We know by now that pitching clients is hands down the best way to control your workload and your income. But if you’re spending all your time pitching new clients, you could be missing a trick…
Sometimes we forget that the easiest clients to pitch are the ones who already know you and love the work you’re doing. So today, Nicki and Kate are diving into the strategies for upselling past and current clients so that you can deliver more value, increase your income, and grow your business!
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Looking for closed captioning or a transcript? Watch the episode on YouTube!
A Sneak Peek at the Episode
[2:09] The easiest clients to sell to are ones who know you and are already thrilled with the work that you’re doing!
[3:21] If you see a project that could deliver value for your clients and have a major impact for their business, then you’re doing your clients a disservice if you’re not pointing that out to them.
[7:04] What’s valuable for one client isn’t necessarily going to be valuable for another client, so instead of having “cookie cutter” ideas ready to pitch, tailor your ideas to each business’ needs.
[8:03] To help you identify possible opportunities, think of how your current piece fits into the whole customer journey. For example, if you’re working on an email and look where it’s driving to, you might see that the landing page it goes to could be a lot stronger.
[9:32] It’s always worth considering what other elements would help to make your original piece more successful. Kate gives an example of this from a recent CCA coaching call.
[12:18] Rather than focusing on the deliverables to upsell, start from what the goal is and what pieces are missing or could be strengthened to help fill this goal. Starting from a stronger strategic place will have a higher impact and bring more value.
[15:11] Anytime is the right time to pitch but when it’s a natural progression of a project that you’re already working on, it feels much easier. What is your client focused on right now? And what other projects can you come up with that will support that focus?
[18:24] Don’t forget to tell your clients how an idea would benefit them. Sometimes we assume that they know why it would benefit them and their company, but that’s not necessarily true.
[18:48] The best time to upsell a client is when they’re still riding high on the excitement from what you’ve delivered on the current project. Get in touch with your ideas as you’re wrapping up the current project and still in direct communication.
[20:06] Kate suggests adding notes to your invoice tracker with upselling ideas for certain clients in the future–especially if you know there’s limited bandwidth for that project right now. (But ideally, all projects should be pitched in the moment.)
[24:15] Every quarter, it is good practice to go back and look at the clients you’ve worked with in the past, check out their websites, social pages, and emails, and see if there’s anything you can come up with to pitch to them.
[24:51] Some of the tools that your clients use to engage their audience will apply to completely different industries. For example, a re-engagement series is a tactic that you could pitch to a wide range of different clients.
[26:39] The key to upselling is focusing on how to provide more value. What are the additional projects that would be helpful to the clients that you’ve worked with in the past and the clients you’re working with now? Remember: there is no downside to pitching a new project!
[30:25] Nicki sets us an assignment to start the upselling process with past and current clients!
Must-Hear Takeaways
As with every episode, we highly encourage you to listen to the entire conversation! But here are a few of the highlights:
“There are all kinds of great opportunities once you start digging into working with a client. But don’t just get too focused on the project that you’re doing. Think to Kate’s point, what other elements would help make this piece more successful but what other elements would help make the entire customer journey more successful, for both the customer and for your client.” – Nicki
“You are hurting your client by not suggesting projects that will benefit them. And I think sometimes copywriters think, ‘well, if this is such a good idea, why didn’t they think about it already?’ I think it can be a great way for resistance to kick in. ‘Well, they’ve probably thought about it already. I’m sure there’s probably a really good reason why they’re not doing it.’ Maybe not. Or maybe it’s a project that they haven’t thought about already. Or maybe it’s a project they have thought about in the past, but they haven’t had the opportunity or the right writer to help them out with.” – Nicki
“What’s your client focused on right now and what other projects can you come up with that will support that focus, that are already within that realm of focus?” – Nicki
“There is no downside at all to repitching, to upselling your clients. It helps everybody. Everybody wins and that’s what we want. We want to win and we want our clients to win.” – Nicki
Related Links
- Should You Package Your Copywriting Services?
- Too Afraid to Pitch? Business Owners WANT Your Copywriting Pitches
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About the Build Your Business Podcast
Ready to turn your love of writing into a successful copywriting career?
Join professional copywriters Nicki Krawczyk and Kate Sitarz to get the tips, tools, and training to help you become a copywriter and build a thriving business of your own. Nicki and Kate have 20+ and 10+ years of experience, respectively, writing copy for multi-billion-dollar companies, solopreneurs, and every size business in between.
Whether you want to land an on-staff job, freelance full-time and work from wherever you want, or make extra money with a side hustle, the best place to start learning is right here.
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Last Updated on June 10, 2024
