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31 Comments

Two sales tips for freelance web devs

How you will help them, not what you can do

I've seen hundreds of sales pitches. The number one mistake freelancers make is telling potential clients what they (the freelancer) can do.

Instead, tell your potential clients how you will help them.

How you can help

Remove their biggest roadblock

If your lead already has a site, albiet a bad one, they probably don't want to sink money into a big upfront payment. Especially since they already did for their current site.

Offer monthly subscriptions instead. Build the site for no down payment. Charge a couple of hundred dollars a month for edits, hosting, and SEO health reports/fixes.

Remove client roadblocks

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed it, feel free to sign up for my freelance newsletter. I write a weekly email full of freelancing advice like this!

✌️ - Wes

  1. 4

    Great points!

    I'd say for web devs building web apps (rather than small biz designs as you seem to be doing), upfront and/or hourly payments are way more practical. My clients could burn through $200 worth of changes in a single breath, let alone a whole month.

    50% up front for fixed-price, and giving them time estimates and ensuring they set the priorities, has worked well for me.

    1. 2

      Great distinction @tylerchurch. I'm just getting started with web apps myself, specifically in the marketplace niche. In terms of leads channel, have you found success in any particular approach?

      We've gotten started just by posting in founder groups we're already in, but when I look at talent marketplaces like Fiverr, it seems like an overcrowded race to the bottom.

      Any tips would be much appreciated

      1. 1

        I've had a lot of success on Upwork. It can be a grind sending out proposals, but I've landed some great clients through there.

        Initially I kept my rates low and did some small projects so I could quickly gain some feedback/ratings on my profile, and then from there I've been increasing my rates to what they should be.

        Some people have called Upwork a race to the bottom, but I don't think so. There's a decent amount of value-minded people on there, you just have to find them.

        Weirdly I've also had some success on LinkedIn, but I don't do anything other than check it once a day. I don't even post. A couple clients who are local to me found me on LinkedIn somehow, I have no idea how or why, but it worked out with both contracts.

        I've stayed away from Fiverr, since by definition it's trying to be a race to the bottom.

        Stay away from Guru, it was all trash when I tried it.

        PeoplePerHour seemed very UK focused, and I didn't have any luck there.

        I know there's other platforms (Toptal, Arc, etc.) but I haven't tried those yet.

        Best of luck to you!

    2. 2

      100% Tyler. For others reading this post, I want to reiterate this is specifically for small business marketing sites. I would not use this strategy for full-blown web apps.

  2. 3

    Signed up for newsletter.

  3. 2

    Honestly, this is an amazing tip. Thanks

  4. 2

    Good suggestions, @westonwalker.

    What do you think of preferring upfront payments over hourly rates? I've read some articles that recommend this. I'm sceptical because customers expect the job to be fully compensated with the upfront payment. Firstly, the amount of work is hard to predict. Secondly, it makes customers think they can draw from your time as much as they want because they don't pay the time.

    1. 2

      It depends entirely on the client.

      If you are building a marketing site for a large company or a full-blown web app, charging by the hour or by the project makes sense to me.

      For small local businesses, I've had a lot of success charging no downpayment and a recurring subscription charge. Their needs are consistent. The key is to be VERY clear what that subscription gets them so I'm not overleveraging my time.

      1. 1

        Thanks for the feedback!

  5. 2

    Signed up for your newsletter, You are awesome! I'm looking forward to more tips for newbies)

  6. 2

    This 100%.

    The key you point out here is 'talk about what you do FOR YOUR CUSTOMER/AUDIENCE'.

    The gap between those who understand this and don't is massive imo.

    Side note: I'm setting up a billing page for this and would love your feedback in regards to focusing on the user/customer - dms open.

  7. 2

    Interesting. A couple questions here:

    • Which leads channel have you found the most helpful?
    • With an unlimited edits service, how many clients can you reasonably maintain at a given time?
    • What’s the average churn for clients on this type of subscription? I.e. how long do the stay? If the value of a site build is $5k, they’d have to stay for 25 months (2 years) to break even.

    Thanks!

    1. 4

      Hi Tomas,

      Let me preface by saying my experience is dealing with small local businesses (plumbers, home services, accountants, etc..)

      • For leads, I do it manually. I'll search online for businesses in an area that do a certain type of business with big margins. Trade businesses, home services, etc...)
        If they have a site, I'll run a speed test and SEO reports. Most are terrible. I now have a lead and a talking point with them.

      • If you are targeting small businesses, their needs for edits are VERY small. I have around 12 clients right now, I did about 4 edits in the past 12 months combined. These are edits for existing pages. I do charge to add new pages as it's not a part of the subscription.

      • The only churn is from businesses closing their doors, so very little. I handle everything for them: SEO audits and fixes, edits to existing pages, hosting. They love it. I'd argue the price of these sites should be around 2-3k. But agencies jack prices up to make it worth their while and small business owners don't know what work goes into it to know any better.

      1. 1

        Brilliant, thanks for the clarification. Super insightful!

      2. 1

        Hey Weston,

        Do you reach out to these business by cold call or do you send them an email to get the ball rolling?

        1. 1

          I almost always cold call. The emails above were just a way for me to visualize what your focus should be when pitching clients.

          1. 1

            One follow up question, what % your of cold calls convert to sales?

            Thanks

            1. 2

              Around 5%. It was probably lower when I started out. Just like anything, over time you will get better and more confident at it. Don't let rejection discourage you.

  8. 2

    Thanks Wes, some great tips!

    1. 1

      Thanks Cade. Hope you found it useful.

  9. 1

    Honestly, these are golden nuggets! Thank you for your tips!!!

  10. 1

    Hey, thanks a lot for sharing, both points make a lot of sense!

    I'm not a freelancer, but regarding your first point, I've also started exploring more ways of making the copy on my latest project's website more benefits-focused.

    Generally speaking, it seems to me that your potential customers definitely want to see the benefits first. However, this doesn't mean completely omitting details about your expertise and about what you're going to exactly do.

    It's very strange in a way, to have a copy on your website that most people won't read, but that will serve as proof of your credibility (after you've explained all the benefits).

  11. 1

    Yes, its a better approach to hook the clients. Thanks for sharing it

  12. 1

    Copy could be much tighter on those emails, and personally I ignore the first pattern. I can't say I open the (before) email either, but I certainly don't give the second email much credence.

    Feels like you might get more traction from something that let people know they were leaving money on the ground.

    Not good at copy writing in particular but how about:
    "Your site isn't ranking highly on Google because your website doesn't load fast enough. I can get your score to 95/100 -- let's chat."

    Maybe a mention of their competitors and their scores/optimization (whether their competitors are doing badly or well, it should drive some interest).

    Then again, you're probably not selling me since I'm a cheap developer, the worst market ever to sell to.

    1. 2

      I agree, they definitely could be tightened up. Just to clarify, these emails weren't meant to be templates for someone to re-use. I was just using them as a way to explain what the focus of your pitches should be.

      1. 2

        Ah makes sense! Apologies I probably misread -- good advice otherwise 👍🏾

  13. 1

    Thanks for sharing this. Any further reading you would recommend me to learn more about this ?

    1. 1

      I run a blog, thefreelancedev.com, where I'm dumping the knowledge I've learned in this niche over the last few years. Feel free to visit and sign up for the mail list.

      Kyle Prinsloo on Twitter (@kylepdotco) is another freelancer I see sharing a lot of advice as well.

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