Articles On Sales

Are you worried your potential client might ask, “can you show me examples of a $10K site you’ve done before?” Here’s exactly how to handle it and why it’s important…. read more

Today I’m going to show you how you can double, triple, or even quadruple your project fees…with your current clients… read more

For web design businesses looking to grow, hiring a salesperson is a natural first step. Unfortunately, many businesses make hiring decisions without adequately considering the kind of person they need and what is best for their business. Finding a proper balance between the two is key. Luckily, uGurus can help you avoid some of the… read more

We’ve all been there. You meet someone new, maybe at a party or networking event, ask them what they do, and receive a well rehearsed line about, “I do blah blah blah for blah blah blah.” They sound like Charlie Brown’s parents and you begin looking for the nearest exit. As you walk away you… read more

Looking for Better Projects? Ask Clients to Pay for Discovery. Discovery is a process of using your expertise through a series of questions across 4-5 meetings to uncover your client’s business pains and goals so you can develop a course of action to solve/achieve those goals. Paid discovery is charging for this. Doing good discovery… read more

Over the years, we’ve helped hundreds of web professionals build amazing businesses by teaching them to focus on three key components: strategy, sales, and projects. This boils down to one simple concept: “High value work for high pay.” And while these three components serve as the foundational elements of our program, the issue of pricing… read more

Before I started my agency I spent some time as a professional sales trainer. One of the questions I would ask as we’d start each class is “When I say, SALESMAN, what’s the first word that comes to mind?” I would get words like Crook, Thief, Liar, Rip Off – the list goes on. Never… read more

“My nephew can do this for $800.” I call this The Kiss of Death. It’s not your fault that people say it. But it is your fault if you let it define your business. Don’t let our industry fool you. You are not a commodity. Massively competitive labor marketplaces, free content management systems, and cheap… read more

In my last post, I mentioned that if you don’t figure out your process and set an hourly rate that reflects your time and value, you’re never going to make it to daylight. Today, I explain what “Driving for Daylight” means and what it can do for your business. Driving for Daylight I’m a huge… read more

When I got my first project, I mocked up some docs and said to myself, “I’m going to do this for four grand.” It just felt right. And I got the job. It’s easy for me to tell you, “Have confidence in yourself!” when setting rates, but that’s probably not helpful. You may not be… read more

There you are… Sitting with a potential website customer, you’re connecting, getting on the same page, and then out comes: “You seem a bit overpriced. I can get this same thing on Wix for free… what’s the difference? Why should I hire you?” And it’s happened. The hammer has dropped. You start questioning yourself… “Am… read more

Clients believe they need websites. And you probably believe you need to build them. But I have a dirty little secret: “No one needs a website.” When I learned this secret… it changed the game. I went from selling $2-3,000 projects to $20-30,000 projects. Almost identical work. But my mindset shifted. I learned a basic… read more

I had a problem. I opened the door to my chicken coop. I caught a glimpse of a tiny dark object scurrying in the shadows… (Yes, I have 3 chickens in my backyard—explaining this will be left to another post.) For a second, I thought it must be my imagination. You know, like the protagonist… read more

About six weeks ago I started facilitating a group coaching program called $10K Bootcamp. The program is designed to help web professionals over a ten week span to land their first $10,000 project (or learn to land them more consistently if they already have a couple under their belts). Why $10K? What’s the significance? In… read more

Jordan Belfort (played by Leonardo diCaprio), at one of his sales training conferences, looks an audience member right in the eye, hands him a pen, and says: “Sell me this pen.” And the rambling begins. “Well, it’s a good pen, it’s a ballpoint…” Each audience member he hands the pen to mutters a similar response…. read more

President and Co-Founder of Imulus, George Morris sits down with me to discuss his agency’s growth, goals, sales, and talent, and how to enhance your business and yourself. George started Imulus in 2002, originally focusing solely on website design and development. Imulus has now evolved to focus on mobile apps, UI, and UX. After welcoming… read more

President of Booyah Online Advertising, Troy Lerner sits down with me to discuss the one-man band, direct response, and his advice for the challenges he faces as a leader. When Troy was first introduced to Booyah, his initial goal was to poach their talent, but he soon found himself being poached and joining Booyah. Initially… read more

Founder of Colorado-based Kevin Cohen Consulting, Kevin Cohen sits down with me to discuss sales, customers, and growing his virtual agency. Kevin tells me about how he has learned to understand his strengths as an entrepreneur and how he uses that understanding to grow his agency.  Kevin shares with me his generous tactic for finding… read more

Over the past twenty years I’ve made an incredible number of mistakes when it comes to business, especially as it relates to freelancing. When I first started my journey back in 1988, there weren’t awesome resources such as Google, uGurus, or Smashing Magazine to help me out. Everything that I learned was completely by trial… read more

President and Founder of Zenman, Keith Roberts sits down with me to discuss his agency, growth, and recruiting talent. Keith Roberts started Zenman in 1998 after working as a professional photographer with top artists and agencies. Keith talks about his daily practices as a business owner and sustainable scaling for Zenman. After showing us around… read more

This is one of my favorite topics, and I get asked questions like this all the time. How do you get clients when you have a weak portfolio, or even no portfolio? Well, as the saying goes… dress for the job you wish you had, not the one you have. That’s right! I intentionally gave… read more