You have a lot of information locked up in your skull. Think about it. How often do you come across a web site and think to yourself the person in charge of this could make it 500% better if they just made a few simple changes? That’s unique information that you have and they don’t. It’s valuable. You should give it to them for free.

“What?!” you may be thinking. “I’m trying to make money here. If it’s valuable, I want to charge something for it.” Oh, I see. You got into the freelance web development business because you are a four star salesperson that could sell investment tips to Donald Trump. You feel entirely at home convincing a total stranger to hand you half of his or her annual marketing budget. Interesting.

I, for one, am not particularly gifted at sales. I can’t sweep into the room in a flourish of handshakes and toothy grins, regaling my potential customer with epic tales of my design and programming feats. I sort of walk in, ask questions about their business, and answer questions they have about mine. Any sales coach worth their salt would classify me as a hopeless underachiever when it comes time to make a pitch.

So I need all the help I can get. In the unlikely even that I could convince someone to pay me for a few tips on improving their site, what would that be worth? A hundred bucks? Two hundred, maybe? (By the way if you can convince someone to pay higher than that for just sitting down and talking to them about their site for an hour, you are a fantastic salesman who has no business reading this post. Please contact me about a guest author piece.)

Let’s examine what happens if I just give that information away. I tell them a few things to improve their site. In some cases my words will fall on deaf ears, but in some cases they will listen. If they implement the changes, they will see positive results. That makes me look really smart. The next time they need to make changes to their web site, they are going to come to me.

Think about that for a second. I’m not cold calling. I’m not asking them for business with my hat in my hand. They are coming to me because they view me as a knowledgeable expert. Do you think my ego gets a kick out of that? It’s not always a quick strategy, but it does make your sales process easier and, dare I say, enjoyable.

Now I’m not saying you should start emailing total strangers with a laundry list of things that are wrong with their web site. You won’t make any friends, and you’ll probably make a few enemies. This is really only something you can do when you already have a dialogue with someone. But it’s a very good way to turn casual acquaintances into future customers who will also tell their friends about how smart and pleasant to work with you are.

Don’t hoard your wisdom. It will do a lot more for you when you give it to others freely. (Hint: this also applies outside the world of business.)

filed under: Dealing With Clients, Finding Work