8 Ways to convince clients they should outsource

Outsourcing is something a lot of big companies do today. It can help businesses grow in many ways: finding experts that they don’t have readily available in-house, saving time and money and helping get new points of view and fresh ideas from outside.

The benefits of outsourcing can be huge, but for a lot of companies, it’s also a big step to take, especially if they’re not used to relying on an external workforce.

Your job as a freelancer is to tell them why you are the one who can take some of the load off their shoulders.

Outsourcing to freelancers is advantageous to many businesses because: 

• It’s more cost effective than hiring a full-time staff member
• They don’t need to invest in training for a current employee
• The responsibility for tax and employee benefits etc falls on the freelancer, not the employer
• They will be hiring an expert in that field

More and more businesses are finding freelancers to outsource their work to these days, and as a freelancer, you need to be the one convincing your clients to outsource to you.

Tips to convince your clients to outsource and hire you as a freelancer

1) Show them you know their business

2) Describe the benefits from your services

3) Give them samples

4) Show your professionalism

5) Minimize the risk

6) Keep it short

7) Address Their Budget Worries

8) Meet Your Deadlines

PLUS: E-Mail template samples

1) Show them you know their business

First, never forget the personal touch. Your clients will appreciate working with someone who is an expert in their field, and who has done the background research necessary to really elevate their business.

Research a lot and find out how your client’s business ticks – what is their philosophy and their aims? 

Think about how you can help them achieve their goals and maybe look at possible aspects in your field that they are doing wrong. 

If you are an expert on, say, Web Design Projects, don’t be afraid to tell the clients straight to the face where you think their website is not working well.

2) Spell out how they are going to benefit from your services

Once you have identified the inner workings of your potential client, you need to tell him how exactly your work will be beneficial. Offer concrete measures that will give them quantifiable results, for example:  

“Doing X and Y, will optimize your site and bump up your results in Google Search.”

Most businesses will already know why they need to outsource work to freelancers, but you can go one step further and offer solutions to problems they hadn’t even realised need addressing. If you can convince a company that a short-term investment in your services is going to be profitable for them in the long term, few clients will refuse.

3) Give them samples

One of the best ways of convincing a client of your expertise is to show them.This is a universal marketing strategy and, as such, can be applied to freelancing as well. Giving the client one example of your work can be more powerful than 10 paragraphs of you saying how good you are. In that case, actions really do speak louder than words.

As a freelancer, having a strong portfolio with examples of your previous work (preferably in the niche of the business you are targeting) is one of your most essential tools when finding new clients to outsource their work to you.

4) Show them you’re professional

It is important to convince clients – especially ones who have never dealt with freelancers before – that you are going to do your job professionally. Professionalism should show in every aspect of your work: how you contact them, the way you address them, how your social media presence looks, etc.

If you have references or testimonials, this is a great bonus as well. Hearing from other satisfied customers is often the best way to let potential ones know that you are trustworthy. Don´t fall into common outsourcing mistakes!

5) Reduce the risk factor

Clients who have not worked with freelancers before are going to be worried most about the risks that come with working with outside sources, which can include: 

• Paying too much for a low quality of work
• Paying a freelance and never receiving any work
• Poor communication
• Missed deadlines

Really, the list is endless – but your main priority is to show that those risks aren’t relevant when working with you.

The best way to do this is by replying to a job advertisement with a direct response that is individual to that client (no copied and pasted blanket responses), with links to testimonials and to your portfolio.

Keep your entire business relationship professional, from agreeing to a contract if that makes the client more comfortable, to agreeing a proper payment transaction process before you begin any work.

Eliminating all of these risks make it far more likely that a client will feel comfortable working with a freelancer for the first time.

6) Keep it short and sweet

Although the tips above might seem pretty extensive, they can be boiled down to a very short email. That should be your goal.

If you want to convince a client to outsource, you are competing with various other distractions and things he or she has to do, not even speaking about the short attention span when it comes down to emails from strangers.

Get to the point quickly and efficiently to increase your chances of being seen.

7) Address Their Budget Worries

For a client who has never outsourced any work before, their budget is always going to be a key concern for them.

It’s important to be budget-sensitive and work with your client while not sacrificing your own rates. What’s more, you should highlight the cost savings the client is making by hiring an outside freelancer as opposed to a full-time member of staff.

Monitoring your competitor’s prices and market averages is also useful to ensure you are charging a fair rate to both parties involved.

8) Meet Your Deadlines 

Ideally, once you start working with a new client you want them to continue outsourcing their work to you. The best way to do this is to make their work a priority – these means meeting deadlines and being available to address any issues and problems, especially in the early stages of your working relationship.

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Writing a Convincing Email to Persuade Your Clients To Outsource

When you are pitching to a new client, the tone and the content of your email is an essential part of persuading your client to hire you.

Here are a few tips to bare in mind when formulating your pitch to convice a client to hire you as a freelancer: 

• Make it clear what your email is about, and why you are sending it (i.e. You are writing because you can save your client time, money, and energy by outsourcing an element of their business to you.)

• Show why they need you. Highlight any problems and improvements you have found in their business and why you can help them with these – linking to past projects in your portfolio that support these claims is especially helpful here.

• Think: what’s stopping them? Is it that their simply uncertain about outside hires, dot they need more evidence of your skills, is their budget a main concern? Address their biggest and most likely worries so they don’t have anything negative to come back to you with.

• Make your email individual to each client. You should introduce yourself and your skills, but most importantly, each email you send should be about that client – if an email looks to broad and doesn’t directly address each client’s individual problems, you won’t hit them where you need to.

Convince a Client to hire you on a Freelance Basis with these E-Mail Templates

Let’s imagine that the position you’re interested in is suitable for both a full-time employee and a freelancer and you’re contacting a client directly.

If the employer is deciding whether or not to hire a full-time worker or a freelancer, you should focus on the cost-saving advantage and flexibility – work after 9-to-5 working hours.

For example, you could use the following e-mail if you were applying for a job you found online: 

Subject: [Project title] Proposal

Hi [Client’s name],

I came across your job posting on [name of the website] for the role of a UI designer to create the front end of your website.

I would absolutely love the chance to work on your website! You can check out some of my work over at [link to your portfolio].

While you might be wary of hiring a freelancer I believe this would be the perfect job for me. I’ve worked with [mention clients worked for with links to their websites] on a similar redesign, what resulted in [present good results – e.g. an increase of 10% in their conversion rate]. 

One of the best reasons to hire a freelancer for this job is the overall reduced cost + the flexibility I can bring to the table since I am open to work hours past the 9-5 timeline. 

I have a few ideas for the design of your website and would love to discuss it over a quick chat! Let me know when is the best time for you. 

Kind regards,

[The freelancer]

Or you could cold pitch a potential client that you could help with your services. Here’s how you could reach out:

Subject: About [Problem description]

Hi [Client’s name],

I’ve using [Client’s website] for the last 6 months now and I must say I really love [describe a good functionality].

I just missed that I couldn’t access it on my phone.

I’m a freelance [app developer] specializing in the [Insert Company Industry] niche. I’ve worked on [Insert number of projects] projects over the past XX years. 

Here’s why hiring a freelancer is in your best interest – 

• Cost factor – I charge my clients a fixed rate for each project. This means zero overhead costs – no premiums, retainer fees, or equipment costs, and you don’t have to deal with adding another physically present member to your team!

• Flexibility – I am open to work past the 9-5 time frame allowing me to work additional hours that lets you receive deliverables quicker. 

I’d love to set up a quick chat to discuss the project and get started on some ideas!

[The freelancer]

If you don’t hear back from that potential client, we recommend you to follow up in 4 – 5 business days from then.

Subject: Re: [Project title] Proposal

Hello [Client’s name],

Have you had the time to consider my last email? I’d still love to connect with you when you have the time! I have some great ideas for your website that I’d love to discuss. 

Would it be okay to set up a quick chat this week?

Thanks,
[The freelancer]

Have you worked with clients who outsource for the first time? How did it go? Share your stories in the comment section below.