Prospecting For Clients: What Works? What Doesn't?

One of the cardinal rules for every freelancer is this: Always Be Marketing. Now, what is the best way to do that?
When you are prospecting for new clients, what works? What doesn’t?

There's always good, old-fashioned cold-calling. That's a good avenue for many people. Cold calling helps you determine if this is really the type of company you'd want to do business with. It also helps you establish a rapport with some of the decision-makers who could hire you.

But cold-calling is also very difficult for many of us; lets face it, it can take a toll on the morale and self-esteem. Happily, there are some other quite effective methods. Ones that have worked for many successful freelancers and entrepreneurs.

First, there's another old-fashioned contact method: snail mail.

Why not email?

For one thing, it’s way too easy for your prospect to hit that ‘delete’ button. Spam filters are becoming more and more of a problem. Plus, many people are afraid to download attachments if they don’t know who an email is from.

In ourexperience, prospective clients still enjoy receiving a personalized letter that includes materials you printed out and mailed especially for them.

What should your prospecting package include?nn>> A hard-hitting, benefit-oriented sales letter. Of course, you want to sell your expertise, but you also want to sell your accomplishments: what you can do for them. Your sales letter should be no longer than 2 pages, set in readable type (such as 12 point times new roman.)nn>> A biography. Rather than a resume, include a 1-page biography. Here’s where you tell prospects about your professional experience, accomplishments, and clients. You may want to include a bit of personal information, too. Don’t forget to add your contact information and your website address.nn>> Client testimonials. Client testimonials offer you credibility. You don’t have testimonials yet? Well, don’t worry. If you work at a company that gives yearly performance reviews, you can incorporate those into your bio sheet.nn>> A business card. Yes, people really do staple business cards into their rolodex! It's not unusual for prospects to contact you six months, even over a year later for a potential assignment, mostly because they kept your business card.

One other benefit of doing a "snail mail" campaign: Clients have ready-to-use, printed information about you for their files, which they'll keep for several months, if not years. So your chances of a response increase dramatically.

Should you include samples?

Not always. You can include a small brochure that highlights your products or some of your best work. You can also lead prospective clients to the sample page on your website. Not only can you show off your work, it can also help you measure the results of your mailing campaign.

If you have tracking software on your site, its relatively easy to see where visitors come from. Once you determine whether or not a certain prospect visited your site, you can follow up a week or two later.

Don't have a website? Don’t worry. One of my other favorite, tried-and-true methods is the reply postcard. I enclose a stamped, self-addressed postcard that the prospect can fill out for more details. Ask for all contact info and an email address. About 10 days later follow up with the prospect via email.

When it comes to prospecting, there are many schools of thought. Keep in mind that you have to tailor your prospecting efforts to the type of product or service you sell. But no matter what business you're in, good customer service and client relation skills will be what sets you apart from the rest.