Don't be afraid to sell yourself

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This past week, I cohosted a live webinar with HoneyBook and the Rising Tide Society to talk about sales strategy for freelancers and creatives.

Like it or not, sales are the lifeblood of any business – especially service businesses. And 2020 has been a tough year for a lot of business owners.

So, as business owners, we need to keep selling to make it through this rough spot. But, as creatives, our empathy may be telling us that other people are hurting too – and so we may feel guilty about selling ourselves.

Do not stop selling yourself!

Let me repeat: do not. stop. selling. yourself.

There should never be any guilt in selling, and let me explain why.

You sell solutions to problems

As a Midwesterner, I grew up to feel a certain amount of guilt around selling and business generally. I understand where yours may come from, too.

But all we need to do is think back to the last purchase that we made to remind ourselves how buying things actually works...

My most recent purchase was paying my audio engineer for help mixing a couple ads for my podcast.

I paid his invoice immediately and happily – why? Because he solved my problem.

Not only did he make the audio sound great (something I can't do myself) but he did it on the timeframe that I needed it.

Let me reiterate: I was HAPPY to pay him for that solution.

In fact, any time we trade money for anything it's because we've convinced OURSELVES that we'd rather have that solution to our problem than the cash in our pocket.

Similarly, this morning I considered buying a software product – but ultimately decided not to.

No hard feelings, it just wasn't the solution I was willing to pay for.

It is always our decision when we buy something.

When we don't want to buy it...we don't!

Simple as that.

The solutions clients really pay for

Now let's talk specifically about selling services to clients.

At the end of the day, clients almost always hire for one of three solutions:

1. More customers, clients, subscribers, or followers
2. Higher profits (increase revenue or decrease cost)
3. To feel better about themselves (vanity)

That’s it.

And, really, more of #1 is really to get more of #2.

If you can position your service as one of those three solutions (and show the results) then you will always be able to find clients who are happy to pay you.

Where proposals fall short

Over the years, I've helped look over a lot of proposals for friends and clients.

The most common mistake I see in proposals is a failure to tell the client the SOLUTION you're going to provide them.

Obviously every client is different – someone may be hiring you because they say they want a better-looking website.

Early on in your proposal, you need to make clear, then, that the goals of your project together are:

1. A better-looking website
2. ...which will lead to one of the solutions above!

The client may not say that they want the website to convert more subscribers or generate more sales, but you can bet they do.

And they ultimately want to do some mental math of, "If I pay for this now, it will pay for itself over time."

So if your proposal tells them that you will not only deliver on the website, but in doing so you'll convert more subscribers, they will be thrilled.

Too many proposals dive into the process and timeline, but fail to make crystal clear to the client that your goal is to improve their bottom line.

**I cover proposals in-depth and provide the exact proposal template I've used to sell projects in my course, Business for Freelancers.**

Worry less about price, worry more about buy in

When you focus on showing a client that you are focused on providing them a solution or outcome, price becomes a secondary part of the conversation.

When we've determined that we want something, we justify the cost.

This has long applied to luxury brands, but applies just as much to any other product or service. When we decide that we truly want something, we will find a way to pay for it.

Too many freelancers agonize over quoting the perfect price that a client will jump at...and don't agonize enough over making that client excited to buy YOUR solution.

When you speak the client's language and show them that you understand the outcome they want, they will be bought into working with you – you specifically.

They WANT the solution. They WANT to believe you can deliver that solution. Put their mind at ease by identifying their problem, reassure them that you can deliver a solution, and they will be excited to hire you.

And when they're excited to hire you, a few hundred dollars is not going to make a big difference in their decision.

Conclusion

Selling is not a selfish act. Proper, ethical selling means that you are the SOLUTION that a client wants to pay for.

If you understand that you are selling solutions, you should feel obligated to try and solve problems for as many people as possible.

There is no need for guilt!

Ultimately, the client will only hire you if they believe you understand their problems and can deliver on the solution that you are promising.

And if you can understand their problems and deliver a solution, you won't need to worry nearly as much about whether or not you're quoting the perfect price.

**I go much further into sales strategies like this in the 16 lessons of my course, Selling for Freelancers.**

Listen on Creative Elements

MICK is a Brooklyn-based DJ that Inc Magazine referred to as a “combination of Gary Vaynerchuk and Questlove.”

MICK has spun private events for some of the world’s most prominent celebrities and brands including HBO, NBC, Fast Company, Hillary Clinton, Instagram, Jay Z, LeBron James, Michelle Obama, and Prince.

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Jay Clouse is the creator of Freelancing School, which provides the training and community to help people make a living freelancing. He is also the founder of Unreal Collective, a community for founders, freelancers, and creators that runs a 12-week accelerator program.

Jay hosts Creative Elements, which interviews high-profile creators who have made their own independent living.

You can connect with Jay on Twitter @jayclouse or sign up for his Sunday newsletter for creatives at jayclouse.com.