warm calling Archives - Get Clients Now!

If You Dread Follow-Ups, Your Prospective Clients Will Too

The classic approach to following up with prospective clients brings some challenges with it. You may picture yourself picking up the phone to ask them some version of, “Are you ready to hire me?” Or sending an email or text with the same question. If it’s a potential referral source you’re following up with, the question may become, “Got any referrals for me?” For many self-employed professionals, following up in this way isn’t much fun. In fact, it may feel disagreeable enough that you avoid it entirely.

Can Follow-Up Actually Be Fun?

by Kristine Carey | Following Up

When you think about following up, does it seem fun to you, or does it seem more like something you wish you wanted to do? It’s probably not so surprising to learn that following up is something that quite a few of us don’t love doing.

Avoiding Sales? Stop Selling and Start Serving

by C.J. Hayden | Marketing Mindset

"I don't like to sell." "Asking people for business makes me uncomfortable." "Selling feels manipulative and sleazy." "I'm good at what I do. Why don't clients just come to me?" If any of these thoughts seem familiar, you may be hanging onto an unhelpful perspective...

How to Overcome Your Reluctance to Make Sales Calls

by C.J. Hayden | Fear & Resistance

As a professional selling your own services, you may believe that your discomfort about calling prospective clients on the phone is because you’re not a “real” salesperson. But studies reveal that up to 40% of full-time salespeople experience episodes of call reluctance that are serious enough to threaten their careers.

Handling Tough Sales Questions from Prospective Clients

by C.J. Hayden | Sales Conversations

Responding to an inquiry, placing a follow-up call, or having a sales conversation are all situations where you can expect your prospects to ask questions. Preparation is the key to a confident response, but unfortunately, sometimes we prepare only for the questions we want to hear, and not for the tougher ones clients often ask.

How Do You Network for Your Business During a Pandemic?

by C.J. Hayden | Marketing Plans & Strategies

In the old pre-COVID days, we self-employed professionals went to local and global gatherings to meet people -- mixers, professional meetings, conferences, community events, cultural happenings, and more. To follow up with our contacts, we scheduled coffee, lunch,...

Video: Networking During the Pandemic

by Kristine Carey | Marketing Plans & Strategies

One thing I’ve noticed regarding networking during the pandemic is how people are connecting, or more accurately, not connecting. During more “normal” times, networking had a certain forgiveness built into it. For example, if you went to a networking meeting and met several people, you’d connect with some more than others, and that would feel normal.

How Self-Employed Professionals Can – and Should – Market During the COVID-19 Crisis: Part 3

by C.J. Hayden | Marketing Plans & Strategies

What Can You Do if You Need Clients Yesterday?
In Parts 1 and 2 of this series, I shared my thoughts on Appropriate Marketing in a Time of Crisis and What Kind of Marketing is Possible Right Now? The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on many self-employed professionals has been substantial. Even if you are able to perform your usual work under safer-at-home rules, your regular clients may not need your services right now. Or, they may simply be unable to pay you.

You Met A Bunch of People While Networking: Now What?

by C.J. Hayden | Following Up

Meeting new people, in person, is consistently rated as one of the most effective ways to find new prospects for selling your professional services. After attending just a few networking mixers or industry meetings, you will quickly end up with a daunting collection of new contacts. But what do you do with them all?

Remember Why You Are Networking

The whole point of meeting new people is to give you a starting point for developing relationships. New contacts almost never become clients as the result of a one-time meeting.

Advertising Doesn’t Equal Marketing

by C.J. Hayden | Filling the Pipeline

I asked a new client recently what he had been doing to market his professional services. “Everything,” he said. “I’ve been running pay-per-click ads online, I hired someone to write a sales letter and mailed it to a list of local companies, I have a banner ad in my professional association’s directory, I’ve even been posting flyers around town… and I still have almost no business.”

“Ah hah,” I replied, “I think we’ve uncovered your problem. You actually haven’t been marketing your business. What you have been doing is advertising.”

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