As you say, we’ve all got to realise that sales is job #1!

I wish more people would hire quality sales coaches. Too many freelancers, are hung up on sales. If I had a dollar for every freelancer or small business owner that said, “I’m not a salesperson. I’m an xyz expert.”, I’d be retired. What any business owner (solo or with employees) should realize is that sales is job #1.

Just like their craft, it takes constant learning (and coaching) to perfect sale s skills. And they should realize that getting good at sales is the same as getting good at helping people. Many people equate sales to selfish pursuits. But – when done right – it is all about helping others in the right way.

As you rightly say, many CEOs like this won’t get what they’re getting anyway even if they turn it over to someone in-house.

I think the other important issue you raise here is trust. Proposals and outlines don’t guarantee the quality of the work that will be done. They’re more like a road map.

And on a personal level, I think those of us working freelance, selling our services, could do with a sales coach. Just because you’re a first rate copywriter, translator or SEO expert doesn’t mean you know how to sell your skills.

Thanks for joining the conversation.

There are way too many freelancers with piss-poor sales skills out there, giving away the appetizers.

They’re doing noone any good by doing this, including the CEOs that think they’re getting free advice… I’d suggest that the CEO in your story (we’ve all encountered them and we’ll all been “had” by atleast one in our careers), is actually not benefiting at all.

As I’m sure you know, It’s impossible to detail a full “how to be successful online” plan into a one time document. Successful online marketers continuously analyze what’s working, make conclusions from data, adopt new approaches from reading and testing, measuring everything and repeating what is working. It’s a rare CEO or in-house marketer that can do that amongst all of their other responsibilities.

I recently had a guy email me after a full year had gone by since our last conversation. A year ago, I had given him some free advice even though he told me he couldn’t afford my service. (I try to help the people that are atleast willing to tell me they can’t afford to spend $.) He took the advice and tried to implement it, but made two fatal mistakes (duplicate content, no lead conversion process) and has wasted a lot of time and some money (on ppc). I asked him in our first call this week, “Why did you call me after a year?” He said, “You’re the only one that seemed to know what you’re talking about.”. I said thank you and then asked him what he’s been doing. I pointed out the mistakes he had made and asked him if he wanted to continue making mistakes or if he wanted a proven process that he could follow? He opted to spend some money this time and do it the right way.

As sales professionals (or freelancers who have to sell), I believe it’s our responsibility to do the right thing for the prospect or customer. Proposals are usually a waste of time. Most CEOs will buy something if they are confident that you can help them and that it is a worthwhile investment. If you can’t first do that in a conversation and agree on scope of work, budget, timeline, who needs to do what, etc, than guessing about it on paper is a waste of everyone’s time. The details about “what you’re going to do” or “how you’re going to do it” should be less important to them if they trust you can help them. So, your proposal should be less about this and more about the time, money and goals issues.

Often times, getting to this point involves asking difficult questions about their budget, business problems, personal goals, as well as setting expectations that what you do requires years of learning and practice, as well as months of experimentation. And that it can’t be boiled into a document for a novice to understand. If he still wants a document without telling you when he wants to buy, why it’s important to him, how much he wants to spend, how he wants to benefit, then buy him “Internet Marketing for Dummies” and tell him “good luck”.

My sales coach used to tell me to book a meeting with anyone who asks for a proposal. Then, ask them what they want in the proposal. Take notes while they talk, then have them sign it at the end of the meeting.

I think the main thing is to try to think through potential scenarios and have strategies in place that you can turn to to ensure you don’t get taken for a ride.

@Angela
I like the sound of charging for “an action plan”. Great phrase and a brilliant strategy. That’s exactly the sort of thing I would have needed to konw about when I was first starting out.

I started this plan because of another risk factor for freelancers: the time-sucking client who will spend hours of (unbilled) time on the phone, IM or email asking countless questions about what I could be doing for them.