Today I want to talk about the thing that every business owner hates the most! Yes, FREE WORK. Specifically proposals. Proving yourself to the client, competing for the job, and in the process losing your valuable time. ‍

Free work can be defined as:

1. Giving away your valuable time
2. Providing someone value that you usually charge to deliver
3. Wasting time chasing payments
4. Doing way more than the project scope

Free work examples of the above points include:

1. Creating custom proposals to win clients
2. Free strategy calls and consultations for proving your ‘value’
3. Answering requests and making changes after the project has ended
4. Spec work (doing some work before they’ve hired you to show what you can do so they hopefully hire you) such as RFP’s.

The reason free work sucks and I am so against it is that once you have spent your valuable time writing custom proposals and giving free strategy sessions, if they don’t buy, your time is basically lost. 

And the one thing that is most valuable for self-employed and small businesses that you can’t get back is time. 

Let’s look at a common sales process: intro call, follow-up call(s), pitching, lots of talking, unpaid proposals that take a lot of time, maybe some schmoozing, and then, often, radio silence. After spending all that time, clients often fall silent after the proposal stage because they are too embarrassed to tell you that they don’t want to hire you.

There is nothing fun about this process. Yet most entrepreneurs I meet endure this cycle over and over again—because it’s the only way they know how to do it.

That’s why I teach how not to sell, which requires a complete shift in mindset and intention.

You must be thinking all these things aren’t ideal but are necessary to win clients. How else will your clients decide whether to hire you or not? 

But what if there is a better way to provide value and win clients while not doing any ‘free’ work or writing proposals (and includes getting paid for anything more than 15 minutes of your time).

My Strategy is a Lead Product (Sales Process)

A sales process is a series of steps that turns leads into clients. Our approach to the sales process is different because it shortens the time from lead to a sale, and eliminates the steps in between. I’ve excluded all the free work that people usually do between meeting prospective clients and closing them and getting an initial payment. Instead, I take the first step of your process, productize it, and sell it for a relatively low price. I call this building a lead product. It has the potential to completely transform the way you talk about your business, and how you sell. And it has many benefits.

First, a lead product makes it very clear to all your prospects what the first step is in working with you. Instead of wasting time writing custom proposals, you propose buying a lead product. It turns the long-drawn conversations into short ones. Saving time and you get paid to deliver value.

Second, having a lead product makes it easy to talk about you. Making it an organic sales force. My lead product, the Brand Boost, makes it easy for my past clients to tell their colleagues and business friends about MadMo because Brand Boost is a tangible, valuable offering. It is way easier to suggest than referring to a great branding company. A lead product is a simple and interesting thing to talk about you.

Third, a lead product changes the mindset of both parties. The expert can concentrate on delivering value (without having to worry about turning this into a paying client). While the client lets their guard down because they know they aren’t being sold to and expects to get value out of it.

Fourth, a lead product makes you show up as an expert. It indicates that your time is valuable. Giving away your value for free undermines your expertise. Your work will be better than anyone else's proposal because the client paid for it. People don’t respect and value free things. A client paying you will automatically listen to you and value your advice - setting you up for success.

Finally, a client that has already bought into your smaller offering will more likely hire you for the full project because they have made a commitment and human psychology makes them stick to their decision.

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How to Create a Lead Product

Making a lead product is easy if you follow this formula:

1. It must be the first thing you do with a client. Usually, it has some form of intake or discovery. It’s imperative that the client feels they’re being heard during this process and that you understand them. A common mistake is to lecture the client in an attempt to show your knowledge. Don’t do this. Use the time to listen and demonstrate your expertise with thoughtful questions.
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2. It must have a valuable deliverable at the end, and work as a standalone product. In other words, a client should be able to buy and get value out of this piece of your offering—even if they don’t move forward.
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3. Your lead product must solve a problem for the client—a problem they know they have. A common mistake is to build a lead product that sells a problem, not a solution to a problem, like an audit or an assessment.
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4. It must be a fixed price, with a fixed process.
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5. It must be branded. That is, it must have a name, and not just a generic strategy session or website audit or VIP day or something else that any of your competitors could also offer. Name it something unique so no other company can legally rip it off.

If you don’t hit all of the points above, your lead product either will be hard to sell or won’t help you close the clients you want.

Lead products allow you to get paid to demonstrate your greatness. That unique experience puts you in a category of one in the mind of the client who, until that point, has just been comparing company pitches, prices, and testimonials. Now that they have experienced your expertise, you suddenly become the only person who can solve their problem (after all, you’ve already solved part of it!).

I am not against free work that benefits your business in the long run, such as:

1. Writing articles and blogs
2. Creating videos and hosting workshops
3. Connecting with people and creating engaging social media content

In other words: marketing

Marketing helps you create a framework that attracts your ideal clients towards your business. But closing the client does not need free proposals and strategy sessions. Instead position yourself to become the authority and expert that sells without selling. And let the lead product do the rest.

This is one of the most exciting concepts I share with entrepreneurs because many people believe you have to give away your time to close a client. It sometimes necessitates a perceptual shift that requires you to—once again—truly believe in your expertise and the value you have to offer.

People buy from people they know, like, and trust, and selling someone a low-priced lead product allows you to cut the line. Spend a little time demonstrating your expertise, and they will jump from knowing to liking and trusting you much more quickly.

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Stay tuned!