How to write a freelance response so that you get an order, even if you are a beginner
I recently quit my job and decided that I could no longer tolerate incompetent management, rationed schedules, and other restrictions on freedom. Then I thought that freelancing would be easy for me. After all, I have more than 6 years of experience in the complex niche of renovations in Moscow, worked with million-dollar budgets and took many courses. But everything turned out to be a little more complicated.
What was the original plan?
I was going to proceed like this:
I register on sites, subscribe to TG channels and I respond promptly to orders.
In the response I write a unique text. For example, in the order they write that they need to promote a real estate agency. In my answer, I will write that I worked on a related topic, with large budgets, and I will suggest what approaches can be used.
I am writing additionallythat I work alone and I give a discount for a review. Thus, I have one of the lowest prices, but not at the expense of quality. Well, I wrote about experience and expertise.
I thought that my proposal was a gift for the customer. Experienced specialist at this price. So also with experience in a similar niche. What could go wrong?
After three days of active responses to orders, I discovered several problems:
Reviews. I explained why they weren’t there – I just came to freelance and offered a discount. But some didn’t even read my message, and for those who read my explanation, my explanation was not enough.
Competition. It turned out that there are a lot more marketers in the market than I thought. Yes, the level of many was low, but the clients did not know about it.
Portfolio. My three poorly designed cases were lost against the background of dozens of competitors’ cases.
I already knew that there were no reviews or portfolio. But I expected the conversion to be simply low, not zero. Plus, I wrote in private messages in TG, where there are no reviews. Therefore, it is obvious that something had to be done with the text.
Writing a response template
Then I decided to take writing the response more seriously. To understand how I can differentiate myself from my competitors, what my customers expect from me, and what I should include about myself in every response.
The idea of the response is that the customer:
Noticed us. This can be done by: calling by name or catchy title.
Interested in our offer. We need to close the client’s pains and give him what he needs.
Wrote to us. Make it interesting for him to write to us and preferably right away. For example, using a lead magnet or a time-limited promotion.
I won’t talk in detail about the first point. Here you can experiment endlessly. You just need an attractive title so that the customer does not miss your answer on the freelance website or in personal messages in the messenger.
But how to stand out among competitors and by what criteria the customer chooses can be discussed in more detail.
What is important to the client:
The result will be:
Good specialist. You need to talk about work experience, certificates, cases and everything that proves your qualifications.
Experience in this niche. Tell us about your experience in this or a related niche. About results, approaches and approximate cost of a lead.
There will be time for this project. The customer is often afraid that the specialist will quickly make an advertisement and go on to other projects. You can indicate that you work with a limited number of projects or that you send a report on completed work.
Keep abreast of new products/working approaches. It is difficult to prove this in a message. You can write that you sit in specific chats or know about some methods. But it’s not a fact that this will tell the customer anything.
Will not inflate the price:
The price is stated in advance. It is advisable that the price be indicated not only in the text of the answer, but also in a separate file or on the website.
Not an intermediary. Just write in text that you are not an intermediary. You can write that there will be periodic calls with you personally.
The price is not higher than the market. You can simply say that you are below the market. Or you can add a best price guarantee – you’ll make it cheaper than your competitor.
Some important subtleties:
Unique skills. A/B site tests, hypersegmentation, setting up end-to-end analytics, etc.
It is important for us to cover all the client’s pains in our response and show that we are the best option possible. Plus to justify the lack of reviews and meager portfolio.
How to get a client to write to us right now.
To motivate the customer to write right now, I thought of two mechanisms:
Fear of missing out. For example, a discount that will end soon.
Free lead magnet, which will be lost if the client passes by. For example, the instructions “How to identify a good marketer.”
Result
Using this short analysis, I wrote a response:
Alexandra, hello. I am writing about a driving school in Yekaterinburg.
We attract attention. You can be bold and try \”Sasha, hello.\” So we will 100% break through banner blindness in TG and trigger in the response to an order on a freelance site. But you can run into negativity.
I have a combination: website + direct message advertising, which brings high-quality and hot applications for training in a driving school for 2000 rubles in Novosibirsk. We can move it to Yekaterinburg.
We talk about the results that we showed. Preferably in this niche, but possible in related ones. For niches in which there are no cases, there is little point in responding to freelancing. Find someone who has relevant experience.
These are not applications from quizzes and questionnaires. And clients who know you by sight trust you. The issue of trust is handled on the site. A fully profitable work model in terms of budget and services: application – consultation – contract.
We show that we understand the topic. Let's clarify our proposal.
I'm looking for a person with whom we can work together and earn money. I am writing not with the goal of selling you a favor, but with the goal of long-term cooperation.
I have read many positive reviews about your company, so I am sure that the quality of services is high. I don’t want to advertise slag either.
We give a compliment to the customer's business. We point out that we are looking forward to long-term cooperation.
There is a bonus for new clients – two weeks of advertising for free.
We remove the objection that we will waste money. Plus, we provide a unique offer that will set you apart from other performers.
Please write if you are interested. I’ll tell you all the details in more detail – let’s write or call.
The newsletter is not mass mailing, it is addressed to you personally. I will be glad to receive an answer even in a negative case.
We are talking about the possibility of calling. And we point out that this is not a template answer. A person may feel guilty and at least respond something. It works especially well for cold emails.
The essence of this response is to respond only to target customers. At the same time, take into account the order data and send relevant cases. It is also ideal to indicate the price for your work and leads from advertising.
At the same time, it is important to respond quickly and make the response as concise as possible. That is, remove everything unnecessary.
Bottom line
It is possible for a beginner to receive freelancing orders if he responds to relevant orders, responds quickly and uses information from the order in the response.
But the main thing I learned is that freelance sites and TG channels are a bad source of clients. Customers here want fast, cheap and high quality. And the service takes a large percentage.
I would be glad if you tell me where I’m wrong, tell me how you respond to orders and where you look for customers.
