- Overview/Intro:
- How Does Consulting Work?
- Why everyone should start a part time consulting business (even if you have a job)
- Consulting side business
- How Consultants Find/Get Clients:
- The cheap platforms to get the ball rolling
- The 14-hour Craigslist Template Download
- How To Charge Clients:
- Where the bulk of your clients will come from (Hint: Not your website)
- Charging Retainer – “Getting a retainer is like getting married, how about a quick date first?”
- Charging Hourly – Pimp your skills out
- Three Pronged Pricing Technique to keep all clients
- How to make more money off clients
- Personal consulting stories about high rates:
- My first consulting gig for Aprilia Motorcycles
- The Money Vs. Doing-Sucky-Work Paradox
- My personal copywriting consulting page
- Consult page templates:
- The structure of a consult page.
- Crappy pages usually outperform.
- The easy formula for what you sell (For $___ you get ____)
- The Proper Mindset for Consulting:
- How to not get stepped over by every client you have.
- The Golden Mindset: (making them money & not being a greedy a-hole).
- The 10x Rule
–Overview/Intro–
So what is this “consulting” stuff? Let’s dive into it……
-How Does Consulting Work?
Consulting is when you exchange your expertise for money.
YOU show you how to do something. THEY pay you money.
This simple exchange is often the precursor to most business people’s lives.
You provide service. They pay money.
And consulting can take many forms:
- You give advice on a problem they’re having. They pay money.
- You provide information on how to do something. They pay money.
- You guide them through something they’re not sure of. They pay money.
- You tell them how to do something faster & more efficiently. They pay money.
- You get the point…..
Consulting is just a simple exchange of knowledge and money.
Here’s some examples of consulting (notice the pay-grade differences for some of these):
A gigantic company is implementing new software across a huge number of teams.
They want YOU to guide them through it.
They will PAY $50,000 to hang around for 3 months and fix bugs.
Someone is having relationship trouble.
They want YOU to listen and tell them what to do.
They will PAY $60/hour to listen and give advice.
Someone is trying to get their webpage to the top of Google.
They want YOU to do it for them.
They will PAY $2,000/month for 3 months, and $3,000 bonus if you pull it off.
Someone needs help learning how to use WordPress.
They want YOU to teach them.
They will PAY $20/hour to help them.
Some consulting gigs can even be the exact same service, yet fetch wildly different prices!
People who generally get the highest rate will have something going for them, either:
- Amazing results ✅
- Length of experience ✅
- Previously worked with well-known clients ✅
- Know who to sell to that will pay the most money ✅
- Know how to offer the service in a way that will fetch the highest price ✅
So we understand what consulting is. Now WHY should everyone do it?
-Why everyone should start a part time consulting business (even if you have a job):
Just getting paid on the side for some simple work goes a looonnggng way. It’s essentially like starting your own business, except with little or no costs…and pretty much zero risk.
The main thing about consulting is the lessons you learn along the way. Just the simple act of charging people for your help will teach you ssooooo many things (more like it will FORCE YOU to learn all these things):
- Where to find clients.
- How to raise your rates.
- Building a simple website.
- What tools to use to charge clients.
- Dealing with large business owners.
- How to bill clients in different ways.
- Dealing with small business owners.
- How to find different types of clients.
- How to make sure people stick to deadlines.
- Dealing with the bureaucracy within a company.
- Learning how to handle difficult or overly-needy clients.
- How to modify your product offering to get more money.
- Learning how much work you can handle before burning out.
- Updating social profiles to let people know about your service.
- Getting over the fear of letting others know you offer a service.
- The list goes on….
Basically you’ll learn hella stuff by consulting, but I think the main thing that happens from consulting as a side business is:
The “serendipity” that happens when consulting!
You see, pretty much every successful person I know at some point did some form of consulting for others. And what happens is they start consulting as a little side gig, experience some great results, the client sends them a good referral, someone else hires them, they end up becoming business partners, and they end up creating a huge company together.
Some form of that story is VERY typical.
Or more than often, an entire real business comes out of some small consulting gigs.
The downsides of consulting is small, but the upside is unlimitedly high!
This is why if you’ve ever had the curiosity of starting a business, but not enough balls……consulting is a great way to “dip your toe in the water” without risking much.
Consulting as a side business:
A “Side Business” is just a small income stream you have on the side.
And my personal theory is that EVERYONE should have one of these unless you know for sure your career is going to be super stable for a loonngg time.
If you get fired or laid off….whatchya gonna do for money?
Well if you’re weak-minded you’ll rely on the government to handout money to you for a short period of time. But if you’re an enterprising little monkey then you’ll think of a way to bring in a side income.
Consulting is a great and quick way to get started.
- There’s no inventory needed.
- There’s no special title or education you need (unless you’re giving out certain types of medical or financial info).
- There’s no barrier to getting started.
- But the biggest problem people have with starting as a consultant is FINDING THE DAMN CLIENTS!!
If you can find a big pool of people that are literally throwing money at your face, then you will figure out all the other problems REALLY quick.
But if you can’t find one person that wants to pay you for what you do……then money is going to be scarce.
So let’s get started on getting you some damn clients!!
How Consultants Find/Get Clients:
We’re gonna cover a few important things I’ve learned from doing this myself, and also helping other people do this through several hundred paid consults I’ve personally conducted….
Where the bulk of your clients will come from (hint: Not your webpage):
Lol……I love it when someone says “What should my webpage look like to get consulting clients???”
This way I get to laugh in their face with confidence and say:
“There ain’t ONE DAMN PERSON IN THE WORLD who is going to find your site and buy consulting!!!”
Here is a picturized rendition of me hitting you over the head with a wooden board as you waste waaayyy too much time designing a fancy webpage:
Listen, I get it.
Sticking up a webpage sounds fun, and provides you lots of opportunity to “shuffle papers around” to FEEL like you’re working on a business.
But the reality is you will rarely….(dare I say NEVER) get clients solely off your website. It’s gonna be YOU that’s doing the leg work, and it’s not a bad thing.
Here is a common problem I hear from people who come to me about this problem:
“I keep optimizing my webpage, but the only clients I get are through referrals and personal contact….”
Yup……that sounds about right! Unless your website or blog gets a significant readership, it’s unlikely it will be a fruitful source of consulting clients.
You can have your website as a method of collecting payment for your consulting clients (I’ll show you templates below), but that’s about the best use.
In the past I used to keep this icon on all my sites where people could buy a consult:
Guess what? It rarely evveerr sold. It’s because people don’t see that and think, “LEMME GET THAT!!”
Rather…..they come to you when they have an actual NEED for your service.
I get consulting clients from my KopywritingKourse website…..but I have 18,000+ email subscribers (many who’ve been with me for YEARS), plus around 28,000+ people reading the blog per month. So unless you’re doing some reasonable numbers, let’s first find clients outside of the website realm. It’s way easier and more profitable.
Let’s move on to that now……
The cheap platforms to get the ball rolling:
Let’s say you’re bottom-of-the-barrel in terms of skills.
For example:
- You want to be a freelance writer…..but have never wrote anything.
- You want to be a website designer…..but have only installed a few personal blogs.
- You want to do CAD design for an engineering firm…..but your only experience is a $10 course from Udemy.
You my friend would be considered “bottom of the barrel” because you have no experience, no references, no portfolio, no past success, and no contacts.
If this sounds like you, then I would suggest trying to snag a few small gigs on platforms that are known for getting you gigs quickly.
This is the equivalent of “having to work your way up.”
So here’s some places to start:
Getting your 1st Clients: Your own personal Facebook Account:
The best spot to look for your 1st clients is your OWN PERSONAL NETWORK. This is because these people already know you and trust you.
In the AppSumo Monthly1k product we have this private Facebook group called “From Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur” where people discuss starting their first businesses. A lot of these first attempts are consulting based.
So here’s an example of someone trying to “Validate” a concept by reaching out to her network and trying to get people to join.
Very quickly Stephanie will be able to see if her concept hits a nerve with the target market (moms trying to get fit), or if it falls flat.
Stefanie spent zero money and little time doing this…..and will quickly find out what the deal is:
This guy launched his service and is trying to drum up business directly from his network of existing people. I’m not saying this a GOOD example of doing this, but it took Christopher like 15 seconds to make this post, and it’ll get some initial eyeballs onto this service:
Here’s my FAVORITE example of drumming up business without spending a damn penny or even making a website. OFFERING PEOPLE SOMETHING AWESOME for free! Look what Jordan did here:
Bravo Jordan!!!
He got 129 people to comment on his post that he made for free…..and got to collect a crap-ton of great info along the way (different business ideas, making 100+ personal connections, and being looked at as a “smart guy” in the field)…..
If you’re at the bottom-of-the-barrel and trying to work your way up, something like that can be a goldmine!!
SO LEMME GIVE YOU AN EXAMPLE OF HOW TO DO THIS YOURSELF:
Let’s say you wanna get started doing SEO (Search Engine Optimization) as a consultant…..but you’re at the bottom-of-the-barrel and don’t know where to start.
I would suggest you post this on your Facebook, and in any business groups you belong to:
I’ll send you updates to make on your site for free! Send me your most popular page on your website (Google Analytics –> Behaviors –> Site Content), and I will make suggestions on how to best SEO the post. I will do keyword research on your page, then send you:
- Title tag updates
- Meta tag updates
- Description tag updates
- Which links you should add to your site
- Tell you about any terms you should avoid using.
- Tell you any content sections to add into your post.
Option 1.) Comment here with a link to your post, and I’ll send you all the updates you should make via a personal message.
Option 2.) If you’d like me to do ALL OF IT FOR YOU….PayPal me $50 and I’ll do it all. We will just need 15 minutes of time over a Google Hangout or Skype session. This small price can often get you ranked 300% higher in the search engine results.
I look forward to helping you out! Feel free to ask me any SEO related questions. I’ll answer them here.
Holy crap!! Can you imagine how much interest you’ll get in a post like that?? Even with ZERO EXPERIENCE someone can get lots of people to take them up on that offer.
If you give people genuinely helpful reports, you can then offer to do other SEO work for them.
BAM……you’ve just billed your first clients! Soon you’ll have case studies, previous clients, and can get referrals. All for just posting a small little update on your Facebook page.
Getting your 1st Clients: eLance.com:
eLance is a market for freelancers. If you want some copywriting done, go to eLance and search for “copywriters.” If you want something programmed, search for “programmers” and browse the past projects they’ve done to see if you like them.
Anyhow….it’s another one of these low-cost-to-entry places a person can get started.
Here’s an experience from using elance, this blurb is all about it:
When most people look at Elance, they’re fooled by all the low budget jobs they see everywhere. But that’s just the “mass market” view. It’s like taking a quick glance around a shopping mall…you’d mostly see 1-dollar hot dogs and cheap trinkets and stuff like that. Less visible would be the smaller number of high rollers who are quietly buying $150 t-shirts from Armani Exchange, or $1,000 gadgets from The Sharper Image.
The higher end work does exist. But I’d be lying if I said there weren’t a few challenges you need to overcome in order to get it…like finding the clients who are willing to pay the bigger bucks, convincing them that you’re worth it, and standing out in a very crowded marketplace.
Luckily, you can use all of this stuff to your advantage. Kind of like how jiu-jitsu lets you use your opponent’s size and speed against them. Here are some tips to get you rolling.
Tip #1: Tap into what I call the “Hidden Elance Economy.”
The idea here is that a lot of the higher end clients will be doing keyword searches for the specific type of consultant they need, since they don’t want to have to weed through 100 applications. So instead of posting a “public” job, these clients would rather find a specific consultant by keyword search, and then contact ONLY that person and hire them. So make your profile uber-specific when it comes to what you do, and whom you do it for. That way you have the best chance of getting found by the top clients.
Tip #2: Don’t sound like everyone else.
Realistically, you’ll probably start off bidding on public jobs, competing against 15-30 other people at a clip. That’s okay, but standing out is a must if you want to charge above average prices. I’ll save you some trouble and let you know that most of your competitors will be talking all about themselves in their proposals! So one great way to set yourself apart is to make sure that YOU are talking MOSTLY about the client, their problems, and how you can solve them. Clients love this anyway because they would way rather hear about themselves…than us!
Tip #3: Create scarcity.
Another mistake most of your competitors will make is being overly eager. Some of them will even sound like “ZOMG I WANT TO WORK WITH YOU RIGHT NOW” in their proposals. This works 100% against them, because when something is in high supply, clients don’t value it very much (like the way most people aren’t grateful for fresh air, even though we should be). Instead, you’re going to play it cool. No need to go all “hard sell” right from the get-go…but if you want to charge the big bucks, at some point you need to let clients know that your time is limited, and you have a certain number of slots available, period.
Tip #4: Build up your Elance history–consciously.
Your Elance profile is like a piece of real estate: there’s a lot you can do to raise its value. Most people just go through the motions, serving their clients in an OK fashion, and hoping for the best. THIS WILL NEVER LEAD TO HIGH PAYING JOBS. Instead, I recommend doing whatever it takes to WOW every client. Send them proactive updates. Deliver work early. Give them more than they expected. Why? Because this will lead to amazing reviews, rather than just good ones. And ultimately, those reviews are the best way to “convince” new clients to pay you more than they’d pay your competitors, and more than you charged a month or even a week ago.
Tip #5: Be a real person.
One of the weird things about virtual communication is that you have to actually WORK at sounding like a human being (compare Neville’s emails and blog posts to other “professionals” and it’s easy to see what I’m talking about). Don’t get me wrong, professionalism is good, but no one wants to pay $100+ per hour to someone who comes across as a drone…yet this is exactly how most people unintentionally sound when they’re working through a platform like Elance. So make sure to write your proposals with personality, move clients to the phone or Skype as quickly as possible, and just go out of your way to be YOURSELF, rather than some overly stuffy “pro.” Cool?
This should be plenty to get you started and help you make your way through the “jungle” of Elance and other online freelance platforms. The rewards are there if you want ‘em. Enjoy!
–Danny Margulies
Good stuff eh? Even in a crowded market place that values “low-price” like eLance, you can still grab some big gigs if you play it smart.
Getting your 1st Clients: Fiverr.com:
Fiverr.com is a marketplace where people do things for 5 bucks. It’s amazing what you can get on here!
Video editing, voice overlays, advanced Photoshopping, webpage building…..it kicks ass!!!
Now I would never in a million years consider going on Fiverr now and marketing my services because the price point is so low, but I would give it a try if I was starting at the bottom of the barrel. It’s a great way to build up some work history and get paid a little for it.
For example, if you want to be a designer and get some practice dealing with clients, you can post yourself instantly and start building up credibility in the system (with good ratings).
For a recent post about Amish Hour I did, I got 4 different people to “Make me look Amish”
Four different results came back:
All these people are building up their editing chops by grabbing gigs from Fiverr. They usually get between $5 and $20 for a gig.
So while it isn’t the optimal place to start for high paying jobs, it’s an option just to START.
Getting your 1st Clients: Craigslist:
I still looveee Craigslist because it’s a giant marketplace that DOESN’T necessarily dictate your price (eLance and Fiverr kind of force you to a low price). Instead you can set your own rate, it’s free, AND you can stand out with a nicely formatted ad.
As a copywriter I’ve had the privileged of posting on Craigslist (and similar sites like GumTree.com for other countries) many many many many times.
I’ve even done split tests. And what shows up consistently on sites like Craigslist is mediocre-yet-concise ads do the best.
- Super fancy ad = Low results :-(
- Moderate ad = Decent results :-/
- Crappy ad = Great results! :-)
For example, here’s an ad we tested for an auto location:
FANCY DESIGNED ad on Craigslist = Low results:
MODERATE DESIGN ad on Craigslist = Medium results:
CRAPPY ad on Craigslist = HIGHEST results:
People on sites like Craigslist and GumTree are looking for something very specific, and don’t give a damn about the “design” of your ad.
In fact, if the design looks TOO PROFESSIONAL they get turned off!!
This is an important lesson to learn about selling your services…..
People care more about the CONTENT than the “design”.
In fact, this is the design that on Craigslist has helped the MOST people get gigs.
It’s this basic format:
[Title of gig]
[Picture]
[3 to 5 details about it]
[How to contact you]
In practice, this is what it looks like:
That ad was an attempt to validate a camera business, and got queries within a few hours of posting. I’ve used this same outline for dozens of successful ads.
SO….let’s say I want to adapt this ad for consulting, what do we do? Well, we just change the words and picture around to reflect what we’re selling. Like this:
This ad would be the easiest and most effective way to start drumming up clients outside of your own social network over Craigslist.
This method is free, easy, and has no downside.
What are you waiting for?
The Craigslist Template Download:
If you want to download the ad template I used to make the above, you can download the .psd Photoshop file at the bottom of this post.
I’ve also got some similar templates you can download for earning money as a photographer, or make your first $100 by making WordPress sites.
–How To Charge Clients–
Charging clients is such a huge issue most consultants have.
You provide LITTLE service = They pay you LITTLE money.
You provide LOTS of service = They pay you LOTS of money.
Here’s a basic breakdown of what pulls in the most amount of money from clients:
As you can see, you will obviously get more money for the more valuable services:
- Tell them what to do = $
- Show them step-by-step = $ $
- Show them step-by-step and be there everyday = $ $ $
- Just do the whole damn project for them without them doing anything = $ $ $ $
Charging A Retainer:
If you’re going to be charging for a project that takes months such as SEO, a huge site re-design, or a long-term software implementation across a lot of teams…..then a “retainer” is great because the company will pay you a flat fee every month.
For example, you might get $3,000/month minimum to do SEO for a company. Then any additional work outside the SEO work (like content creation) can be billed as extra.
That’s $3,000/month PLUS additional work.
Having a retainer is usually a sweet gig in the monetary sense…..but by it’s nature of locking someone into a contract, it makes them harder to get.
Also…..some clients are actually just a gigantic pain in the ass, or just plain boring to work with. This can get very soul-sucking for you.
Instead, I’m a HUGE fan of first charging an hourly rate first to test out the client.
Charging Hourly – Pimp your skills out:
I’m a HUGE fan of the hourly rate vs. a retainer because:
“Getting a retainer is like getting married, how about a quick date first??”
I know a bunch of people tend to hate on this “Trading time for money” thing…..but if someone pays you several hundred dollars for an hour of work….would you complain so much? ;)
Also….once a client pays you a LITTLE money, it’s very simple to get them to pay A LOT once they get a taste of your work.
On my own consulting page I still charge hourly.
This is because if I charge clients for a monthly recurring charge, the value of each subsequent consult is lower. This is because they learn so much within 4 to 8 sessions, I generally don’t see the need for most clients to go much beyond that.
Three Pronged Pricing Technique to keep all clients:
Now a loooottt of people are very scared to have a price discussion……so for them I would encourage they use this “Three Pronged Pricing Technique” that covers all bases:
- It doesn’t scare away clients because of a huge price tag.
- It still tries to get you a very fair amount of money.
- It keeps the door open for A LOT of money.
The way you do this is as follows:
You create THREE different pricing structures.
Basic = Cheap and safe.
Advanced = Optimal amount of money you’d like.
Expensive = Most clients won’t spend this much, but some will!
Here’s what you want people to be thinking in their head:
So the way this would manifest is you would charge several packages like this:
The Basic WordPress Package: $400
- Basic WordPress website installed with your choice of theme.
- Tweaking and Tuning of your site done.
- One hour of personal WordPress training.
The Advanced WordPress Package: $1,300
- Fully customized WordPress website installed.
- Full SEO tuning done for your site.
- Full list of content items to write for good SEO.
- Two hours of personal WordPress training.
The Professional WordPress Package: $5,200 + $1,000/mo Retainer
- Fully customized WordPress website installed.
- Full SEO tuning done for your site.
- Full list of content items to write for good SEO.
- Five hours of personal WordPress training.
- Every month we perform 2 split tests to optimize.
- BONUS: One SEO’d article written for you per month.
- BONUS: Full social media presence and strategy laid out.
- BONUS: Blogger outreach program to get your blog into blogging communities.
See how nice that looks?
If you’re a small-time WordPress designer, this will help you get small AND big clients without scaring anyone away!
And usually people tend to opt for the middle package…….and they seriously consider the huge package if they can afford it.
I’ve had GREAT success with this Three Pronged Approach!
You can download a template for yourself at the bottom of this post.
How to get more money from clients:
Everyone wants mo’ money.
So the main ways we’ve seen here to do that are:
- Simply charge higher prices from the get-go.
- Offer more services.
- Become higher in demand by becoming industry-respected.
- Consult in areas that generally pay more (example: non-profit world vs. financial sector).
- Use the Three Pronged Pricing Technique to drum up larger consult prices.
–Personal consulting stories about consulting–
Here’s some stories about my own adventures in the consulting world. I’ve done consulting in the website optimization area, SEO, and copywriting consulting.
My first good-paying consulting gig in college (for Aprilia & Ducati Motorcycles)
Somewhere in 2003 (I know this because of this post) I bought an Aprilia Scooter from a dealership in Austin, TX. I was running an online drop-shipping store called HouseOfRave.com in addition to being a full time student at The University Of Texas.
The primary method for getting traffic for HouseOfRave.com was by getting to the top of search engine rankings.
Example:
When someone typed in the word “Finger Lights” …..my website HouseOfRave.com would pop up as the first result. People would then see that I sold finger lights and buy them. This put money in my pocket with every transaction.
Well as I was buying the scooter from the dealership, I was talking to the guy who owned the place.
I was telling him how damn hard it was for me to find him……and he’s just one of a few of the people who sell Aprilia and Ducati motorcycles in Austin!
I told him it was crazy that he was in last place in the search engine rankings even though he was the largest dealership in town.
He was super interested in getting to the top of the search engines. And in walks this nerdy Indian kid who knows how to do it.
He asked if I could do it for him and that he would pay me ($$$!).
I immediately said yes, and he told me, “Cool….have a proposal ready next week.”
I’d never done a proposal, and I had NO CLUE what to charge him.
Later that day I mulled over his website figuring out what I needed to do for him.
I made a list of things like Title Tags, Meta Tags, Image Tags, Page Names, Internal Links and such…..and put it all into Microsoft Word document (keep in mind this was 2003).
I then mulled over a price and came up with this:
I would do the project for 500 bucks!
$500 back then seemed like a A LOT of money to me…..and I knew I could do all the work myself in just one or two weekends.
Getting paid $500 seemed like the deal of a lifetime to me!
So then I ran this pricing by a mentor of mine at the time. Someone more experienced in the business of pricing.
My mentor LAUGHED IN MY FACE when I said the price would be $500!
He told me that was completely stupid, and to charge the dealership guy 10x that…..that’s $5,000 for the project.
I instantly resisted this price jump because it seemed so ludicrous to me.
I was a naive young college student, and the only real business experience I had was running my little drop-shipping rave website.
So my mentor sat me down and explained the prices a business of that size were used to paying:
- $100,000’s/year in taxes.
- $1,000’s/year for permits.
- $3,000/month in rent.
- $40,000/year for employees.
- $1,000’s/year for simple administrative work.
- $10,000’s/year for marketing.
He also explained that this dealership sells high end motorcycles (Aprilia and Ducati motorcycles), and bikes in there cost in excess of $15,000……so if my SEO efforts helped him sell just ONE MORE MOTORCYCLE the whole year, he’d make his investment back!
My mentor also explained that if the guy balked at the $5,000 price tag, I could just keep going lower and lower all the way down to $500.
This sounded fair to me….but I was still SUPER SCARED to even mention the number “Five Thousand” because it still seemed wayyy too high.
So the next week I packed up my laptop and went to the Ducati/Aprilia dealership and met with the guy.
I started explaining exactly how we could dominate the search results for him. I was spouting words like “Title Tags” and “Meta Descriptions” …..and he stopped me mid-sentence.
He said, “Ok fine……how much will it cost to just do everything for me?”
I wasn’t prepared for the question, so I blurted out what I’d practiced: “Five thousand dollars for everything.”
I had practiced my retort for when he rejected me, but to my huge surprise, he just said, “OK. How do I pay?”
HOLY CRAP!! I planned on charging $500 but walked out with a $5,000 check!!
This. Blew. My. Mind.
Up to that point I don’t think I’d ever witnessed anyone paying $5,000 for ANYTHING. Especially something that wouldn’t even take that long.
The funny thing was, I’m pretty sure the guy thought he was getting a deal based on his eagerness to accept. But let’s not get greedy.
I quickly realized that for this guy to go out on his own and get this done (back then) would’ve cost him thousands and thousands of dollars….AND he didn’t have the slightest clue where to start. He knew motorcycles…..not SEO.
The Money Vs. Doing-Sucky-Work Paradox:
The first time I got a pretty good paying consult was during college, and it paid me $3,000/month plus I got to charge for extra work I did.
My monthly bills (including rent/bills/phone/insurance) at the time tallied up to less than $900/month…..so getting in the range of $4,000 – $5,000 per month for ONE GIG that was very much part-time was kick ass!! (This also allowed me to consult with other clients AND run my ecommerce websites simultaneously).
The company that was paying me was in the $50million – $100million range, and wanted me to help them with SEO. They just wanted to rank higher in Google for certain keywords…something I knew how to help them with.
So I gleefully started this new gig…..coming at them FULL FORCE with the enthusiasm of someone who was young, eager, ready to get paid, and wanted to show off my skills.
The first call we had was with FIVE PEOPLE……all from different parts of the country. A designer in Seattle phoned in, representatives from Austin phoned in, some random agency people from Washington D.C. phoned in…..all to hear ME talk about their SEO.
Basically the first 30 minutes was spent chatting about the weather and dealing with technical issues.
Finally when things got started I told them exactly what they needed to change, what keyword research I found etc…..and that I could do all of this in two weeks or a month.
One guy on the phone said, ‘Whoooaa whooaa….slow down! This is more of a 4-6 month project.”
In my head two things happened:
1.) “Holy shit I can bill them for 6 months!!!”
–and–
2.) “What the hell am I going to do for 6 months with them? This is a two week project…”
Really all we had to do was update some easy stuff like meta tags and title tags and do some internal linking. They had a pretty specific niche, and I was sure we could dominate it quickly.
Well around comes the 2nd call with everyone again. Another 30 minutes to an hour goes by talking about the weather and other superfluous crap. No one seemed all that bothered about this SEO stuff.
I presented what needed to be done. It was a giant list of things.
It quickly became clear the design team in charge of making the changes wanted to move slooowww…..so they asked for THREE main objectives for the next weekly call (the calls were always on a Friday).
I literally gave them a list like this inside of a Word Document:
- Change meta tags for ABC.html to: [keyword], [keyword], [keyword], [keyword], [keyword]
- Change meta tags for QRX.html to: [keyword], [keyword], [keyword], [keyword], [keyword]
- Change meta tags for XYZ.html to: [keyword], [keyword], [keyword], [keyword], [keyword]
I couldn’t believe it. THEY WERE HAPPY WITH THIS.
If a startup founder who was paying me $3,000/mo + extras to tell them crap like this, they’d PUNCH ME IN THE FACE and steal their money back.
However this larger company was somehow okay with moving at a snails pace.
These changes were something I could do in Joomla (the system they were using) in less than 5 minutes. It would take this “agency of designers” a full week to complete it.
I didn’t get it.
I mean…..On one hand I was happy to be billing them what was a huge amount for me…..but also kinda bummed that THIS was the kind of slow work I was doing.
Eventually we started talking about the company’s AdWords account and how much they were spending. It was an absurd amount, for almost zero return.
I offered to look at their account, and turns out I could actually help them quite a bit (woot….more billing)!
So my first order of business was shutting off this GLARINGLY OBVIOUS waste of money.
They were buying Google AdWords to a the keyword “Business” ….which is like $15 – $35 PER CLICK. They were sending visitors to a page which OBVIOUSLY had nothing to do with “Business”, so they of course never got a single sale from spending several thousand dollars a week on this one keyword.
I thought I’d be a huge hero.
Instead, the following week a guy called me and was like, “What happened to all the site traffic???”
I proudly told him how I’d shut down the keyword “Business” and saved the company thousands of dollars. He seemed not to hear this and just once again asked, “But what about all the traffic???”
That’s when I realized what was going on:
I wasn’t dealing with company owner directly. I was dealing with middle-managers who had no care about how much money the company made.
They just wanted to show their boss a weekly chart that goes up-and-to-the-right.
So to satisfy this guys need for “traffic” I turned on a different keyword that got them traffic for less money, but yielded no sales.
For THIS I was considered a hero.
I still couldn’t believe it. I was living in a bizarro world where profit didn’t mean anything, but a stupid number like “traffic” mattered.
But that’s when I realized how to best deliver good stuff to the department that hired me:
Every week I gave them pretty looking charts that went Up-and-to-the-Right.
It actually helped me earn more from them because they liked this service (because they secretly knew it would make them look good to their superiors).
You see, the middle-manager guy doesn’t give a crap about how the company fares from this project. He cares that he executed orders well so that his ass isn’t fired.
SO I gave them what they wanted.
Eventually I started to tell them I could no longer do much more work for them, and I ended the project.
You see, the Sucky Work Paradox started to kick in:
- Do boring and sucky work BUT keep getting paid
–or– - Quit and do stuff I like.
Since I was young and obligation free I took the route of doing stuff I liked….and that lead to cooler options.
However I totally understand why some people in companies just want to take their time and move slowly. Just make sure you know who you’re working for before you go in for a long commitment like this.
You are the composite average of the top 5 people you hang around…..so you can easily get sucked into this “slow” thinking.
My personal copywriting consulting page:
So I’m actually a copywriter. I teach people how to write copy through online courses, but I also practice what I preach and actively take on clients every month.
Since I launched this page around mid 2014, it has brought in literally hundreds of thousands of dollars in consulting dollars.
Ready to see this “magical page” that brings in six figures????
Feast your eyes on this:
Isn’t that interesting…..
The guy who teaches copy barely has any copy on his consults page!!!
The reason is:
People already know they want to pay for your help before they see your page.
In fact my consulting page is nowhere to be found on my website, unless I specifically send the link via email. That means every single customer that bought from that page, first emailed or called me about doing a consult.
Since they were already so interested, the second they saw a place to buy…they bought. I didn’t need to convince them of anything.
–Consult page templates–
Here’s some outlines of pages you can make yourself with examples:
The structure of a consult page:
Here’s a super-simple consults page structure/framework.
This is best for people who already have some sort of reputation. You don’t need to explain too much about yourself here because people already know you’re da shiz:
Here’s the formula to follow:
Here’s how this would look in the real world:
Now if you’re NOT well known, it’s probably wiser to put some more info about you and your services onto the page. Let’s use an example of you consulting to get WordPress hacks off sites.
The template would look something like this:
In practice the page would look something like:
In 2014 I tried to do this “100 consults in a year” experiment. That means some days I would be doing 2-3 consults back-to-back.
I would charge around $315 for each of these special-priced consults.
The page I sold them on looked like this:
A lot of people have actually successfully copied that layout.
Notice how I only allowed people to buy specific time slots. This was to keep ME sane by not having to work around everyone else’s schedule.
This page brought in $30,000+ of consulting during that 2014 experiment despite being so ghetto (but also keep in mind I still had 12,000+ email subscribers at the time too)….
A cool thing I did was add that little email signup at the bottom for people who clicked the page but all the consults were sold out…..They would then signup to indicate they were interested in the next batch of consults.
I would email this small group of people (around 80 people) when a new batch was put out….and almost immediately a couple of consults would get booked because these people were already super interested to buy.
Crappy pages usually outperform:
You’ll notice all these pages have been pretty crappy.
Sooooo many people get caught up trying to make a “Pretty Portfolio” of work. But it’s useless.
Generally most of the convincing to work with you has been done beforehand because someone saw your other work and knew they wanted to work with you…..or someone they trust referred you…..or they have been following you for a while and know you can deliver.
They don’t buy your stuff because your consults page “looked pretty.”
It’s like wantrepreneurs who think that having an awesome business card will make all the difference. However most of the top entrepreneurs I know don’t even have business cards….yet people still manage to contact them.
Similarly, most of the top freelancers I know don’t even really have portfolios. Jason from the How To Become A Copywriter post makes tons of money from freelance copywriting, and doesn’t even have a portfolio or webpage!
How? Because people REFER HIM based off his work & results.
So DO NOT spend a lot of time making a fancy portfolio. Simple links to past work and basic amounts of text are good enough. Follow these consult templates.
The easy formula to show what you sell:
A lot of people over complicate the hell out of the message they want to say. Such as:
“I’m a website expert that can help design pages that retain the fluidity of good design, yet the rigidity of an amazing user interface. I strive my best to deliver the best quality work yadda yadda yadda….”
Instead, try using these simple formulas to show them exactly what you will deliver:
For $___ you get ____.
— or —
For $___ you get ____ in (time).
Real World Examples:
- For $250 you get the WordPress Pharma Hack removed from your site.
- For $250 you get the WordPress Pharma Hack removed from your site in 48 hours.
- For $100 I will design a Email Collecting Welcome Mat for your WordPress site.
- For $597 I will help you re-write your copy to convert a lot higher.
- For $60 I will talk to you about your relationship problems for one hour.
- For $120,000 I will re-structure your entire enterprise system in one month.
- For $3,000,000 our firm will completely take over all your marketing for one full year.
- For $100/hour I will do your taxes for you by next month.
Can you clearly define what you are selling for your consults??
If not, you might be making it too difficult.
It should be concise and easy to explain.
If you need help making up some business ideas like this, try out out our Business Idea Generator.
–How to actually conduct meetings/sessions–
If someone buys a consult from you (yay!)….now what do you do? Well I have some experience with this:
Step 1.) Schedule a time to meet with them.
Of course you both need to specify when you are going to meet. I have my PayPal buttons automatically forward successful purchases to a page that looks like this:
This way they’re on the same page with me about the procedure. They know they should be ready with Google Hangouts, and they know exactly what time to be online for me to call them.
Services used: Gmail and Google Calendar and PayPal (all free).
Step 2.) Make a shared Google Doc and send it to them:
You can both edit this document with notes.
During the consult I will take notes in this doc (this is actually the template I use to conduct my consults):
Services used: Google Docs (free).
Step 3.) At the right time, call them over video hangout.
I prefer using Google Hangouts because I like it better than Skype…..but Skype totally works.
At our specified meeting time I call the person over Google Hangouts. It’s important you make sure they know what TIME ZONE you are in….and they adjust accordingly. This has been an issue a few times.
Services used: Google Hangouts and Skype (all free).
Step 4.) Give them your awesome information and leave them more educated than you found them!
That’s how a consult goes. Notice that all the tools were free.
Tools you will need to perform consults (and they’re all free)!
I just covered the process in the section above, but here’s a list of the tools I used along the way:
- Gmail (free)
- Google Hangouts (free)
- Skype (free)
- Google Docs (free)
- PayPal (free)
I always prefer conducting consults over video chat. Why? This is because it creates a much stronger bond between the two people when you meet face-to-face rather than just phone.
But the main reason is we can SHARE OUR SCREENS!!!
It’s like being in the same room when we can share screens. Makes the consults SO much better and effective.
–The Proper Mindset for Consulting–
Let’s talk about how to conduct yourself with clients….
How to not get stepped over by every client you have:
Your time is your product, be strict with it.
This means you have to make it abundantly clear that you will bill hourly.
So if someone calls you and says, “Hey can you fix this??”
You should go and fix it….but then send them the invoice for the work. Even if it’s small.
This will immediately let your client know that Getting Work From You = Paying You. They’ll learn fast after the first incident if you do this.
You should never be a stuck up diva about this…..and sometimes it’s ok to answer a question here and there…..but as you grow, you need to be VERY STRICT with your time.
For example, some clients will say, “Hey Neville….would you mind reviewing this email for us?” after a consult. I’ll send this email back:
Cool, book a session and we’ll go through it! KopywritingKourse.com/secret
They either never ask me for anything again, or book another consult! The only two outcomes I want!!!!
Remember to be strict for your time and don’t be afraid to let clients know you WILL bill them for all work you do. You’re not a charity case, so don’t act like it.
The Golden Mindset:
Make them money, don’t be a greedy a-hole like this:
These people don’t end up making a lot of money, because they:
- Constantly try to overcharge rather than deliver a fair price based on results.
- They can get several gigs at a high rate, but people won’t want to pay that all the time.
- They are just going for the money rather than trying to make their clients lives genuinely better.
Instead you wanna think like this:
This kind of guy makes a lot of money because he……
- Genuinely wants to help out.
- Actually cares about the RESULTS his clients get.
- Wants to go above and beyond expectations.
- Ends up making a lot of money through referrals.
- Ends up making a lot of money because he gets known as the guy who can deliver crazy good results.
If you really focus on delivering for clients, and trying to make their money back, you can go far.
The 10x rule:
This isn’t some official rule, but it’s a rule I want to post on you because I care about you.
Commit to making all of your clients 10x the investment they spent on you:
- They spend $100 = They should get back $1,000 from your work in a year.
- They spend $500 = They should get back $5,000 from your work in a year.
- They spend $1,000 = They should get back $10,000 from your work in a year.
- They spend $10,000 = They should get back $100,000 from your work in a year.
- They spend $100,000 = They should get back $1,000,000 from your work in a year.
This is a super important concept to learn.
If you go through life just “trying to higher rates from clients”…..you won’t get long-term results, because your clients aren’t getting long-term results.
But if you become known as “The person that 10x’s people’s investment”…..you have a chance.
NOW…..10x’ing an investment won’t always happen.
- I’ve had people who spent $1,000 on me and never saw a return.
- I’ve had people who spent $1,000 on me and it drastically changes their lives.
- I’ve had people who spent $1,000 on me and it resulted in $100,000+ of income within a month.
But overall, the average person who spends money consulting with me see’s about a 10x return in less than 2 months.
I think this is something we should all strive for.
If you have the mentality of “Whatever people spend on me, I will get them 10x back”
….you should do well in life.
Download this entire post plus copies of the templates by clicking below and joining my email list:
Your free download will have:
- A downloadable copy of this entire post including all images.
- Craigslist Consulting Template Photoshop file (.PSD)
- Consulting Session Template download (Google Doc Template)
- Three Pronged Pricing Template download (Google Spreadsheets Template)
P.S. If you enjoyed this post, I would love if you “voted” on it by sharing it.
P.P.S. Leave a comment with a great consults page you’ve seen, or if YOU’VE had success (or failure) doing consults in a certain way!
Thanks for this awesome piece, super helpful for consulting.
I have just found you last week and its amazing seeing your copy and the best consulting tips you have given. I don’t know why you didn’t appear in my fb feeds or google search. Whatever it is, your work is awesome.
Regards,
Zeeshan.
Awesome post on doing consultation. You’ve taught so many stuffs that would have launched someone who’s worrying on how to start into a genuine consultant. Thanks as always!
I, too, am just starting my consulting side business and this post made a lot things simple and easy to understand. It also lit a fire under my butt. Thanks!
Awesome post! Planning to start a small side business for consulting on organizational development. This post has me excited to get started!
That’s awesome Dani, best of luck on your new endeavor!
Hey Neville,
Thank you for all the information you share here on ‘Kopywritingkourse’. Whenever I see your posts on LinkedIn, I make sure I open the URL and read it on the first go. There is always so much to learn and explore through your posts.
Cheers!
Awesome, so glad you learn from these Usha :)
This post was incredibly informative. I really appreciate all the information you put out here for the rest of us.
I’m planning to take some marketing classes very soon, and maybe learn a specific skill like you mentioned in another post.
You’re very welcome Julie! I think you’re referencing becoming a “Triple Threat” like in this post. I think that’s a great idea.
Having some technical skills helps you become more valuable in the workplace, and often leads to bigger and better things!
Thank you so much for this guide, Neville. Have already set up a block in my calendar to study this entire post with a notebook in my hand and plugs in my ears.
That’s awesome Suneel, best of luck on your consulting journey :)
Hi Neville,
You just made my day. I’m from India and wanted to try this method.
So I posted on three different groups ” Want me to SEO proof your posts” and one of them want to SEO proof all of his post & pages (200 URLs).
My question is How much I’d charge them ?
Thanks,
Pradip Singh
Hi,
Thanks for huge information.Useful analysis and informative.Great job. Keep going on.
Hi,
I am an HR professional, having 7 years of mid level and C level experience and I want to move to consulting part time and then eventually full time.
Any thoughts on what would be the best way ?
PLEASE READ AND HELP ME DECIDE!
I’m a New York City publicist turned New York City real estate agent. My first 5 years in Real Estate were spent assisting other agents and teams in an operations and marketing/public relations role, as I learned the business of real estate and obtained my license. I did this as a consultant/part-time while I was also working deals as a real estate agent, and I did this for a few different agents and teams; subsequently, I also hired and trained my replacements.
A few months ago, I launched my own real estate business at Keller Williams NYC, except a funny thing has happened along the way: I’ve continued to get referrals as a consultant.
It is mostly real estate agents who ask me for help, usually referred by other agents who loved my service: I shadow them for a few weeks as their assistant as I simultaneously search for a permanent employee to hire as their assistant/director of operations. I then spend a few days training the person on the agent’s work habits and systems.
I have done this successfully quite a few times, and I’m receiving more referrals to consult agents than I am receiving client referrals to buy, sell or rent property. I’ve also successfully bought and sold homes for clients, but I have far more expertise as an assistant, publicist and operations manager; I’m even receiving referrals to be a consultant for other businesses: tech startups, Bitcoin related businesses, Smartphone App businesses, etc.
Some are looking to hire me full-time and others are not and I’m not sure which path to take. I’ve spent money to establish my real estate business and market myself as a real estate agent, yet I’m receiving these referrals to consult, and I’ve done nothing to promote it.
Should I quit real estate completely or work as a real estate agent and also as a business consultant, that is, work on both until one takes over completely?
Hi Neville,
Thank you so much for your article, it has definitely helped me reshape my credit consulting business. My only question is, on what platform did you build your “crappy website” on? I have been looking at about me but they do not have the option to add buy now buttons.
Hey Laree, glad this post has helped a bunch! My “crappy portfolio” I built was just raw HTML I wrote in a text file and uploaded.
HOWEVER, an easy suggestion would be to make your portfolio in a free Google Doc, like this:
https://copywritingcourse.com/portfolio
OMG I just love you!! You are so funny and interesting to read. This is a great article. You should seriously think about making it an eBook and selling on Amazon. Excellence!! I’m just curious for you do your own art work? Very good stuff. I think I will be making money by the end of the day. Thanks Much!!!!!
You’re very welcome Tonya. I probably will not be making this into an eBook, will just keep it free for the world to see :)
Hi Neville,
Great explanation for people that are starting in the consulting business.
Thanks for the free info
You’re welcome Ruben, use it wisely my friend!
Hi Neville:
I am really interested in starting a Sales Consulting gig or sales Trainer. How do i go about this. I read some of your material. This business is more like educating sales people to be more productive or helping a company select the right person for the job.
Can you help. Any suggestions???
Thanks,
John Mazziotta
Hey John, maybe you can follow a script similar to this one, and post it on your Facebook page or groups you’re part of:
https://copywritingcourse.com/how-to-make-100-dollars/#personal
Phenomenal post Neville!
Love your posts man, they’re entertaining and
full of good actionable content.
I’m looking to offer some consulting services
(not sure exactly what quite yet) for some $$$
on the side and I’ve got this post delicous’d up
to come back to.
Well done good sir, have a great one brah.
-Phil
Great post,
Thanks a lot for writing these. They are very useful.
I recently started freelancing as a language teacher on italki, simply to get some experience doing online freelancing.
My italki profile didn’t get a single inquiry for months (I did nothing to promote it) after I launched it. But when a guy, out of the blue, booked one session after give months, I got six new students after completion of that one session, within a week. Now I have four of them buying packages. This, I guess, proves the true of validation, as I was rewarded with 5/5 for that one session.
But because I am only an informal teacher, without any degree in teaching (but a master degree in marketing), it’s hard for me to justify increasing the price. Plus, I think it’s unfair to do, without having found a way to give more value.
Any ideas about what I might do?
Hey Christian,
I feel like you have 2 ideas concerns here
1. No Teaching degree
Not having a degree should be no reason to hold yourself back from higher prices. A degree is a gold star badge of proof that you know what you’re doing. Solicit testimonials from your ¿7? Students as proof of your teaching skill.
2. Justifying a higher prices
When you get those testimonials back actually read through them. Uncover what your students found as valuable and why. Then recall your sessions. Think through where you could add or improve that value(s) in your teaching. This is a student focused way you can reach that 10x value at higher prices.
Hope that helps
Hey Jimmy
1 – I guess I am somewhat misjudging the value of a degree out in the real world. Here in Denmark, a degree is not anything spectacular. But I think you are right, and I have asked my students for testimonals, and I received some.
2 – I have more students now, and I followed your advice by justifying a higher price by making an e-book with tips and other (hopefully) useful stuff. I wrote to my students in advance saying I would increase the prices (just to be kind) and they didn’t mind.
I also read the book I bought from Appsumo, how to double your freelance rate, with gave good advice too.
All in all, thanks for your reply and advices.
Have a great day.
Another epic guide Neville. I just posted 3 ads on craiglist following your template.
I will post progress in here.
WOW! Amazing article… Shared it with all my friends. You rock, Neville
Awesome post Neville! Love it mate, came at exactly the right time for me.
Cheers
Man, thank you so much for sharing this!! This was so incredibly useful, I’ve actually got a client meeting on wednesday I’m a little scared about (he saw me posting facebook statuses poking fun at other clients I’m working with and wanted to hire me). I’m scared, Neville. I’m a scared nerd and I only feel safe behind a computer screen … but after this, I can take on the world!
Also in a comment you said you stayed up til 2am writing it, I stayed up til 330 reading it, so good dude!!! Thanks for this.
Awesome. Thanks for sharing this post again – I missed the original. A really good step by step guide that I needed to read. I had some ideas of things I could do but wasn’t sure how to execute. This post leaves me with no excuses!
Thanks again.
WOW! What a *%@@#”# post! Kind of makes you think? The info about Craigslist was damn good. I’m going to ride this wave of value right into the bank. Yee and Haw.
This reads like a Wait But Why article. Ur a kopy-monster!
Hey man, awesome stuff.
I noticed you were using Infusionsoft to process your payments… And I can’t afford to drop 2 grand for a basic checkout. What would you recommend as a cheap/easy way to get paid that can be embedded in e.g. a WP blog?
Thanks!
Use ‘stripe free’ plugin, or if you want to get funky with products, Woocommerce
Hey Neville,
Fan of your stuff. Your emails are hilarious, yet so informative. Keep it up! I’m exploring Consulting on-the-side myself but unsure if there are any takers for my “specialization.” I absolutely dig “public speaking” and “presentations” and would love to train people on becoming better communicators. The challenge is there are so many of them out there. It’s hard to not rely on the website or perhaps some online marketing on Facebook or LinkedIn. Of late, I’m wondering if there’s any market for people like me at all!
Sunil
MIND = BLOWN! This is an outstanding post and I look forward to putting your advice to good use VERY soon.
I loved your video about how you earn a living. I’ve been following for a while but never saw that one. Thank you so much Neville, that gave me a real kick in the you-know-what!
Thank you so much for this. I am immediately adding the three pronged price system to my page. I have always been scared to charge more however this is a great way to charge more for certain clients and not scare away others!
Hi Neville,
We just found out that your site has posted and is distributing our father’s content “The Boron Letters.”
Although our father posted this content for free to the world on his own website… he expressly stated he did not want his copyrighted material taken from him and distributed elsewhere.
We would appreciate it if you would voluntarily remove it from your website(s) without us having to file a dmca notice.
Please let us know asap that the material is no longer on your website(s).
Thank you
Bond Halbert
Dude, this is perfect. :D Thank you for writing this for me…. :p Well I mean for all of us, but specifically I know in my heart that it was for me. ROFL
Keep it up man!
Hey Neville,
Very recently I decided to take your idea of painting curbs, and mix in some lessons from your post on powerwashing. So I found a nice, dense, middle-class suburb near where I live and scoped it out: plenty of houses that didn’t have curb numbers yet. I found the route on USPS’s every door direct mail, had 861 flyers printed at a print shop with this copy that I made (fashioned after the power washing poster): https://www.dropbox.com/s/qo7figi3n4y6l5u/CurbFlyer.jpg?dl=0
Results: Two weeks after the campaign was mailed out I have zilch, nada, zip. Not even a single hit on the website. I can’t figure out why I would have a literal 0% conversion rate. Did my copy suck? Is direct mail a bad idea? Was my price just too high? It’d be nice to know why I’m out $200 before I try another business venture. Any advice or explanation you can give would be greatly appreciated.
Hey Austin,
I thought I might offer some advice here:
1. Your copy doesn’t suck, but you may want to try again after 2 weeks and try shorter copy that just gets to the point: “I’ll be in your neighbourhood painting numbers on the curbs on [Date]. To book an appointment, visit [URL] OR CALL [Your number]” then around the bottom keep your points as to why they’d want to have their number painted.
You know, only marginally less words, but definitely gets to the point. And don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and deal with the clients on the phone – you could even save the printing cost and telephone them yourself with a “Hey, you don’t know me but I’m offering a great service to your neighbours and I thought you might be interested as well” kind of cold-call. After all, these people might like to get to know the person they’re giving their money to :)
2. Maybe $30 is too high, try $10 or $20 and provide an up-sell while you’re there. Michael Senoff has a recording in his ‘fast cash’ series (Google Michael Senoff’s Hard To Find Seminars – there’s tonnes of free marketing advice there) about this exact thing: he used to paint numbers on curbs and would carry his power drill and a few extra parts with him, once he’d arrive he would offer to install a peep hole in client’s doors as an up-sell for a few extra bucks – sometimes two, one lower down so the kids could use it.
Be creative, and by all means don’t be afraid to try that neighbourhood again either with fliers or by phone or both. Sometimes people just don’t look at your flier at the right time in the day and need reminding, maybe your phone number would be a better port of call than a URL… Test all of these things, and if they’re happy with your service they won’t even think you’re ‘nagging’!
I think the copy does suck. It looks like every other flyer out there, that people throw way before even reading them. How could you grab their attention? Neville has wrote about the importance of headlines. Check the Gary Halbert Boron Letters (free to read online) as well, if you haven’t already! I think it has a ton of useful timeless material for you, if you want to succeed in this painting curbs thing.
I mean, just change the color of the paper. That could be one option. Buy some colorful paper (or even grey paper, that might fit the theme!) and see how that would look like. What about attaching a small paintbrush to each flyer? See that they might think “What the ****, who sends me a paintbrush?” but it will be relevant to your ad, so people keep reading because they are naturally curious.
Next, really put yourself in the eyes of the customer. What pain are you trying to solve? Let that be very clear in the copy! Asking “How have you prepared your home for emergencies?” might not be the best copy, but it puts emphasis on the emotions going on in the customer’s mind. Similarly, you can go into detail about describing how a pizza will get cold because the delivery guy can’t see the curb painting/right house, which is telling a story that the customer can easily relate to.
The action (“Book now…”) should be in the end or bottom of the flyer in my opinion. Right now, it’s in the middle of the paper. When I read what I should do next, there’s a new section “Why book with us today?” which makes me second-guess my choice to call you. I’d switch the order of these two things and put the action at the bottom of the page.
One extra thing also to consider: could you ask the customers to call you or some other person, rather than having them to go online. Think of them having the flyer on their hands and reading it and getting interested. Then they have to go open their computer, open the browser, type in your site’s address… You see? You are asking them to do all this before they get anything. You can test oputting your face on the flyer with a phone number next to it, I think that might help them trust the service a little more.
This was pretty random, but I hope this helps!
The two things that turned me off:
– “One quick little trick,” while an accurate description of what you sell, sounds too much like the creepy clickbait header “One weird trick to….”
I would do it more like, Show the before pic, “Quick easy fix for faded curb numbers!” Show the after pic with an arrow pointing to it. “I’ll be in your neighborhood soon. Book today to save!”
– Your list of selling points is split into two lists, in two places, and is repetitive. Better to make one concise list and place it down or to the right. In the words of website designers, don’t make me think.
Hey Neville,
So I here is my idea I am currently working on. Inspired by my volunteer work to put something together.
For $50 You can download the Crowdfunding workbook with tools and step by step action plan to get your crowdfunding campaign started.
For $300 I will give you Crowdfunding 101 presentation and workbook and 1 hour consultation on running a succesful campaign
For $500 I will give you a 6 Week Crowdfunding Course that will take you from not knowing anything to campaign ready that will include a workbook, Crowdfunding 101 Presentation, and 4×30 minute 1:1 phone calls.
For $500+20% of the campaign raised (if successful) I will run the whole campaign for you, from design, marketing, and execution so you can focus on delivering on your product.
I was inspired by your post and saw a way to provide a tiered system that focuses on one of the problems I noticed in a niche market. I saw an opportunity to help people by providing them the tools to launch a successful crowdfunding campaign. I wanted to focus on teaching SBA programs and non-profits to successfully use the fundraising tool.
I would be grateful and super appreciate any advice or tips you have on this as I am a learner and this is a tool for me to learn with my clients. If and when I get clients.
“So to satisfy this guys need for ‘traffic’ I turned on a different keyword that got them traffic for less money, but yielded no sales.
For THIS I was considered a hero.”
Sadly I witness this too often
-Middle Level Manager
Bahahah, that sounds terrible!
I was stunned when I realized this was how much of a large company works.
For $600, you get a consult about your website’s goals, a design strategy to help hit them and ready-to-use design elements, every month.
i’ve offered this for free to fb groups and helped 2 people with their site’s design. so far so good on the freebies. i’m kinda stuck on where to target.
thinking “monthly design strategy for growing startups”.
– companies who are too bogged down with day-to-day designs to look at the long game
– they have designers who can implement, but cant afford to add more heads
– they need an outside eye on their design and someone to keep the accountable on goals
$600 for just TELLING them what to do?
Maybe you should offer a $100 consult to TELL them what to do, then get contracts for thousands actually DOING IT for them.
DJ Rampant will rock your party for $500, your guest will not leave the dancefloor! Email me for a free CD.
That’s pretty good Kumar!
If you’re doing weddings and events like that….you might try getting referral business from wedding photographers and wedding planners.
Referral business is a HUGE source of business for DJ’s.
I’m selling high quality sheep shears.
Bahahaha……I thought you were joking because there was this stupid video about sheep sheering I thought you were referring to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAi1005K71g
…..anywho, it seems like you don’t have many products on the site yet (seems like just 3)?
Hahahaha! Great clip. I love family guy.
Yes, right now I’m actually selling the shears on Amazon. The other 2 products are just filler for the site.
I did enjoy your long post. Even though I have a low attention span, I was still able to get through the whole thing. Whew…
For the last 6 months I’ve been teaching people through my blog, how to build an easy drop-ship business, using eBay and Amazon as leverage.
Last month, I made over $800 from my eBay affiliate link. As my readers used the techniques I write about to buy things on eBay and have them drop-shipped to their Amazon buyer.
Pretty clever, if I may say so myself.
Here is one of my most popular posts: http://psychedelicentrepreneur.com/2015/05/20/a-psychedelic-approach-to-selling-on-amazon-6-easy-steps-to-dropshipping-from-ebay/#more-393
I recently put up an ebook for pre-order on my site. I sold 4 copies my first 2 days. Right now it’s $10. But after your post, I think I need to increase the price.
I think I’m on to something pretty big. This post has definitely given me some ideas for further growth.
I’d love to take you up on your $50 for SEO help. Let me know, when you have 15 mins to skype about it.
Thanks for all your help man.
I am trying to sell e-mail marketing services to restaurants. I am open to suggestions
Open to suggestions??
All you said was “I am trying to sell e-mail marketing services to restaurants.”
You gotta gimme more info James for me to answer!
“For $30 I will talk to you about your foreign language learning problems for one hour.”
This article is actually helping me take action, so thank you Neville! I’ve been a wantrepreneur for a year or two now.
But on the side, I’m also trying the Facebook approach.
I’ve not made any money from language coaching yet. I tried making a massive facebook post just last night to sell 5 one hour skype sessions, but no buyers yet. We will see, I’ll give it time, and I won’t stop here.
The facebook post was an experiment in longer copy (1400 words), to draw the reader in, talk about their language problems, and have them realize their money wanted to go into my pocket… It may very well fall flat on its face, but that’s ok, I’m a beginner here xD
Just got to figure out how best to extract valuable learning info from this experience, either way. I got 40-some likes on the post, and two commenters (no inbox messages indicating interest – that was the call to action I gave)… so I will message a few of those commenters/likers to see if they even got to the part where I offered them the consults – they may have just gotten bored. I already offered one of those commenters a 15minute session for $1 haha… I just want to make my first dollar wahhh
Whoa whoa whoa……..helping people learn a language (I’m assuming you’re teaching a SPECIFIC one) isn’t hard, so you probably don’t need hella long copy.
On the plus side at least you gave it a shot!
Selling language coaching should be easy:
“Looking to learn Japanese in a month? I can get you to 60% proficiency in one month. We’ll have 2 Skype sessions a week at the time you choose.”
…..it shouldn’t be TOO much harder than that. You also need to find WHERE PEOPLE ARE LOOKING FOR LANGUAGE LESSONS!! Your direct group of friends is a good place to start, but it’s unlikely to be an amazing place to find people who want language lessons at that specific time.
Best of luck Will, at least your trying and learning!
Thanks for the quick feedback! Yeah I’ll try something shorter like that next time. Two revised versions of my “selling formula” at the end of this comment…
So, what if this is NOT the standard I-will-personally-teach-you-langage-X? There’s plenty of tutors for that already and that impacts students at a lower level. I know four languages and want to teach more general strategy.
What I really want is to show them is that they don’t have to wait to start conversing with natives. I want to help them get over the emotional hurdles of always waiiiiiting til “later” or til they’re “good enough” to talk to a native and instead start speaking to natives TODAY, in whatever random language they want to learn, even if they currently have absolutely 0% proficiency.
This should be more valuable to them than a few sessions with a tutor – they can turn the gobs of native speakers of their target language into their tutors for free, and not even need to pay a normal tutor.
So hmm maybe there’s an angle on that!
“For $30/hour I will show you how to turn the masses of native speakers in your target language into your unpaid teachers, so you won’t need to hire a traditional language tutor or buy Rosetta Stone. We’ll have two half-hour Skype sessions per week at the time you choose.”
OR
“For $30 I will have you speaking with a native speaker in their language within one week. We’ll have two half-hour Skype sessions at the time you choose.”
It worked for me – I’m self-taught / random-native-speaker-taught and fluent in 3 languages now (besides English)…
Hey Will.
You should take “no competition” for something as a BAD THING. It means people ARE NOT LOOKING FOR THAT SERVICE.
What people want is “I wanna learn X language in two months because I’m visiting the country.”
……that’s why most tutors advertise that.
You’re free to approach this as “I’ll teach you basics of HOW to learn different languages”, but my hunch is that won’t sell too well.
Instead offer tutoring in the 4 languages you know, and ALSO teach them elements of your approach within the tutorials.
“Sell them what they want, give them what they need!”
“Sell them what they want, give them what they need!”
That is awesome. That makes sense. I’ll dive in and get some experience with what is known to sell already, and see if I can then mold things/get testimonials towards where I want to take things, in addition to giving them the results they want.
Like Joseph Sugarman said, “…realize that often you must go with the established way of doing things in order to accomplish your goals. … Once you have an established reputation, it’s easier to try something different that you yourself want to do.”
I will try this route. Thanks for the redirection Neville!
Here’s my formula
“For $147/month, you get the same service as a concierge doctor, but for your nutrition and recovery needs instead.”
Oh cool William!
Nothing to adjust here:)?
Uggh……well there is…..I think.
I’m not sure if you’re offering this service to people who already KNOW what a concierge doctor is.
For example:
-I have no clue what a concierge doctor is.
-I don’t know what “nutrition and recovery needs” are.
…….so someone like me would have ZERO idea what you’re selling.
You’d need to be more specific like:
“If you have diabetes and overweight and your doctor told you to lose weight, I will show you how. I guarantee you’ll lose 5% of your fat in 3 months…..”
I just assumed you were successfully selling this already and the people KNEW what those terms meant. If not, THEN you definitely need to adjust your pitch :)
REDUX–
For $147/mo, you’ll get personalized weekly expert nutrition guidance on what portions sizes of foods to eat, what supplements to take, which places to eat, what to avoid and what to do to optimize energy all personalized to your specific fitness and health goals so you don’t have to figure it out on your own.
Much better William!
However maybe break it up like this:
——————————————————
——————————————————
I will guide you step-by-step through the process of losing weight for three months. For $147/mo you will have me by your side to get you through it You’ll get:
–Personalized weekly expert nutrition guidance.
–Advice on what portions sizes of foods to eat
–Advice on what supplements to take
–Advice on which places to eat
–Advice on what to avoid
–Advice on ways to optimize energy
It’s hard to do this on your own, so I will be your personal coach through the whole process.
——————————————————
——————————————————
Dearest Neville,
In your post you talked about clients who had spent $1,000 on your services and had it had resulted in $100k of income within a month.
Obviously this isn’t the norm, but what would you say was the reason they saw such dramatic results?
Did they listen and implement your ideas exceptionally well? Were there any behaviours, attitudes, or beliefs they had that you noticed were different than other clients?
Or was it just a matter of being in the right place at the right time with the right copywriter?
Your friend on the internet,
Mark
PS – Just finished reading the Boron Letters last night (printed on paper in respect of Amish hour). Fantastic stuff, thanks for the recommendation. :)
Hey Mark, that’s not typical of people who have SMALL businesses. It is for people with MEDIUM TO LARGE businesses though.
But if you have an existing large business, then even one good promotion or small increase in sales can have a ginormous impact.
Like if Coca-Cola increases sales by 5%, that’s like bazillions of dollars in revenue.
If a $5,000,000/year company applies some of my advice to their email list, $100K+ can easily be expected.
Ok, I understand now. I forgot that large businesses make large numbers and they don’t necessarily have to be outstanding and amazing to do so. :P
Thanks for the response, love what you’re doing. :)
Thanks Mark!
I’m here to help :)
For £45 a month I can show you how to earn a 2nd income through online betting
For £45 I can show you how to practise mindfulness in daily life and enjoy the benefits over 6 weeks
BAHAHAHAH…..are these two the same business??? I’m assuming not :)
Haha no it’s not mindfulness betting or anything like that, it’s two separate businesses :-)
Ok got it!
I’m not into betting or gambling really…but I know those industries are HUGE!
Hey Nev,
Just responding to your email about telling you what I would like to sell. I would love to do consults in helping churches (Non-denominational or Catholic) on how to properly plan, prep, run, and debrief management on high school weekend retreats.
So following your directions:
For $ I will tell you how to get kids on your weekend retreat
For $$ I will get my team involved and really get your kids excited for your retreat
For $$$ I will do everything for you. Sit back and enjoy watching the future of your congregation grow and give back to their community
PERFECT!
Now stop WANTING THIS and go out and TRY IT!!
Hey Neville,
I’ve just started an ecommerce creative services consultancy and put up my website kumicreative.com. Its just a start but I would love if you could take a peek!
Thanks so much :)
Cool, a nice start!
Now you gotta start getting the word out that you can write blog posts, emails etc and DO all the work you say you can do.
You’ll have to start at the bottom and hustle!
Thanks Neville! I’m ready to get going and so appreciate the motivation you provide! Also thanks for writing back to everyone’s comments! Have an awesome weekend :)
Hi Neville,
Thanks for all of your amazing tips! I’m trying to sell fine jewelry online (jewelista.com) and would love any insights you might have. Thanks for being so awesome!
p.s. I loved the kopywriting webinar last week!
Cool Stephanie, although as far as consulting goes for your business I’m not sure what you would offer!
3 Options:
1. “For $2,500 I will increase your self-esteem, confidence, and charisma in 3 months or less . ”
2. “For $2,500 I will increase your self-esteem, confidence, and charisma to better sell yourself and your skills to your clients in 3 months or less . ”
3. “For $2,500 I will teach you how to increase your profits and better pitch yourself in 3 months or less . ”
Due to increased demand and high success rates, I’m raising my rates but don’t want my message to be lost amongst the fancy schmancy verbal mud.
I know that most people highlight features (increase your self-esteem, confidence) but what people really buy are benefits (increase profits). Thoughts?
Hey Ramon!
Well if you’re getting so much business that you’re increasing your rates…..then I think you’re doing just fine!
Whatever you’re doing is getting your audience into it, so keep doing that :)
You have a point. I want to have less clients with more money. The next step is to make a product and stop trading hours for dollars.
Thanks for the feedback!
Yeah you can make a product……but don’t discount the power of trading hours for dollars! If the price is high enough, you wouldn’t complain ;)
Keep doing what you’re doing!
For £170 I will spend two hours teaching you tips and techniques to boost your GMAT* score.
For £800 I will spend ten hours and teach you how to study on your own to reach your target GMAT score.
*Standardized business school entrance exam if any questions:)
Oh nice Rowan! GMAT is a huge money-spending area for people since it kind of…you know….DETERMINES THE NEXT FEW YEARS OF THEIR LIFE!
Fortunately for you it’s pretty clear what you offer: GET THEM HIGHER GRADES ON GMAT.
You fortunately don’t have to do MUCH explaining on what this is :)
For $5000 you get a website or mobile app in one month. – should be my pitch, I reckon I’m too cheap
Hmmm, what makes you think that’s too cheap? Are you already getting too much business?
Because I can go on eLance and other places to get an app built for MUCH cheaper. However there must be some distinguishing factor between “just building an app” and “building an app WELL.” Or building an app “Focused on optimizing revenue.”
That’s the difference between a $100 app and a $100,000 app.
I’m selling nutrition coaching for my clients. Better living through improved diet!
Oh cool! I bet you can use the Three Pronged Pricing Technique to make different packages:
$200 – Two coaching sessions
$997 – 1-month long guided sessions
$2,500 – Guaranteed weight loss in three months
…..replace the numbers with whatever. But I bet there’s several “levels” you can sell people!
Wow, that’s an article and a half!
I’m selling headshots… I make people look good, online…
Thanks Theo!
Cool headshot service, they look great!
Hey Neville,
Mentioned how kick ass this post is over in the appsumo FB page. Came back to check it again and just had to leave a comment here also
Great post
Daniel
Why thank you good sir :-)
You asked me to comment on pricing schemes that happily made me spend more, and I think one of the best ones is on the Copyhour sales page. Basically, there’s a program that emails you a winning ad each day so you can hand copy it (What halbert, kennedy, carlton, frank kern etc recommend)
So, the basic package is $137 for 90 days worth of emails.
The Journeyman is $187 for 182 days.
The Master is $187 for 365 days!!!
So, the top two pricing tiers are EXACTLY the same price. Really clever, because it caused me immediately to rule out the bottom option and the top option.
Great post btw, sharing it with some friends who are asking me about how I charge so much for copywriting.
I’ve actually seen that pricing structure on that page before, very clever! It totally makes you think twice after seeing it :)
Hey Nev man,
I’m the 5 ideas guy. Just wanted to say thanks for the shoutout!!
..and Cool article, keep em coming!
NRN!
Lol….I wish I could’ve seen your reaction when you saw “WTF THAT’S ME!!”
Haha i wish i could have too! Someone spilt the beans and told me about before i had a chance to read!
Dawg you’re famous :)
I’ve nothing of real value to add (yet), but just a BIG thumbs up for the work so far, this article and the others I’m on my way to read & digest. I’ve been trying to break out of the 9-5l teaching role and finally have a product (well, a some-what validated MVP for my niche) to validate and sell, and this info will help me no end. Suerte, desde Madrid.
Hey Alan, the consulting side of things can really help you validate.
When all of a sudden you have 5 people trying to take you up on an offer, you MIGHT KNOW that your offering is hitting a nerve!
Best of luck Alan!
Is there a difference between HEADLINE and SUBJECT LINE?
On Email = SUBJECT LINE is what captures initial attention.
On webpage = HEAD LINE is what captures initial attention.
Same thing, different medium.
Love these gigantic posts, Neville! Very hefty, very informative.
Surprised to see KRAPPY outperforming FANCY… but on a gut level it makes sense. There’s something about that krappy ad that makes the service more approachable. Dunno why! That’s my feeling.
Anyway… when I started freelancing I had success with job boards like ODesk (or “now Upwork!!!!!”).
My secret strategy isn’t a secret at all: Just be different from everyone else. Everyone else is saying “HIRE ME!!!” You, on the other hand, deliver great value upfront and demonstrate that 1) you can do the job and 2) you’ll make the client look amazing.
Example: Client offers a job to write some property rental headlines. Everyone else applies and says, “I am SOOOOOO good at writing property rental headlines.”
You: Actually submit real sample headlines that you wrote SPECIFICALLY FOR THIS APPLICATION, with analysis after each headline on WHY the headline is good. In other words, you overdeliver and show the client exactly 1) why you’re good and 2) what amazingness to expect.
Works for brand-new n00by nublets who have zero feedback and zero portfolio. They can also land well-paying jobs. I know because that’s how I started.
The best thing about job boards? There are tons of jobs out there where you’re not competing with 1,000,000 people. Sometimes, all you have to do is be better than 10 applicants. Then you have your first job.
Cheers Neville, looking forward to more hefty posts!
-Joey
Thanks Joey! They’re a pain in the ass to make, but worth it :)
Nice tips. Generally whenever I sell consults I show them things I’ve already done, and if they like, they can jump on board. I rarely TRY to sell very hard.
If I’m having to convince them SOOO hard to hire me, I can already tell the interaction will go badly. They will resist every change I try to make, and the end product will be hella mediocre.
Thanks for your story Joey, cool to hear :)
Hey Neville,
Thanks for the long post man. I like long form posts. People who say long form is dead suck.
But I just wanted to say thank you for this post. I have found myself in a constant state of idea development and ultimate fizzling out because everytime I started thinking about consulting, I find myself feeling like I am not smart enough, competent enough, or have enough background in something to be qualified. That was due to my failure of perceiving consulting as telling people what I want to tell them and they pay me large wads of cash because they somehow respect what I know. Consulting is more of identifying a problem and offering them assistance in solving that problem based on my skill set. Therefore, I don’t need 10+ years of experience in industry A to consult on Problem A. I just need to know my skill set is developing action steps and teaching people about something based on the time and effort I put into researching things on my own.
Other people may have told me this before but I feel that you figured out how to tune into my frequency and help me gain a clearer understanding of ways I can help people on the side or directly.
Thanks man, I hope I can follow up with a success story for the post.
Hell nah……definitely don’t need 10+ years of experience.
You just need to be able to solve SOME ISSUE that someone else has. What might seem super-easy to you, might actually be super-hard to someone else, and they will happily pay you to get rid of that problem for them.
So glad I could help James!
If I put those ads up on my personal Facebook account I guarantee no-one would buy from me, I doubt anyone I’m friends with has a need for a fledgling copywriter!
Hmmm…..is there perhaps something else you can sell?
Maybe a review of their marketing?
“Hey it’s Tom, and for the past 5 years I’ve literally helped 100’s of offline businesses take put their stuff ONLINE. This helps them get ranked in Yelp, Google Reviews…and gets them 30% more business. If you need this, or any of your friends do, send me a message and lets get started. I do an initial review for just $100, and can even do all the work for you after that if you choose.”
Thanks Nev, some great pointers there.
Maybe I just need different facebook friends ;)
Well you also didn’t actually TRY this. You’re just assuming……..so don’t know it till you’ve tried it. Your friends can be a great source of leads for work.
This is dope Neville. I’m gonna use this for my coaching biz, gonna take on some corporate consults as well. Can’t wait to try it out.
Best of luck Lyle!
I already got people telling me they went ahead and put a “Buy A Consult” button up, and people have purchased!
Neville, this is an awesome post, very inspiring. I went ahead and shared with some folks as well from http://www.entrepreneurdestiny.com
Awesome, always appreciate the shares James!
You are a fucking mind reader!
I have mauled over starting some consulting gigs for the last 2 days. And here you post it.
Thanks a million. Unfortunately I don’t have a hundred grand to pay you.
The best part of the post for me was the 10x rule. I couldn’t figure out what to charge but the 10x rule makes it easy.
THanks Jan!
10x Rule is great……it’ll be the best value for you AND your clients
For fuck sake. I have been wrong for 25 years. Love the post.
Bahahhaha….WELL NOW YOU FINALLY KNOW!!
Nicely done man. Love your content and approach to business. Keep the good stuff coming!
Thanks John! Will try to keep the content comin for ya :)
Spelling Error
“Now if you’re NOT well know, it’s probably wiser…….”
Change “know” to “known”
–JD
Thank you sir :)
Grammar Error
“So to satisfy this guys need for “traffic” I spent turned on a different keyword…..”
I think you want to remove the word “spent”
–JD
Welcome JD
Spelling Error
“Sticking up a webpage is sounds fun, and provides…….” Change “is sounds fun”.
–JD
Making all these changes now!
This is an awesome post, Neville. Spot on for me.
I’ve been hitting so many groups with a question on how to test my idea to coach people by aligning it to my background in Org Development and Project Management. Your post has solved the problem for me. I’ll test through facebook now.
Thanks for creating such great content.
SWEET! Glad to have helped!
Lemme know how it ends up working….good or bad or meh.
You’re the only guy I open the emails before just deleting. Unreal content. Do you think the beauty of leadpages is too sexy for the concept of ugly pages and ads?
Bahahha….that truly is a compliment :)
I think LeadPages is great (I use it for content downloads). I actually think they’re stuff looks pretty BECAUSE it’s often so simple.
I don’t think a page being pretty is BAD, I just think it’s not worth spending hella time creating a pretty page without first working on the foundations (like GETTING PEOPLE TO THE SITE or paying attention to your content in the first place).
Leadpages makes it super easy to have a nice page…..so if you’re not spending a lot of time on it, no harm done.
Thanks for another amazing post, Neville! You’ve given me a lot to think about and I’ll be downloading this post soon for reference.
Really great stuff!
Sweet….hope you learned something Tim!
At very least it’ll show you to spend more time interacting with people rather than wasting it making a fancy consulting site.
You outdid yourself on this one Nev. Thank you so much.
THANK YOU! I was at WeWork till 2am cranking the last parts of this out……and I still have more to add!
Incredible post, Nev. Absolutely incredible.
What stood out to me the most was seeing how a page with a very simple (or even borderline crappy) design can get great results.
YES! I can’t stress enough how little it matters to have the best looking page ever.
I’ve seen highly profitable consulting pages that were little more than a text-editor written html document with a few links to past work and an email address.
A top takeaway for me was the sellable consulting slots on the website. I’d also like to share an eye-opening moment I had with a client.
Some time ago, I started doing some minor stuff for a new client. After a couple of months I proposed a content-via-email project to them and we agreed on a two-month period on retainer. My content was converting anywhere between 40% to 60%, (CTR) but no matter what we tried, only 1% of the emails were being opened. It turned out our audience (12 to 15-year-olds) simply weren’t interested in using email.
I thought the company owners would be super mad at me. Instead, they asked me to stay at double the hours (and double the retainer). The CEO explained to me that it was ok that we failed. The important thing is that we had run the experiment and stopped it at the right time. The experiment NEEDED to be done, and my expertise helped them perform it at maximum potential.
Now they had the certainty that the project had failed ONLY because it wasn’t a good fit with their market, and NOT due to shoddy work.
Serious companies understand that certain work is experimental, and they treat it as such. Of course, it’s not applicable to all cases, but this really gave me a change in perspective.
Yes, if you have reasonable traction to your website then you can do this…..otherwise you’ll just have a bunch of open spots that no one buys :)
That’s awesome they understood the value of at least TRYING.
Damn….only 1% were opening? Curious to hear more about what industry this was that you were sending emails for.
A lot of people with super-low open rates have that because people maybe signed up to their phone app…but then they try to EMAIL.
Jumping mediums is always a good way to lose a lot of eyeballs.
This was for a free-to-play online multiplayer game with futuristic tanks. Main audience is 12 to 15-year-olds in Russia.
When I started with the company I realized that they had 41 million registered users, but NO emails. So my proposal was to start collecting emails and then use them to keep players engaged for longer, and also for re-activation.
But it turned out most of those kids barely even HAD email addresses. Their primary mode of engagement is via social media. We could have forced the issue by offering exclusive promos through email, but I think trying to change the market is rarely a good idea, and always an expensive one.
Hmmm yea…..if you’re getting people to signup to a game, then trying to email them, I can see how open rate would be hella low.
I wouldn’t depend on email addresses for kids, they don’t have formal emails till they’re 18 or so.
So are you saying you work in the US for a client whose website is in Russia? Like not even on the same continent and language as yours?!
That s awesome
Best
Ken
Great post!!! Definitely feel more empowered now to charge more for consulting gigs and how to go about doing it..thank you, Nev!
It’s funny, somehow my body naturally wakes me up at around 4am and when I see your emails, I think “shoot, I gottaaa read this before I go back to sleep!”
It’s like a “mid a.m. snack” to fatten my brain :)
Bahahah……I’m glad I keep you wide awake :-P
You should do an Amish Hour and make sure you’re not using your phone at night!
https://copywritingcourse.com/amish-hour/
Always searching for truth, …Neville delivers. kinda Krazy, Right?
Read, Learn, DO. What are you waiting for? Go Start.
Thanks Russ!
Really great post as always Neville! One tip I picked up from Schramko is to productize the consult. As this makes it an asset, as oppossed to a time = dollars exchange. It also means, if it takes off, you can train others how to conduct the consult.
Well I DO have a productized version….The Kopywriting Kourse!
So if people want to learn on their own they can. But there’s always the option to speak with me directly.
Thanks Will!
This is insanely good. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Harry! I’ll also be adding to it.
Originally I contemplated making a whole course out of how to do consults like this…..but I thought this was too little info for a full-on course, but too much NOT to share it somewhere.
Value, value, moar value. And it’s right on time, as I’m contemplating starting a consulting gig.
This piece is one of the few that made me go “Wow” out loud. This should be a paid ebook :)
Thanks a lot Sir ! Going back to work now !
(PS: I’m sorry should I have made some mistakes, still working on my english)
You WOW’d out loud…love it! I did spend a ton of time sitting in an office till 2am for several days making this, so thank you :)
Mind Blown Neville. I’ve already used the Kopy Kourse Technique to do work on Fiverr writing dating profiles. I’ll now apply this to doing SEO consulting for companies in my locality. Brilliant stuff my Indian Homie.
Lol! Dating profile writing on Fiverr….brilliant!
Feel free to use these concepts however you want to increase your own business…..proud you’re taking action on it!
Neville
I come from a small rich country in western Europe (Switzerland) where I have a difficulty seeing opportunities as a Kopywriter. People here don’t share the same mindset when it comes to hiring newbies (I find).
Any advice on how to start a consulting gig here? What would you try if you were faced with such a market – tiny, crowded ad people being quite frugal.
Amazing post!
Ben
This is awesome! May I ask if you’re still writing dating profiles for people? Any chance you have an email I can reach you at?
Regards,
Wilson
Hi Nev, I haven’t read it (I just forward it to my kindle… It’s gonna be easier) but it looks promising. Just thought you could have publish this as kindle ebook ;-)
Back later on with comments.
Oh yeah….I got a lot of emails asking me to make this a Kindle book. I probably won’t since it’s best viewed on a computer where people can then take action.
Lemme know what you think in the end :)
Neville, I agree that the content in this post isn’t necessarily right for an e-book as-is. I think it wouldn’t take much to make it into a very good, short book that I’d drop a few dollars on (or a bunch of dollars, honestly), though it’d probably still be most valuable as a free resource. You could even include links to resources like O’Reilly does for all their code templates and such.
Actually, there’s this really awesome post on a blog I read that uses James Clear as an example of turning a big post into an ebook…. some copywriting guy named Norbert or something.
Interesting. Might try this later. Right now busy pumping out some new posts. At some point may hire an eLance’r to make them into books :)