Every year, freelancers lose millions in revenue because they have not learned the craft of acquisition: they sell their services undervalue, talk around the bush, and struggle with their role as service providers. The procurement of new orders is essential and accompanies the self-employed from the first to the last day of his working life. What are the biggest stumbling blocks to acquisition, and how do you effectively remove them? Here are the answers to all these questions:
1. Acquisition as a burden
For most freelancers, acquisition is a necessary evil. They advertise their offer with resistance, delegate the unpopular activity, or leave it entirely. A freelancer who neglects the acquisition does not only look dusty but sooner or later goes bankrupt.
Those who accept the activity of acquisition as naturally as breathing and customer and project generation as a permanently lucrative opportunity are better off. Remind yourself that you are doing a good job and that other people are just winning with you and your service. In customer contact, you can continuously develop your communication skills and find out: Who is your offer suitable for? How can you resolve concerns? When is a “maybe” a “maybe” and when is it a disguised “yes”? They have little influence on the needs of their potential customers, but a large influence on how you present yourself and your offer: whether as a disruption or as a gift.
2. Blame the circumstances
“I would have acquired, but …” The difficult market, the tightness in projects, the sick child at home etc. It seems as if there is an inner ill man specifically for acquisitions. But you either have good excuses or good results. You cannot pay the rent with good excuses. Or have you become a “freelancer” with the silent hope that you will be FREE from the fulfillment of unpleasant conditions – and does this include acquisition? Those who have many excuses reduce themselves to the victim’s point of view, become passive and wait for the orders to come by themselves.
However, there are people who produce good results even in bad times and who are successful despite the difficult market situation and nagging customers. During e.g. For example, if everyone complains about the poor order situation in times of declining budgets, they do not take part in it and have consistently good results. What are they doing differently? Quite simply: you search and find conditions for continuous success. And since the market is constantly changing, your search never stops. You know: A provider must constantly develop both in terms of content and personally.
3. Small talk and big talk instead of close-talk
There are three communication approaches to acquisitions: at SMALLTALK, there is talk of the end of the deal, and at BIGTALK, there is an intrusive talk about accepting the offer. In the former, the intention is to avoid rejection at all costs and not to disturb in any way, but to be liked by the customer. In this way, the offer is talked about with irrelevant chatting.
The second variant, the BIGTALK, is chatted for personal recognition, gladly from above and know-it-all. The other person should have no choice but to say “no” or “maybe.” But since nobody wants to be robbed of their free choice, the customer only has to devalue the provider or the product in order to get out of chatting and squeezing finally. The result: personal rejection and rejection of the offer.
Anyone who acquires needs a clear goal in mind for their communication. On the one hand, result-oriented, interested, and transparent communication is a prerequisite. People want a connection to the person who makes them an offer to trust. They want to be seen, understood, and asked. In addition, they want to have the free choice instead of functioning, and still use it for a personal pat on the shoulder. Thus, the third way of communicating results is the only way: CLOSETALK establishes a connection to the potential customer and communicates openly and honestly, so that you can finally serve him with a conclusion about your offer. .
4. Trick in lack
Who does not know that? You definitely want to get the one order, but time is running out: bills have to be paid, outstanding debts have not been paid, etc. In order to achieve the goal, price reductions and special conditions are granted. The trick continues until the customer says yes. However, this is just the beginning of the problem – because the strategies that were used to get the order must then be continued to keep the customer. Who understands that the next time they will pay more for the same or that the benefit will be reduced?
If you do not state your conditions for successful trading, you will be annoyed by your customers at some point, which in turn, the customer feels and prefers to book another service provider in the future. But what is it like in real shortages when the order situation is actually bad? Are not everyone in the water of lack, fear, and distrust? Stay true to yourself and reject orders that don’t fit their terms. This is the only way to have free capacity when the right offer finally comes. Not only must the bait taste good to the fish, but the fish must also taste good to the angler.
5. Arrogance
Are you ready to serve your customer so that he gets what he needs? Or do not expect customers to be annoying with doubts and concerns. The aversion to serving the customer begins in the acquisition process. The questions and uncertainties of potential customers seem annoying, so they are ignored. In this way, you build a wall to your customers and not a bridge that enables completion. The customer switches to a provider who likes to meet the conditions and from whom he feels better understood.
“Serving” means “winning others,” and both must always win. There is no hierarchy in an integral supplier-customer relationship, both serve each other. The potential customer is a guest whom you grant certain privileges for which he pays. You want monetary compensation for your services ,he wants your offer/product. This is how a deal comes about that works for both. Use the concerns of your prospects as an exciting opportunity to better understand the customer side and to build a profitable connection to it. Anyone who criticizes is interested. Anyone who is interested wants to get rid of their concerns and take advantage of your offer.
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