This Is How to Crush an Interview

Gabrielle: So the sales call, the freelancer sales call, it is a science, you know, and you have to do it in order to get it right.

Kaitlyn: What I find prior to these calls is you need to set up what your parameters are. What is it that you're not willing to do? What is it that you want to do? Because it's effectively a negotiation conversation, so working on your negotiation skills makes it so much easier, and knowing what your yes and your no is.

Bryan: One thing I always do is wear a nice shirt, show up early, and I have any presentation materials that I'm planning to go through already screen shared before the client even hops on the call.

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This is How to Run a Call Like a Pro

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Kaitlyn: Nine times out of 10 when I got on a phone call with them, it's the connection piece that they need. So that's where the selling would be.

‍Gabrielle: You're not like pick me, pick me, pick me. You're just trying to figure out if you are truly the person that can help this client get from a to z. Right? And so keep that energy. Keep that boss energy. Keep the, I'm gonna hold your hand through this conversation.

Bryan: I lead them through that call. I take them straight into a slide deck that I have. I show them, you know, what I'm capable of, what I value, what I'm looking for in the project, and then I give them an opportunity at the end to tell me a little bit more about the project itself.

Kaitlyn: On the call, as we're discussing it, it potentially may open up to more than I had initially thought of. So I have to be thinking in real time, what does this look like? How does this go?

Gabrielle: As you're finding out all of the things, all of their pain points, and you're writing them you're listening, You say, okay. I can do this. I can do this. I can do this. Right?

‍Bryan: Usually, it's less about saying, no. You don't wanna go where you just said you wanna go. And it's more about doing the classic thing that you do in improv, which is yes, and. So I talk to clients and I say, yeah. We can build what you're talking about, but on top of that, can you imagine if we also, you know, built these features or added this additional tool to help your customers or your users?

Gabrielle: I have learned the hard way what not to do on sales calls. I haven't closed every deal that I've been, you know, on the phone with. Like, you it's a you have to practice. It's a muscle that you have to build.

Kaitlyn: Sometimes I have not got it right. I've quoted way under and had to have a team bring a team on to execute the work, and it was not very profitable. Just telling them, being transparent about it, and going, This will actually take more of a team. This is what it looks like. We can do it for this, or we can do it for that.

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This is How to Vet Clients on a Call

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Kaitlyn: It's two people in this transaction. So yes, they need a job done. They need to pay somebody, but also you're gonna be spending your energy and time with this person, And if they're not right for you, energetically, you're not gonna be able to get more clients and all of that stuff. So, there's an exchange. You both need to connect and see if it actually work.

Bryan: The way I see it is, if you wanna have a long lasting, successful client relationship, then you kind of need to look at it from a personal level of, can I  see myself working with this person, interacting with this person, spending day in, day out with this client or with their team?

Kaitlyn: Don't get me wrong. At the start, I was very much like, I shied away from those hard questions because I just wanted to get the jobs and the experience, but now I've learned that you need to ask those hard questions because they're gonna be asking you those hard questions. A big component for me would be learning to say no on the call if it wasn't right.

Ed: Be a great listener. There's so much distraction going on today, but I think you'd be a standout in humanity if people know that you're truly listening to what they're saying.

Gabrielle: You will know if you wanna close with them on the phone. Like, you'll be able as you do this more and more, you'll be able to pick up those red flags and say, I don't know. Like, you can decide what you're willing to work with or who you're willing to work for and so on and so forth. But, you'll start to kinda trust your gut and trust, like, okay, this seems like somebody who I want to work with.

Kaitlyn: Every time now I get on a on a discovery call, within five seconds, I'll know if they're the right client. And at the end, they'll be like, you're perfect for me. And I'm like, I know. You're perfect for me. And it's a really beautiful connection because we're both like, I'm so glad I found you, and we're mutually both excited about this transaction. We get to spend time together building this, creating this, scaling this. What an incredible experience we're both gonna have together.