Educate Your Clients On What You Offer With a Guide
A small business owner may go looking for a freelancer and not necessarily know exactly what he needs. Maybe he wants a website for his business, but that may not mean that he can tell you whether he wants a blog, an e-commerce site or something entirely different. Educating clients on the services you offer can be a tedious process, especially if you find yourself doing it over and over again. There are a few options for providing your clients with a resource that can bring them up to speed on what you can do for them, without you needing to explain over and over again. One of the most useful may be offering a guide on your website, which clients can download and read.
A Guide in Action
Annette Elton and her partner, Alice Seba, write content for their clients, ranging from articles to ebooks. As part of their marketing efforts, the two created a guide to how clients can outsource content, and made it available on their website, AllCustomContent.com. The guide focuses on the benefits of hiring someone to write content, and includes information on topics like how to find the best writer for the job, as well as how to work with freelancers.
The guide has proven successful for Annette and Alice. “It definitely brought the business instant exposure as we had the guide ready at launch. People see that we’re professional and not only know how to write, we’ve got marketing skills too. It established us as a credible resource and gave us authority,” says Annette. “One thing many freelancers need to remember is that if they position themselves as consultants, as an authority in their niche or specialty, they’ll not only be able to charge a better rate, they’ll keep their clients for the long haul. They become a valuable asset rather than merely a writer who is easily replaced.”
Their ebook positioned Alice and Annette as experts in a specific niche (content strategy), as well as showcased their talents. Interestingly, because they offered a resource that would help clients even if those clients chose other freelancers, it is valuable to clients, rather than a simple marketing piece. It’s a method that could be replicated by any freelancer, whether a designer, a writer, or another specialist. Depending on where your skills may lie, it may be worthwhile to team up with another freelancer or outsource part of the project to make sure that your resource will win over a client.
The Contents of a Guide
Gathering or creating the content for a good resource can be harder than it looks. Annette says that the two couldn’t start from a FAQ: “…Often people don’t ask the right questions. The format for the guide is developed from a content strategy that is proven to be successful…Alice, in particular, has considerable experience in content marketing and it’s a format that works. Know your audience, know what their problems are and present a solution. It works for copy and it often works in content as well, particularly a guide you’re using for marketing purposes.”
It’s also important to focus on creating evergreen content — material that you don’t have to update regularly. While Annette and Alice review their guide on a regular basis, they have only made a few revisions, due to the fact that the original material is still very relevant.
I’m of the mind that giving your prospective clients a list of what you can do also tells them exactly what you can’t do…
There has been several times when I’ve taken on new business without having it as part of my skill-set. Because of this, these new skills are now regular parts of my business.
So long as you’ve got a decent brain for learning new skills, and are confident that you can learn AND do a successful job that will not harm your reputation, then no point in limiting your clients to the skills you currently possess.
Or you can talk about what the client will get (the results you produce) without mentioning MySQL or ActionScript4 or whatever. If you deliver easy to use, accessible Web sites who cares what technical skills you use. At least that’s not a major concern if you sell me on the idea of working with you to produce the results I need.
For me, client education is the ultimate marketing and value proposition tool. If you teach me, you are an expert. Also, if you teach me, perhaps I’m more likely to understand the difference between good feature requests and ones that drive freelancers crazy (please make the logo bigger).
@angelobeltran
Yes it is important to put together an “organic” guide as the wants and needs of your target market always changes. Putting together a guide is practically a part of your marketing strategy which is important if you’re a freelancer or business owner.
I agree with Jamie… Ajax, wordpress plugins, and things like that… I wouldn’t have learned them, if I wasn’t in need for them.
I think as long as you’re not too specific then it should be okay – surely Ajax and WordPress plugins come under the guise of “Website Development” – the client doesn’t necessarily need to know HOW the website is constructed and so has no need to know the technical names of features.
For instance, they might say “I want some images to fade in and out” … you’d say “yes I can do that for you”. You wouldn’t say “I can only do that in jQuery because I don’t know Flash” unless you’re a moron who likes to lose business.
IMO you should NEVER inadvertently point out what you can’t do – only what you can do, and in this context be completely general … no need for specifics at all.
We can all agree that limiting your knowledge is never a good thing. Who really wants to be known as One-Hammer-Jack for the rest of their lives?
But it is worth mentioning that there are many schools of thought out there, arguing that finding that niche market is the key to the whole Freelancing journey. If you think about it, in theory, it makes logical sense. And has worked for a good many people.
For my two cents worth; I think Thursday (HA! I’m writing this on a Thursday) touches on a very interesting and somewhat innovative idea. That is, an Introduction al Guide to who you and what world you inhabit. What are some of the common issues clients come up against in your particular field (this would also be a good place to input some tips to earn extra brownie points!) and how you fit into all of this. And not forgetting how you can help the client navigate your world.
I think the idea itself is defiantly worth exploring and not just dismissing it off hand.
Ditto. Having a guide can be a good idea if you have only a specific set of skills, but I wouldn’t have learned php / html / css if I had just stuck to making pretty, useable things!
We do it all the time with our steady clients, but some time new clients (existing too) do not take it sportingly and think we are acting smart to make quote higher. We were doing it according to the project, showing them other possibilities & ROIs. Now a days we do it depending on clients.
I agree totally. One should not limit the skills as being a freelancer the one advantage is that you can work on many different types of projects and not just limited few. It also depends on ones likes and dislikes though. But being open-ended is always helpful I guess..
Having a guide is wonderful, and educating the client is upmost important. But, at Mosotomoss, out sourcing is something that we would never do. When an image stager is hired, it is my job to make sure they have the skills to cover themselves, when they are out in the field with a client. We are all about growing our business as well as our service. Not having a service in house, would give us a chance to hire someone to do that particular job.
I think it’s the owner/freelancers job to tell the client what they need in the consultation. Because, no matter what you put up on your blog or website, it cannot answer every clients question.
Great Post!
I fail to see how one of these guides limits what skills you can offer. They’re not supposed to serve as a catalogue of your services, they’re supposed to be content that’s useful to a client, regardless of whether or not they use your services.
The client benefits because they get useful information, and you benefit because clients respect you more.
At no point does that limit you to anything.
I like the idea of creating a guide that will help your clients make the most of what you’ve done for them, to maintain it, or some other topic that’s relevant to your services.
For example, if you’re an article writer, you could give clients an ebook or special report about how they can repurpose their articles to create more content for promoting their business.
This could be a bonus you give along with the articles when you submit them.
You’ve inspired me to create my own freebie for my clients. Thanks!
It seems like each situation is unique. Everytime I think I have a pretty good guide down, the rules change. I use a basic template and then format to each clients needs after our initial meeting. I like to listen to the client and then make a few suggestions on how we can move forward, and how I can help.
Can you link to your guide?
very good article. thanks
Creating a guide has been something that I have been thinking about doing myself.
Often times I receive emails from clients looking for custom quotes but they aren’t sure of what certain web terms mean, etc. By creating a guide that I can share with them in advance I can educate them, cut down on email time, and also provide a better service to them.
Great post. Now I only need to find time to put my idea into action.
Fantastic idea and one I am going to begin working on. I can appreciate the sentiment that writing such a piece could pigeon-hole you(r company), and to this I say it is in how you position it. If your language is definitive “this is what we can do,” then it leaves the unspoken, “this is what we can’t.”
If you write it as, “This is a sample of things we have done”, my gut says you will be in a better place.
It sounds like a case study of yourself instead of a client. Fantastic idea, thank you for posting it.
Interesting post. I actually created a design faq section with a basic overview of what clients can expect during the design process – a top 10 of sorts. I also cross-reference it in my contracts so that folks have a general point of reference. Throughout my site I encourage folks to read this section. I do not feel it has limited me in my skills as I constantly look to learn new things and still have much to learn. But it does specify some things that I currently choose not to do. While some may find this limiting, I can respect that – but I believe it keeps it real for me and it can always change as my knowledge & skill set expands.
I’m actually thinking of making a guide/ebook on why all businesses need a website. I think some people under estimate how great a website can be for your business and how those results only come if it’s done right.
What do you guys think I should include in it? Of course why businesses need a website, but I was also thinking of adding why you should hire somebody else and what to look for when hiring a professional.
Good Article Thx!
It sounds like you’re developing issues yourself by attempting to solve this concern instead of seeking at why their is usually a difficulty inside the first place