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Having a crystal clear onboarding process can be the big difference between landing your dream client versus ending up with one of those nightmare clients. You know the ones that literally take weeks to respond to an email, ask for like a gazillion revisions, or worse, completely ghost you when it comes time to make payment? Yeah. Keep watching for my five-step tried and true process for onboarding new clients like a pro. (upbeat music) Hey posse, what's up? It's Alex. If you're new to the crew, welcome. This channel is here to bring you the latest in marketing, copywriting, and freelancing tips. So for more videos like this one, go ahead and subscribe below, and don't forget to ring that bell to be notified when my next video goes live. Now, I'm really excited for this video because it seems to be something on everyone's mind lately. In the last couple of weeks alone, I've gotten so many requests asking for me to shed some light on this whole client onboarding process, like this one from Chris where he asks me to share an overview of my entire client process. I hear you, Chris. That is what today is all about. And this one from Clara who asked me for a video on how I negotiate with clients. So we will talk a little bit about that in this video as well. And listen, I get it. When you're a fresh-on-the-scene freelancer, it can feel a little bit intimidating when you approach a potential client. I mean, they are paying you, right? So you must need them, right? Hold the phone are right there and let me just remind you of something that's really important to keep in mind in the whole power dynamics of onboarding new clients. Yeah, you might need them, but they need you too. That's right, you have something they need, and that is the beautiful thing about freelancer-client relationships is they are mutually beneficial, right? Both parties bring something to the table that the other one needs. So make sure that you're going in to your client onboarding process with confidence and trusting that you can add value, and that will take you a long way. All right, now there are a few steps that you as a freelancer can take that will help you land those dream clients with ease, while of course looking professional, confident, and organized, and that is what I'm here to help you with today. And rest assured because I am here to make that process super straightforward for you, and I'm gonna share the five steps that I've been using in my own onboarding process for the last decade, right? So let's get started with step number one, and that is, the discovery call. Having a discovery call, right? Now, the goal of a discovery call is to get to know more about your client and their unique business needs. That is it. You are getting on a phone call to make sure you are a fit for each other. So think of it as your opportunity to vet them and see what type of client and brand they are, and if you even wanna be associated with them. If they're a hot mess and completely disorganized, they might not be that fun and enjoyable to work with. So just remember that a discovery call is just as much them vetting you as you are vetting them. It's important to make sure there's a brand alignment there, or else you are in for a world of misery. Trust me on this one. Work with brands that are aligned with your values. Now here's a tip. Take charge of this call, take charge of this process, right? You wanna show up as an equal professional, not someone who's desperate for the work. So take charge of the call and be the one to lead the call, right? You're trying to get to know more about them. Now, of course, you don't wanna be rude or arrogant. Let them talk, let them tell you all about their business, all about themselves, but you need to get a really good idea of who they are, what they stand for, what they need, and if you can help them, and most importantly, if you wanna work with them at all. So this is also a great time to offer value up front. If you can give them some advice or insight on an obstacle they're facing, this is a really great opportunity to showcase your knowledge and expertise. This is also a good time to ask about their budget. If it's way off base from what you charge, then you might not be the right choice for them, and it'll save you a ton of time, and it'll also really help you gauge where they're at so you don't sticker shock them with an unrealistic quote. It just helps you kinda gauge, right, what level they are at and if you can help. Now, always record this call, with permission of course. Just say, "Hey, do you mind if I record this? "I just wanna make sure I don't miss anything," and then you'll wanna rewatch that for the next step, which is step number two: Follow up with a highly personalized email. Now, if after step one, the discovery call you decide, "Yes, they're great, I wanna move forward," email them to express your interest in moving forward and let them know that you can help them. Now, here's a tip. Make sure to rewatch the discovery call before you write this email to make sure that you include the specific details about their business and the things that they mentioned, right, the goals they want to achieve. This makes you look very action-oriented and detailed and organized, and will just really, really bode well for you. Recap what you heard them say in the discovery call as their top priorities, and of course, let them know that you are absolutely 100% the person that can help them get there. Now, if they are someone you wanna work with, your email should thank them for their time and outline some specific details that you enjoyed learning about their business, right? This is where the recording really comes in handy. You can say, "Hey, I absolutely love the story you told "about how you started X, Y, Z," right? Get personal. Recap some of the key business needs that were mentioned and include some samples of your work, any work that directly reflects how you can help them achieve those business needs. So for example, if they say that they needed an indoctrination sequence and you've written one, then make sure to send that over to really help them envision how you could help them. And then of course, you'll state that you would absolutely love to work with them and help them achieve their goals moving forward, and with that, you can move on to the third step, which is the proposal, right? So your goal here is to outline your pricing and timeline for the deliverables requested. And if possible, I would review this proposal with them on a call. As my friend, Brad Hart says, "The inbox is where deals to die." So map out the proposal, map out the specific roadmap and project scope that includes the list of all the deliverables. Now, major brownie points if you can put this in a really clean and styled PDF document. It doesn't have to be super fancy. I would use Canva or something like that, just to make it look really clean and pretty. It's a great way to impress your clients. Now, of course, you wanna be very specific in terms of both your deliverables and the timeline, right? You don't wanna leave any room for question or confusion or misunderstandings. So once you go through everything and what you can do to help them achieve their goals, you can then go through your project pricing as well as the payment schedule. So for example, 50% upfront, and then the rest upon completion or whatever works best for you. If it is a brand new client, I would highly recommend getting money up front until you have that longstanding trusting relationship, working with them, and then you can invoice them after the fact. Now, if you're asking for a retainer, you could outline the day your invoice will be sent to them and how many days they have to complete payment, et cetera. Always specify the currency as well. I have done this before. I forgot to specify the currency and I completely shot myself in the foot. So currency is really important when you're working with clients in different countries, okay? Now I know you're thinking, "Oh my God, I'm just supposed to like, say my pricing. What if they say no?" Here's the thing. Expect negotiations to happen. Hopefully the budget they gave you on the discovery call gave you a good starting point, but remember, negotiations are normal. Don't be discouraged if a client says no to your rates and feel like you have to just accept any amount that a client is willing to pay. This is an opportunity to educate them about your expertise and your experience, and the amount of work that goes into writing good copy. So if you really wanna work with them and you are out of their budget, figure out a reasonable way where you can meet in the middle. Change the scope, change the timeline. There are ways to lower your prices without devaluing your work or time. I'm not suggesting that you just go, "Okay, I'll do it at a discount." I'm suggesting you, okay, if they can't afford this project, then take things out of the project deliverables or the project scope to make it a smaller project to start, and that can be a really easy way to change a no into a yes, that then actually builds into a bigger project over time. Remember, a no is just a stepping stone to a new opportunity, and I promise you, they need you and your services. And if they've already gotten this far in the onboarding process, they really don't wanna say no. They know you are the one that can help them. They just need help working with you to come up with a good starting point for a project, which might just mean starting with something smaller in the beginning. Okay, so assuming they do wanna move forward and you're good to go, you move on to step number four, right? Contracting. You wanna send a contract or a Statement of Work. Now of course, the goal here is to clearly outline the terms of your agreement. So you can find free examples of freelancer contracts on sites like AND.CO, HoneyBook, and Freelancers Union. And at a bare minimum, you should include the agreed upon deliverables, timelines, payment method, and signatures from both parties. Now, for a really big or long-term project, I would highly recommend hiring a lawyer to draft up a more thorough contract that includes details about ownership, copyright, cancellation terms, legal rights, all of that kinda stuff, right? But if you're looking to just keep it basic to start, I do have a free Statement of Work template that you can download at the end of this video, and definitely make sure to check out my video last week on "How to run your freelancing biz," where I go a little bit deeper into this subject. All right. So once the contract is signed, sealed, delivered, and your first payment is received, that is, if you're asking for a 50% deposit upfront, you could move forward with step number five, my favorite, the branding call. So if the discovery call was all about understanding what the business is all about and what they need, the branding call is to help you better understand their brand voice, their mission, and their messaging. You do not wanna start writing until you've had the branding call, trust me. You wanna ask about their brand vision, mission, and goals. How do they see themselves, how do they like to communicate? Are they friendly and quirky, matter of fact and practical, more formal? What is their phraseology, who is their ideal customer avatar? This is a really huge step in making sure your copy hits the mark and will help you avoid or minimize a lot of those revisions that are really annoying, right? So this is a good time to get more specific on the product you're writing for as well. Ask as many questions as you can to get relevant data that your client might have about customer avatar pains, desires, interests, et cetera. And now, congratulations are in order because you can finally start your writing process. Who would've thought that like all of this had to happen before you start writing as a copywriter? As I promised, in just a few seconds, you can grab your copy of my Statement of Work template. If you have more suggestions for me, leave them below and I will see you next week with a brand new video. Until then, I'm Alex, ciao for now. All right guys, if you enjoyed that video, make sure to check out the next one from me right here, and you can click right here to get a free gift. So let's talk about this little thing called pricing, shall we?