Freelancers Connecting with Small Businesses

Nov. 30, 2012 - PRLog -- The idea of hiring freelancers around the world stirs a great deal of emotions for a lot of people.

For service providers based in the US, they face greater competition and forced to work for much lower pay. Here, frustrations were displayed in a popular blog, “a graphic designer such as myself would charge about $150 – $200 to design a logo for a business whereas the freelancers based in the Phillipines are only charging $2o-$30 for the same logo. It’s a no brainer for the employee and the winner of the proposal is making a killing (in their world).”

There has to be a common ground between businesses looking to outsource their efforts, while weighing their options between using local service providers vs. working with freelancers abroad.  In order for this to work, these  5 things must happen:

1. Alert:  Freelancers, don’t ever pay any upfront costs.  

I get the concept of selling a perceived value and defending it with a thought out ROI.  This is the common sales pitch of most media sales consultants. In a sense, the business is telling you that you have no leverage, we are an industry leader, and you play by our rules. Is this the type of company you want to partner with?

2. Play to your strengths.

This is a major obstacle for many service providers who react to the market instead of trying to stay two steps ahead.  The problem with using most freelancer sites is in the message: “We provide the greatest quantity of businesses for you to choose from.”

With hundreds of businesses to choose from, your business has no chance to differentiate itself.  Why does it cost more to work with you? What are some of your successes?  Do you have a portfolio?  Can you tell me what I’ve been doing wrong?

If a business places a great deal of weight on the bottom line and have no idea what value you bring to the table, can you blame businesses for selecting the lowest bidder?  Understand what you’re best at and then figure out ways to improve your odds.

3. Improve the odds.

Instead of competing against 100′s of other service providers, why not compete against ten?  The idea is to get yourself on a preferred vendor list for a network of businesses that would typically require your expertise through the year. With a smaller number of service providers, you’ll have an opportunity to do a couple of things.  First, more emphasis can be spent on understanding your prospect’s needs and provide more accurate pricing.  Of course, businesses want the best pricing but they will not want to sacrifice value.  With only nine other businesses competing, you’ll have your moment to shine. Second, you’ll realize quickly what niche serves you best.  Let’s take a list of ten freelance recruiters.  Four might specialize in Technical, 3 might enjoy headhunting C-Level candidates, and the remainder might enjoy general labor or mass hiring. The point is that in a list of ten, you might find yourself competing against a much smaller number if fellow recruiters.

4. Network with your peers.

How close are you to other service providers listed on that freelance job site?  You should be.  There is a misconceived notion that a business will hire a freelance graphic designer for a logo and never want to talk to them ever again.  This couldn’t be further from the truth.   Businesses want partners.  They want to work with someone who understands their business and understands their industry.  The best way to successfully build a pipeline of repeat business is to not only learn from your own doing, but also learn from the success and failures of others.  With collaboration, you need to remain a student of the game and study.

5.  Be a child and ask questions.

There are a lot of associations and networks that provide outstanding training.  I do attend the occasional Rotary meeting or Chamber event, but I sometimes find myself meeting the same people over and over.  My recommendation is to seek out an annual conference in your field. Here, they provide classroom sessions and the ability to network with like-minded individuals.

According to Fred Matthews, founder of PBN Connect, “This is your business we’re talking about at the end of the day and there is no better investment than investing in yourself.”

Are you a service provider seeking quality work?  Register at www.pbnconnect.com and get connected today!