New client enquiries and how I manage leads
Posted: 21 July 2007
On average I get around ten New Client Enquiries a week, around 3/4 of the enquiries are from the contact page of my web site.
The number often depends on many factors, the time of year, what my availability shows on my site, and how strongly the client wants to work with me.
I often find, people who ‘generally’ have their act together call me to discuss their initial requirements.
Also other emails are a lot of link requests, and outsourcing to Asia as well which maybe of use to some virtual companies.
Lets take a look at some of the classic one liners I have received recently, from genuine email enquiries:
‘I have set up a new shopping site, www.websitelink.com, but its having problems in the search engines. Can you take a look please?’
‘Need redesign of website using CSS, can you help?’
‘I’m a graphic designer, looking for some ‘keen talent’ with a professional attitude to provide a solution for a relatively simple website I’ve picked up.’
‘Have been looking at your site and it looks great. Would you be interested in freelance web design for us?’
These obviously don’t give any information about their company and also it reflects quite negatively on their communication. Alarm bells ringing at this stage could possibly lead to a shaky future project and relationship.
As a freelance web developer, I want to be able to trust the client as much as possible, as well as them trusting you to deliver. I’ve had individuals declared bankrupt by the time my invoice are submitted, we can cover this happening by taking half or full deposits for the work required. However, if you decide to get all the paperwork and contracts signed off and they go under, the documents are of no value.
I guess what I’m aiming for is the ideal initial enquiry:
Hello, we are xyz company based in London (who we are),
we make xxyyzz products (what we do),
and we would like a new site (what we would like you to do).
Please take a look at our web site to learn more about us (company background),
attached is the approved design (further details to base costings on) we would like you to build and implement into a CMS (further requirements of project).
Please could you provide costs and your availability (respond with your thoughts, costings and time frame),
A Person @ xyz company (company representative).
This gives me all the information I need to know initially, I can check out the company site to check how well established they are, find out the theme of the company, and the products and information they are marketing online.
HOW TO MANAGE LEADS
Obviously follow up with replies within 24hours is my standard method. Or by telephone depending on the amount of information in the first email enquiry.
These then get entered into Google Docs, I have a ‘Work Enquiries’ spreadsheet where every enquiry I receive gets inputted into in the following format.
| Date | Enquiry Type |
Enquiry by | Name | Contact details | Result |
| DD/MM/YY | Website Build | A Person | Tel Number | Called for more details | |
| DD/MM/YY | SEO Work | Phone | A Person | Email address | Proposal sent |
I have a field in this spreadsheet, that lists my response to each enquiry. This is great as I can see how many of the enquiries actually lead to work, how many of the proposals I send are successful, and also how much work I am turning away!
Also this acts as a library of contacts if I wish to send email newsletters out publicising my latest work for example.
For work and enquiries that are not suitable, ie: database programming, I try as much as possible to refer to local colleagues, or similar networks of professional small businesses, this achieves the following:
- The business stays local,
- Produces sustainable results, and
- Sharing of suitable leads to build up the Brighton web community.
This is what I do at the moment, I’m sure larger companies have CRM systems that deal in a similar way to my spreadsheet. It would be interesting to experiment with an database where you can search for enquiries by work type or what my response was to understand the various trends in enquiries.
I’m not saying this is the way other freelancers should do it, I just wanted to share my experiences with people who may be starting out who could do with some tips on this area.