B2B Writing Institute - B2B Business Seminar

“You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.”
–Zig Ziglar

How do you feel about selling yourself as a writer or your writing services, 1-10?

Today I want us to redefine sales from “getting people to do what you want” to “confidently talking about how you help people.” There’s a lot of layers to that. A lot of today is about mindset, and the beliefs you bring to the table —that you might not be conscious of — that prevent you from being able to do the things that bring success.

How you feel about how you sell is just as important as knowing “the right sequence of words” or “giving the right impression.” It all starts with your thoughts, which influence how you feel, which influence what you do.

INTRODUCTION

Scared to get on a call with a stranger and see if you should work together? That’s OK! We all are. But established freelancers know something you don’t know: you’re not there to sell. You’re there to help. Sometimes you can, and sometimes you can’t – and you get to say so!

When I first got started with my business, selling things was the #1 problem I had, hesitation I struggled with, mysterious cloud of awkwardness I couldn’t pierce. How do you talk to someone and have them pay you money? This was a philosophical question to me at the time. And today I want to share the secret. That’s allowed me, 10 years later, to just… feel OK when I’m selling my writing services.

Prospecting calls seem like they’re about selling your services, but they’re really about connecting the prospect with the best person to help them. You are not selling, you are directing their resources where they should go. Sometimes that will be to you — sometimes it will not be to you. This is why it’s so important to be growing your network of peers as much as your network of potential clients. The more experience you get and the deeper you niche, the more you’ll be referring work to others and having work referred to you as the universe of work “sorts itself out.”

Today I’m going to share the guidelines I use for running a prospecting call from that lens:

I’ll share some notes about your sales mindset that might be tripping you up, and then
how to have a conversation that allows you to figure out if you’re the best person to help them

SALES MINDSET

When we step into a situation where we want to ask someone to exchange their money for the value we provide, there can be a couple obstacles that we put up in front of ourselves:

We assume we’re interrupting them and trying to “force them” to do something for us (When in reality, we are offering a drink to a thirsty guest, and it’s up to them if they want it)
We don’t believe we provide value/We assume they don’t think we’re valuable (When in reality, our basic functional skills as a writer is valuable to them, and it only increases in value from there)
We don’t know “the right words” to use to get the sale (When in reality, there’s no perfect script or sequence of words that can guarantee ANYTHING. You have to cultivate the presence and sense of helpfulness that shines through any miscommunication)

There’s probably something missing from this list. We all carry unique obstacles and maybe even wounds from our previous work experiences… or simply assumptions from how we were raised! What is totally normal to one person… is agonizingly awkward to another person.

You can “unearth” your own limiting beliefs by asking yourself some questions and finishing these sentences:

Selling is uncomfortable because ________.
People who sell are ______.
If I tried to sell my writing services too hard, they might think I’m __________.
This feels awkward because when I have to sell myself, I feel _____________.
If only I was more _________, then people would hire me for writing.
If I don’t get the sale, it means I’m ____________.
If I don’t get the sale, this bad thing will happen: _____________.

Find out what that belief you’re telling yourself… and then craft a short sentence that is the opposite. That’s how you can let go of limiting beliefs and allow them to have less power over you day by day.

I just went through this process the other day with my own sales

Here’s where I went:

Old belief: I don’t like to make offers directly to people. When I ask someone if they want to buy something, it feels like I am trying to take advantage of them.
Processing: Deep down, do I believe buying something makes you a victim? No, buying from me does not make someone a victim. In fact, I’m really, really glad I bought things sometimes, especially for my business. And people are being helped by what I’m doing.
New belief: I’m here to empower them by offering a thing that will help them make their lives better. When I don’t make an offer, I am preventing them from having choices about how they solve their problem. Buying empowers the buyer.
Now I write “ Buying empowers the buyer” at the top of my journal every day!

Let’s try it out… can you pick one of the sentences above to finish and share it in the chat?

Selling is uncomfortable because ________.
People who sell are ______.
If I tried to sell my writing services too hard, they might think I’m __________.
This feels awkward because when I have to sell myself, I feel _____________.
If only I was more _________, then people would hire me for writing.
If I don’t get the sale, it means I’m ____________.
If I don’t get the sale, this bad thing will happen: _____________.

Over the course of your career, doing the work will allow you to overcome these three assumptions or negative mindsets. So each call you take will get easier and easier… until you feel like every new person you talk to is a potential new friend. Quite magically, this release of pressure from “making the sale” makes it easier to make the sale. It’s frustrating but true.

SALES CALLS

All that being said, sometimes you just want to know what kinds of things you can say! It’s not so much a “sales script,” as it is learning a new language of phrases and words that come up often on business calls. Practice these in the mirror and on calls, and eventually they start to sound right in your head and coming out of your mouth

Get yourself ready for the call with questions

In your “operations” folder or Notes app, keep a list of go-to client prospect questions you can refer to if you ever run out of something to say. The first group of questions are appropriate for just about any context (marketing, thought leadership, etc.). The rest of them might lead to some interesting conversations, but carefully consider if they’re helpful for whoever you’re meeting. You might use all of these or none of these, or you may skip around — use them when it helps you get more information.

Prospect Call Questions
WARM-UPWhat has you looking for a writer right now?What’s most important to you in the writing partnership you want to have?What kind of outcomes are you looking for from the content we’d create together?What types of content formats or deliverables are you hoping to create?
ABOUT THE PRODUCT OR SERVICEWhat is the most pressing problem that leads clients to talk to you?What is a common misconception clients often have about your product or service?What’s the biggest roadblock clients have to moving forward with your product or service?What are your clients pleasantly surprised by when they’ve used your product or service? ABOUT THE CONTENTWhat are some of your favorite/most trusted resources you’d like to see featured?How do you see this piece of content being different from your other resources? What do you want it to be the same?What role will SEO play in these projects? Do you have a separate contributor or team taking care of that?

Be prepared to focus on the client’s customers with your questions (The Second Degree😉)

The following questions may or may not be relevant, depending on how much strategic help the prospect needs, but these are handy questions to be thinking about as you step into the call — questions for your client’s ideal customer. This is the “second degree” of B2B, which is what so fundamentally elevates this work from B2C. You’re not writing for your client (first degree) – you’re writing for your client’s client (second degree).

Here’s a look at the first – second – third degree concept from The B2B Writing Seminar:

Your client = the HR technology company

Their client = HR executives

Their client’s customer/stakeholder: Employees, ROI, stakeholders

Niche	Your client (1st degree)	Their client (2nd degree)	Their client’s customer(3rd degree)
Higher Education	Learning management technology company (Blackboard, D2L)	Higher education institution that wants to do online learning better	Students, faculty, staff
B2B E-commerce payments	Buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) providers (eg. Klarna, Atome, PayLater by Grab, AfterPay, hoolah)	E-commerce business that might add BNPL to their ecommerce store (Adidas, Nike, Drapes R’Us)	Customer of that e-commerce business that benefits from BNPL (You, me, Jason Momoa)

10 Questions to Ask Before You Write A Word of Copy by Dan Kennedy
B2BWI Note: Ask your prospect these questions about their customers. Not about themselves. 1. What keeps them awake at night, eyes up at the ceiling? 2. What are they afraid of? 3. What are they angry about (or who are they angry at?) 4. What are their top 3 daily frustrations? 5. What trends are occurring and will occur in their business or lives? 6. What do they secretly desire most? 7. Is there a built-in bias to the way they make decisions? 8. Do they have their own language? 9. Who else is selling something similar to their product, and how? 10. Who has tried to sell them something similar, and how has that effort failed?

Here’s a few scenarios in which we might use these questions, just so we can see them in action:

Niche	Your Client (First Degree)	Question About Their Client (Second Degree)
FinServ	FinServ technology product, like customer experience	What is keeping your banking customers up at night when it comes to customer experience?
Retail/CPG	Retail technology product, like an app that uses AI to offer products to retail customers	What are your retailer customers’ top three daily frustrations when it comes to converting customers on the site?
Manufacturing	Contractor spend management technology, like a dashboard that sorts your contracting relationship data	What trends are occurring and will occur in your client’s manufacturing business when it comes to contractor agreements and budget?
HR Technology	Payroll processing technology	What is keeping the businesses that use your payroll software up at night when it comes to how they manage payroll and talent?

TAKING THE CALL WITH THE MAGIC PILL

It’s ok to be nervous — you just have to do it nervous. I still shake my hands out, dance weird, and yelp before and after important calls. Find things that work for you to help you feel like you can get through the time, and that someday might allow you to enjoy the time.

What starts to happen is that your “recovery time” from these awkward moments gets shorter and shorter each time . So I’d say today, the intensity of my awkwardness is still the same after an awkward situation. But it only throws me off my game for 2-3 minutes now, whereas I once might have needed to go lay down under a blanket for a half hour.

When you’re not sure what to say, use “The Magic Pills” Script. The left column shows the flow of how you can close the conversation with the client. This may be appropriate for the actual prospecting call, or a follow up call after you’ve had time to think about what they’ve shared.

Stage	Script	Example Notes
Problem	You’re here, you want this, but this is in the way.	You’re seeing decent traffic on your site, but no one is signing up for a sales call with you. People don’t seem to connect with what you’re saying.
Prescription	If you want that, you need this.	If you want people to connect with what you’re saying, you need to create content that goes deeper. You need to write about what’s top of mind for your customers.
Promise	I can help you do this.	I can help you write content that’s top of mind for your customers.
Model	Show them how we’d do it.	The way I create content that is top of mind for your customers is like this: We start with a kick off call and I ask you a handful of questions that help me get to know your brand. Then we’ll brainstorm 5-10 topic ideas that might resonate. You’ll choose one of those ideas to create as a trial. I’ll outline it for your approval. When I’ll interview an executive on your team. I’ll deliver a first draft within two weeks, and we’ll have two rounds of edits to get it perfect.
Logistics	Here’s how we’ll make this change.	The whole process takes about four weeks from kick off to final draft. If we decide to work together regularly, we can often work faster and create more content each month.
Price	Talk at the end. Offer a range of cost, and/or counter by asking them if they have a budget assigned to the project.	If we work together, you’ll be able to create fresh content that resonates with your customers and encourages more people to sign up for sales calls. The cost for this engagement is $1500.

If you feel lost during the call, you can gently guide the conversation where you want to take it at any time with phrases like the following:

➡️ “The next step in the process is…”
➡️ “So, here’s what I usually recommend from here…”
➡️ “Those details sound great. Here’s what I see as our next step…”
➡️ “You know, I’d like to think about that before I give you an answer. Let me make a note to follow up on that after our call…”

When it comes to pricing, there are a couple ways to handle talking money on the call. At different times, you’ll find it smart to share a specific price, price range, or not offer a price until you can think it over. A lot goes into this decision: how intensely you want to work with the company, how firm you are about your pricing, and how complex the project will be. Try not to think about “effort” items like SME interviews, intensity of research, etc.

FOLLOW UP ON THE CALL

Sales really is in the follow up. Following up is not annoying if they have invited you to correspond with them. It’s professional, timely, and helpful because they are likely very busy!

Here’s a suggested timeline:

Follow up within 24-48 hours to say thank you for meeting and confirm the next steps
Follow up with a project proposal within a business week (or whenever you said you will)
If you don’t hear back, follow up a week later, then two weeks later, then put them on your list for a follow up every quarter or so
I’ve had people pop back up after months of not writing me back to let me know they’ve been swamped
It’s truly not personal — it’s just the nature of our priorities at work to shift and wiggle

CONCLUSION

Remember, your goal is to find out if you’re the right person to help them — that’s it. There’s no twisting their arm, convincing them, or begging them. They either need a solid writer (which you are) or they don’t — end of story. The sooner you can practice that posture and attitude, the easier it will be to feel that way and send those vibes during the call.