6 Tips For Landing Contracts

So, you want to get more contracts signed? Requests For Contracts (RFCs) are a quick and easy way to reach out to warm leads who are already looking for solutions to their problems and get contracts signed quickly. You can read all about them here. Once you’ve decided to start looking for prospects through this model, though, how do you land the contracts? After all, it is a request for a contract, not a guarantee. Following these steps will help you land more contracts.

1. Make sure your brand is showcased in your profile. Regardless of the platform you’re on for RFCs; you want to make sure you are highlighting your brand. Sometimes you will have a personal profile, and sometimes it might be a branded business profile you use. Whichever one it is, your branded assets need to be the star of the show. Potential clients will look at your website, portfolio, testimonials, reviews, social media, and anything else that adds credibility to your profile. Make sure you are keeping all of that current and easy to find.

2. Choose a niche. If you’re a web designer, focus on redesigns; if you’re a copywriter, focus on blog posts, etc. Turning your attention to a smaller group helps create a more focused group of leads. Casting a smaller net can mean you catch more qualified and ready-to-buy leads. This will also build your reputation within that niche. This could lead to more referrals, repeat contracts, or long-term partnerships!

3. Practice your pitch and keep your proposals updated and fresh. It’s great to have a proposal template to fill in what you need to and apply for more jobs in a fraction of the time. However, you want to A/B test your proposals and update them every so often. Maybe someone you’ve signed a contract with has another job posted. If you apply with the same proposal they’ve seen before, they could overlook you. Yes, you’ve already practiced your pitch a lot with all of the other meetings you’ve had, but requests for contract meetings are a little different from a regular cold-call meeting. You can provide more value in these calls since you’ll already know a lot about what the client needs! You know what the client needs done, how much they want to pay, and their timeline. That’s the majority of discussions in a typical sales call. Think about what you’re going to say and how you can tell them why your company is the best choice for their project.

4. Have a good system in place for proposals, interviews, and payments. Looking for the perfect contract can be time-consuming. Writing proposals, responding to messages, searching for leads, managing projects, making sure payments go through correctly — this is all just the tip of the iceberg. You want to have a strong system in place to make sure you are getting quality proposals to ideal jobs in a timely manner. What do you look for other than the job description? How long ago was the project posted? How many people have applied? Is the lead responsive? There is so much to think about. BTW, Boundless Media can take care of all of that for you, in case you didn’t know! RFCs will be super easy to manage once your systems are in place and you know how everything will get done.

5. Do exceptional work. RFCs don’t mean cheap work. Yes, you will find people out there that want everything for a low price. However, having a system in place (see tip #4) will ensure that you only look for RFCs that fit your budget. Even if you take a job or two below your standard rate, it doesn’t mean you should produce a lower quality of work than you’d produce a higher-paying client. You didn’t have to work as hard to get this client, so you can actually focus more time on their project. Doing high-quality work can lead to referrals, repeat contracts, and long-term partnerships. (That sounds familiar... See tip #2!)

6. Refer other contacts to jobs. Referrals are great in any industry! As you are looking for your next RFC clients, see if you could refer someone in your network to another project. This is a great way to build relationships with others, build trust with potential clients, and, let’s say, it all together…. Referring others can lead to referrals, repeat contracts, and long-term partnerships.

There are a lot of great ways to landing contracts fast. Boundless Media’s RFC model is one of those amazing ways! Check out our Guide to RFCs so you can see what the process is and how easy it is! If you think you want to take a stab at RFCs, we have a team of experts ready to set you up for more leads, more contracts, and more referrals.