Once you have a steady stream of client leads phone number list in, you have to make sure you take good care of them. In order to go from freelance to agency, you’ll need to get really good at closing the sale.
For starters, have a listen to this episode where we multi-dimensional monitoring and evaluation how to close 90% of potential clients without filling out endless proposals.
From there, you’ll need to build your own client onboarding process to convert as many leads into paying clients as possible
Here are a few key things to remember when building your own system:
Filter out bad clients early on
The last thing you want is a bunch of unqualified clients singapore phone list up your pipeline and wasting your time. You have to make sure you’re attracting the right clients.
Focus on conversion
Remember, the point of your marketing efforts is not to get more Instagram followers or more traffic to your blog. The point is to close more sales and get more clients.
Find what works and do more of it
You don’t have to be everywhere all the time. If Pinterest just isn’t a worthwhile marketing channel for you, then stop spending time and effort there.
4. Perfect your process for delivering client projects
Making the sale is really only the beginning if you’re going to scale from freelancer to agency.
Once your client has signed an agreement or shaken your hand, the real work begins.
Your process will change over time as you (and eventually your team) learn what it takes to complete a project efficiently.
For starters, here are a few key questions you might want to ask yourself about your process:
- What are all the individual tasks that must be completed in order to deliver a quality project.
- Who “owns” which parts of the process? Who will ultimately be responsible for its success?
- Which triggers activate the next step in my process? When will the next person know it’s their turn to make progress?
- Who determines deadlines and how are they communicated to everyone involved?
- How do my team members and I know when to work on which projects?
- Who communicates with the client during the process when questions or concerns arise?
- Who decides when a project is ready to send to the client?
- What happens after a project is completed, approved, and finalized?
You might also want to consider using some kind of project management software to keep your projects moving forward and keep everyone on the same page.
5. Get organized and legally covered
At some point, you’re going to need to legally set yourself up as a company—instead of a sole proprietor.
Some articles put this section at the very beginning of their tips for going from freelancer to agency.
Not us.
We think a lot of people trying to make the switch from being a freelancer to growing a business worry about this too soon.
I ran my business for 7 years as a sole proprietor before finally setting up an LLC. I had as many as 8 independent contractors working on my team and it was fine.
But if you’re serious about running an agency (meaning, you have sales coming in and processes working smoothly) you’ll need to upgrade from a sole proprietorship to LLC.
This is particularly true if you want to hire full-time employees who you put on payroll.
To be clear, you DON’T have to hire full-time employees. In fact, one podcast guest named Karl blew us away when he told us he had hired over 50 independent contractors in his first year transitioning from freelancer to agency.
In addition to setting up an LLC (or other legal entity) you’ll want to look into business licenses and other permits you need from your local, regional, and national governments in order to operate a business legally.