The Marketing Mix | official blog of the Marketing Mentor community

What if You Were Paid To Do Your Networking?

Recently I was paid to go to a networking event for my client. I consider myself a good networker, but doing networking for someone else (and getting paid to do it) made me supercharge my approach. It put a higher emphasis on getting value for my client, and I networked in, dare I say, a better way than I do for myself.

Here’s what was different:

1. I went with a goal: to come back with 2 solid leads. Everything else was gravy.
2. I knew exactly what type of prospects we were looking for and I’d chosen this event because I suspected they would be there.
3. When I located my best prospects, I went out of my way to get to know then. I heard a tiny voice in the back of my head say, “Don’t bother them. Don’t stalk them. Don’t ask too many questions.” But because I was doing this for someone else, I knew to ignore that voice – after all, the voice didn’t know I was being paid, that this was a work arrangement.
4. I followed up immediately, ignoring another (lazy) voice that told me to wait a few days, the one that imagined that showing interest by following up right away would somehow be misperceived. No! It means you’re interested and on top of things.

This experience made me wonder about my clients who tell me of similar voices: 

If you were being paid to network, would your approach change? Can we “trick” ourselves into doing better networking (even when we aren’t being paid to do it)?

Can you go to your next networking event (maybe that will be CFC?) and try to implement these techniques?

I have another one tonight…I’m going to try again and see what happens.

Credit: Illustration by Kelsey Grafton - www.behance.net/KelseyGrafton

Enroll before Midnight (May 15) to land clients fast

Enrollment for Ed Gandia’s Warm Email Prospecting program is closing tonight at Midnight (May 15). So if you want in on this program (that I wish I'd created myself!), do it now!

Warm Email Prospecting will teach how to finally BANISH the feast-or-famine cycle by:

• Landing clients FAST!
• Taking the fear out of prospecting
• Making prospecting easier (and more consistent)

The program is fantastic. Freelancer, Paula Mottshaw, raved about Ed's Warm Email Prospecting program:

I absolutely hate cold calling, so I needed to find a method that worked for me. Ed’s warm email program is a step-by-step, how-to program focused on how to build relationships and attract clients via email. The program is created in modules and includes short videos, handouts and worksheets; plus lots of actionable tips that cost $0 to implement.

Sending warm emails sets you apart from the crowd. How often do you receive an email that was written especially for you (and not the masses)? -Paula Mottshaw, Communications and Design Professional

Sign up here: http://goo.gl/9iwEW

And let me know if you have questions!

Should I leave a message?

I am constantly asked whether you should leave a voice mail message when following up with a prospect. 

The answer is a resounding YES. Your voice makes you a real human being, rather than one more email message in their inbox.

In this video for Entrepreneur.com, I suggest tips for customizing a voice mail message. In recent videos, I shared 3 steps to close the deal and tips if you’re not talking money up front.

3 Steps to Close the Deal

Are things getting fuzzy when it’s time to close the deal?

Are you submitting proposals and then waiting to hear back?

In my latest video with Colleen DeBaise for Entrepreneur.com, I shared 3 steps to help you navigate deal-closing and land the job instead of being stuck in limbo. Watch it here:

Hate prospecting for clients?

Consider yourself an introvert?

Wish there was an easier way to land great clients?

...then I highly recommend this FREE training series --> "A Faster an Easier Way to Land Quality Clients" from Ed Gandia, who spoke at CFC last year in Boston -- gave an excellent session called "How to Craft a Marketing Plan You'll Enjoy Implementing."

If you missed his CFC talk (or just need a marketing refresher), check out this 3-part series (videos + PDF transcripts) on how to land more (and higher-paying!) clients with very short and simple but highly personalized emails.

He'll show you how to use short and simple "warm emails" to take the fear and hassle out of finding quality clients. Great stuff!

Definitely worth putting in your email address to get access! http://bit.ly/SQ05Fe

Is your LinkedIn title landing you clients?

In his latest post for the International Freelancers Academy, Creative Ways to Land Freelance Work from Social Media, Ed Gandia shares how 12 successful self-employed professionals have used social media to land new clients.

I contributed one section about Karen McElmoyle, a Charlotte, NC-based designer who specializes in law firms, who was awarded a $10,000+ web design project from a law firm that found her on LinkedIn — all because of her title, that tiny line under her name. Here it is:

#12: Craft a Powerful Title for Your LinkedIn Profile

Her LinkedIn title reads, “Helping Law Firms & Financial Services Companies Elevate Their Brand & Bottom Line.”

These lawyers didn’t search Google for a local web designer. Like many professionals these days, they used LinkedIn as a search engine. And they chose someone who understands their business, rather than a generalist.

Because Karen positioned herself well, her expertise was communicated clearly in her title and even more thoroughly in her profile.

If her title had been generic, such as “Owner of KM Design,” or worse, “Graphic Designer,” those lawyers wouldn’t have seen her profile, much less chosen her.

That’s one reason why that tiny one-liner is the most important element in your profile.

Here’s another: Unless someone clicks on your full profile, your name and title are the only things visible on LinkedIn lists, such as the list of "People Also Viewed" and “People You May Know,” as well as when you accept someone’s invite to connect. So your title had better do a good job of saying what you do.

Does yours?

See how 11 others are using social media to land work.

If you’re not talking money up front….

Many creatives are wasting time with prospects who can’t afford them. Are you having lengthy conversations or writing proposals without talking money first? To get a budget and find out if the prospect is a good fit, try these 3 steps that I shared with Colleen DeBaise in this video for Entrepreneur.com.

What to say … when a client says, “How much is a logo?”

How much is a logo? How much is a website? How much is a brochure? It’s easy to be a bit perplexed when posed these questions by prospects. After all, every logo, website and brochure is different, and so is each situation. 

This is how Laurel Black, from Laurel Black Design in Port Angeles, Washington, handles it:

I often get new people who call up and say things like “How much is a logo?”

That used to take me aback until one day I got fed up and said (to a car dealership owner), “Well, I don’t know – how much is a car?”

Big pause – then the caller started laughing. But he got the point, and we were able to create a range as Deidre described in the guessing game post. If the prospect had been a real estate agent, I would have asked: "How much is a house?"

When a client is really dithering and hard to pin down, I roll out the Floor/Ceiling analogy.
I say, “Okay Mr. Client, here’s the deal: you have a budget ceiling over which you can’t go, and I have a floor under which I can’t get your work done. If your ceiling is under my floor, we will need to figure out how we can tailor your project to get it between the two.”

This usually gets the conversation back on track, unless their ceiling is not realistic and they won’t budge it (which is a clear sign that they are not my client). It also helps to depersonalize/lighten the conversation.

What tips do you have for dealing with the numbers game?

If money matters leave you searching for words—the Creative Professional’s Guide to Money provides great language and guidance for a number of money-related situations.

What to say … when you want the decision maker involved early.

In this interview, there is more great insight and language from Petrula Vrontikis—who shares her strategy for making sure the decision-makers are involved at the very beginning of a project.

She also tells us exactly what she says to her prospect or client to persuade them, including why they pay the price of any wasted time and effort if they don't do it this way. 

Listen here. 

Get more insight on what to say during sticky situations in the Creative Professional's Guide to Money.

What to say … when you have to say “no.”

Saying no can be one of the trickiest things to say to a client. Recently, D.C. shared the words she used to say “no” to her client. 

The situation:

D.C. was asked to do a website for one of her client’s personal interests. The client thought it was a small project, but D.C. knew it wasn’t.

She didn’t want to alienate the client, and this is how she tactfully responded.

How do you say "no"?