Before you write another email read this.
Your biggest competition for a new client is yourself. Most freelancers and consultants eliminate themselves before they ever get told “no” by a client. (View Highlight)
An email stands out if it’s different. In fact, one of my most successful Workshop customers, Eric Davis, puts off emailing the leads I send him for weeks or months. He saves them all up in his inbox then revisits them later.
That’s when he follows up about how the project turned out and – only then – talks about what he can do to help. He’s earned over $60,000 by doing this with Workshop leads.
It’s true, you can’t know the perfect time to email someone. But being first doesn’t matter. (View Highlight)
You have to make educating clients a priority. Ideal clients aren’t born; they’re created by great consultants who teach them. That’s why some people triple their client’s budget while others are stuck giving discounts. (View Highlight)
The most successful consultants get this. Instead of complaining about low budgets, they show clients how working with them is in their best interest.
Instead of discussing the price of open heart surgery they discuss whether the client needs the surgery at all. Questioning whether they even need your service, immediately put a client in a position to fight for what they want.
Suggesting smaller projects for price-conscious clients will build trust by demonstrating you won’t ever sell them something they don’t need. You’ll create life-long clients this way. (View Highlight)
Remember that each client you email is potentially worth thousands of dollars, and you only need a handful of clients to make a lot of money. So it’s OK to spend some time on each one. (View Highlight)
Has the recipient written a book or blog post you can read? If so, read it. Learn their name. Lead with something you really love about their company. Sincerely discovering what YOU think is great about them will not only feel good it will result in 10x the results. Remember, as your future client reads each sentence, they only have two options:
Stop reading.
Keep reading.
Give them a reason to choose #2 by stepping into their shoes and addressing the fact that their inbox is full of spam. It’s the best way to ensure they keep reading. (View Highlight)
Most consultants and freelancers have great work on display in their portfolio. They all look the same. They all have a link in their signature. It makes sense that you want to use something you’ve invested so much time into as much as possible. Don’t. You needed to stand out. (View Highlight)
Similarly, no one wants to read a 10-page proposal email about you and your awesome websites. People don’t want websites. They don’t want to hire a freelancer. They want something to happen. They want a result.
So focus on selling results.
If you had to remove the words “I,” “me,” or “my” in the email and replace them with “you,” (meaning the client) what would you say?
I’ve helped hundreds of businesses in your position. I helped X-company to accomplish Y-benefit.
Would become:
Your website reminds me of past client of mine: X-company, which probably means you want Y-benefit as well.
This is way more effective because you’re making the client the star of your email. What’s the outcome they want? Leave everything else out. (View Highlight)
What else to leave out
I also recommend you don’t include links to your social media or blog. A prospective client doesn’t care about your work yet.
The only point of your email is to get them to reply. Making them click on your website, linkedin profile, or blog makes this less likely to happen.
In fact, leave out anything that doesn’t help you get them to reply. That means keeping your emails extremely short. That way it’s easier to find the point of your email.
Don’t go into your regular spiel about . Instead use words that they use to talk about their business. To find these words you can simply scan their job posting or website, steal their words, and mirror them back. (View Highlight)
Make smart decisions for them and put the burden on yourself to prove that you can help. Ask yourself:
What do they need accomplished?
What’s most important to them?
Why do they need this?
Ignore everything else. Can you take care of their problem by sending this one email? If so, do it every time. (View Highlight)
Nobody cares about great design. Nobody cares about clean code. Nobody wants to have the best content just to have it. It’s all about what it means for them. (View Highlight)
A great SEO strategy means that a business owner doesn’t have to worry about promoting articles as much and can just focus on making customers happy. (View Highlight)
A web app means that the business owner can outsource a process and have it taken out of their hands. It doesn’t have to be more complicated than that. (View Highlight)
If someone wanted a meeting, I’d suggest a time. If I was presenting an idea I would also present how to implement it quickly. (View Highlight)
If you don’t apply anything else from this article, just take away this: end your email with a suggested next step. You’ll know you’re on the right track if a client can reply with a quick “sounds good” to any email you send.
Do that and your emails will win you more clients in less time too. (View Highlight)
You should put leads in different groups depending on what stage they’re in. You’ll want to follow-up with some leads more often than others. (View Highlight)
For a client who has responded positively I recommend the group “In Conversation”, because these leads are different than a lead who has never responded. While you should follow up with both, the people who have responded positively to an email should get more aggressive follow-ups: every 4-5 days until you get a solid “no” or “not right now”. It’s your duty to remember. Embrace the no. Try to get to it as quickly as possible. (View Highlight)
The last step: How to make it easy to hire you. (View Highlight)
The last thing you want to do is remove any obstacles that come between you and a positive reply. People are more likely to do something when it’s easy. That’s why you’ve gotta make it easy to read and act on your emails:
Break emails up into sections.
Make them easy to scan by using lists and bolding key points.
Remove all links unless the client specifically requested them. You’re not trying to drive traffic to a website, you’re trying to get a reply.
Don’t send your entire portfolio. Break out 1-2 pieces that are relevant to their project.
Match the benefits of your past work to their current needs.
Remove any job board links. They know they posted on a job board.
Don’t give them a long questionnaire to fill out. No one wants to do it.
Use good grammar. Write simply and get straight to the point.
Once you’ve agreed on the price and scope, link them to an easy payment system, like Stripe, Shopify, or Gumroad.
A good rule of thumb: if someone can just reply “sounds good,” then your email does enough of the heavy lifting.
It means you’ve taken away the hard part: deciding what’s next. Even the busiest people will reply if you make it easy. (View Highlight)