How many orders have you received out of 10 buyer requests?

[microscopetrans]

And what is your secret sauce please?

[faracks]

Tell me the secret sauce too 😛

[eoinfinnegan]

Apply only to those which you can actually do.
Read the request carefully.
Respond with a clear response which answers the need and adds the option for “a little bit more” than they asked for.
Pique their interest by showing you know what they want and more. This subtly shows your expertise without boring them with a badly written cv.

I don’t use buyer requests at the moment but whenever I do I win 50+% of the ones I apply for and often keep the client as a regular.

Don’t waste time applying to bad requests. If there is only 2 relevant requests then just send those and ignore the rest - spend the time you save on other promotion/marketing.

[microscopetrans]

Apply only to those which you can actually do.

Read the request carefully.

Respond with a clear response which answers the need and adds the option for “a little bit more” than they asked for.

Pique their interest by showing you know what they want and more. This subtly shows your expertise without boring them with a badly written cv.

I don’t use buyer requests at the moment but whenever I do I win 50+% of the ones I apply for and often keep the client as a regular.

Don’t waste time applying to bad requests. If there is only 2 relevant requests then just send those and ignore the rest - spend the time you save on other promotion/marketing.

This is great, thank you for the very nice advice!

Speaking of promotion/marketing, any effective channels you would recommend please?

P.S. Tried FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Quora and they work but slowly.

[salescopygrind]

Hi there.

If you want my not.so,secret sauce, I’ll gladly make a custom order 😎 and I really mean it.

How many orders have you received out of 10 buyer requests?
14 requests for just 1 of many gigs
4 orders already completed

+28% conversion

eoinfinnegan2h you rule! Sharing openly plain ol’ school ·good service·

No channel can win a solid professional offer (including tested salescopy & pitch scripts) + talent & time + systems / follow up 🙂

[eoinfinnegan]

This is great, thank you for the very nice advice!

Speaking of promotion/marketing, any effective channels you would recommend please?

P.S. Tried FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Quora and they work but slowly.

When you say you tried those social media, what do you mean by that?

[avrora]

I believe i didn’t get any order of buyers request, buyers have been always coming from somewhere else.

[microscopetrans]

When you say you tried those social media, what do you mean by that?

Have had experiments for promotions across all the mentioned sites, seems like FB works better than the rest but still unsure if it is the most effective way to do so.

For instance, it does a good job at driving the number of views and impressions and not so good on sales conversion. Just wondering if there are other channels to explore possibilities. The experience varies from one to another which is understood, so anything relevant would be helpful. Thank you.

[mrnope]

My hit rate on buyer requests is pretty good, not had to send one for a while but normally it’s 3 out of every 10 i send, there is no secret to it. You need to be able to complete the work, be honest, upfront and polite. The standard things most people expect really, the only tip i would say i have is write bespoke offers to the buyers, don’t use a template, it’s obvious that it’s not you, especially if they want to talk some more.

[eoinfinnegan]

Hi there.

If you want my not.so,secret sauce, I’ll gladly make a custom order 😎 and I really mean it.

How many orders have you received out of 10 buyer requests?

14 requests for just 1 of many gigs

4 orders already completed

+28% conversion

eoinfinnegan2h you rule! Sharing openly plain ol’ school ·good service·

No channel can win a solid professional offer (including tested salescopy & pitch scripts) + talent & time + systems / follow up 🙂

eoinfinnegan2h you rule! Sharing openly plain ol’ school ·good service·

[think_big]

@eoinfinnegan spot on!

At first I was trying to help anyone that I could.
Now I’m very selective for those that I feel I can best serve and will enjoy working with as well as enjoy the work.

My conversion is pretty good, since I got picky, not sure how good.

I also repeat the problem they present, in a more detailed way, so they know I understand it. Then I close by trying to ask a really good question. That is kind of my process much of the time when prospecting anyway. Just finish with one great question that moves towards their solution and often they will ask how to move forward and do some business.

[microscopetrans]

@eoinfinnegan spot on!

At first I was trying to help anyone that I could.

Now I’m very selective for those that I feel I can best serve and will enjoy working with as well as enjoy the work.

My conversion is pretty good, since I got picky, not sure how good.

I also repeat the problem they present, in a more detailed way, so they know I understand it. Then I close by trying to ask a really good question. That is kind of my process much of the time when prospecting anyway. Just finish with one great question that moves towards their solution and often they will ask how to move forward and do some business.

“Repeat the problem they present” sounds great, thank you! 😀

[eoinfinnegan]

@eoinfinnegan spot on!

At first I was trying to help anyone that I could.

Now I’m very selective for those that I feel I can best serve and will enjoy working with as well as enjoy the work.

My conversion is pretty good, since I got picky, not sure how good.

I also repeat the problem they present, in a more detailed way, so they know I understand it. Then I close by trying to ask a really good question. That is kind of my process much of the time when prospecting anyway. Just finish with one great question that moves towards their solution and often they will ask how to move forward and do some business.

Now I’m very selective for those that I feel I can best serve and will enjoy working with as well as enjoy the work.

Exactly - when we are selective about the ones we apply to, the temptation to use templates (templatation) is less too so the chance of success is higher.

[uxreview]

I don’t use buyers request so often anymore as I get enough work from returning customers.
However, I had a pretty good conversion rate when I used video proposals.

• Make a quick 2-3 minute video
• Upload it to Vimeo (or YouTube)
• Send them a link

You can streamline it so it takes maybe 10-15 minutes to record, edit and upload.

[think_big]

Now I’m very selective for those that I feel I can best serve and will enjoy working with as well as enjoy the work.

Exactly - when we are selective about the ones we apply to, the temptation to use templates (templatation) is less too so the chance of success is higher.

templatation

That sums it all up right there lol

[microscopetrans]

I don’t use buyers request so often anymore as I get enough work from returning customers.

However, I had a pretty good conversion rate when I used video proposals.

• Make a quick 2-3 minute video
• Upload it to Vimeo (or YouTube)
• Send them a link

You can streamline it so it takes maybe 10-15 minutes to record, edit and upload.

A video proposal seems like a way to stand out, thank you! 😀

Would you record a video of yourself talking about the gigs or basically screen-record the relevant gig, and what would be a good format and punch-line please?