Upselling is a skill that most freelancers don’t use enough. What exactly is upselling? Simply put, selling another product, usually closely related, to a customer after you’ve made an initial sale.
For example, if you complete a brochure for a client, you can suggest that they add it to your website, in the form of a web copy.
When most small business owners outside of the publishing, advertising and communications realm start using freelance writers, they have no idea how they can grow their business.
So it’s up to you, the freelance writer (graphic designer, web designer, illustrator) to let them know. All that said, how do you sell to a customer? Below are 3 things that I have found to work well for me:
1. make it a habit: Most freelancers will finish a project, convert it, and say something like “Keep me in mind for all your freelance writing needs.”
This is not an upsell! To increase sales effectively, you have to make it a habit, and this means having procedures in place so you don’t forget. A good way to do this is a project tracking calendar.
What is a project tracking calendar? It lists the specific actions you take each time you submit a project. For example, if you promise to take three follow-up actions every time you deliver a project, it might look like this:
02/12: Project delivery
2/19: Follow-up action # 1: Call to make sure everything went well with the project delivered last week and ask for the brochure * I sent along with the project. Depending on the answer to this, do the following:
2/26: Follow-up action n. # 2: Follow up on the brochure I forwarded after last week’s call
3/5: Follow-up action n. # 3: tap the base to see if they want to go ahead with the e-book we discussed last week
* Make a brochure that lists all of your services and include it in every project you submit. About a week after submitting the project, follow up and ask if they have had a chance to review the brochure with the other services you offer. If he says no, offer to follow up again in a week or so. [Follow the actions outlined in your project follow-up calendar].
2. Be specific to your business: While including a brochure that lists all the services you offer is a great idea, in my opinion, one that works even better is being specific to your business.
For example, I saw an article on your website about flood insurance benefits. Ever thought of making this a direct mail article and / or a comprehensive e-book detailing the pros and cons of this type of insurance?
Research has shown that the more serious prospects are about buying a product, the more information they want about it. Having an e-book and / or mailer made about this can dramatically increase sales.
A 7-page e-book on the above can be completed in one week. It can be a wonderful promotional tool for homeownership seminars, networking conferences, freelance giveaways, etc.
I’ll follow up on this in the next three days, after you’ve reviewed this project. This type of follow-up shows customers that you: i) have researched their business; and ii) they are proactive in thinking of ways to help them cultivate it.
Did you know NOTHING can happen with a contact unless they stay in touch. Waiting for them to call you is silly. They may know of another freelancer who stays in touch, or lose their card or forget their website.
3. Stay in touch: Most freelancers, in fact most small business owners, fall for their sword here.
To repeat, NOTHING can happen with a contact unless they stay in contact. Waiting for them to call you is silly. They may know of another freelancer who stays in touch, or lose their card or forget their website.
The onus is on you to stay in touch because when someone needs a writer (graphic designer, illustrator, web designer, etc.), you want to be among the first to think of.