Don't Look Bad When Someone Wants To Hire You
As a digital marketing and sales consultant, I do entirely too many free consultations. It's hard to manage, but just a necessary part of the job.
I'm only two years in as an independent, so I still have to work hard to prove my worth and value to potential clients before they'll even consider hiring me.
One of the things I learned early on was that I needed to prepare before every meeting. If I didn't, I looked completely unprofessional and uneducated. While it's no surprise that one should always prepare prior to meeting with a prospective client, what I quickly learned was that simply wasn't going to be enough. If I didn't come prepared, having done my homework already, but also with additional industry and business specifics questions, meetings were awkward. People would just sit and look at me, unwilling to just talk and tell me why I was really there.
So, I designed a questionnaire that I now use for every free consultation, but it's always tailored after I've done my homework on the company. I thought I would share this with you guys to give you some ideas on how to get your own potential customers talking, whatever the industry or type of work may be.
Most of my clients come to me wanting either social media management, or they just know they need help with general marketing. I get the odd website request but I'll talk about that in a different post. Pulling the information I need out of them to actually help them is an entire different challenge. I have two different questionnaires; one for social media and one for general marketing.
So, here are the questions I ask for all social media consultations.
I've tweaked it and changed it a million times, but this is what I'm working with now. I feel like it's in-depth enough where the customer feels confident that I know what I'm talking about, and they typically answer all the questions very thoughtfully and leave me with a solid foundation to get the ball rolling. The questions are assumptive and I obtain information as if they've already hired me.
-What is the primary objective of this campaign? What specifically do you hope to accomplish?
-Are their any secondary objectives?
-Please explain your target market. Describe your ideal customer to me: gender, income level, interests, career, geography, etc.
-Do you currently have any social accounts running? If so, please provide the usernames and passwords. (can be done now or later)
-If you do already have accounts going, what are you doing for them now, and how do you want things to change?
-What are the goals and outcomes you're expecting? Please explain very clearly what you'd like to see - 2 unique posts/day on Instagram, finding new followers, etc.
-What type of tone do you want your content to have? It could be authoritative, knowledgeable, educational, helpful, relaxed, funny, snarky, etc.
-What type of look do you want your content to have?
-How would you describe your brand?
-What need does your service fulfil? Why do people hire you? Are you solving any problems for them?
-What makes you special? What differentiates you from your competitors?
-What type of content do you already have, that I can have access to?
When I do a general marketing consultation, the questions are quite different.
The real goal, for me, is to figure out why they have called me.
How can I help them? Some people come with specific things in mind they want help with, while others come with absolutely no idea -- they just feel overwhelmed and want help.
This questionnaire is extremely detailed and in-depth, and here's why. I think that in order to truly be of benefit to someone's organization and bottom line, you really need to understand their entire business. You can't just make it about the top-level role of marketing, because there are so many other variables that will effect a good marketing strategy. I've worked with people before who have the worst phone manner you can imagine. I can make your phone ring, but if you lose the sale because you don't know how to talk to people, my work is a complete waste of time.
I like to take a holistic approach and really partner with people, so I can identify any holes in their processes that might be harming their sales.
Here are the questions I ask for general marketing consultations:
-What is the main struggle that caused you to reach out to me?
-What does the structure of your business look like today?
-Do you have any staff or others you collaborate with?
-How many hours do you work each week?
-How many clients are you currently working with?
-Who are your ideal and preferred clients? Is this your current typical client?
-What exactly do they look like:
How old are they?
Where do they live?
What magazines/newspapers/websites) do they read?
What is their income level?
What is their most pressing problem or desired result?
-What is the value of a new client to you?
-What is your sales process (from start to finish)?
-What is your number one priority for your business this year?
-What do you believe needs to change in order to achieve this?
-What type of growth are you hoping to achieve? Can your current structure support this?
-Who manages your website and how important is it to your business?
-What is your marketing & advertising budget for the next 12 months?
-What current or past forms of advertising have you done?
-What are your expectations of creating a partnership with me?
-Is there anything else I should know about your business?
When you show up to a meeting that you won't be paid for, and have already read through the client's website, blog and social media accounts, it goes a long way. But don't stop there. Coming prepared with a specific set of questions that will allow you to dig deep and genuinely understand the business, their people, and what they need to achieve, is an essential part of closing the deal. Your results as a digital marketing expert will speak for themselves. People only want to do business with people they feel they can trust, and that initial consultation is your only shot.
So, don't get caught with your pants down. Do the work and show up prepared, and you'll achieve much better conversion rates.
How does everyone else prepare for their meetings? Would love to have some new questions to add to my list.
I'm only two years in as an independent, so I still have to work hard to prove my worth and value to potential clients before they'll even consider hiring me.
One of the things I learned early on was that I needed to prepare before every meeting. If I didn't, I looked completely unprofessional and uneducated. While it's no surprise that one should always prepare prior to meeting with a prospective client, what I quickly learned was that simply wasn't going to be enough. If I didn't come prepared, having done my homework already, but also with additional industry and business specifics questions, meetings were awkward. People would just sit and look at me, unwilling to just talk and tell me why I was really there.
So, I designed a questionnaire that I now use for every free consultation, but it's always tailored after I've done my homework on the company. I thought I would share this with you guys to give you some ideas on how to get your own potential customers talking, whatever the industry or type of work may be.
Most of my clients come to me wanting either social media management, or they just know they need help with general marketing. I get the odd website request but I'll talk about that in a different post. Pulling the information I need out of them to actually help them is an entire different challenge. I have two different questionnaires; one for social media and one for general marketing.
So, here are the questions I ask for all social media consultations.
I've tweaked it and changed it a million times, but this is what I'm working with now. I feel like it's in-depth enough where the customer feels confident that I know what I'm talking about, and they typically answer all the questions very thoughtfully and leave me with a solid foundation to get the ball rolling. The questions are assumptive and I obtain information as if they've already hired me.
-What is the primary objective of this campaign? What specifically do you hope to accomplish?
-Are their any secondary objectives?
-Please explain your target market. Describe your ideal customer to me: gender, income level, interests, career, geography, etc.
-Do you currently have any social accounts running? If so, please provide the usernames and passwords. (can be done now or later)
-If you do already have accounts going, what are you doing for them now, and how do you want things to change?
-What are the goals and outcomes you're expecting? Please explain very clearly what you'd like to see - 2 unique posts/day on Instagram, finding new followers, etc.
-What type of tone do you want your content to have? It could be authoritative, knowledgeable, educational, helpful, relaxed, funny, snarky, etc.
-What type of look do you want your content to have?
-How would you describe your brand?
-What need does your service fulfil? Why do people hire you? Are you solving any problems for them?
-What makes you special? What differentiates you from your competitors?
-What type of content do you already have, that I can have access to?
When I do a general marketing consultation, the questions are quite different.
The real goal, for me, is to figure out why they have called me.
How can I help them? Some people come with specific things in mind they want help with, while others come with absolutely no idea -- they just feel overwhelmed and want help.
This questionnaire is extremely detailed and in-depth, and here's why. I think that in order to truly be of benefit to someone's organization and bottom line, you really need to understand their entire business. You can't just make it about the top-level role of marketing, because there are so many other variables that will effect a good marketing strategy. I've worked with people before who have the worst phone manner you can imagine. I can make your phone ring, but if you lose the sale because you don't know how to talk to people, my work is a complete waste of time.
I like to take a holistic approach and really partner with people, so I can identify any holes in their processes that might be harming their sales.
Here are the questions I ask for general marketing consultations:
-What is the main struggle that caused you to reach out to me?
-What does the structure of your business look like today?
-Do you have any staff or others you collaborate with?
-How many hours do you work each week?
-How many clients are you currently working with?
-Who are your ideal and preferred clients? Is this your current typical client?
-What exactly do they look like:
How old are they?
Where do they live?
What magazines/newspapers/websites) do they read?
What is their income level?
What is their most pressing problem or desired result?
-What is the value of a new client to you?
-What is your sales process (from start to finish)?
-What is your number one priority for your business this year?
-What do you believe needs to change in order to achieve this?
-What type of growth are you hoping to achieve? Can your current structure support this?
-Who manages your website and how important is it to your business?
-What is your marketing & advertising budget for the next 12 months?
-What current or past forms of advertising have you done?
-What are your expectations of creating a partnership with me?
-Is there anything else I should know about your business?
When you show up to a meeting that you won't be paid for, and have already read through the client's website, blog and social media accounts, it goes a long way. But don't stop there. Coming prepared with a specific set of questions that will allow you to dig deep and genuinely understand the business, their people, and what they need to achieve, is an essential part of closing the deal. Your results as a digital marketing expert will speak for themselves. People only want to do business with people they feel they can trust, and that initial consultation is your only shot.
So, don't get caught with your pants down. Do the work and show up prepared, and you'll achieve much better conversion rates.
How does everyone else prepare for their meetings? Would love to have some new questions to add to my list.