I know how it feels having a job one day and staying at home looking at the ceiling the next… wondering what on earth would you do or worse where the heck am I going to get my clients from? One of the biggest challenges solopreneurs face is to keep their sales/business development pipeline full.
There are two specific reasons why that happens:
- They’ve been just let go and don’t have a clue where to start…
- They’ve been planning to go solo for quite some time but didn’t have a solid grip on their business plan/strategy or in worst cases their ideal prospects or market…
It’s important to nail these elements down before going solo. But even if you have a business strategy and have identified your ideal prospect/market, you still need clients to survive. Right? Well, if you’re still thinking, the answer is YES!
There are many ways to approach this challenge. Here’s the most common route:
- Buy some online courses and books on selling and marketing
- Spent about 15 days pouring through these resources
- Apply the strategies for the next 15-45 days
- Day 46, you’re either broken financially or emotionally — entrepreneurship is freaking hard!
I propose another route:
- Nail down on your business plan/strategy and your ideal prospects and the market
- Work on a simple one or two-page document entail the services that you offer (in the name of God, not more than 3 services) and the pricing structure (yes, you’ve got to lay it out in open to be effective)
- Hire a lead-generation agency or a highly confident sales rep who works only on commission (a handsome 30-35% cut of what you make — trust me, you’ll still make profits)
- Get busy getting in front of clients and closing the sale
- Hone your craft/product/service offerings when you get a spare moment; focus on building educational materials (in the form of lunch and learn workshops for your potential clients)
The second approach is my preferred approach as I would rather be talking to people who can give me their business than waste my time making internet marketers and sales writers rich. The amount of time solopreneurs (particularly the new ones) waste is just insane!
Focus on productivity — getting things done, closing the deal and signing contracts than getting yourself skilled in something that you haven’t done in life (like Sales or Marketing). Leave the tough parts to the experts out there who’ll be happy to do it for you for some fee. And believe me, since you’re just starting out a phone call to their customer care or an insider can always give you a healthy discount.
It’s worth the investment. Your time is precious.
Get closing, please!