5 revenue-boosting sales techniques for freelancers

Occasionally, businesses experience a sales dearth, resulting in reduced income and stunted growth. However, slight changes in sales strategies can abate this situation. But then, the best thing to do to prevent sales from plummeting by planning prudent sales techniques long before you launch the business. After you've launched the business, you should carefully implement the best sales techniques in your business, which could prevent or significantly reduce sales drought. However, sometimes despite the selling techniques you may use, you may still experience low sales. If you are in this situation, follow the tips in this guide to learn valuable sales tips and techniques to start generating quality and consistent sales in your business once again.

What do sales mean?

Sales are a critical aspect of any business, regardless of size, industry, or niche. Sales entail convincing potential customers to purchase a company's products or services; it is the lifeblood that keeps a business alive. Sales help a business generate revenue, and revenue is essential for the growth and sustainability of a business. Hence, developing and implementing an effective selling technique is vital to a business's growth and sustainability.

Why is “sales” important?

Sales are essential to the success of any business. Through sales, a company generates revenue, expands its customer base, builds customer relationships, and stays competitive and relevant. 

1. Sales help a business generate revenue.

Revenue and income are essential for growth and sustainability. Without sales, a business cannot generate revenue. Without income/revenue, a company cannot pay its employees or invest in research and development, marketing, or other crucial aspects of business operations. 

2. Sales help a business expand its customer base.

With a larger customer base comes more significant opportunities for growth. When businesses increase their customer base, they also increase their potential revenue stream, enabling them to invest in their products or services, research and development, and other business operations. The 80/20 Rule of Sales states that 20% of customers make up 80% of the total sales of a business. Hence, losing a small portion of the customer base can significantly negatively affect a business's bottom line. Implementing good sell techniques can help prevent this from happening.

3. Sales help businesses build relationships with their customers. 

A survey by Salesforce shows that 73% of customers expect companies to understand their unique needs and expectations. You can learn about prospects' needs, preferences, and concerns by interacting with potential customers. Using the responses from these interactions, you can better tailor your products or services to meet your prospects or customers' key needs. Building strong customer relationships can also lead to repeat business, word-of-mouth referrals, and a positive reputation for your business.

4. Sales help businesses stay competitive in the market. 

Without sales, businesses cannot compete with their rivals effectively. Sales enable companies to differentiate themselves from their competitors, showcase their unique value propositions, and persuade potential customers to choose their products or services over others.

For a business to generate income and keep operating, it must make sales. You must design and implement good sell techniques to grow and sustain your business.

What you should know about sales as a freelancer

As a freelancer, knowing the best sales technique to apply to sell your services is crucial for success. You should know the needs of your potential clients, be able to communicate the value of your services, and apply effective sales strategies to retain your best customers. 

Additionally, you should know how to establish transparent pricing, have a professional portfolio, and maintain positive relationships with your clients. 

Successful selling builds trust and provides high-quality work that meets your client's needs. To be successful in sales as a freelancer, you should know the best sales techniques available and adopt them for success in your freelance business.

Here are some steps to implement sales in your freelancing business:

1. Identify Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP).

2. Research Your Target Audience.

3. Create a Compelling Sales Pitch.

4. Focus on Building Relationships.

5. Persistency.

What sales techniques exist?

Sales techniques are strategies or approaches for generating sales. There are two broad dimensions to selling depending on what is sold, namely the product selling techniques for selling products and services selling techniques for selling services. As a freelancer, you can apply the best sales technique for getting customers for your freelancing business.  

Below are the four best sales techniques that you can adopt to generate sales in your freelancing business:

1. Understand your buyer's present most pressing need(s)

Demographics, the nature of the job, or persona do not necessarily affect buyers' decisions as the current situation negatively affects them or their business. Hence, it would help if you determined your buyer's current condition and appealed to this situation, problem, or need. 

Salesforce Research states that 63% of consumers expect businesses to know their unique needs and expectations. In comparison, 76% of B2B buyers expect the same. When your customers understand that you know their most pressing needs and are ready to solve them, they'll be more disposed to buy your recommended solution. Focusing on things that don't matter to your customers immediately may be wasting your time and that of your customers.

Tips: to understand your buyers' current situation or need, ask them several investigative/probing questions. From the responses, you'll be able to know the customer's most pressing need(s) and recommend the best product, service, or approach for solving this need(s). 

2. Disrupt your customer's status quo bias

Many customers have a status quo bias, which is the possibility of doing something different than they intend. This comes mainly from indecision issues fueled by information received and a person's mindset. You must persuade your customers to change their mindset and act now(i.e., buy from you).

One of the best selling techniques to achieve this is the solution selling technique, where you prove to the indecisive client why your product/service is the best. By following this approach, you will prevent status quo bias from occurring, which could make your customers not buy at all or buy from your competitors. Also, you should dissuade your customers from choosing alternative solutions that do not meet their needs.

Tip: carefully show your customers the need to change their mindset by showing them the consequence of the delay, the ills of a negative attitude, and the features and benefits of your solution. Use Workee to schedule a meeting where you interact with your customers, convince them, and sell to them.

3. Show your prospects their unconsidered needs

Customers have Unconsidered Needs that they may not be aware of. These include missed opportunities, unknown problems, or unmet needs holding back your customers' business. It would help if you stood out from your competitors by identifying and fixing your customers' problems. Identifying and solving or recommending solutions to your customers' "extra needs" makes you unique. It would make prospects more inclined to buy from you. 

4. Tell powerful user stories

One of the successful sales techniques you should use where appropriate is story-telling. Stories sell, especially around the customers' present needs and how other people/businesses used your solutions to solve a similar problem. Search Engine Watch reports that telling stories in sales can increase conversions by 30%. In telling these stories, you endeavor to identify the missing opportunities affecting your customers' business and propose the best solutions. Also, in telling these stories, you must justify the need for urgency in solving the problem.

Note: your story should be accurate, factual, captivating, relevant, and related to the customer's needs. Telling stories for the sake of storytelling may not impact the customers. 

Applying these strategies in your business will make good sales to generate income and improve your business.

Five sales techniques with their pros and Cons 

The sales techniques examined below are a consummation of many distinct sales approaches. By deploying successful sales techniques, you can generate quality sales for your business insofar as you know and deploy them appropriately.

Here are five best sales techniques that can help you close deals in your freelancing business, along with their pros and cons:

1. Hard sell

The hard sell technique is a high-pressure approach that aims to push the customer to purchase immediately. This technique relies on aggressive tactics such as repeated follow-up calls, limited-time offers, and emotional appeals. 

Pros of the hard sell technique:

1. It can be effective in closing deals quickly.

2. It can result in a higher conversion rate. 

Cons of the hard sell technique:

1. It can damage your personal or business reputation.

2. It can create resentment in customers, which can prevent future purchases.

3. It can lead to buyer's remorse which can prevent referrals.

2. Consultative selling technique

The consultative sales technique is a customer-centric approach that focuses on understanding the customer's needs and providing tailored solutions. This technique involves asking questions, listening actively, and providing expert advice. 

Pros of consultative selling:

1. It can build trust.

2. It can help you establish long-term relationships.

3. It can help you get repeated sales. 

Cons consultative selling: 

1. It can be time-consuming.

2. It may not always result in immediate sales.

3. Social selling

Social selling is a selling technique that involves using social media to build relationships with potential customers. This technique involves sharing valuable content, engaging with prospects, and leveraging social networks to generate leads. 

Pros of social selling:

1. It can be cost-effective.

2. It is scalable.

3. It can result in high-quality leads. 

Cons of social selling 

1. It can be time-consuming.

2. It requires expertise in social media marketing/sales.

3. It may not be suitable for all industries.

4. Solution selling

Solution selling is a technique that involves identifying the customer's problem and providing a tailored solution. This technique entails asking questions, understanding the customer's pain points, and presenting a customized solution. 

Pros of solution selling are:

1. It can result in high-value sales.

2. It can help a business to establish credibility.

3. It can help differentiate your product from competitors. 

Cons of solution selling:

1. It can be complex to implement

2. It may require expertise in a specific industry.

5. Storytelling

Storytelling is a selling technique involving narrative to engage the customer and build an emotional connection. This technique involves sharing personal anecdotes, case studies, and testimonials. 

Pros of Storytelling technique:

1. Using this technique can create an emotional connection with your customers.

2. It helps you to differentiate your product from that of the competitors.

3. It can increase the perceived value of your product. 

Cons of StorytellingTechnique:

1. It can be time-consuming to develop compelling stories.

2. It may not be suitable for all businesses/industries.

3. This may result in delayed sales.

A square peg fits a square hole. This implies that the sell techniques just described fit different scenarios and problems. Hence, do not misplace a method for another where it's inappropriate to use it to avoid discouraging and eventually losing the prospect or customer. Successful sales techniques only work when properly applied.

Conclusion

Generating sales is the lifeblood of any business. Even the best products or services can go unsold without effective sales techniques. However, understand that selling techniques are not one-size-fits-all. To drive quality sales, you must understand each approach and apply the best sales technique most suitable for your business.

The key is to choose the appropriate technique for your industry and to be flexible in your approach. By employing quality sales tips and techniques and understanding the pros and cons of each method, you can make informed decisions and maximize sales in your freelancing business.

As a freelancer, you can easily use Workee to book sales appointments with your clients and interact with them to understand their unique needs and expectations. You can use any of Workee'sfully integrated solutions for efficient communication - video calls, chats, and email all in one place. Don't have an account yet? Signup free here.