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I'm continuing here today with the eighth lesson in the "Finding clients" series.

This is the no-nonsense series of lessons that work in today's market to find clients you want to be working with on a consistent basis.

Today's lesson will introduce the phrase "You get what you're paid for."

Yes, I said "you're paid" not "you pay".

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I walked to the office every single day back in 1999-2001 from Penn Station up to 37nd Street.

Most days, usually if there wasn't terrible weather, there were the same vendors on the street selling their wares. Scarfs, souvenirs, jewelry, music, and handbags.

Of course all for the "best price."

People would be lined up to haggle, especially during the holidays or on nice days.

A "Rolex" for $10, a "Louis Vuitton" bag for $25 - people would be there buying these things.

Sure they knew they weren't getting the real thing, so why did they buy it still?

Well one day, I saw a pair of "Oakley" sunglasses for $8 and I always liked the style of them, I just didn't want to pay the $250 for them at the time. So I picked them up.

I didn't care so much for them in the end, but I only paid $8 for them.

Had I lost them, sat on them, or they broke after a month of use, it was only $8.

Like myself, the other people felt much in the same way when buying from these vendors.

It was the cheap knockoff that looked like the real deal. Ultimately there wasn't any respect for the product, because it was the "best price".

We, as the customers buying these knock-offs were paying for something that we had already come to accept certain flaws and imperfections and were willing to pay the "best price" for.

Is your price worthy of respect?

You want your clients to value what you do. You want them to respect your suggestions and experience.

When was the last time you looked at your pricing?

Are you charging by the hour or by the project?

Is what you are charging positioned with other vendors in the market or positioned based on the ROI to the customer?

Charging $1000 for a full website design and build is not a price that's worthy of respect.

Charging $50 per hour for full-stack development is a price that's not worth of respect.

These are the "best price".

If your platform for getting work is something like Upwork or one of these freelance job boards, have a listen to how other business owners talk about their use for these boards. They are looking for "best price", first.

There's nothing wrong with selling something at the "best price". But then don't expect that your clients will look at what you do for them in any other way.

They will want it a certain way and want to get a specific use out of it and looking for that bottom basement price.

Attracting clients that respect your value, respect your experience and expertise comes with respecting yourself and what value you put on your work through your prices.

Someone who is looking to buy the real Rolex or Louis Vuitton handbag isn't going to be worried about the price. They want the quality, the luxury, the experience that product brings to the table.

The price of these products attract the kind of customer that respects and desires those things.

If you ask yourself why clients micromanage you.

If you want your clients to respect your suggestions.

If you want to have clients stop haggling you on price.

Then think about your pricing and what how it's attracting the type of customer you are getting.

You get what you're paid for.

I'm continuing here today with the eighth lesson in the "Finding clients" series.

This is the no-nonsense series of lessons that work in today's market to find clients you want to be working with on a consistent basis.

Today's lesson will help leads relate to your existing clients. It will also give your clients a boost. Can I share with you 2 ways to do this so easily and so effectively that doesn't require you to build out a new page on your site or take hours to put together?

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Testimonials, social proof, and portfolios are all bits of proof for our track record.

They are the curated elements of your business that showcase what it is that you do and prove that you've done it.

However, there's a piece missing to the puzzle that's most often overlooked.

The reason the track record needs to be there is not for you, but for the leads.

Someone who may be looking at your services wants to see that you've done it, but also that you've solved their specific problem, maybe with a business that's just like theirs.

Replace a social share

No doubt you are shooting out links or resources into the social media firehose.

I encourage you over the course of a week, replace one of those shares with a quick win you gave to your client.

If you wrapped up a project recently with a client, put out a tweet sharing that. But not saying you completed a project with Company X. Simply share what the benefit was to your client by completing the project together and then tagging your client's Twitter account.

This can be as simple as something like "Stoked to be able to help Client A save 10 hours a week by building them automation that no longer requires hand copying and pasting."

Or could be a share on Facebook or Instagram where you can dive a bit more into the design decisions of a project and share a nice visual.

Write about your clients to your leads

I hear it time and time again that you don't have an email list.

You have had someone write you an email to do work for them, right?

Well, that's your email list.

Next month, in your monthly newsletter, highlight a client of yours and the benefits that the client got out of the project and working with you.

Doesn't have to be some elaborate write-up. Touch upon 3 items and the benefits of each one.

The reason this is effective is leads don't know all the corners of everything that you can do. They also don't know the full benefits of what they can get by working on their project with you.

Often I'll hear something like "Oh really, I didn't realize that was a part of that" or "Oh! That's pretty sweet. Didn't even think of that"

Keep it simple, but put it out there into the world and you'll get these types of reactions because your track record is now about them, not you.

I'm continuing here today with the seventh lesson in the "Finding Clients" series.

This is the no-nonsense series of lessons that work in today's market to find clients you want to be working with on a consistent basis.

Today's lesson will help you work with clients you had in the past with things that you now know because it's the future.

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In lesson #4, you learned about the Sneak Peek. You are on this constant cycle of learning.

You improve your craft each and every day because it's that practice that refines the skills you have and allows you to learn new things.

You solve problems every single day whether you realize it or not.

If you are a developer, you learn that a new library will help you build out something that once you would've had to build yourself from scratch.

If you are a designer, you learn that there is a new technique or trend that's making sites perform better on mobile because it makes the UX better.

We gloss over these in our every day because they happen quite often.

Our clients though, they don't stay on top of the things we do. They get what they paid for, they love it and then move forward.

3 months ago you no doubt had a project where there was a challenge that you had to overcome in some way that due to time, budget, or both, you and the client agreed on a particular path for solving that problem.

Today, that problem is solved by a new piece of software you found, a step-by-step how-to on YouTube, or that you merely learned a better way because the client you are working with today gave the breathing room for you to explore the better path to the solution.

Go back to that client from 3 months ago, open the door of the conversation by refreshing their memory on the conversation you both had. Then share with them how you solved it today and why it would benefit them.

If what you did today is the same recipe, the same solution for your past client. You've put in the time and effort and already have had the solution paid for. Offer that solution for a price that makes it a complete no-brainer to your past client.

They'll say "yes" and here's why. You already know that they wanted it because you did something already with them that was a solution. They see the benefit and value in it. But there were sacrifices to be made there because of costs or time or both that prohibited the full solution to be implemented.

Second, they trust you. If you did a good job with them, they'll be receptive to you and understand that you are coming to them with something that will help them.

Lastly, say this 100%, A+ solution was an investment of $1,000 for your client on this project and took you 10 hours to get done. It cost your client last time $250 and took 3 hours for the B solution.

Offer your past client the A+ solution for $500, get it done for them in an hour or 2. It's a win-win for the both of you.

Your client gets the full benefit they want, but didn't have to pay the full-price, and you've built something you can now offer, that does a great job at solving a problem that 2 clients had. So you know there are others out there with a similar issue.

That's the beginnings of a productized service.

I'm continuing here today with the sixth lesson in the "How to Find Clients" series.

This is the no nonsense series of lessons that work in today's market to find clients you want to be working with on a consistent basis.

Today's lesson is something that will have you stand out above all others to your market by going onto a podcast that has the ears of your potential clients.

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Podcasting is HUGE and growing every day.

You are listening to (reading the show notes from) one right now in fact, right?

With Spotify kicking the door of Apple's podcast castle a couple of weeks ago, it's a medium that's firmly planting itself into the mainstream.

Ask your clients what podcasts they listen to.

If your clients don't listen to podcasts, then pull up Apple Podcasts and search for the industry that you work in.

Non-Profits, E-Commerce, Manufacturing, Drone Photography, Sports, etc there is a podcast out there.

Go listen to a few episodes of a podcast that has more than 35 episodes and their most recent episode is in the past few weeks.

This is so that you know that they do have an audience they are broadcasting to.

You can also look at the number of ratings and reviews too. If they have some, then you know that the audience is engaged too.

Look at the episodes, see the kinds of topics they talk about, but also pay attention to some of the gaps that are missing that you can help fill.

This is the important part to remember.

If you are just adding to the firehose, the host won't pay attention

However if you do reach out, you want to make your ask super relevant and focused.

Bonus points if you go ahead and share some episodes and tag the host. You'll pop on their radar and when you go ahead and contact the host, they'll at least recognize you a little bit.

Every host knows that when they receive an email or DM asking to be on the show that it's self-serving, so don't try and beat around the bush too much.

Keep it short, super relevant and focused on adding value to their audience and you'll be positioned to land that guest spot.

If you know another guest that's already been on the show, ask that person for the introduction.

And finally, when you do make contact, keep it about their audience and not of yourself. The only time you should mention anything about you is where you fill in a gap.

"Hi Pete - I loved Ep 27 when you were speaking about how important it is for marketability of the business to leverage local Google search. Then in Ep 34, you shared a few tools that you use to do some comparative analysis.

My name is Jason and I provide a service to my clients for marketing comparative analysis. If you think that it would resonate with your audience, I'd love to share all that I know and the process that I walk through with my clients with your audience."

I'm continuing here today with the fifth lesson in the "How to Find Clients" series.

This is the no-nonsense series of lessons that work in today's market to find clients you want to be working with on a consistent basis.

Today's lesson will help you stay front of mind 2 different ways.

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We are all busy and there's only so much time in any given day.

Business though is all about the people. Whether you are a running a solo owned and operated business like myself or running an agency, you have to be out there not just seen to sell, but also to provide value.

If you are always out there every day pushing ads, pushing leads, asking 9 out of 10 times, then you'll be put on the top of the pile. Just like all that junk mail you get both in your inbox on your phone and the thing that's hanging off the front of your house.

What I want you to do in the next 24 hours is this. Goto Starbucks and send an e-gift card to all of your clients.

Just to say "Thank you!"

It's nothing overly difficult to do, right? The gesture goes a long way though.

Expect nothing from them either. What you are doing is creating a memorable moment in their minds.

Do this once or twice a year and switch up the gift. Since you did an e-giftcard this time, go ahead and send some customized gift next time.

The second way is to answer a question.

I've built half of my business in 6 months with this lesson alone.

The social web is full with questions, pick out a topic or problem that your clients have and then monitor the web for those types of questions and keywords. Then when one hits, jump into that thread and share a link, resource, or helpful answer.

I do this with my Drip and ConvertKit services. And early on in my business, I did this with WooCommerce as well.

It doesn't have to be a specific platform or tool either, although that makes it someone what easier.

Look at the questions your clients are asking you, and then pull out those keywords. "get more phone calls from my site", "install X", "what's the best way to Y", etc are all easy to jump into those conversations.

As you continue to do that, you'll be in a much better and more referable spot to get work.

I'm continuing here today with the fourth lesson in the "How to Find Clients" series.

This is the no-nonsense series of lessons that work in today's market to find clients you want to be working with on a consistent basis.

Today's lesson will help you position yourself and share insight into what problems you are solving.

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You are smart and I know that you are constantly learning and evolving your skills and business whether it's on a project you are working on, or in passing as you read articles online when sitting on the couch.

When you come across something new that you've learned, don't hold it back like it's the One Ring. Share that knowledge either in a tweet, Facebook share, or a blog post or video for YouTube even.

When you share your knowledge online, there will be someone who will search for it who doesn't know.

My friend Val Geisler shares teardowns of Saas business' onboarding emails on her blog.

She stated in her 2018 review "I honed my voice and writing skills and got to build a nice little portfolio of spec work while I worked on moving more firmly into this specialization." And she was able to break the 6-figure mark too.

I can also attribute a few clients to one specific article on my site where I break down a number of well-known brands and how they should improve their checkout process. But in there I share how it could be improved as well.

This gives potential clients a sneak peek into what you can do and how you do it.

But it also gives the web the ability to have a piece of content to serve questions like "how do I improve my checkout process?" or "how do I improve my email onboarding sequence?"

By sharing what you know instead of holding it back will position you and your expertise in the world.

Instead of spending a tremendous amount of time figuring out an algorithm on how you can get your profile to outrank other freelancers on a platform, spend that time pushing out a piece of content that gives a sneak peek into your brain.

I'm continuing here today with the third lesson in the "How to Find Clients" series.

This is the no-nonsense series of lessons that work in today's market to find clients you want to be working with on a consistent basis.

Today's lesson will help you build a pipeline of high quality leads into the business of people and businesses that you want to work with.

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You know I'm not a fan of discounting your services. However, this is more like buying highly qualified leads.

I can't take credit for this lesson all on my own, and to be honest, I haven't yet implemented it (yet). So I'd like to thank Ryan Bowles who runs the Create or Die Tribe FB Group for this.

I think it's a smart way to leverage your services and the relationship that you have built up with the client. But also be able to have built in a testimonial and referral system in one.

I'm changing it slightly from Ryan's original.

When you onboard a client, maybe a touch after you've been working together for a little bit, ask them this.

"Would you like $X off on the final invoice, simply by referring 5 business colleagues or friends that would be a good fit, if I've done a great job?"

When they say yes, reply with "Awesome, we'll talk about it when we get there."

Then after you've gone ahead and done a great job, remind them about your offer.

Ask them to create a quick 30-second video about how it was working with you, or better yet, ask them to answer this on the video.

"What challenges did you have prior to us working together and how did I solve those challenges for you?"

Then have them send that video and the 5 referrals to you.

Send those folks the video testimonial and ask if you can help them in any way.

Not only do you have a great, relatable testimonial, but you'll also have a built-in system to continuously generate new, targeted leads based on clients that you want to be working with.

That's the important part of this lesson and where I modified this idea from Ryan slightly.

Ask them if they would like this offer after you have got to know them a little bit better. This will further your chances to get better leads that you actually want to work with.

You'll also be in a better position to make sure that the client is sending you leads that are legit as well.

I'm continuing here today with the second lesson in the "How to Find Clients" series.

This is the no-nonsense series of lessons that work in today's market to find clients you want to be working with on a consistent basis.

Today's lesson is solely targeted toward getting repeat clients by you adding in a built-in opportunity in your existing projects.
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With any project you have, no doubt you'll either be asked to do something the client wants that isn't in the scope or want to throw something in just because it is quick.

We all do it. We are humans after all. But we are also running a business. So when you do these one-off add-ons you should keep track of them and make your client aware of them too.

When you do one, whether you are doing hourly work or on retainer, add the task to the invoice. Along with that, add how much it would cost normally and then zero it out. Meaning make it no charge.

Even if it's something that takes 15 or 30-minutes to do, mark that down, describe the task in the line item and then put the $50, $100, or $200 down.

When you do this, you are putting value into the project that may or may not be perceived by your client.

Ever have a client ask you "is there anything you can do better on price?" Especially when scoping out a project?

This is where all that added value comes into play. If you give $500 worth of zero line items in Project A, there's no way that a client will ask for a discount on project B.

Here is where you get the repeat work though.

By adding in all the zero line items into the work, you are keeping track of all the possibilities to add-on repeat work.

For example, say you are designing blog images for your client and they ask you to create a few Facebook images for those blog posts along the way. Say you have the bandwidth and did 2 of them.

You now have an opportunity to re-visit those blog posts and do a comparison on the images you did vs what they did otherwise. If the shares that had your images performed better, guess what?

There's your opportunity to pitch additional work.

Here's another example.

Say you are a developer and your client asked to add in an additional feature to their app that allows their users to log in via Facebook or Twitter.

You obviously know that those APIs change pretty regularly, right?

Well when they do, go back to your client when it does happen and sell them on the update.

The Zero-Line Item is your best friend when it comes to positioning yourself, but also leaving a built-in opportunity for yourself to them go ahead and get additional work later.

If you are like most service business owners I know, then referrals is where you get most of your work from. Yet you can't figure out how to make those more predictable.

Today I'm going to share with you a process that I've developed and used based on business practices that have been in the wild for decades, if not longer.

Whether you are just starting out or been in business for a little while, you have a network.

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A network of trusted colleagues, friends, family, and individuals who you look to for advice.

You also have a network online if you are on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube, etc.

Why is it that you hear time and time again, to attend chamber of commerce meetings or local business events? It's because it's networking. Though in those meetings it's often hard to really get what you do and who your serve out there in an effective way. Most people are there to hand their own business cards out.

But those networking events have worked for a long time helping local businesses connect and find new business.

By taking that concept and turning it into something you can do for the 21st century, I present you with targeted referrals.

I want you to reach out to your network. Reach out to folks who do similar work as you, who are your trusted colleagues and friends.

Also, reach out to those people who you look up to as well.

Create a list of people.

Don't confuse this. This is a relationship building exercise.

Once you have the list, grab 5-10 people from that list.

What I encourage you to do is to reach out to them asking them about their weekend. Ask how their latest project went. Congratulate them on a job well done that you noticed them doing online.

This can either be done via phone, text message, even your social media platform of choice.

Create engagement with no expectation of anything else.

When they respond, continue that conversation and see where it takes you both. There will a natural point of the conversation where they will ask you what you are up to.

This is where you want to share exactly what you are doing.

Share with them a couple of sentences about a successful project or client problem you solved this week that you are excited about.

Don't bore them, keep it short. Then follow up with your positioning statement of who you help and the problem that you solve for them.

So this could sound like "This week I was able to help a client of mine land 10 new customers under their new pricing, which was double the number and twice the price than what they had last week. I love helping online business build better relationships with their customers through email marketing."

Again, expect nothing from this conversation. You are building the relationship, but more importantly, you are creating a circle of trust, a tribe if you will, of folks who truly understand who you help and the problem that you solve for them.

On the flipside, you should also be mindful of what they are doing, being curious about what they do and problems they solve for their customers.

Building a relationship that will continue to grow, but also when they encounter someone with a problem that you solve, they will think of you.

I've done a form of this for building my email list as well as with trusted colleagues and folks I look up to so that I stay top of mind when they encounter people who can become a client of mine.

It doesn't take long to do, but it's something that if you do it regularly, and keep track of your connections, you'll build a nice consistent flow of referrals into your business.

You are selling a service or product and want to have a system that continuously attracts clients and customers in a predictable way, right?

Can I share with you 11 of my top lessons to do so?

These aren't tips and strategies that are overplayed. These are pretty unique and work amazingly well.

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As you know we are coming up on the magical episode 261 here on Ask Rezzz. And as such, over the next 11 shows I want to share with you 11 of my top "getting clients" lessons.

Thanks to my good friend Mark Asquith for inspiring this series of shows.

Mark, is currently running a series of podcasts on his show The 7-Minute Mentor called 11 Podcasting Lessons To Help You To Become An Audio Influencer in Your Niche.

So how do you get more clients? I thought I'd create a series that does just that.

Over the next 11 episodes, I'm going to share with you my top lessons that are tactful, repeatable, and help you establish yourself as an expert so that you not only clients, but get your clients on a consistent basis to build that pipeline.

There are more freelancers and competition out there in the world than ever before and tactics that you see out there that worked last year, 3 and certainly 5 years ago, just won't work anymore.

Platforms like Upwork and Toptal and others are a race to the bottom. They force you to try and manipulate algorithms and compete with other people on the wrong thing. That's price.

And while these platforms have many companies and opportunities coming to them every single day, those companies are looking for one thing, the cheapest price possible.

What I believe, and with great reason since I did it myself, is that you can build a sustainable business providing services for clients without selling to hundreds and thousands of people.

You certainly do not need to be dropping your prices, racing to the bottom and spend tons of time trying to figure out an algorithm to stand out.

You can build a business that's built around your life and your dreams with a small number of carefully selected clients.

Then you can build a system that continually feeds into your pipeline so that you can build a predictable income.

When I say recurring income, most people, and maybe you as well, think that means providing a monthly service. It's not.

It means that you are selling a service or product that continuously attracts clients and customers in a predictable way.

So that's what I'm going to share with you over the next 11 episodes.

Lessons to build your business with a core type of client and attract those types of clients that you want to have more of.

They are all based on strategies and tactics that have worked for decades in business that I myself still use to this very day that has allowed me to build a profitable and sustainable client services business for close to a decade here in NY.

If you want more, then head on over to rezzz.com and subscribe. No one taught me when I started out, which is why I failed quite often, but I stayed persistent and share with you over at rezzz.com those tips and strategies that work in today's market.