Win High-Paying Clients With Bulletproof Confidence
Let's talk about winning better clients and high-paying projects with confidence because you have probably only been told half the story.
Just Be More Confident
One of the things that really grinds my gears is the concept that all you need to do is raise your rates. Just charge more. Be confident in your services and start getting paid what you're really worth. The reason this bothers me so much is because it sets people up for failure. It feels good to hear that all you have to do is build up this thing called confidence and then you can double your rates. You don't need better skills. It doesn't matter what you're delivering. It's all about confidence. If you have it you're winning huge contracts. If you don't then you're struggling and headed towards failure. So, stand up. Put your hands on your hips. Throw back your shoulders and double your prices.
The Two Types of Confidence
But here's the thing… there are two types of confidence. There's the confidence that comes from within. It is your heart. It is your mindset. It is the raw attitude that you bring to the situation. Are you just dabbling or are you hear to crush this thing? How are you showing up? Are you spinning your wheels in indecision – analyzing everything all the time wondering if this is right or that is right. Or, are you committed to winning? Whatever it takes you're going to get it done. Not only that, but you know that you're going to do it bigger and better than everyone else. You're going to give it everything you've got and that means you're going to end up on top. Nothing is going to take you down. It might be a hard road, but you KNOW you have what it takes. You've got the grit and you refuse to accept anything but winning – and that's the bottom line.
There is the confidence that comes from within and there is confidence backed by results. This is the external confidence. This is the substance and evidence that supports you. If all you have is this emotional confidence it is almost impossible to maintain it because reality swoops in punches you in the gut. Maybe you hit a roadblock. Maybe somebody says something – maybe they didn't even mean to be hurtful, but it sticks with you. What are you going to fall back on? If all you have is this internal confidence you begin to think, “You know what? Who are we kidding here? I can't do this? I'm just lying to myself.”
You need reasons to support your confidence. Not just one or two reasons. You need a whole stack of reasons. When you say, “I know I can do this because…” what are you going to say next. Don't just think of a couple reasons, list 20 – list 50 reasons why not only can you do this but you are doing this.
Then, when something swoops in and tries to steal your joy or crush your spirit you can choose not to listen to that because the resounding truth from your 50-stack of awesome is so loud you can't hear the little mosquito buzzing by your ear. But if you don't have that stack of awesome, that mosquito is going to drive you nuts. And if you don't believe it, try sleeping in a room with a mosquito.
How To Attract Clients With Confidence
If you're going to build the bulletproof confidence that attracts clients then you need to develop both the internal AND the external confidence we were just talking about. This changes everything about:
- How you view yourself
- How you view your business
- The value you place on your services
- How your clients view you
- How your clients view the value of what you deliver
Everything about your business is fundamentally different when you show up with bulletproof confidence because now you are leading your clients into the success they are looking for. You are elevating them to heights they would never achieve on their own. This is why they are working with you instead of building their own site on Wix. This is why they are working with you instead of all the other low-budget WordPress developers out there.
Your clients don't want to be answering questions like:
- What is your budget?
- What other sites do you like so we can copy that look?
- What do you want your website to do?
They don't know the answers to those questions. Or, even worse, they think they know the answers but they are wrong. Don't ask those questions and interrogate your clients for answers they don't have. Instead, lead them. Show up with integrity, leadership, and bulletproof confidence.
How To Get This Level Of Confidence
If you're starting to see how making this fundamental shift would totally transform your entire business, the work you do, the clients you attract, and the prices you charge then you're going to start wondering how to develop this bulletproof confidence. You can't just keep selling $800 websites. The five-page website with a contact form is not going to deliver the results you're clients are looking for. You know. I know. They know it. Everybody knows it. If that's what you're delivering, it is going to be really hard to whip up that internal confidence and it's going to be impossible to support that with your 50-stack of awesome.
You have to stop focussing on technical services and start using those services to drive results for your clients. When you see that you can do this effectively and you can repeatedly get results you will be feeding and building both your internal and your external confidence. That is bulletproof confidence.
So you have to develop the technical skills to drive these sorts of outcomes. I'm not talking about setting up WordPress or integrating an image slider. I'm not talking about graphic design, SEO, or responsive web design. I'm talking about discovering the right combination of your skills that you can package up and offer to your clients so they start seeing the results they need to build their business. Results that they can't get on their own. Results that you can deliver that will take them to heights much higher than they could get by themselves or from some outsourced tech team.
You need three things. You need business-oriented technical skills. You need business development packages that you can offer to your clients on high-value monthly retainers. The third thing – and this one is almost always overlooked – you need to structure your business in a way that can scale so you can actually hit your income goals. If you're trying to make $5,000 to $10,000 per month selling $800 websites you're never going to get there.