How to sell more services online
So, you have been recently working on your online business. You have spent hours (and probably money) designing the core of your services and getting established on the Internet. You have updated your website and your CV to contact new clients. And… now what? Nothing or little happens.
I’ve been there, and I’m sure that most of you have as well. I have received quite a few messages asking how I sell and contact clients and how I started earning money with my business. Well, I’m afraid that there’s no absolute answer to that as every person and business is a complete different world. However, I can show you some tips to boost the sales of your services. Let’s see what we can do!
What to do behind the scenes to sell more services online
- Establish your strategy.
Basically, you have to answer one question here: How are you going to make money? If we focus on services sales, you will need to define the characteristics of your services. What makes it special and different from the rest? What value can add to your clients? Who are your clients?
Probably, at the very beginning, you won’t be able to get to the end of the month selling your services (at least, I couldn’t make it for the first two months). So, make sure that you either have some back-up money or a plan b, such as a part-time job or another source of income.
What can you do?
Set periodic objectives, think of what you expect to earn at the end of the month and try to achieve them. Split them in small objectives and write down how you are going to earn that money. For example:
This month I’m going to earn £200 more. I am going to research a new legal firm and contact them to explain why they may need my services. I’ll close a new deal within the legal field to achieve this goal.
- Work on your online platform.
Your online platform is the starting point of your business. I’m not going to go into further details, as I already talked about online platforms in this blog post. Remember to pay attention to the image of your business to be stuck in your clients’ mind.
- Market your online platform.
It can sound a bit overwhelming at the beginning, but you’ll need to think of a strategy to attract your clients to your website; at least, at the very beginning, when our online business is not very well known yet.
What can you do?
I always recommend investing in a good content marketing strategy. Information of quality attracts potential clients and also improves the SEO of your website. You can kill two birds with one stone.
You can also use contests on social media, as I did on Facebook, or offer a sample of your products/services.
- Be aware of the regulations.
You will need to know the regulation of your specific country or region. I’m afraid that I can’t offer a universal solution to this section. If you are going to start an online business, you’ll probably need to register yourself as a self-employee at some point and declare your income.
What you can do?
I normally work in Spain and the UK. If you are interested in the Spanish legislation for freelancers, have a look at this article. For the UK, you can read all the information in the HMRC’s website.
- Monitor the selling process.
You can do it in two different ways. You can set up an automated selling process or you can sell your services one-to-one with each client. Let’s analyse the pros and cons!
On one hand, an automated selling process can save you time if your business have a high number of clients online. For example, imagine that you’re selling an ebook (although it’s not a service). This automated selling process will allow your clients to buy it without your intervention. You won’t need to talk directly to your clients, so maybe your business can lose a personal approach to each sale.
On the other hand, with a one-to-one selling process, you’ll have the chance to talk with each client and adapt your services to their needs. You’ll be able to negotiate the terms and adapt how each project is going to be developed. However, you will need to invest more time in answering emails and phone calls. Make sure that you have the communication skills needed to deal with all your clients such as language skills.
This doesn’t mean that one is best than the other. Depending on the services that you are offering you will need to make a decision.
- Deliver your services.
How are you going to deliver your services and what are the costs of this? Depending on your services you may need to hire private courier services. Make sure that you are aware of the cost of this at the end of the month.
- Make payments easy.
Sometimes a mere bank transfer can be enough if you work with clients in your country. However, if you work in different countries, you will need to set up a payment process adapted to different currencies. PayPal or TransferWise can be a good solution to that.
Action to take to sell more services
- Learn how to sell yourself.
There are obvious differences between selling services and products. When you sell a service, you are selling your time and therefore, you are selling yourself as an expert. You are also promising your audience certain results that they are going to gain through your services.
That’s why you have to think and get to know your abilities, skills and where you can lead your clients. Investing in training to improve and progress in your professional career will be very important as well.
What can you do?
Try to answer these questions:
- What can you offer that anyone else can?
- Why is that special?
- Who needs these services?
- What benefits they can gain?
- What do you want to achieve through offering this services?
- Why do you what you do?
It’s not easy, but that will be the core of your business.
- Meet specific needs.
I’ve been asked this question so many times before: why I should hire you when a translation agency is going to charge less than you (which is not always even the case)?
Well, we have something that most multinationals and big companies don’t. We can adapt out business to meet specific needs. I can say that I haven’t done the same services for two different clients. Each of my clients has their own needs and therefore I tackle each project from a different perspective every time. (Can you imagine a big multinational doing the same for its millions of clients? No, right?)
[Tweet “ProTip: Adapt your business to the needs of your clients.”]
We have something that they don’t, and we need to exploit it.
What can you do?
You can start with a market research to get to know the needs of your clients.
- Offer flexibility.
We also need to solve problems. As many problems we can solve, our clients will trust us more. If a client knows that by hiring you will be avoiding further complications, you’ll have more point to be hired.
What you can do?
Think of any complications that may arise within your services. Write them down and, in a second column, write how you are going to solve these issues. Maybe you can’t solve them all right now because you need to take a specific training courses, or maybe you will have to create a network of professional to assist you on certain issues.
- Market your business locally.
People in your city will be more likely to hire you because they can talk directly to you if something happens. That inspires trust. That is why we need to pay attention to local directories and opportunities to market your services in your city.
What can you do?
Find out any local directory and event in your city in which you can promote your business.
- Be found.
As mentioned before, you’ll have to make an effort to promote your business and online platform. SEO, marketing materials and a professional brand will accompanied you during your professional career.
- Be accessible.
People should have the chance to contact you easily and through different channels. Email, phone, social media profiles… You never know where someone interested in you services can be. That doesn’t mean that you must be everywhere, but think where your clients are likely to find you and how they can contact you. A non-answer can be translated into a lost client.
- Showcase your expertise and gather the opinion of your audience.
Ask for your clients’ opinion every time you finish a project. Ask them what they think about the quality and they way that that project was managed. If they are happy with your work, they could even provide a recommendation or testimonial that you can add to your website to establish your reputation online.
What can you do?
Write a list of former and current clients and send them a email to ask for a testimonial for your online platform.
- Elaborate concrete offers and highlight their benefits.
If you want your clients to accept your quotes and estimates, they must know what they are investing in. Elaborate specific quotes and highlight the benefits that they are going to gain through that specific assignment.
You can even issue a couple of offers per assignment with different options regarding the services included, so your client can choose depending on his needs.
Also, make your point from the very beginning and don’t try to embellish your texts too much. You need to convince them as soon as possible.
- Pressure and time constraints.
One of the problems of selling services is that you are selling your time. You can offer as many services as your time allows it. That’s why you should pay attention to how many hours you want to work a day and the workflow that you can handle during those hours.
We all want to make the most of our time; think about how to work cleverly rather that in a stressful way.
What can you do?
Think how many hours a day you are going to need to achieve the objectives established before. Then, establish your business/office hours and try to stick to them as much as you can.
- Network, network and network.
A good way of boosting the sales of your services is networking. And I would divide networking in two different groups:
On one hand, I always advise to go to event related to your fields of expertise. You will have a chance to get to know people that may be interested in your services and it’s also a good way to promote word of mouth.
On the other hand, I also like to contact businesses to which I can provide some added value (and the other way back). This is how I turn my competitors into collaborators.
For example, I offer translation services specialised in marketing. That’s why I started to contact marketing agencies. Although marketing agencies may not necessarily need translation services, if they work with international clients, they could need my services, and it’s then when this marketing agency can use my services. The client is happy, the marketing agency is happy, and I’m happy. Win-win solution.
What can you do?
Find and plan how many events you want to assist a year. Make a list and prioritise, remember that you can’t be everywhere.
Try to find at least three businesses a week that may be interested in your business or whose clients may be interested in your business and reach them with a good offer. Tell them how you can add value to their businesses.
What about you? Which techniques do you use to boost the sales of your business? Leave a comment below!
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