“What are you doing to make it easy for prospects to engage with you? How can you give inexpensive samples of your value?”

The line above received a lot of attention when I tweeted it, so I decided to expand on it a bit.

Clients need an experience of you to build enough trust in your abilities to hire you. If you don’t have a well-established relationship, a sample of who you are, what you do and how you work can do the trick. There’s a big difference between providing a sample and consulting for free, however. A sample may be an hour or two of discussion, or a pilot study, or an “entry-level” service at a fee that can not be refused.

There are as many ways to provide samples as there are consultants and offerings. The only mistake is not making it easy for prospective clients to give you a try.

Are there cases in which a low-ticket, get-to-know-me project might be appropriate? If so, have you offered such projects? How have you structured them and how have they panned out for you in the long term?

Text and images are © 2024 David A. Fields, all rights reserved.