August 28, 2024 • 16 mins
In this episode of the Boss Responses podcast, host Treasa Edmond and guest co-host Jessica Walrack discuss the challenges of finding clients, especially during economic downturns. They explore strategies to attract clients, reach out effectively, and emphasize the significance of relational marketing over cold emails. The conversation covers how to leverage past clients, build sincere connections on LinkedIn, optimize LinkedIn profiles, and the importance of showcasing case studies and client testimonials. Tune in for some practical insights on maintaining a consistent influx of clients without the need for straight cold outreach.
About Our Guest
Jessica Walrack is the founder of All Things Freelance Writing—a community that helps freelance writers build their ideal businesses through its blog, weekly jobs newsletter, and other resources. She’s also a freelance finance journalist with 11 years of professional writing experience. You can find her work regularly featured in national publications including US News and World, CBS News MoneyWatch, Newsweek, and Wallstreet Journal BuySide.
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Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to listen to Boss Responses. This podcast is a passion project that comes from years of helping freelancers shape a business that supports the lifestyle they want.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Treasa Edmond (00:00):
Welcome back to the Boss Responses Podcast.
You know finding clients isn'talways easy, and when there's a
downturn in the economy it canbe even more difficult.
Add to that the fact that ifyou find potential clients, you
still have to convince them thatyou're a good fit for their
project, and things can getpretty nerve-wracking.
If this is a topic that givesyou nightmares, you want to
(00:22):
listen to this episode.
My guest co-host of the week,Jessica Walrack, and I talk
about how you can attractclients to you, ways that you
can reach out that actually work, and the importance of making
sure you're marketing to theright audience.
Let's go.
If you're a freelancer,business owner or anyone who
(00:43):
deals with clients, you're inthe right place.
I'm your host, Treasa Edmond.
I've been dealing with clientsand running my business for
nearly two decades and in thattime I've dealt with my share of
doubt, imposter syndrome andnot knowing what to say when a
client asked a question I wasn'tready for.
I created this podcast toempower you with the boss
(01:05):
responses you need to grow yourbusiness.
Each week, my guest co-host andI will bring you five episodes
packed with practical insights.
Monday through Thursday, weanswer your questions, and
Fridays we dive deep to explorehow our co-hosts embrace their
role as the boss of theirbusiness.
Welcome to Boss Responses.
(01:25):
We are back for day three withJessica Walrick.
Jessica, what's the questionfor today?
Jessica Walrack (01:34):
Okay, so this person is having trouble finding
new clients.
Last year they lost most oftheir repeat clients due to
budget cuts on their end, whichI think happened to a lot of
people.
Yeah, most of their repeatclients due to budget cuts on
their end, which I thinkhappened to a lot of people.
They've been freelancing forabout five years and this is the
first time they've really hadto work on reaching out to
prospective clients, and it'snot going well.
They don't like doing LOIs andthe response rates are horrible.
(01:57):
They know a lot of otherfreelancers are in the same boat
, but also see people who arehaving record months and more
clients than they can handle.
It's a bit depressing, but theyknow they don't want to go back
to working for someone else.
So the question is how arepeople finding clients good
clients, and is there a newprocess they should try.
Treasa Edmond (02:18):
I don't know about a new process, but there
are definitely some things youcan try.
I find my best clientshistorically from referrals
People who come to me becausesomeone else told them about me,
or people who say, hey, I havesomeone else who needs this
service.
Are you accepting new clientsright now?
Almost all of those people areeasier to work with across the
(02:43):
board because they come into theconversation and the
relationship with a level oftrust that I haven't had to
build.
They see someone else's successor they've come to me because
they want to work with me, and Ithink that makes it a lot
easier.
That doesn't help necessarilyso much with finding new clients
, except for the fact that youcan reach out.
So reach out to previousclients, and this is something
(03:05):
that I've seen a lot in the lastcouple of months.
People are reaching back out tothose clients they lost due to
the budget cuts and they'reready to give work again.
So start by reaching out toyour existing clients, the
people that you've alreadyworked with, to see if they have
work and, if not, ask them ifthey're willing to refer you to
(03:25):
someone else.
People who were laid off in themarketing world, who have moved
to other companies.
Find them on LinkedIn.
Find people that you've workedwith before and say hey, I
really enjoyed working with youwhen you were at such and such.
Are you working withfreelancers at your new position
?
If so, I have availability inmy schedule.
I think the biggest thing thatI would recommend is reach out
(03:48):
with an honest desire to helppeople and do work, but don't
sound desperate.
It's a natural humaninclination that people don't
want to work with desperatepeople, and if you say I have
space in my schedule instead ofI really need work right now
we're going to be more inclinedto accept you, and that's a
weird thing, but it is a thingthat I think we need to pay
attention to.
The LOI will do absolutelyanything I can to not have to
(04:10):
send them out.
I'd like to do relationalmarketing and I form
relationships with people that Iwould like to work with Honest,
sincere relationships.
I don't connect with someone onLinkedIn and immediately send
them a thing saying, hey, do youwork with freelancers?
I do this thing Because that'sthe same as an LOI.
It's just on LinkedIn I do,though.
(04:31):
I follow them, I will commenton their things and then I do
the connection request and thenI'll have a brief conversation
in there and if it feels likewe're really hitting it off not,
that sounds weird, isn't it tosay hitting it off, that's such
a dating thing but if it feelslike we have a potential for a
positive working relationship,then I will reach out to them
(04:52):
and say, hey, I don't know ifyou know, but I actually do
writing in your space.
If there's ever any way I canserve you or your company and
help you meet these goals.
These are some of the things Ican do, and I give very specific
examples of what I can do andhow I can help them.
And then if they say, hey,we're not doing that right now,
I say that's fine and I continuethe conversation.
I don't like divorce thembecause they don't have anything
(05:15):
for me.
What I find is I get work fromabout 25% of those, but another
25 to 50% send me other clientsbecause they're like, oh, hey,
yeah, no, I know someone whodoes that.
Let me put you in contact withthem.
Relational marketing, I think,is just kind of where it's at.
You're forming a very directrelationship with your audience.
(05:37):
When I did the content managerthing, and even if I do it for
clients now, you get hundreds ofemails a week and you just
don't read them unless they'refrom someone.
So that's something that I know.
Some people have really goodluck with LOIs and they've
tailored them and they'repersonal.
They're still very relational.
(05:58):
So my thing is reach out toeveryone.
Reach out to your previousclients, reach out to the people
that you want to be clients,reach out to other writers who
specialize in what youspecialize in and just say, hey,
I'm looking for new projects.
Right now I have availabilityin my schedule If you have any
projects that come your way thataren't a perfect fit.
I'd love if you'd send them tome and you can do that.
(06:21):
So there are lots of formalways to do that and informal,
but I just reach out and makethe ask if that's what I need
and it works for me.
I don't know what works bestfor you, Jessica.
Jessica Walrack (06:33):
Yeah, I'm a big believer in relational
marketing too.
I've never sent out cold emailsreally.
I know a lot of people thathave.
I did used to do outbound, butit wasn't cold and I'll talk a
little bit more about that onday five.
Couple months I've really beenseeing an uptick in the market
(06:59):
personally, and then I run thejob board too.
So every week I'm out there,I'm looking for opportunities,
I'm keeping a finger on thepulse of how many there are and
who's asking and all of that,and it's definitely been
increasing, which has beenexciting and encouraging for me
to see.
I love to see that because itwas rough in especially 2022.
I had some clients drop out toobecause of budget cuts.
(07:20):
They just cut the wholefreelancing team and that was
frustrating and I know a lot ofpeople are.
Some are getting clients andbut a lot of them are struggling
still.
And I think also a lot ofpeople have come into
freelancing a lot more peoplejust who have been laid off
maybe and they're going tofreelance in the meantime or
(07:40):
maybe they want to do that todiversify their risk.
So I feel like the freelancerpool has gotten heavier.
A lot of them are sending LOIs,which is making the conversion
rates go down on that kind ofmarketing.
For me, what I've seen work thebest is really having a specific
area of expertise, since thereare so many options.
I've found that I've gottenfeedback from clients saying
(08:02):
that when they're looking for aB2B SAS case study writer and
they get 100 applications forthe job, they're going to go
with the specialist over thegeneralist in most cases, the
generalist in most cases.
And so I think that kind offiguring out how you want to
maybe present yourself as anexpert in something and then
(08:24):
aligning your online presence toback you up your website and
your LinkedIn profile LinkedInis just huge right now.
There's so much opportunitythere.
I'm a big believer in LinkedInand then posting helps a lot too
, just to raise awareness aroundwho you are and what you do.
It can feel like there's a lotof competition out there, but it
(08:45):
really helps just to put it outthere and get into people's
awareness so they know who youare and they know what you offer
.
And then I think, once you haveyour presence set up and
everything's aligned, then youcan go and you can message
someone and say, hey, if they'reyour ideal client, hey, just
want to connect with you.
I'm a freelance writer, like.
(09:06):
I don't even think that thereneeds to be a pitch.
If you're connecting with theright people, it's going to be
relevant to them.
They're going to see you and belike oh, are you free for work?
Can you, are you interested forwork?
Can you, are you interested?
Or I'll keep you in mind forthe future, or something like
that.
It's planting the seed and then, once you're connected, you'll
see them out in the feed,they'll see your stuff, and then
(09:26):
that relationship kind of cangrow organically.
I think everybody feels thesame about the pitch.
Slaps on LinkedIn, like youdon't want.
Treasa Edmond (09:34):
Those are annoying.
Jessica Walrack (09:35):
Hey, I offer this and just like the pushy hey
, did you get my last email?
Like those things are soannoying.
I never want to be that person,so I wouldn't recommend doing
that.
Treasa Edmond (09:45):
But and what I always recommend is, when you
are forming a relationship withsomeone on LinkedIn, be sincere.
Don't just connect with someonebecause you want to work with
them.
I mean, even if that's your endgoal connect with them because
you want to work with them.
I mean even if that's your endgoal, connect with them because
you want to connect with themand be sincere in your responses
and how you interact with them.
That's so important and I cantell it makes sense.
Jessica Walrack (10:06):
You want to connect with people in your
industry.
You want to know what they'rethinking about, what they're
working on, their insights, andthey want to learn those things
from you as well.
Treasa Edmond (10:16):
Yeah, and when people get the opportunity to
share about themselves and whatthey're excited about, then they
get excited about you, becauseyou ask the question, asking
questions I seldom have to evertell someone this is what I do.
I just ask questions and thenthey're like so what do you do?
Because it's reciprocal.
One of the things you'dmentioned is your LinkedIn
presence and how important thatis and it's so important right
(10:37):
now Putting on my strategist hat, so walking away from being
podcaster for a second I see acouple of things on LinkedIn
that I think, people, if youmake a switch, it makes a huge
difference in getting clients.
One is make sure your messagingis very consistent and very
tailored to your client.
Your about section should tellhow you solve problems for your
clients.
It shouldn't just say I writeblog posts for B2B tech.
(11:00):
It should say I write blogposts that do this and this for
B2B tech.
You need to solve the problem.
That's so important.
Then, when you're doing postsand this is something I see a
lot of freelancers doing and Ithink I've mentioned it before,
but I'm just going to keepmentioning it they write about
(11:22):
being a freelancer.
I'm sorry, your clients don'tcare what it's like for you to
be a freelancer.
They don't care that you spendfive hours writing a post.
They don't care that you hirean editor.
What they care about is theproblem you're solving for them.
So when you're writing all ofthose things about what it's
like to be a freelancer, theonly people you're talking to is
other freelancers, and unlessyou are doing something with
other freelancers, like Jessicaand I, then that doesn't matter.
It really doesn't, and I knowthat's a hard pill to swallow.
(11:43):
What you should be doing istalking about the problems
you're solving for your clients.
So the blog post I wrote forsuch and such last week, if you
can talk about your clients, hasalready received blah, blah,
blah.
Or I worked with a client lastweek to solve a problem they're
having and connecting with theiraudience.
So, whatever it is, talk aboutthe problems you're solving for
your clients.
Your posts can almost be minicase studies where you're
(12:06):
talking about the problems thatyou're solving.
But talk to your audience, notto other freelancers, and
realize that product-ledmarketing is when you're telling
your perspective audience allabout your product.
Your audience doesn't reallycare all about your product.
They only care about theproduct as far as it relates to
them and solves their problems.
So if you focus on audience-ledmarketing instead and speak
(12:29):
directly to your audience andsolve their problems, it's just
way more effective and thatworks for freelancers too it's
not just for big corporationsway more effective and that
works for freelancers too.
It's not just for bigcorporations, and that's
something that you know.
Like Jessica said, really makesure your website's dialed in,
make sure your messaging is onthere, make sure you have the
right keywords.
If you're specializing in acertain thing, you need to
mention it more than once and dothe same thing on LinkedIn and
(12:51):
talk about it and don't talkabout the difficulties of the
process or even the process.
Talk about the end results andhow you're helping your clients.
Jessica Walrack (13:00):
Yeah, I think of the LinkedIn page as like a
landing page, a sales page,where every piece should be
building on the last speaking toa specific person, providing
proofs, testimonials, yourresults.
All of that should be aligned,because when the people get a
message from you, they're goingto click over to your page and
they're going to say is this theperson I want to hire?
(13:22):
So that's such a big chance foryou to convince them.
Treasa Edmond (13:26):
I'm glad you mentioned testimonials, and
people might be saying what doestestimonials have to do with
getting new clients?
A lot Proof, right?
Yeah, if you are not askingyour clients for testimonials,
you should be.
It is an automated part of myprocess.
The final email that I send anyclient.
It's on there.
I've really enjoyed workingwith you on this project.
(13:47):
I'd love it if you enjoyed itas well, if you'd be willing to
give me a testimonial or areview and then I tell them
exactly how to do it.
And if they're willing to do atestimonial, I even include a
template.
I can say here's an example ofone of my testimonials from the
past.
You, of one of my testimonialsfrom the past.
You could do something exactlylike this and I go on faith that
they're going to read that andbe like yeah, I can spend two
seconds customizing that andsend it back.
Do the testimonials, put themon your website, post them on
(14:11):
your LinkedIn post.
Humble bragging is not a thing.
It's not bragging.
It's being confident andshowing how you're helping your
clients.
Jessica Walrack (14:25):
Just do the thing, because your clients
won't know how you're helpingpeople unless you have all of
those things on there.
Yeah, and it's one thing foryou to say it, so you're blue in
the face, but when other peopleare reinforcing it over and
over, it's going to beconvincing.
And I know I've hired freelancewriters myself too and it's a
risk.
You're taking a risk and you'reputting out money to this
person on the internet thatyou've never met.
So it's like when you're goingto look at somebody, you want to
(14:48):
be convinced that you can trustthem as much as possible to
ensure that you're going to geta return on your investment side
.
They have doubts and they havefears, and so how are you
addressing those?
How are you ensuring that thosepeople feel confident, like
beyond a shadow of a doubt, thatyou're going to deliver?
(15:10):
That's the goal of your websiteand your LinkedIn page.
Treasa Edmond (15:14):
Yeah.
So tighten up your messaging,tighten up your marketing, reach
out to old clients, reach outto people that you can ask for
referrals, reach out to otherfreelancers.
Just do a lot of reaching out,and once you have your pipeline
of clients coming in, then youcan focus your outreach or your
marketing so that you're notdoing as much outreach.
But until then, you have to dothe work and you can't stop.
(15:39):
And if LOIs are breaking yoursoul like they do mine, then
find another way.
Find another way Becausethey're not for everyone.
This is the whole thing thatBoss Responses is about.
There are a million ways to runyour business.
Some of them are going to workfor you, some of them are not,
and it's about finding thebusiness that works for you and
is most fulfilling to you.
(15:59):
So find the outreach processthat works best for you so that
you can bring in the clientsthat you would love to work with
.
Love that, all right.
That's the last of day threewith Jessica.
Tomorrow.
We are talking about clientsthat drive you crazy.
Oh, this one looks like a goodone.
Yeah, it's an exciting one.
All right, so come backtomorrow for day four with
(16:21):
Jessica.
Welcome back to the Boss Responses Podcast.
You know finding clients isn'talways easy, and when there's a
downturn in the economy it canbe even more difficult.
Add to that the fact that ifyou find potential clients, you
still have to convince them thatyou're a good fit for their
project, and things can getpretty nerve-wracking.
If this is a topic that givesyou nightmares, you want to
(00:22):
listen to this episode.
My guest co-host of the week,Jessica Walrack, and I talk
about how you can attractclients to you, ways that you
can reach out that actually work, and the importance of making
sure you're marketing to theright audience.
Let's go.
If you're a freelancer,business owner or anyone who
(00:43):
deals with clients, you're inthe right place.
I'm your host, Treasa Edmond.
I've been dealing with clientsand running my business for
nearly two decades and in thattime I've dealt with my share of
doubt, imposter syndrome andnot knowing what to say when a
client asked a question I wasn'tready for.
I created this podcast toempower you with the boss
(01:05):
responses you need to grow yourbusiness.
Each week, my guest co-host andI will bring you five episodes
packed with practical insights.
Monday through Thursday, weanswer your questions, and
Fridays we dive deep to explorehow our co-hosts embrace their
role as the boss of theirbusiness.
Welcome to Boss Responses.
(01:25):
We are back for day three withJessica Walrick.
Jessica, what's the questionfor today?
Jessica Walrack (01:34):
Okay, so this person is having trouble finding
new clients.
Last year they lost most oftheir repeat clients due to
budget cuts on their end, whichI think happened to a lot of
people.
Yeah, most of their repeatclients due to budget cuts on
their end, which I thinkhappened to a lot of people.
They've been freelancing forabout five years and this is the
first time they've really hadto work on reaching out to
prospective clients, and it'snot going well.
They don't like doing LOIs andthe response rates are horrible.
(01:57):
They know a lot of otherfreelancers are in the same boat
, but also see people who arehaving record months and more
clients than they can handle.
It's a bit depressing, but theyknow they don't want to go back
to working for someone else.
So the question is how arepeople finding clients good
clients, and is there a newprocess they should try.
Treasa Edmond (02:18):
I don't know about a new process, but there
are definitely some things youcan try.
I find my best clientshistorically from referrals
People who come to me becausesomeone else told them about me,
or people who say, hey, I havesomeone else who needs this
service.
Are you accepting new clientsright now?
Almost all of those people areeasier to work with across the
(02:43):
board because they come into theconversation and the
relationship with a level oftrust that I haven't had to
build.
They see someone else's successor they've come to me because
they want to work with me, and Ithink that makes it a lot
easier.
That doesn't help necessarilyso much with finding new clients
, except for the fact that youcan reach out.
So reach out to previousclients, and this is something
(03:05):
that I've seen a lot in the lastcouple of months.
People are reaching back out tothose clients they lost due to
the budget cuts and they'reready to give work again.
So start by reaching out toyour existing clients, the
people that you've alreadyworked with, to see if they have
work and, if not, ask them ifthey're willing to refer you to
(03:25):
someone else.
People who were laid off in themarketing world, who have moved
to other companies.
Find them on LinkedIn.
Find people that you've workedwith before and say hey, I
really enjoyed working with youwhen you were at such and such.
Are you working withfreelancers at your new position
?
If so, I have availability inmy schedule.
I think the biggest thing thatI would recommend is reach out
(03:48):
with an honest desire to helppeople and do work, but don't
sound desperate.
It's a natural humaninclination that people don't
want to work with desperatepeople, and if you say I have
space in my schedule instead ofI really need work right now
we're going to be more inclinedto accept you, and that's a
weird thing, but it is a thingthat I think we need to pay
attention to.
The LOI will do absolutelyanything I can to not have to
(04:10):
send them out.
I'd like to do relationalmarketing and I form
relationships with people that Iwould like to work with Honest,
sincere relationships.
I don't connect with someone onLinkedIn and immediately send
them a thing saying, hey, do youwork with freelancers?
I do this thing Because that'sthe same as an LOI.
It's just on LinkedIn I do,though.
(04:31):
I follow them, I will commenton their things and then I do
the connection request and thenI'll have a brief conversation
in there and if it feels likewe're really hitting it off not,
that sounds weird, isn't it tosay hitting it off, that's such
a dating thing but if it feelslike we have a potential for a
positive working relationship,then I will reach out to them
(04:52):
and say, hey, I don't know ifyou know, but I actually do
writing in your space.
If there's ever any way I canserve you or your company and
help you meet these goals.
These are some of the things Ican do, and I give very specific
examples of what I can do andhow I can help them.
And then if they say, hey,we're not doing that right now,
I say that's fine and I continuethe conversation.
I don't like divorce thembecause they don't have anything
(05:15):
for me.
What I find is I get work fromabout 25% of those, but another
25 to 50% send me other clientsbecause they're like, oh, hey,
yeah, no, I know someone whodoes that.
Let me put you in contact withthem.
Relational marketing, I think,is just kind of where it's at.
You're forming a very directrelationship with your audience.
(05:37):
When I did the content managerthing, and even if I do it for
clients now, you get hundreds ofemails a week and you just
don't read them unless they'refrom someone.
So that's something that I know.
Some people have really goodluck with LOIs and they've
tailored them and they'repersonal.
They're still very relational.
(05:58):
So my thing is reach out toeveryone.
Reach out to your previousclients, reach out to the people
that you want to be clients,reach out to other writers who
specialize in what youspecialize in and just say, hey,
I'm looking for new projects.
Right now I have availabilityin my schedule If you have any
projects that come your way thataren't a perfect fit.
I'd love if you'd send them tome and you can do that.
(06:21):
So there are lots of formalways to do that and informal,
but I just reach out and makethe ask if that's what I need
and it works for me.
I don't know what works bestfor you, Jessica.
Jessica Walrack (06:33):
Yeah, I'm a big believer in relational
marketing too.
I've never sent out cold emailsreally.
I know a lot of people thathave.
I did used to do outbound, butit wasn't cold and I'll talk a
little bit more about that onday five.
Couple months I've really beenseeing an uptick in the market
(06:59):
personally, and then I run thejob board too.
So every week I'm out there,I'm looking for opportunities,
I'm keeping a finger on thepulse of how many there are and
who's asking and all of that,and it's definitely been
increasing, which has beenexciting and encouraging for me
to see.
I love to see that because itwas rough in especially 2022.
I had some clients drop out toobecause of budget cuts.
(07:20):
They just cut the wholefreelancing team and that was
frustrating and I know a lot ofpeople are.
Some are getting clients andbut a lot of them are struggling
still.
And I think also a lot ofpeople have come into
freelancing a lot more peoplejust who have been laid off
maybe and they're going tofreelance in the meantime or
(07:40):
maybe they want to do that todiversify their risk.
So I feel like the freelancerpool has gotten heavier.
A lot of them are sending LOIs,which is making the conversion
rates go down on that kind ofmarketing.
For me, what I've seen work thebest is really having a specific
area of expertise, since thereare so many options.
I've found that I've gottenfeedback from clients saying
(08:02):
that when they're looking for aB2B SAS case study writer and
they get 100 applications forthe job, they're going to go
with the specialist over thegeneralist in most cases, the
generalist in most cases.
And so I think that kind offiguring out how you want to
maybe present yourself as anexpert in something and then
(08:24):
aligning your online presence toback you up your website and
your LinkedIn profile LinkedInis just huge right now.
There's so much opportunitythere.
I'm a big believer in LinkedInand then posting helps a lot too
, just to raise awareness aroundwho you are and what you do.
It can feel like there's a lotof competition out there, but it
(08:45):
really helps just to put it outthere and get into people's
awareness so they know who youare and they know what you offer
.
And then I think, once you haveyour presence set up and
everything's aligned, then youcan go and you can message
someone and say, hey, if they'reyour ideal client, hey, just
want to connect with you.
I'm a freelance writer, like.
(09:06):
I don't even think that thereneeds to be a pitch.
If you're connecting with theright people, it's going to be
relevant to them.
They're going to see you and belike oh, are you free for work?
Can you, are you interested forwork?
Can you, are you interested?
Or I'll keep you in mind forthe future, or something like
that.
It's planting the seed and then, once you're connected, you'll
see them out in the feed,they'll see your stuff, and then
(09:26):
that relationship kind of cangrow organically.
I think everybody feels thesame about the pitch.
Slaps on LinkedIn, like youdon't want.
Treasa Edmond (09:34):
Those are annoying.
Jessica Walrack (09:35):
Hey, I offer this and just like the pushy hey
, did you get my last email?
Like those things are soannoying.
I never want to be that person,so I wouldn't recommend doing
that.
Treasa Edmond (09:45):
But and what I always recommend is, when you
are forming a relationship withsomeone on LinkedIn, be sincere.
Don't just connect with someonebecause you want to work with
them.
I mean, even if that's your endgoal connect with them because
you want to work with them.
I mean even if that's your endgoal, connect with them because
you want to connect with themand be sincere in your responses
and how you interact with them.
That's so important and I cantell it makes sense.
Jessica Walrack (10:06):
You want to connect with people in your
industry.
You want to know what they'rethinking about, what they're
working on, their insights, andthey want to learn those things
from you as well.
Treasa Edmond (10:16):
Yeah, and when people get the opportunity to
share about themselves and whatthey're excited about, then they
get excited about you, becauseyou ask the question, asking
questions I seldom have to evertell someone this is what I do.
I just ask questions and thenthey're like so what do you do?
Because it's reciprocal.
One of the things you'dmentioned is your LinkedIn
presence and how important thatis and it's so important right
(10:37):
now Putting on my strategist hat, so walking away from being
podcaster for a second I see acouple of things on LinkedIn
that I think, people, if youmake a switch, it makes a huge
difference in getting clients.
One is make sure your messagingis very consistent and very
tailored to your client.
Your about section should tellhow you solve problems for your
clients.
It shouldn't just say I writeblog posts for B2B tech.
(11:00):
It should say I write blogposts that do this and this for
B2B tech.
You need to solve the problem.
That's so important.
Then, when you're doing postsand this is something I see a
lot of freelancers doing and Ithink I've mentioned it before,
but I'm just going to keepmentioning it they write about
(11:22):
being a freelancer.
I'm sorry, your clients don'tcare what it's like for you to
be a freelancer.
They don't care that you spendfive hours writing a post.
They don't care that you hirean editor.
What they care about is theproblem you're solving for them.
So when you're writing all ofthose things about what it's
like to be a freelancer, theonly people you're talking to is
other freelancers, and unlessyou are doing something with
other freelancers, like Jessicaand I, then that doesn't matter.
It really doesn't, and I knowthat's a hard pill to swallow.
(11:43):
What you should be doing istalking about the problems
you're solving for your clients.
So the blog post I wrote forsuch and such last week, if you
can talk about your clients, hasalready received blah, blah,
blah.
Or I worked with a client lastweek to solve a problem they're
having and connecting with theiraudience.
So, whatever it is, talk aboutthe problems you're solving for
your clients.
Your posts can almost be minicase studies where you're
(12:06):
talking about the problems thatyou're solving.
But talk to your audience, notto other freelancers, and
realize that product-ledmarketing is when you're telling
your perspective audience allabout your product.
Your audience doesn't reallycare all about your product.
They only care about theproduct as far as it relates to
them and solves their problems.
So if you focus on audience-ledmarketing instead and speak
(12:29):
directly to your audience andsolve their problems, it's just
way more effective and thatworks for freelancers too it's
not just for big corporationsway more effective and that
works for freelancers too.
It's not just for bigcorporations, and that's
something that you know.
Like Jessica said, really makesure your website's dialed in,
make sure your messaging is onthere, make sure you have the
right keywords.
If you're specializing in acertain thing, you need to
mention it more than once and dothe same thing on LinkedIn and
(12:51):
talk about it and don't talkabout the difficulties of the
process or even the process.
Talk about the end results andhow you're helping your clients.
Jessica Walrack (13:00):
Yeah, I think of the LinkedIn page as like a
landing page, a sales page,where every piece should be
building on the last speaking toa specific person, providing
proofs, testimonials, yourresults.
All of that should be aligned,because when the people get a
message from you, they're goingto click over to your page and
they're going to say is this theperson I want to hire?
(13:22):
So that's such a big chance foryou to convince them.
Treasa Edmond (13:26):
I'm glad you mentioned testimonials, and
people might be saying what doestestimonials have to do with
getting new clients?
A lot Proof, right?
Yeah, if you are not askingyour clients for testimonials,
you should be.
It is an automated part of myprocess.
The final email that I send anyclient.
It's on there.
I've really enjoyed workingwith you on this project.
(13:47):
I'd love it if you enjoyed itas well, if you'd be willing to
give me a testimonial or areview and then I tell them
exactly how to do it.
And if they're willing to do atestimonial, I even include a
template.
I can say here's an example ofone of my testimonials from the
past.
You, of one of my testimonialsfrom the past.
You could do something exactlylike this and I go on faith that
they're going to read that andbe like yeah, I can spend two
seconds customizing that andsend it back.
Do the testimonials, put themon your website, post them on
(14:11):
your LinkedIn post.
Humble bragging is not a thing.
It's not bragging.
It's being confident andshowing how you're helping your
clients.
Jessica Walrack (14:25):
Just do the thing, because your clients
won't know how you're helpingpeople unless you have all of
those things on there.
Yeah, and it's one thing foryou to say it, so you're blue in
the face, but when other peopleare reinforcing it over and
over, it's going to beconvincing.
And I know I've hired freelancewriters myself too and it's a
risk.
You're taking a risk and you'reputting out money to this
person on the internet thatyou've never met.
So it's like when you're goingto look at somebody, you want to
(14:48):
be convinced that you can trustthem as much as possible to
ensure that you're going to geta return on your investment side
.
They have doubts and they havefears, and so how are you
addressing those?
How are you ensuring that thosepeople feel confident, like
beyond a shadow of a doubt, thatyou're going to deliver?
(15:10):
That's the goal of your websiteand your LinkedIn page.
Treasa Edmond (15:14):
Yeah.
So tighten up your messaging,tighten up your marketing, reach
out to old clients, reach outto people that you can ask for
referrals, reach out to otherfreelancers.
Just do a lot of reaching out,and once you have your pipeline
of clients coming in, then youcan focus your outreach or your
marketing so that you're notdoing as much outreach.
But until then, you have to dothe work and you can't stop.
(15:39):
And if LOIs are breaking yoursoul like they do mine, then
find another way.
Find another way Becausethey're not for everyone.
This is the whole thing thatBoss Responses is about.
There are a million ways to runyour business.
Some of them are going to workfor you, some of them are not,
and it's about finding thebusiness that works for you and
is most fulfilling to you.
(15:59):
So find the outreach processthat works best for you so that
you can bring in the clientsthat you would love to work with
.
Love that, all right.
That's the last of day threewith Jessica.
Tomorrow.
We are talking about clientsthat drive you crazy.
Oh, this one looks like a goodone.
Yeah, it's an exciting one.
All right, so come backtomorrow for day four with
(16:21):
Jessica.
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