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HOW TO SET YOUR FREELANCE RATES - A GUIDE FOR FREELANCERS & CONSULTANTSThere are many factors which business owners must consider on a daily basis as it relates to the running of their business. Things such as how to find good help, where to acquire supplies and how much to pay one’s employees are all pertinent matters which must be addressed. There are a few ways to go about figuring out your rates when it comes to how much to charge the customers.Home Based Business Prospecting: How to Get 80% Of Prospects To Call You Back
by Debbi Bressler
If you are a representative for a home based business opportunity, and you'd like to learn how I get 80% of my prospects to call me back, read on... One of the most discouraging parts of running a home based business opportunity is following up with prospects.
Now, by following up, I don’t mean dumping their name into an an autoresponder. I’m talking about someone you’ve talked to on the phone, who has promised to take some sort of action in your sales process, and whom you are following up to see what they think.
Only second to “Where can I get good leads?” is this issue.Would you be shocked to know that it’s YOUR fault?
Let’s think about this. You talk to someone on the phone and make a date to follow up with them. Let’s call that Day 1.
Day 1 – you call – no answer. You leave a message.
Day 2 – you call – no answer. You don’t leave a message (but they have Caller ID so they know you called anyway).
Day 4 – you call again – no answer.
Day 6 – you call again – Their spouse tells you they aren’t home.
Day 9 – you call again at a different time. No answer; leave a message.
Day 12 – you call. Their 4–year-old says they are there. You hear voices in the background and then the kid comes back on the phone to say that they only thought mom or dad was home, but it’s really a babysitter....
...and on and on and on.
Imagine you are the prospect. If someone told you that, as part of your business you had to call people endlessly until they changed their phone number, would this be something you would want to do?
If someone calls you day after day after day, what thoughts do you think they have about your level of success? Do you appear to have more business than you can handle… or do you appear desperate for a sale?
What if you could spend your day taking your prospects’ phone calls instead? This is a simple two-step process:
1. Work with good material.
Have you ever compared clothing from a discount store to that of a high fashion designer? Though the design might be similar, you can tell the difference in quality at a glance.
Same with leads. If you are working with poor quality leads, your job is a lot harder because you have to do a ton of sorting.
And if you’re getting questions like, “Which one are you?”, then you do not have a high quality lead source. Either find one or learn how to create your own.
2. Give them a reason to call you back.
Have you ever been to a web site and seen an offer for a free report and something else to entice you to opt-in to the owner’s list? They’ve found that simply saying “sign up for my newsletter” isn’t enough.
Remember, people are always asking “What’s in it for me?”
Offer them something of value IF they call you back before a certain time. And, it's important that you stand firm on your offer. For instance, if you send someone to a 30-minute live call at 8PM, you get their agreement to call you as soon as they get off the call. If they call you the next day, the deal is off. If you are sending them to your web site, have them commit to when they will review it and set a cut-off time for them to call you back.
Make it clear that you'll provide them with this resource whether they are interested in your offer or not… as long as they call you back at the agreed upon time. Because your time is worth something, wouldn't you rather have someone call me back and tell me “no”, then to spend the rest of your life trying to chase them down?
You can offer a Special Report, an ebook, or a piece of software. There are many valuable products or services you can provide which cost you nothing. Just make sure it has a high perceived value to them. For instance, I use a tool that is similar to one selling for $14.95 a month on the Internet. My prospects can use it for personal or business use, so they don't have to have a business to utilize it. The cost to me is zero.
And, best of all, it causes 80% of prospects to call me back!
Start putting this two-part formula to the test and I'm confident you'll see your call back rate soar.
C2005 Debbi Bressler
Debbi Bressler is Editor of The Home Business Review Magazine, offering tips, tools, techniques, and independent reviews for home based entrepreneurs. New articles added daily. Visit http://thehomebusinessreview.com. Or sign up for Debbi's Success Pack at mailto:successpack@getresponse.com
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