Had some questions from a subscriber the other day.
On a topic that I also sweated blood over.
He said…
“My biggest challenge at the moment is that I don’t know how to initiate the conversation with a client to discuss exactly what I can do to help them.”
Of course, I proceeded to give him a PhD thesis answer — no… not in scholarly aptitude. We’re talking: length.
Yeah… I can get pretty wordy sometimes (all right! all right!… all the time!).
But I thought the rest of us might find this helpful. So I’ve tidied it up a bit. And this email’s clocking in at a perfectly reasonable 874-ish words. So I’m sure you’ll breeze right through it.
Here you go…
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What you’ve mentioned is what I see as a MAJOR area of difficulty for all of us as freelancers.
It’s just not a thing that comes naturally. We have to learn these skills of working with clients. And in a confident and relaxed kind of way too.
But it takes time. And taking some risks.
I’ve got a couple of things you may like to consider when on a call with a client.
First up…
Ask them what they’re looking for and then just listen.
Often they’re presenting (as in to an emergency clinic) with what they perceive is the needed solution to their problem.
But they’re not the experts. And often just get fixated on one thing.
So they may think, for example, that starting a blog and getting organic traffic is what’s needed. When in fact starting an email list, and building it through posting on social media might be better for them.
Having some understanding of the client journey can be really helpful here.
Things like AWAI’s copy/content continuum image can be helpful. It’s half-way down this page…
https://www.awai.com/2021/03/4-abundant-buckets-of-opportunity-for-writers/
Ask follow-up questions (after you’ve listened)
These ones here aren’t too bad a place to start…
https://www.invisionapp.com/inside-design/client-communication
Do check out the link if you want a bit more meat on these bones. 👆
Put a big circle around number 10. Because…
Considering the needs and wants of the target audience should be at the top of the list.
These are the kind of questions I ask my prospective clients. I’m just a bit more “top of the head” with them.
Certainly not because I’ve embedded them deep within my psyche — just haven’t written up my own processes for them yet! 😳
Bottom line… clients care about making increased profits or reducing expenses.
So if you can show how the solution you offer them can do one of those things… then they’ll be listening eagerly. And you can breathe a bit easier.
Remember, you don’t need to solve problems on the spot.
You can say “Thanks for what we’ve talked about today. I need to go away and put together what I think will be a good solution for you”. That kind of thing.
This can be a big circuit-breaker for anxiety when meeting with clients.
I know… this stuff is beyond just the skill of X that we might say we do as a freelancer.
I might be an email copywriter, you might be, say a blog writer or whatever…
But we’re in this space where having a bit of understanding of marketing strategy, especially where our “thing” fits into the customer journey, can be a real asset.
And it can help give a real confidence boost because we know we’re offering good advice to them.
This all takes time to master… but you just have to start.
And give it a go. And make some mistakes. And learn some valuable lessons from them.
Don’t be like me and hang off so long because you want your client calls to be perfect. (But then I ran out of money so just had to do it… or else!)
Last thing…
There’s some really helpful videos that The Futur (spelled like that) and Chris Do put out, that I’ve found useful in the past. There’s great stuff with simulated client conversations and just discussing some of this stuff in general.
Here’s their client role play playlist…
You will have to make a bit of a time investment watching some of this stuff… but it could be a good evening “TV show” to watch.
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And we’ll cut things there.
Ready to build your email list? Go here…
EmailForTheWin.com
Chris Milham