Using One Skill to Piggyback Sales of Another

If you have been working online to make money, you probably noticed it's getting more competitive. It may require you to think outside the box in order to get more clients for your business. One great way to do this is to use one skill to piggyback sales of another.

Suppose, for instance, you are a web developer, looking to gain more clients. You can certainly continue to peruse social media sites and put yourself out there as a web developer. This is still effective, but it may take you longer to find jobs, due to the increased competition.

Let's further suppose you are proficient at graphic design. You could offer something free with this skill as a way to break the ice with a potential client. For instance, you could search blogs online and find ones that don't have any featured graphics on their posts. You could offer to create one or two for free.

Many clients will be willing to take the free graphics for a post or two. After you deliver it, you can let them know that you do web design and would be willing to come up with a plan for the website.

What If They Resist?

If you get resistance, ask how the website is doing as far as visitors and search engine rankings. You want to try to drive out the pain points as to why the site isn't doing well. Ask questions that get them to state what kinds of problems they are having (lack of traffic, no one buying, etc.)

You can then let them present your web design services as a possible solution to those problems. If they still offer resistance, ask them if they would like to join your newsletter. Specify this newsletter gives helpful tips to turn around the problems he or she is having.

The key is to keep them engaged. If they decline your newsletter offer, make sure to tell them you will follow up with them in a week, to see if they would like another graphic for another one of their posts.

Keep the Momentum Going

This becomes yet another opportunity to present your design services. At this point, take notice if they have updated their website with any more posts since you last spoke with them. If they haven't, you can remind them that having consistent and frequently updated content is one of the fundamental ways to increase their traffic and rankings to their website.

But, here is where you can throw a wrench into the process and let them know that not just any content will suffice. This is where the magic happens. Marketers like to call this a pattern-interrupt. You were keeping the client interested by letting them think they can write the content themselves. Then, you threw in the wrench letting them know that they need someone with experience who knows how to create the right kind of content.

Then, bring them back out of the interrupt stage by letting them know that they can learn how to do it and that you have instruction videos that take them through it. They will at first be interested in this, but will think about it and state they have no time to learn how to write content. This is your opportunity to sell.

Does Content Creation Fall Within the Web Design Category?

​Content creation is not traditionally associated with web design. But, these days, the lines are blurred. Many web design companies hire content creators or content specialists as a way to add that into the mix of services offered. They often do this on an agency basis, meaning they provide the jobs for the writers for a cut of the price.

Once you have the content creation service sold to your client, you have an insider's position and can provide them with ideas about how your web design services have helped other clients.

Don't try to bombard the clients with all the web design services you provide in one shot. Instead, spoon feed them with tidbits of information that they can easily digest.

It's up to you if you want to continue providing free graphics for each post. You could factor that into the price of your content creation or you could start charging for it. Usually, it's better to let the client think they are getting something for free. But, you have to use your judgement here.

Each time you deliver to your content, tell a story about an experience with a client who was having difficulty and how a certain aspect of your web design service helped that client out. Do this casually so that it doesn't seem like you are selling.

Keeping it Free and Easy

The service or skill you provide to your client for free should be easy to perform. If you make the mistake of offering something that's going to take a long time to complete, it's going to be difficult making this idea work for you. You may be able to get away with long services for one or two clients. But, imagine if you extended this concept with many, you would be working too much for free.

In the example above, providing quick feature graphics shouldn't take anyone more than 15 minutes or so. You have to decide what constitutes long or short when it comes to offering a free service. But, the least amount spent, the better.

Remember, many of your clients don't know how to do these things or if they do, they simply don't have the time. That's why it's not on their website.

What About Sites Like Fiverr.com?

You may think your clients will simply go to Fiverr.com or similar services to get these types of services done for them. Why do they need you? Many business are not aware of these kinds of services. Even if they do, they don't have the time to manage those services. They have businesses to run.​

Ideas for Free Services to Offer

What if you don't provide the services mentioned above? Here are some ideas of services to offer:

The above list is by no means exhaustive. Use your imagination. The key is to keep them short and sweet. Don't offer up your entire service for free. It's just a means to get a conversation going with potential clients.

Have an idea of your own to provide to get clients interested? Let me know in the comment section below. I'd love to hear from you about what you think about this idea and what kinds of other services you come up with.