From curious to $8k client in 5 hours

Yesterday I had a client go from curious on a call at 2 pm to an $8k paying client at 7:30 pm.

Wild, right?

This client found me via a Google search (thanks Google gods) and was looking for a designer to handle a bunch of flyers needing to be redesigned as well as some promo items for an event happening mid-Feb.

Literally the thing I do day in and day out, branding rollout to create better brand experiences. Excellent.

It hasn't always been this easy, landing clients and converting them on sales calls, but I have a fairly good idea of why I think I landed this job with what felt like little effort.

And what better opportunity to pass this on to you, Reader, so that you can steal my recipe for how I take someone from curious to client.

Here we go...

On the first call, don't give pricing no matter what

Clients will ALWAYS ask for the price and push it more than once. In fact, I think this client pushed a few times on how much I was going to charge, whether I worked hourly or project-based and if I could give a ballpark.

I told her I could give her a ballpark but it would be wildly inaccurate and I needed to see what sort of state the work was in to know how much to solve the problem, and if it could even be solved by me.

Direct them to the discovery call to clarify and ask questions

Jumping on a Zoom can be really telling on the kind of work involved, but also the type of client you're dealing with. For this client, it showed me that they had been trying to DIY the flyers and it was low-res-stretched-logo-all-centred-text madness.

Cringing inside but smiling sweetly, I asked plenty of leading questions about things I needed to know to be able to quote the job, focusing on things I knew would either speed up or slow down the process (existing copy and content, how many versions, etc).

Overdeliver on the call, but redirect to your involvement

This one might feel uncomfortable, but ideas on a call are just that, ideas. Same with troubleshooting what's not worked for them, especially if it paints you as the solution.

Over that 30 minutes, I had them sharing their screen, directing them to menu items inside InDesign and showing them what they had done right and how the mistakes they made were easy to make. Helpful, and non-judgemental, but with a side of "and this is something I can handle".

Quote what they want, Pitch what they need

More often than not, clients come to you with what they think is the problem, but it's part of the problem. For this client, they needed 15-20 flyers redesigned, that much was clear, but what was the bigger problem was they were printing through Officeworks and having so many issues.
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I told them that I would be more than happy to take that part off their plate for them, having a few preferred printing suppliers here in Melbourne that I use and recommend. The relief I could see and hear was the icing on the cake, AND a nice lil mark-up income in addition for me too.

Where possible, par-bake your proposals

I turned around that proposal lightning-fast because I knew time was of the essence. In Freshbooks, you can have sections within the proposal that act as building blocks, things like Scope, Timeline, etc, and it makes writing a proposal so much easier.
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I also have a section in that proposal of 'Inclusions' and 'How I Work' that is reasonably standardised from job to job covering things like inclusions, rounds of changes, who owns what and any additional costs. Once you have a process for this, proposals aren't hard AND it shows the client that you understand the problem and how much you're charging the solution.
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​psst, I have a whole Loaded Lesson on what I include in my Proposals, Estimates, Invoices and what to use when inside the Freelancer's Pantry for Staples and Feast Members. Access this for $57 here​

I remember when I used to freak out on client calls or take hours or even days on proposals, only to have clients go cold and ghost elsewhere. I can honestly say I have learnt my lesson more than once and now have a pretty consistent process for when a client comes knocking (or calling).

At the end of the day, clients are looking for clarity, speed and trust.

Is it clear what they're paying for and that you understand the problem?

Have you responded to them promptly and while decisions can still be made?

Does that first interaction with you show them without a doubt that you can be trusted and be hired?

If you can show a client these things, your price ultimately doesn't matter. When the first impression with a client tells them AND shows them that you're the one to hire, they will always be willing to pay for the privilege.

Because that's what it is, a privilege to access your creative genius.