Needle on B2B Sales Deals

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Selling B2B professional services is no day at the beach, as you’ve probably deduced by now. Getting B2B sales deals across the finish line can be an uphill marathon that leaves you face down on Heartbreak Hill. Unlike your B2C colleagues, you can’t ride the wave of multi-million dollar product launches or other advertising campaigns to convince prospects of the amazing benefits that your product or service delivers.

Moreover, there are no impulse buys in B2B, no equivalent of customers adding candy to their shopping basket while waiting in the check-out line. Your marketing campaigns and sales pitches speak to business goals with a deadline and problems that must be resolved.

On top of that many, if not most, B2B services that Freelancers provide are unlike the various software as a service products that can be easily compared and evaluated, feature by feature. Once a prospect has found you, it’s necessary to pitch your solution in a narrative mix of hard facts and soft skill intangibles that portray you and your capabilities as an effective and trustworthy choice.

In some instances, you may even work to convince a prospect that there actually is a problem to solve, that something can be done in a faster or easier way. As a result, the sales cycle of the typical Freelance consultant is long. So what can you do to keep the pipeline filled and your cash-flow positive now and into 2022? There are some cultural shifts to keep in mind as you consider strategies that you might implement.

The Great Resignation factor

In the early 2000s, I started to notice that important contacts at companies with whom I worked regularly disappeared in about two years. Not good! So much of obtaining repeat business depends on relationships. It costs you money when an ally leaves a prospect’s decision team. You may not know where they’re going next and they usually don’t take you with them by introducing you and your services at their next assignment

This phenomenon is detrimental to the future of your business. The Great Resignation factor (addressed in the September 7, 2021 post) has heightened this trend. Freelancers are advised to include this reality in client pursuit and post-project client retention strategies. You can’t control what will happen, but knowing that a change is brewing gives you the opportunity to ask who will join the project discussions, so you’ll have a chance to begin building a new relationship, starting with an email introduction.

The 2021 LinkedIn Global State of Sales Report, which surveyed 7,500 B2B buyers and sellers in 11 countries, advises sellers to stay current with intel about project decision-makers and stakeholders. The survey found that 25% of decision-makers either change roles or leave the company in a given year. The survey also found that unfortunately, 85% of sellers reported that they lost at least one sales deal, or that a deal was delayed, because a key stakeholder left his/ her job. Of the many advantages acquired by tactfully remaining in touch with the primary decision-maker and influential stakeholders of every potential sales deal is receiving updates regarding who’s on and who’s off the team.

The Work From Home factor

Some companies have at least temporarily continued the work from home protocol for their employees when possible, but many have begun asking staff to work on-site at least 2 – 3 days/week. Still, the practice throws cold water on face2face sales meetings. The 2021 State of Sales Report indicates that B2B virtual selling gives the advantage to buyers, however McKinsey reports that 76% of B2B buyers prefer in-person sales meetings, or at least a telephone meeting. when evaluating a product or service that they’ve not used before. Zoom is convenient but apparently not considered ideal for first time meetings.

When appropriate, McKinsey found that 46% of B2B buyers say they’ll make purchases online online, but only 10% do so. Notably, 46% of B2B buyers feel it’s too difficult to compare the available products online. These buyers also are dissatisfied by the frequently slow responses to their inquiries.

The Digital transformation factor

Warning: 70% of digital transformation initiatives fall short of expectations. McKinsey reported that companies achieve the best results when a combination of human and digital interactions create a hybrid buyer’s journey. Because prospective buyers appreciate fast answers to their basic questions about your products and services, installing a chat bot and adding a FAQ tab to your website will expedite the delivery of information and facilitate a satisfying buyer’s journey that instills trust in your company and its solutions.

If you are tech savvy, explore and evaluate UX (user experience) and UI (user interface) digital tools. The free Adobe XD starter plan lets you design digital features that maximize the impact of touch points along the buyer’s journey, after-sale service experience and other customer service experiences that you’d like to enhance. Think carefully about how much digital interaction your prospects and clients will appreciate and strike a balance between digital and human communication.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: Commodities traders at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (founded in 1874)

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Make Email Subject Lines Pop

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Email marketing is an all-star player in your outbound marketing lineup. During the 15 month pandemic shutdown email marketing which, BTW, includes your blog posts and newsletters, became even more important as business leaders struggled to maintain communication with clients and prospects.

Think about it—-before you can schedule a video call to launch a full-on sales presentation, you need to establish contact with would-be prospects and open the door to the buyer’s journey. LeadGen is how to keep your sales pipeline filled and the process deserves a comprehensive inbound and outbound approach.

The challenge with email marketing is getting your message opened and read, even when the recipient knows your company. The powerful decision-makers you need to reach are pummeled with dozens of emails every day, Monday to Friday (and sometimes on the weekend). To manage the inflow, your decision-maker prospects are constantly prioritizing their inbox, often setting up filters and other gateways to organize messages that help them respond to important and urgent notes as efficiently as possible.

If you expect to persuade your intended prospect to click on your email in the midst of a typical deluge, it’s imperative that your email stand out in the best way. The way to do that is to create a stop-and-read subject line, an irresistible headline, that acts like a magnet. The subject line is the single most important part of an email because the opportunity to tell your story is lost if your email is sent to trash. The success of your marketing strategy is tied to the open rate of your sales/ marketing emails.

So, how does one create an intriguing, arresting, read-me email subject line? While every subject line is unique, there are guidelines to keep in mind as you write. In short, your subject line must tell recipients that your email contains information they’ll consider valuable, or somehow interesting, maybe a tad controversial or unexpected.

Eye-catching

Words such as free, limited offer and new are among those that can potentially make your subject line grab the reader. Providing a contrarian or surprising fact or statistic that challenges a common belief can likewise be compelling. Info that concerns a recent change in the industry is an update that many clients and prospects will appreciate.

Call-to-action

A call-to-action asks the reader to do something — learn, win, sign up, give feedback, for example. Many emails that drop into the average inbox lack an interesting, appealing subject line. It’s so easy for the eye to slide over much that is sent.

Devise an amusing, novel, or practical call-to-action that will both grab attention and either inspire or dare your intended reader to read on.

What’s in it for the reader?

Do you sell a product or service that can help your email recipients make money, save money, or save time? Can you help the reader’s organization achieve a mission-critical goal faster, more easily and maybe at a lower than expected cost? All of these scenarios offer value to your recipient and are enticing benefits to include in your subject line.

Be concise

Your subject line must do a lot of work in a small space. It must grab attention with a call to action, tempt the recipient with what could be in it for him/her and concisely getting to the point.The ideal length of an email subject line varies between mobile, desktop, and tablet devices, so keep this in mind as you craft the perfect one-liner for your sales email. On average, the maximum subject line is about 40 characters so that it can be seen in its entirety on phone, tablet, laptop, or desk model devices.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: Attention grabbing front page headline in the Roswell (NM) Daily Record July 8, 1947 issue

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A Call to Action

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Content creators—-producers of marketing, sales, or advertising content and sometimes speeches, too, must remember that at the conclusion of the artfully told story that’s been delivered in words and/or pictures, it is imperative that you tell the viewer what to do next. Content creators must remember to include an irresistible, inevitable, Call to Action. Fail to do so and the content creator hasn’t done the job.

A Call to Action beckons a potential prospect to do something—-learn more, get this, click here—-that will bring him/her into deeper engagement with the product, service, or idea that’s being promoted. Once the content has made the case, demonstrated the desirable characteristics and therefore the value of what is being promoted, the Call to Action functions to reel in the convinced and the curious.

Step this way, sir! Websites, content marketing posts, videos, television commercials, movie trailers and those postcards that fall out of magazines are but a few examples of where viewers and listeners will encounter a Call to Action designed to entice.

A political action group may write an article on the importance of voting in the next election. The article will likely close with an inspiring CTA message about the privilege of voting and include a link to a voter registration site. A company website may contain two or more CTAs, perhaps appeals to opt-in and receive a weekly blog, RSVP for a webinar, or request a free 30-minute consultation.

Getting started

Before writing your CTA, decide what action you’d like potential prospects to take and what they’ll gain by doing so. Once you know what you want them to do, you can think about how to say it. The best CTAs are short, encouraging and use active verbs that speak directly to the viewer. Remember that the CTA is your closer, the culmination, the purpose, of the pitch you’ve made.

Write your CTA in a font that’s somewhat larger than the other text and use a bold color to make it eye-catching. Lead in with a brief but tempting phrase that persuades viewers to click and subscribe, browse products, opt-in to receive information, attend an event, or take any number of actions.

The next step

CTA buttons are available on Google My Business and the Facebook business page. Most, if not all, email marketing, i. e. blog and newsletter hosting platforms, have always contained opt- in capability to follow or subscribe and an opt-out to unsubscribe. Content creators can easily embed CTA buttons or hyperlinks into a website, blog post, social media site, newsletter, or marketing email. Visibility will be key, so along with bigger and brighter text, place the CTA at eye-level and in most cases, on the landing page. Viewers should not need to scroll to find it.

The CTA should feel like a natural progression of what the prospect has just seen, heard, or read. Whether s/he will be able to obtain more information about using a product or service, listen to a webinar, or attend an event, ensure that your CTA is consistent with the message in your content. A benefit that conveys value, the appearance of low-risk and a sense of urgency are standard ingredients of the well-crafted CTA.

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Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: Before he became the 43rd President of the United States (2001-2009), George W. Bush was head cheerleader at the exclusive prep school Phillips Academy in Andover, MA (senior year 1963-64).

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Meeting New Clients When They’re Virtual

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As we journey through the COVID business landscape, B2B product and service providers have mostly found that the process of selling to their current clients has successfully been transferred to virtual methods, that is, videoconferencing and the telephone. But the biggest shortcoming of virtual communication is revealed when the goal is to meet and cultivate new clients.

As business (and education, government, fitness, worship, et al.) has transitioned to remote functioning one glaring truth has emerged— it’s much easier to shift existing relationships into virtual mode than it is to create new relationships, business or personal, by way of Zoom. That’s especially true in B2B sales. While many Freelancers and other business owners and leaders have directed resources toward strengthening existing client relationships, facilitating new client acquisition has folks wringing their hands.

It’s been conclusively demonstrated that it costs at least five times more time and money to acquire a new client than it costs to maintain a current client, but it remains a fact that every business must put into motion a client acquisition strategy. New clients represent the potential for future growth and they are an essential component of a healthy business ecosystem.

The problem is, relationships are more easily created during face2face interactions and we’re just not able to meet people anymore! The lockdown has either closed or severely restricted nearly all public gathering spaces. Video and voice calls keep us connected, albeit at a distance, but those relationships are in many cases already established.

So our question of the day is—-how can a business effectively grow its client list when access to new prospects is unexpectedly limited? Let’s consider some alternatives to the once customary networking formulas.

Low hanging fruit and a system reboot

Mine your client data, knowledge and relationships to discover how you might persuade those with whom you’ve been doing business to do more business. Find the low hanging fruit on a tree familiar to you. In some instances, it may be necessary to reboot certain relationships if clients were forced to cease or curtail operations due to the shutdown and its aftershocks.

Create reasons to contact clients whose organizations were adversely but not fatally impacted, perhaps by emailing COVID business resource information as a conversation starter. While trading emails or calls, you’ll be able to inquire about the location of where business is now conducted—in the office or from home.

Ask those clients how they’re responding to the COVID environment and listen carefully for a way, however small, you can help get his/her company up and rolling again. You may rewarded with a handful of billable hours as conditions improve. This strategy is working for me, BTW.

Conversely, some businesses are experiencing growth during the pandemic and you should make it a point to identify those organizations and include those for whom your products or services can be a fit in your marketing efforts. Maybe you can get a referral from a friend, family member, or client?

Encourage referrals

Referrals confer to you the golden status of being considered a known and trusted quantity. Other than a Super Bowl ad, there is no better endorsement for your business than a referral. People who read reviews of books, movies, restaurants, or hotels are in reality searching for a business whose customers give it good referrals.

Create the conditions for good word-of-mouth about your service by excelling at superior customer service at every client touch point. Present a 360 degree pleasant and efficient experience from the intuitive navigation of your website, the relevance of your content marketing posts, to your follow-up and willingness to go the extra mile to provide the necessary solution, to your project proposals and invoicing.

Give your clients lots of good things to say about doing business with your organization. Ask them to spread the word. On client invoices, offer a 15% or so discount on their next invoice if a referral is made and a sale results.

Case studies and testimonials showcase how clients feel about your finest work. They are a form of referrals and business owners and leaders are advised to include such valuable endorsements on the company website and on social media platforms.

Get found with Inbound Marketing

Revisit your understanding of the ideal clients for your company’s products or services. Do you know who the decision-makers is? Do you know who is likely to influence the decision-maker and other important stakeholders? When writing your content, it’s imperative to know to whom you are speaking.

With a heightened sense of your ideal client in mind, evaluate, refine and expand your company’s online presence and popularity with content designed to fill the sales funnel with prospects who have authority, who make decisions, who have influence. Create email marketing subject lines that catch the eye and resonate with those prospects. Align your white papers, blog, newsletter and case studies to address goals and questions that are meaningful to your prospects. Appeal to what motivates prospects to take the leap and do business with you. Post content to Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook to expand your reach.

Finally, why not experiment with developing relationships through online communities? Investigate LinkedIn groups, for example, and search for one or two that seem like a good fit. Follow conversations and learn what active members discuss. When you feel ready, pose a question or respond to one. Whenever you participate, your LinkedIn contact info is accessible to interested parties and the seeds of follow- up are planted.

The sales landscape has changed for the time being, but the fundamentals of selling remain. If your product or service solves a problem, provides a solution, for a potential buyer, if a price can be agreed upon a sale will be made. Pursuing introductions and attempting to build relationships with new prospects in the virtual space is not without challenges but it also brings certain advantages. Geography is no longer a barrier.

Moreover, most prospects begin the buying journey online, searching Yelp and other rating sites to find out who can and cannot be trusted, cruising through social media and visiting websites that appear in the top 10 of their text or voice searches (those would mostly be big companies, for those wondering why there is no mention of SEO here).

Buyers are acclimating to the virtual space, becoming more accepting of the new normal and what it entails. The scope of relationships hatched in the virtual space may not be quite what we’re accustomed to, but I predict that both buyers and sellers will adapt as necessary to do business.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: Athena, a special guest character on Lost in Space (CBS-TV 1965-1968) appeared in season 2, episode 16, of the series on January 4, 1967.

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Optimize LeadGen and CRO

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Digital marketing company HubSpot has recently released data that examined the importance of Lead Generation and Conversion Rate Optimization in the success of building and tracking marketing campaigns. Effective marketing brings in paying customers by way of increasing company name recognition and communicating the value of its products and services. Building loyalty, which encourages repeat business, and encouraging customer referrals are other important benefits derived from marketing activities.

If the desired objectives are not consistently being achieved then something needs to change, be it the basic approach (inbound or outbound), the type of outreach (blog, newsletter, social media posts, case studies, print ads), platforms used (LinkedIn, Facebook, SnapChat, etc.), or the messaging. The HubSpot survey found that just 22% of businesses are satisfied with the sales conversion rates of their marketing campaigns.

Calls to Action that address a solution that is meaningful to target audience readers will deliver the best quality leads and enhance the sales conversion rate produced by the sales funnel. The most effective calls to action incorporate popular search terms and increase sales funnel conversion rates by 87%. Anchor Text, i.e., highlighted and often paragraph heading text, that includes a search- friendly call to action can increase leadGen by 93%.

On the other hand, sounding too sales-y is a turn-off. Remember best practices as you create headlines and anchor text that deliver information and maybe a surprising statistic, too.

The Pareto Principle, commonly known as the 80/20 Rule that was introduced by Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto in 1896, continues to hold up. First, when writing articles titles matter and the data revealed that 80% of online visitors get no farther than the article’s title and just 20% delve in to read.

Note to content marketers—-do key word searches and help yourself create clever article titles and anchor text to present calls to action that address problems your readers want to solve. BTW, 36% of readers are drawn to headlines and Anchor Text that includes a number.

Videos continue to be valuable marketing tools because they deliver results. Marketers reported that their companies received 66% more qualified leads when videos are used in marketing tactics. Most video platforms will allow a copy-paste-embed of your leadGen form into the video. Lead conversion rates derived from video content are about 40%. Furthermore, 54% of consumers of digital marketing content reported that they’d like to see more video content and 88% of marketers reported that they’re satisfied with the leadGen and sales conversion performance associated with video marketing tactics.

Oh, and you can ignore your English comp or journalism professor and communicate with your content readers in the second person—-you! Readers want to be spoken to, they respond to personal appeals.

Finally, HubSpot survey data officially verified that marketers want more followers and subscribers for online content, as a way to increase the number of leads (and conversion to sales). HubSpot recommends that you create a Feature Box to guide reader eyes to your company’s opt-in offer and when you do, that metric will increase by 51%.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Photograph: Kim Clark

Administrative, Sales , , , 2 Comments

5 Business KPI Metrics to Follow

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Success in business is a numbers game and every business owner and leader would be wise to pay attention to certain metrics, which are Key Performance Indicators. Depending on the business, owners and leaders may follow the daily sales receipts, weekly gross sales, monthly inventory purchases, monthly in-house projects and of course the big three monthly, quarterly and annual financial documents—-Income Statement (Profit & Loss), Cash Flow and Balance Sheet.

KPIs are like vital signs and lab tests; they indicate the health of the organization. Owners and leaders examine, analyze and confirm the venture’s health (read: profitability) or discover and diagnose a problem, for which a strategy is devised to provide the treatment.

Today, we’ll dive into sales and marketing KPI metrics that business owners and leaders would do well to monitor—-Lead Conversion Rate, Sales Cycle Length, Client Acquisition Cost, Churn Rate and Client Lifetime Value. When steps are taken to bring these KPIs into what represents an acceptable range for your industry, a tangible positive impact on the organization will result.

Lead Conversion Rate

Grab a spoon, Love, and get ready to taste test our flavors of the day—-TOFU, MOFU and BOFU. I promise that you’ll enjoy them all, most especially BOFU. Let us begin.

Marketing = Lead Generation, the fuel that feeds the sales engine that keeps the business moving forward. This KPI reveals the strength of the company’s marketing strategies and tactics. First, verify that the marketing mix is actually producing leads that convert to sales. Second, leads that converted to sales should be examined to discover which tactics enabled conversions. Bonus points will be awarded for discovering which marketing tactics bring in a particular type of client—-low or high dollar volume, repeat business or one-off, or a certain product or type of project.

Marketing announces the presence of a business to its target audience and it’s designed to both arouse curiosity and inspire confidence in the product, service, or company that is featured. The intent of marketing is to entice target audience members to linger and browse the marketing outreach. These early-stage browsers are leads at the top, the front door, of the marketing/ sales funnel. They are called TOFUs, Top of the Funnel. Most TOFUs are window shoppers.

Now let’s suppose a TOFU decides to follow the company blog, or interact with the business on Instagram or Facebook. Or maybe the TOFU finds an e-book and after reading the promo, requests a copy. TOFU will then advance through the marketing/ sales funnel and enter the Middle of the Funnel. TOFU will become a MOFU.

MOFU is where lead conversion really begins. MOFU is a fish on the line. To become a client, MOFU must be skillfully led into the VIP Room at the Bottom of the Funnel, BOFU, where intentions are revealed, needs are discussed and commitments are confirmed.

How to do it? If MOFU is in deal-making mode, those who subscribe to the blog or newsletter, or especially those who request an e-book, white paper, or case study, will contact the company to ask for additional information. MOFU will ask to schedule a 15- minute free consultation. If you meet MOFU at the virtual workshop you presented, there will be a request for follow-up. “Can we Skype?”

A well thought-out marketing/ sales funnel draws in TOFUs that sometimes become MOFUs who have reason to turn themselves into BOFUs. That is effective lead generation.

Business owners and leaders must continually review the operation of the marketing/ sales funnel to ensure that a good number of prospective clients are entering at TOFU. They will monitor the percentage of MOFUs who advance to BOFU and the percentage of BOFUs who become clients.

Sales Cycle Length

Determining how long on average it takes for TOFUs to become MOFUs, then BOFUs and finally paying customers, is useful for cash-flow planning. There may be no way to shorten the marketing/ sales funnel journey and speed up the sale, but getting an idea of when money will arrive, or will not, is essential.

If there are recognizable points in the funnel when it may be possible to speed up the sale, that will be money in the bank. When a prospect reaches MOFU, demonstrations of the company’s expertise, VIP clients, superb customer service, or sterling reputation can be presented to convince the prospect to continue the sales journey. BOFU is the time to make tempting deals—-a desirable upgrade that costs little to deliver, for example. Get the deal done as quickly as possible.

Client Acquisition Cost

It is worthwhile for every business owner, business leader and Freelance consult to ascertain the ballpark cost of the time and money associated with bringing in new clients.

After calculating the time spent writing a newsletter and/ or blog; the time devoted to perfecting social media posts and uploading, to say nothing of creating, videos and photos that support the company’s brand story; the time needed to create a presentation that will be delivered at the chamber of commerce or other venue, along with the Power Point slides and hard copy hand-outs that are typed up—-what dollar value should be attached to the labor devoted to promoting the company, its products and services, and yourself as its public face? Get your arms around that one, will you!

I estimate that I spend 10 -15 hours/ week on marketing activities (mostly this blog) and I’ve allowed myself to claim $35/hour as the wholesale value of my labor (because creating content, taking blog photos and typing are not all billed at the same rate). I’ve decided it’s fair market value to claim that I spend 50 hours/ month, $1,750/ month, on marketing. Wow!! Am I getting the right ROI on client acquisition? Maybe I can learn to type faster? It would help.

I am not signing a new client every month. However, I do get repeat business, plus the occasional referral, and that lowers my customer acquisition cost significantly. This is yet another reason to exceed client expectations and provide superb customer service, so that repeat business and referrals are more likely to be received and marketing dollars will produce a greater ROI. Furthermore, if it’s possible to determine which marketing activities attract high dollar volume projects, prioritize those tactics.

Client Churn Rate

Business experts often warn that it costs at least five times more to acquire a new client than it does to retain a current client. Surprisingly, many, if not most, companies lack a client retention strategy and action plan. The rate at which clients stop doing business with an organization is called the churn rate.

Churn rate is calculated by counting the number of clients that no longer use company products or services, expressed as a percentage of the total client list. % churn rate = # Defections / # Retained If there are 50 clients on the company roster and 5 haven’t made purchases in 12 months, then the churn rate is 5/50 = 0.1 x 100, a 10 % churn rate.

If the company churn ratio creeps up through the year, the culprit could be inadequate customer service. Include a short survey with your invoice to encourage clients to tell you how to improve their customer experience.

Client Lifetime Value

Unless the company has history with a client, lifetime value is a projection, an educated guess. Nevertheless, it is important to think strategically about every prospect, since some are worth pursuing and others, not so much.

When evaluating marketing activities, Freelance consultants, business owners and leaders will examine the revenue potential of the target audience and decide the level of resources that should be devoted to the client acquisition process. This KPI, actual or projected, reveals the amount of revenue that can be generated, in a year, or perhaps a quarter, by way of a particular (or the average) client.

When considering prospects who could become clients, prioritize and invest marketing resources only in those with high revenue and/or repeat business potential. Don’t waste resources on low dollar volume clients. Follow the money.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Photograph: Kim Clark. Trading prices are the KPIs of the New York Stock Exchange.