Editor's note: We originally published a different article by mistake due to an oversight and a valuable lesson in the dangers of copy-paste; you can see it live here. We truly apologize for the error.
If you’re an agency owner or solo consultant, you’re probably constantly thinking about getting new clients. And we’re inundated in this industry with too much advice around new marketing funnels, new marketing ideas, and "one weird tricks to 10x your traffic overnight."
But something we don’t talk about enough is what you do when you actually convert that person into a real contact on your site.
I’m not talking about “a lead” here, because that word is used widely in our space and has come to mean everything and nothing at the same time. A lead could be an email address and it could be a long-form submission telling you everything about their needs, as well as their budget and their birth city.
What I’m talking about here is a marketing qualified lead (MQL) that you are going to turn into a sales qualified lead (SQL) so that you can turn them into a business qualified lead (aka a new client). (Note: I just made up business qualified lead, so don’t go around talking about BQLs. Or do, but credit me!).
Over the last two years I’ve helped a lot of businesses connect with great marketing providers through my company Credo, and through that I’ve been able to watch how agencies and consultants alike pitch work.
I see all sorts of strategies done to try to close a lead into a client, such as:
- Send an intake survey to try to vet the lead more;
- Send them a Calendly link to get them to schedule a call as soon as possible;
- Send an initial proposal after the first call and then refine it with the client on the phone;
- Send tracked proposals using a tool like DocSend so you can follow up depending on whether they’ve viewed it or not.
There are many more I've seen as well. Some work well, others don’t. This post isn’t going to dig into the various tactics you can use, as you should be testing those yourself.
What I care about is that you develop a sales strategy that sets a strong base and that you can build from into the future.
I also have a unique view on our industry, because I get to see what kind of sales process actually closes potential clients into actual clients. While you may be doing something that you think works really well, there's a great chance that I know a better way.
And today, I’m going to give you a view into what I know closes clients, and the sales process that I use to close a high percentage of projects who want to work with me into clients.
What to do when a client contacts you
The first rule of sales in a service business like a consulting agency is that the earlier you reply to a prospective client, the more likely you are to close them into an actual client.
Over the last couple of years, I've tried to educate businesses that they should speak with multiple agencies and get multiple proposals, to understand what each agency has to offer and be able to compare them in order to arrive at the right decision for their specific business.
And yet, time and time again I see the first agency to respond to be the one to close the project probably 70% of the time.
This can absolutely be a templated response, and tools like Gmail’s Canned Responses or templates within your CRM of choice can help. I personally use HubSpot’s and push form entries there via Zapier, but there are many different options out there; I'm sure you can find one that connects your form technology to your CRM.
In your response, you have to include these three points at minimum:
- Respond as quickly as possible and thank them for contacting you
- Acknowledge the project they say they're interested in
- Schedule a time to chat on the phone as quickly as possible
As I said above, I’ve seen many agencies send an intake questionnaire that's a page or two long before even getting on the phone with the potential client.
I advise against this simply because this slows down the process. Some clients that you would otherwise win will simply move on to another agency. You’re giving them work when really what you need to do is remove friction from their decision to choose you.
This initial contact is also not the place to tell them all of the brands you've helped and the results you've gotten. If they’re contacting you, they're already interested. Don’t make them think.
You have one goal with your response: to get them to schedule a phone call with you.
What to learn on the first call
If you’ve followed my instructions above, you’re getting the client to schedule a call with you (when you're available) as quickly as possible. Don’t forget to have them include their phone number, as well!
Schedule the call for 30 minutes so that you can:
- Get an understanding for their project, and
- Not invest too much time into them in case they're not qualified enough.
As a side note, if you're getting too many “leads” (may we all be so lucky) that are not qualified for your business and thus wasting you or your salesperson’s time, then you may want to look at adding some friction to your lead forms. More is not always better.
You should have an idea of who your best clients are and the kind of work they've hired you to do that you are best-in-class doing; you need to walk away from this first call at minimum knowing if they're a good fit or not.
If they are a good fit, then you can move them forward in your sales process (usually a recap and another call).
You'll also be able to use this process to qualify out the leads who on the surface seem to be a good fit because they were able and willing to successfully fill out your lead form, but when you dig deeper into their business and needs, you realize they're not quite such a good fit. We’ll talk about this more in a minute.
On this initial phone call, you need to cover all of these points to determine whether you should pitch the work or not:
- What their business model is, so that you can understand if they're profitable;
- The type of project they're looking for, such as strategy or services or a combination thereof;
- Their internal team structure and their knowledge of the marketing channel they're inquiring to you about;
- Whether the person you're speaking with is the person who has final sign-off and budgetary control, or if they've been tasked with sourcing an agency but ultimately are not the decision maker;
- Their budget range;
- Their timetable for wanting to get started.
Thank them for their time and set their expectations about what you'll do next and when they can expect to hear back from you.
Now your work really begins.
After the first call
Assuming the first call with your prospective client goes well, you'll need a process to follow so that followups don't fail and the process moves forward.
This part is important.
Right after the call, follow up with the person you spoke with via email to recap the call and reiterate your next steps.
First, thank them for their time. Regardless of whether or not you ultimately decide to pitch the project, you should be grateful that they decided to speak with you and not someone else.
Second, recap what you discussed on the call. I like to take notes with my CRM (I use HubSpot, as mentioned above) and then use those to write the recap. A CRM should integrate with your email system and allow you to email the prospect from directly within it so that you don't have to move between your CRM and your email client.
Here's a templated response that I use when replying to someone after our initial call:
Hi FNAME,
Thank you for the conversation today! I enjoyed learning more about your business and how we can potentially help.
As we discussed, COMPANY is looking for TYPE OF PROJECT. (recap the project here)
As I mentioned on the call, my next step is to spend some time reviewing your site and your project to determine if it is the right fit for me as well. I will follow up with you within 48 hours (NOTE: THIS CAN CHANGE IF YOU CHATTED ON FRIDAY, IN WHICH CASE SAY END OF DAY ON MONDAY) with my findings and where I think I can add value to your business. In the case that your project is not the right fit for me, I can suggest some other people you should speak with.
Thanks FNAME, and you will hear from me soon!
John
Now you can review their project and website metrics to see where you can add value, and if it’s a project that can be successful within the budget they have outlined for you.
Then, decide if you should pitch for the project or refer them elsewhere.
Deciding whether to pitch the work
Sales is all about determining who the right prospects are and are not, then optimizing your time to focus on the clients you want to sign — not on the ones that are a poor fit for your business.
Hopefully you know who your ideal customer is, in terms of budget but also the type of work they need (strategy, services, or some combination thereof) as well as the marketing channel(s). Once you know who your ideal customer is (and is not), you'll have a much easier time determining whether or not you should pitch the work.
In my experience with seeing over a thousand projects introduced to marketing providers, the six factors mentioned in the “What to learn on the first call” section are the ones that reliably help you understand whether you should pitch the work or not.
Some of the factors to avoid are:
- Unrealistic expectations or timelines
- No or low budget
- No resources to get things done
- Their last four agencies haven't worked out
- Going out of business "unless they get help"
I love that so many in the SEO industry are helpful and genuinely good people who want to help others, but if you start taking on clients that can’t pay you what you need to operate a profitable business or have had issues with many other agencies, then you're doing yourself and your business a disservice.
If I had a dollar for every time I heard an agency say that they “pitched the work, but set the budget high” I’d be financially independent and retired to a mountain town in Switzerland by now.
Hear me loud and clear here:
You do not have to pitch every project that falls into your lap.
If the project doesn't meet your minimum project budget, the type of client you can get outsized returns for, or is not within your core competency (your zone of genius), then you should not pitch the project.
Let me explain why.
If a client is below your minimum project threshold and you pitch them, you've wasted two people’s time. You've wasted your time by creating a proposal and potential project plan, and you've wasted their time because they took time out of their day to review something that they'll never sign off on.
Second, if they negotiate back to try to get the budget lower, you're going to spend your time to get a project that is smaller than what they ideally need and can afford. You're literally spending time to make less money, when you could take that time to pitch and negotiate with someone who can easily afford your services.
Should you sign the project that is smaller than or right at your minimum while at the same time being at very top end of their budget, you can rest assured that this client will take up more time than they're paying for because they feel pressure to make it work quickly. Unless you set expectations explicitly and are very good at saying no to requests for work that are outside of the scope of what they're paying for, this project will quickly snowball and take up too much time, thus putting it in the red.
Don’t pitch a project that's very likely to go into the red budget-wise. That is Business 101, and you will regret it. I promise.
Conclusion
I hope this post has been helpful to you in learning what to do when a new potential consulting client first contacts you or your agency.
First, speed is of the essence. While we want to believe that the best pitch will ultimately win the business, experience tells us that it is most often the first person to respond who actually gets to pitch and sign the business.
Second, get the potential client on the phone as quickly as possible. Don't rely on email, as you can gain way more information on a 30-minute call than in a string of emails. People are busy and you don't want to create more friction for them. Get them on the phone.
Third, you need to send a followup email within a few hours of the phone call where you thank them for their time, recap what you discussed, and set their expectations for what your next steps are and when they'll hear from you again. Feel free to use my template and adjust it for your specific needs.
Fourth, decide if you want to pitch the project. Don’t pitch projects that are too small, outside your/your agency’s zone of genius, where what you have to offer is not their highest leverage option, or where they're not set up internally to make the project successful. Your project will not succeed if any of these are true.
I am also writing an ebook, hopefully out in Q1 2018, about everything I’ve learned seeing over 1,100 projects come through Credo. If you’re interested to hear when it launches, sign up.
I’d love to hear your comments below and interact with you around better sales for digital marketing consulting work!
I've dealt with every one of these types of clients and regretted taking almost every one of them on. Good advice John!
Some of the factors to avoid are:
This advice came from my personal pain in taking on those clients. Good to know that you've had the same experience!
You've described what I find myself on many occasions!
Oh I can feel the painful past experiences when reading each factor.
This is great, John! What are your thoughts on working for free to build a portfolio/profile when you're new to working on your own?
Hey Eva! This is a great question and one I get fairly often. My answer, as you might expect, is "it depends."
If you're already out working for yourself, I say don't work for free. I say this because you're now running a business, not a charity. You need money coming in to pay the bills. You also need to learn how to sell work, and signing someone to work for them for free is VERY different from asking for the sale and telling them a number that you might think is hilariously high. Sales is what will make or break you as a self employed person.
There are only a few times I say to work for free (or really, only a few times I do it). And these are only after you have your expenses covered with paying clients (or a full time job that is paying your bills as you get your business off the ground).
They are:
That's it. I basically don't recommend doing free work, and it's free then they're not a client.
I think it is a great way to start. The first thing I did was an offer for free to 3 clients who had a good influence in Instagram (+200k followers) in exchange for a video testimonial of them talking about their experiene working with me. So I gained portfolio, video testimonials from "influencers" and a great possibility of getting more sales from their followers.
It is a great way to start *if you already have your expenses covered*. This can work for sure to get into a new space, but don't get in the habit of doing work for free.
Also, "a great possibility of getting more sales from their followers" makes me really nervous unless you already have an offering and a way for them to contact you. Hope isn't a strategy.
I also do think that this is a great idea! Especially if you are jsut starting and give it out to people who also have a big influence and therewith are able to promote your work. But I also think that you should not do that too many times. There usually is a lot of work going into one client, as you want to give your best and at some point you also want to earn some money ;)
Thank you John! I personally like the mindset and attitude behind the tips and the structure.
It is like the attitude of Oren Klaff in "Pitch Anything". I love that book and love your article.
The mindset of having boundaries and a clear vision of what type of client is good for your business is the key.
I remember when I started, that I was trying to close every single person who was a little bit interested in my services or just wrote their email in the Newsletter...
So the sentence that you wrote in the email template is perfect: "In the case that your project is not the right fit for me, I can suggest some other people you should speak with."
Remember John advice: "Hear me loud and clear here: You do not have to pitch every project that falls into your lap."
I've not read Pitch Anything. Do you recommend it?
Sure! Great book.
Hi John, I love this advice. Funny, today I got a new client who was going to meet with several other local consultants but decided to work with me straight away. Why? Because i answered the phone! (and was willing to meet for an informal one hour chat in person about his project to see if were a good fit). I so relate to all the different client types and using this checklist will avoid engaging in frustrating projects and 'client from hell' scenarios. Thanks for posting.
Hey that's awesome! Congrats on the new client!
Hi John,
You explained every step and every stage very well. It's quite helpful.
It was so easy to understand every point, how you explained everything.
Thanks for sharing, keep up the good work!
This post is really helpful, thank you.
You are welcome!
It's nice to read something that really aligns with the practices that my company has in place. Thank you for writing this article.
Hopefully I gave you some new ideas as well. Thanks for the comment!
This is an awesome post John. Especially the part, whether to pitch or not! I came from a big agency and always pitched to my new clients now, but after reading your article it really get's me thinking... I also like the fact that you insist on the emailing contact. More often than not do potential clients hit me up on social, and to be honest I find it more beneficial for both sites if you have a mail to back things up.
Thanks a lot!
Yeah, always move it to email and then to a phone call as soon as you can. You'll also find that those who contact you via email or your site are usually much better paying than those who contact you via social!
Good stuff here, John. One thing I would add is I do think it's good practice to put them into an appropriately segmented email drip campaign with carefully crafted content to nurture the relationship if they don't become a client right away (unless a poor prospect). Congrats on all your growth with Credo!
Yes, I'd totally agree with this. But only do that after you've qualified them in or out. Notice I didn't talk at all about what do after the initial calls!
Great stuff! this will help me a lot.
Totally agree with this post, John! and here it goes a question, what do you recommend when you requires customer's input (i.e. articles, comments, specialized info..) to keep posting, but customer is not answering as fast as you would like? :)
If that's happening then you didn't set their expectations ahead of time for what will be required of them in order for them to see the results they want to see. I'd have a frank conversation and tell them what you need and if you're not getting what you need, then you'll have to stop working with them. It's funny how that usually gets them to engage. People hate to be broken up with/fired, and this can let them know that they are about to lose you.
And if they don't, then walk away from it. Stop giving your energy to those who just take and don't give. I'm always amazed by how people almost always find a better client who wants to pay them more, once they are willing to let bad clients go.
When we got the client we had to ask for their end goal, see where they want there business to be.
We then ask what budgets they will roughly be willing to spend. We then write up a proposal based upon that budget.
We send estimations of ROI and traffic and much more. We then leave it with them and answer any questions they may have.
Good post John! The most of the times we are just focusing on the technical SEO issues and we forget about our commercial skills. Thank so much for offering us this tips that will help us to reach more (and better) costumers ;-)
I hope it helps!
hi, the first action has to be by phone or mail is option?
Hi, you can follow up by email to schedule a phone call, but you should always speak with them on the phone before taking them on as a client.
I find that if I take 2 minutes to inspect their site for SEO issues. I close the deal more often than not, by mentioning a couple of legitimate issues, and showing exactly where/what it is on their site.
(Not just listing a 10 point list of common SEO issues like SEO spam does.)
Hey Brendon, thanks for the comment! I'd say it all depends on who you are speaking with and how much they know about you. When I worked at an agency we would do this (I'd spend 15 or so minutes on the site) simply so we could put together the right project. I more find it's better to do that in the sales process so longterm it's the right thing for them instead of pitching them a project that they sign off on and then you realize it's the wrong one.
As per my concern, first try to send a welcome message either on their phone or on email before go to call him.
Hi,
Great stuff as always.
As a digital marketer it is important to have clear understanding of client behavior
good post Jhon !! It is a very critical point to win a customer in digital marketing perhaps more difficult than offline. People are still skeptical about the results online.