I know it may seem like “old news” to some of the readers, but brushing up on our deliverables presentation can sometimes help someone who keeps getting burned because they get down to the wire and the client prospect says, “I want to think about it.”
We have all been there to be sure, but remedying it is imperative to our bank accounts and getting anything that even approaches a good night’s sleep.
Causes of Prospective Client Offer Rejections
Clients have every right to say, “I hereby reject your offer.” They don’t do that, though. When it gets down to the end, they either buy or lie about it if we have done our job correctly. If we have not done our job correctly, they are not going to buy (i.e., engage us) at least 10% of the time. That makes our goal of becoming a potential Sales Monster on the Upwork platform, and a player to be reckoned with, that much harder to attain. If I am going to be honest with myself, I must try and rescue the deal now by making the prospective client do the work for me. This is never a good way to go, but I am going to get some sound approaches down for you that I hope are going to remedy it in some cases.
Put in a very simple context, I need to know where the failure was in the sales interview process. These failures are “open doors” by which the prospective client can escape having to make the buying decision because I left the door(s) open. I have to find out what door (or doors) are open and see if I can shut the door and still save the deal for myself. Tall order, but worth it because these tactics sometimes work and that can make the difference.
There are three (3) doors open right now that I have to shut in order to get a shot at getting the engagement awarded to me in this interview. These doors may show me other doors that are open that also need to be shut as well:
- First, was the deliverable the problem? Did I leave out an important feature or benefit the client wants in the deliverable? I have to qualify the client prospect and get clear answers on that as well.
- Second, was the delivery schedule the problem? I have to qualify the client prospect and get a yes or no answer on this issue to eliminate it.
- Finally, what I really want is for the client to say the price was the problem. I may be able to fix that issue if we are not far apart, but I cannot fix time (in some cases) or fix deliverable quality (in some cases). I know that one of the primary reasons clients come to Upwork is to get the work done at a cheaper price than the client would pay from an agency or other business. I need to eliminate this issue or deal with it by qualifying the client.
Deliverable Failures – Failure to Pitch Quality & Eliminate the Competition
If the deliverable is the issue that tells me, I failed to properly frame the value proposition of my special offer and I have to see if I can re-pitch my deliverable presentation before the client prospect loses interest or otherwise decides to end the interview. More often than not I find I hurried through the deliverable presentation – and for whatever reason – skipped the closing question (which closes the door – hopefully!) at the end, thus leaving the escape hatch open for the client to exit through without having to make a buying decision.
Solution Suggestions for Poor Deliverable Presentation Outcomes
I can seek solace in going back to the basics of selling on Upwork:
- First, I need to make sure I kill the competition by providing a unique offer that I do not think will be offered by any other freelancer (in the event the client prospect does not engage me and instead seeks to shop me or is comparing me to previous candidates). I need to close on that issue when I do (or risk the client going out and shopping me some more).
- Second, I need to reinforce the value proposition attending my deliverable and include a premium in my presentation for action today – and that premium had better be expedited delivery (based on my current schedule). I need to close on that issue, so I now have two (2) arrows in my final summation quiver to get the deal now.
- Third, I need to price lock a flat fee the client pays when the job is done. I couch it by saying the client pays the stated price or the actual number of billed manual time hours, whichever is less. I close on that issue as well so that I now have three (3) arrows in the closing presentation quiver.
Takeaways
Will this solve all of your issues with clients not making a decision? No, it opens the door for a process that you can undertake on an HONEST basis of finding out what you failed to do. It is a risk as the client has to do your work and some clients will just blow you off. In those cases, you weren’t likely to get the deal anyway or this was not a client you needed to be doing business with. You need to be able to salvage 1 in 10 of these situations to make a big difference in your wallet on an ongoing basis.
I hope you get yours. In Part II we will be discussing how to eliminate the competition more effectively so you can (hopefully!) avoid the client shopping you to death.