Oct 01 2008
Letters of Introduction: Finding Clients for Your Freelance Business
Let’s talk freelancing!
You’ve picked a business name, applied for your EIN or other necessary business licenses and numbers, bought your business cards, set up your home office, purchased all the required equipment, have a website and email set up, and you’re ready to go with your freelance business.
Now all you need are clients.
Uhmmm, how do you find clients for a new business?
NETWORKING!
Networking is the best way to find clients for your freelance business. Who you know, who knows you, and word of mouth are the biggest things that will get your business going and keep it moving forward. Make a list of all your past business contacts. Think outside the box here. Start with obvious folks, people you’ve worked with or for in the past, people you have wanted to work for or with, and competitors of people you’ve worked with and for!
Then think beyond that to anyone you know in the industry you have chosen, as well as businesses in the industry that provide the types of services you’re going to offer. For example, I am a freelance writer, so I made a listing of all the magazines and websites I might be interested in writing for, as well as a list of people who managed ezines and newsletters I have read over the years.
Make the list and get contact information for them, including email address, postal address, contact name (try to get a direct name and not just a title), and a phone number.
After you’ve made your list, first, write a print letter, a physical letter of introduction, and sign and mail it to these people. In the letter, basically just introduce yourself and your new freelance business. Try in this letter not to be too ’salesy’ here. Remember, at this point, you’re only introducing yourself and announcing your new business, NOT trying to gain a client yet. Marketing is much different than making a sale. You want to network with these people, not necessarily work FOR them.
What’s the difference? Well, networking is saying, “Here I am, here’s what I do, you do something similar, so we should know each other.” Making a sale is trying to get them to purchase your services or DO something. You don’t really want to go there yet. Start by mailing the letter and sending a copy of your business card with the letter.
I don’t suppose I can stress enough how important it is that this letter be professional in the writing, the content and the appearance. Make a nice letterhead or get one for free from the Microsoft Office website for Word. Be sure to put your business name, your name, your contact information including: email address, physical address, phone number, and website. Be sure everything is spelled properly and the grammar is good. Keep it to one page only. Don’t send any sales letters, flyers or advertisements yet. These things can come later. However, you can consider sending goodies. Free pens, scratch pads, lollipops with your business name on the sticks, something cute and memborable that doesn’t cost a lot can really make people remember you.
After you mail that letter, you can then follow up with an email that addresses the letter, about two weeks after sending the letter out. The email can just basically say something along the lines of following up on the letter you sent, mention that you hope they kept your business card, and then provide them with a link to your website. This will keep you in their mind as well as providing an easy to access link to your website. Most people will at least click to see your site, but they won’t take a printed letter and type your website URL to see it.
About a week after the email, if you still haven’t heard from them, you can either let it go, or follow up with a direct phone call. Make a lunch date. Offer to take them to lunch (and pay for it!), something, anything to get a chance to network with these people you want to work with and for.
Then, always leave it with a, “…keep me in mind, and if you know anyone….”
Letters of introduction do work. However, keep in mind, they don’t work immediately, and you still need to follow up - this is just a way to get your foot in the door and to announce yourself to them.
Tomorrow, I’ll discuss other ways of networking and finding clients for your freelance business, but letters of introduction are a good way to, well, to introduce yourself!
Stay tuned tomorrow for other ways to connect with potential clients and stay tuned also for information about freelance bid sites and how to use them to gain a client list and get references.
Until then, Happy Freelancing!
Love and stuff,
Michy
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