The Successful Writer

How many times have you been in this situation?

You’re on the phone with a hot prospect in dire need of your services, and you can tell she’s ready to buy.

Then she pops the dreaded question:

“How much do you charge?”

“Uh,” you mumble, fumbling for your price list. Desperate to end the silence, you blurt out a figure based on your hourly rate. You get the job, but you resent having to do it for such a low figure.

For many of us in service-based businesses, this question can be the kiss of death, especially if you’re just starting out. So what do you do?

Next time, you use a method called “value-based pricing.” It’s very simple, and goes a little something like this:

Client: “How much do you charge for a 5-page website?”

You: “Before I answer that, let me ask you a few questions. How much does your product sell for?”

Client: “$500″

You: “So, if your website gets a thousand visitors, and each one buys your product for $500, that’s $500,000.”

Client: “That’s right.”

You: “For a 5-page website, I charge $1,250″

Client: “Gee. I don’t know. That’s an awful lot.”

You: “Not when compared to how much your website will net you in new business. Wouldn’t you pay $1,250 to make $500,000?”

Client: “Well, since you put it that way, sure! When can you start?”

Perhaps that’s a bit overly simplistic, but you get the picture. Value-based pricing takes the emphasis off what your product or service is–a report, brochure, website or whatever–and putting it on what your product or service does for your customer, i.e., makes them money, saves time, relieves stress, etc.

Note: This is easier if you stick with providing products or services that have a measurable return on investment (ROI) for your client, something that will have a measurable impact in terms of more money, more clients, more whatever for your prospect.

Extra Tip

When quoting a fee, it also helps to have a set fee, or range of fees, in mind. This is how I quickly came up with my $1,250 website estimate (5 pages at $250 per page). You can do this by checking what your competitors charge and by finding out what is acceptable in your industry. If your fees are too low, people will think you are an amateur and won’t respect you. Too high, and you’ll price yourself right out of a job!

So, the next time you’re asked “How much do you charge?” just focus on what your service will do for your client, and you’ll stamp out your pricing fears forever.

“How may I be of service?”

 We probably hear some form of this phrase several times a week from those people serving us in restaurants, grocery stores, and the local coffee shop. But how many of us think about what this phrase means for our own businesses?

In other words, how many of us service professionals keep this phrase in mind when seeking out new clients?

You see, we humans are a pretty self-centered, egotistical bunch. And we project this state of being on the outside world.

We imagine faces in the front ends of cars and the tops of Kraft parmesan cheese cans (if you don’t know what I mean, go to your fridge if you’ve got a can, your local market if you don’t, and check it out. You’ll see what I mean). We think if it rains, or we stub our toe, that the universe is punishing us for some misstep.

Service providers are no different. We are simply human beings, after all. When we are out marketing ourselves and our business at networking events, we are guilty of the exact same thing: “What does that guy do? I wonder if he would be a good candidate for my service.” “I want to talk to her. I’ll be she has a ton of money!” Etc., etc.

With this mindset, we go up and talk to these people, introducing ourselves, letting them tell us what they do, most likely nodding our heads politely while tuning them out, waiting for our chance to speak so we can tell them how great we are.

Then we go home and wonder why we didn’t get any business.

Sound familiar? Well, here’s a few steps that will help you counteract this dangerous mindset that all human beings share.

Change Your Attitude. When you go to your next networking event, think about how you may be of service. Fill your mind with this one thought: “How may I be of service? How may I help this group, or this person, solve whatever problems they have?”

Shut Up and Listen. Remember what I said earlier about humans being self-centered and egotistical? Well, use this to your advantage! Shut up and let the other person speak. Ask them what they do and then get out of the way.

Then, while you are letting them do their thing, clear your mind of what you where going to say next. Stop thinking about your USP, how you need to get some gas on the way home, or what you’re going to have that night for dinner, and listen to the person as they tell you about their life and their business. You’ll learn more in a few minutes of active listening about their business problems than you ever could using the usual methods. And it will give you great ammunition when it’s YOUR turn to speak.

Also, SHOW them you’re listening by repeating what they just said to make sure you understood them. Say things like, “Oh, so you help busy professionals organize their workspaces. That’s very interesting. How did you get into that?”

Stay in touch after the event. Once you get home, take their business cards, which you’ve hopefully jotted a few notes on about each encounter, and enter the info into some sort of database. It can be a Word document, spreadsheet, whatever. Decide if you want to meet them later on, and if you know of someone who could help them with something, send them an email to let them know.

Another method that works great and won’t cost you additional time and money, is to send them clippings of articles you’ve found in your own reading that relate to their industry or problems they are having.

Don’t email them a link to an online article; print it out, or tear out the magazine page and mail it to them, along with a quick note about why you sent it along (Example: “Hey Dan, saw this and thought of you—Steve). Don’t worry about whether or not they might have already seen it. The point is to show them you were thinking about them and their business, and stay top of mind with them. You’ll also make it more likely that they’ll do the same for you someday!

So the next time you’re heading off to a networking function, instead of thinking about how many deposit checks you could walk out of there with, think about how you can help those people that you meet. It will bring a world of change to yourself and your business.

MySpace. Facebook. YouTube. LinkedIn. Blogs. Podcasting. Unless you’ve spent the last couple of years living in some cave, you’ve probably at least heard these terms before. But what you may not know is how to harness their power for your marketing.

 And frankly, a lot of that is still up in the air. But thousands of savvy marketers are taking the time to use this new technology, and connecting to their market and each other in new, exciting ways.

 So this time around, I’d like to give you a crash course in social networking.

 Social Networking 101

 2. Don’t Sell.  People hate advertising. And I’d say that part of the reason so many people are rushing to online social networks in the first place is to GET AWAY from advertising. Sure, these sites are free because they are paid for with online ads, but their users will happily ignore them, and continue clicking away and adding to their Friends lists.

 That’s because they distrust advertisers. And that’s why they turn to their friends, colleagues and other people they trust to tell them what they should and shouldn’t buy. So instead of trying to sell them something, offer them something cool for free that they’ll want to share with all their friends while promoting your brand in the process.

 For example, promoters of The Simpsons movie had a setup on MySpace that let users “Simpsonize” their user pictures, making them look as if they were drawn by Simpsons cartoonists.  Nike, Chevy, and other large companies give away free wallpaper MySpacers can customize their pages with.

 Now I know what you’re saying. “That’s fine for large corporations, but I’m a small business. What can I do?”

 In short, a lot! You can create a video that showcases your product or service in some unique way, post it on YouTube, your website and blog, and watch it soar.

 Are you an author with a published book? Create a MySpace or Facebook page just for your book! This is proving to be a great way to gain a readership and gather together fans of your work.  

 3. Remember that it takes time. You can’t put your profile on LinkedIn and expect your phone to start ringing off the hook immediately. It takes time and effort to create valuable connections with people, both online and off.

 3.Go where your prospects are. If you’re an unsigned band, MySpace or Facebook may give you the shot you need, but if you’re a consultant to high-level executives at Fortune 500 companies, Ryze or LinkedIn might do a better job of finding prospects who would be interested in your services.

 4. Know what you want. Ask yourself, “What are my goals?” “What results to I expect?” “Do I want to sell products, increase brand awareness, or just network?” “What results can reasonably be measured?” Asking yourself these questions now can save you a lot of time and headaches later.

 Just keep in mind that there’s really no easy, direct way to measure your return on investment (ROI) like there is in direct marketing. You may get business six months from now because of someone you met who knows someone who knows someone who needs someone. That’s why you need patience to stick with it. And don’t give up on your other marketing programs.

 5. Leverage all your usual marketing channels. To really maximize social networking’s effectiveness, get the word out the way you normally would. Posting a video of your latest workshop on YouTube is great, but using that site’s embedding feature to post the video on your blog or a dedicated page on your website, then announcing said postings to your list and with a press release, is even better.

Also, if you’re active on Ryze, LinkedIn, or Facebook, put your profile link on your business card, on the contact page of your website, and even your letterhead. The next time you’re at a flesh and blood networking function, ask the other attendees you meet if they are also on these sites. You’ll grow your network even faster, and have something else in common with those you meet.

Well, that’s it. 5 ways you can leverage the power of social networking for your business. I hope you find it helpful to you in your marketing.

For even more ideas, check out an e-book I wrote for copywriter Bob Bly on the subject. It’s called Social Networking 101: How to Market Yourself and Your Business Using Social Networks and Media. You can read more about it at www.myspacemarketingmagic.com.

As a busy freelancer, I’m always looking for ways to maximize my productivity and get more done, in more places, in less time.  That’s why, a couple of weeks ago, I got an Android phone, and I love it!

 After playing with it and downloading a bunch of apps, I thought it would be pertinent to give my rundown of the best FREE Android apps for freelancers and entrepreneurs, based around some of the activities a good smartphone should provide for you.  Here goes.

 Faxing

 Every freelancer has to fax something sooner or later, whether it’s a W-9 or a signed contract, so I was thrilled about the selection of fax apps available for Android.  I don’t have to fax that often, so I didn’t want to go in for the $10 a month deal from eFAX or similar service.  Fortunately, there is an Android app that lets you fax for free.  And the best part is, the app is free too!

 It’s called Files Anywhere, and it lets you “scan” a document using your phone’s camera.  Then you can email it or fax it.  There are other free fax apps out there, but they put a limit on the number of faxes and pages you can send.  Files Anywhere is a great free app that is simple and easy to use.

 Writing

 My Writing Spot- I’m not sure if I’m ready to start writing long articles, short stories or novels on my phone, but I’m glad to know I can if I want or need to!  My Writing Spot is just the ticket for those of us with a writing jones when we’re away from the laptop.  It even does a word count and synchs up with the Gmail account you have to sign up for before Android Market will let you download any apps.

 OliveOffice- This is a really nice, free word document viewer and editor. It also opens spreadsheets and pdfs.

 To Do Lists

 Jot- I downloaded several note-taking apps before I finally found this one.  They were all either too complicated or didn’t do what I needed them to do.  Jot fits the bill just fine.  You can mark tasks as complete with a swipe of your finger, which draws a line through the task, and delete entire lists the same way.

 Social Networking

 Facebook- This is the app to use when checking your Facebook profile, notifications and messages.  You can easily perform every basic Facebook function with this app.

Twitter- Ok, I have four Twitter apps, which is probably at least three too many.  But it has given me the chance to try all of them out and decide which one I like the best.  Hands down, my favorite has to be TweetCaster.  I like this app because it lets you set up multiple accounts, and I have two Twitter feeds, one for my copywriting business, and one for my science fiction writing.  It saves your usernames and passwords for both, and you can easily switch back and forth between them.  You can even post to your Facebook profile, making this a great once-and-done app for all of your social media marketing.

Blogging

I run a blog and a website using WordPress, so it’s no surprise that I love Android’s WordPress app.  It’s easy to set up and post to multiple WordPress blogs.  You can’t change the look of your blog or add widgets, but it’s simple to type up a post and put it up for all to see, especially if you’re away from your computer.  For you Blogger fans, there’s a Blogger app as well.

Time Sheets

Time Recording- This simple, easy to use time recorder allows you to check in and out with a push of your touch screen.  I like this one because it adds up your time.  It also stores your time by the day, week and month, adding up the totals and allowing you to export it as a spreadsheet and via email.

TimeManagerFree-  This app won’t add up your time for you, but it will help you keep track of it.  It also has tabs that let you input your client’s name and your hourly rate, and you can even export it as a spreadsheet to your phone’s SD card, email or Google Spreadsheet.

File Sharing

Box.net- Box.net is a great file sharing site I was already a member of because it synchs up with LinkedIn, so getting this app for my new phone was a no-brainer. 

Dropbox- Dropbox is another easy to use app for another great file sharing site.  You can make your folders public or private, collaborate with colleagues and clients, and easily get to your work while on the go.

Calendar

Touch Calendar-I downloaded this app because I don’t like the calendar app that comes with my phone.  This is a great app that’s easy to use.  You can zoom out to see a whole month at a glance, or zoom in to a particular date.  Holding your finger on a date lets you go in and add or edit events, and it even pulled in stuff that I had entered on the phone’s regular calendar app.

Well, there you have it.  My rundown of my favorite Android apps.  What are some of yours?  Let me know.  I’m always in the market for good apps that help me run my business and my life easier.