How can I position myself as the person who handles outreach for clients who don’t have someone to do it, and should I manage the systems myself or rely on automation/content help to make the solution frictionless for them?
Ah, great question. I like this because you're asking how you make the client's life easier—that's really the most important thing. You'll find that as clients grow bigger and better, they want less work on their end and prefer an all‑in‑one done‑for‑you service where they pay a set amount and get the result. I feel the same way: at this point I don’t want to be a partner who constantly discusses the best way of doing things; I’d rather hire someone who’s good at what they do and trust them to deliver a great job. This is taking ownership and minimizing friction—reducing client complexity. Clients don’t care about the inner workings of the black box that is your product; they only care about the input, output, and the interface. So what I think about this is that it’s great—exactly what you should be doing, and what you should have been doing all along. To be that someone, you just position yourself as the person capable of handling everything. You are the person who does cold email: I will handle your cold email systems from start to finish, completely autonomously. All I need from you is a brief three‑minute form you fill out right now, and I’ll do everything for you for 90 days straight. If I don’t deliver the X, Y, Z results I guarantee, you don’t pay a cent. Make it a complete and utter no‑brainer for them—get them to give you what you need up front in a couple of minutes, then you’re off to the races. Handle it completely autonomously, give them progress updates (but don’t disappear or demand anything). That’s how you do it.
Oh, here we go again. Should I deliver the entire workflow to the client or retain control and run the automation on their behalf? Well, somebody spent 1.5 years getting really good at workflow automation but probably hasn't made any money with it. How much cooler would it be if you learned enough to talk the language in a couple of weeks, then just started talking to customers? You probably wouldn't have been in this situation. In 1.5 years you could have a big book of business with 20 clients. Time will pass anyway. A lot of lead generation mechanisms like cold email and Upwork just require time to pass while active. You might as well have planted a tree 20 years ago; the second best time is today. That's a good analogy. To answer your question about delivering the entire workflow: yeah, deliver it to the client. Then why would they need you? They don't need you for a one-off, but they'll want you if you make them choose needs and such. I get it; it's kind of a Machiavellian way to run the business—strategic and logical—but you don't build as much goodwill with clients and it becomes annoying working with them, especially with handoffs. So, what are you going to do? Hold the business hostage when they want to let you go? Or would you rather be in a situation where the client wants to keep you on because you constantly produce massive value? I like that situation; having a rising floor where clients want more value forces you to creatively find ways to deliver it. That's one reason I agree so quickly.
A common issue I always see is people tend to think it's X or Y. They have to do option one or they have to do option two. That there's a fork in the road where every downstream option is mutually exclusive. All options are not mutually exclusive. You can do all of the things that you want to do simultaneously. The main core bottleneck is actually just the amount of effective focused time you are spending working. And so it is almost not always like sacrificing X in order to do Y thing. It's not like doing outreach or working on your current clientele. It is doing both simultaneously. And the benefit to that as well is when you do more and you're constantly pushing your zone of competence and what you are comfortable with, you will usually find better and more effective ways of working as well. So in the case of you know a hypothetical fella that was asking me what should I prioritize? Should I, you know, try and fulfill this current client? Should I start outreach to other prospective clients? Should I like try upselling the client on some sort of, you know, thing that I have going on? You should actually and legitimately just do all three simultaneously. You know, we come from a line of people that had to hunt, they had to cook, they had to secure water, they had to tend to their families, they had to, you know, constantly defend themselves night after night. You can't you don't just do one thing. We're obviously highly specialized today, but there's 16 hours available in the day. Everything there would might only take you an hour or so. You still have a lot of time available, right? To go hunting your saber-tooth tiger or to go get some water. So hopefully that makes sense.
The simplest and easiest way to run a discovery call: somebody comes on, do your building rapport, make them happy, make them smile for a second. Then say, 'Hey, I know we've got a lot to cover, so I'd love to get into things. Here's how these calls typically go — I start off asking you some questions about your business. After that, we'll make sure there's a fit mutually on both sides. I'll walk you through the solution we have for you and how I think it could apply to your particular case. And then if it makes sense, we can chat about next steps. Does that sound good?' Then the first question is: why the hell did you take the call? You probably get brushed by 50 of these emails or Upwork applications or LinkedIn DMs per day — what made you want to jump on this one? That's literally all you need to kick off probably 80% of the call. The reason is: one, you're building rapport so they hopefully like you a little bit. Two, you're setting an agenda for the call, which is important because now the customer knows you're in control and understands where things are going and what's coming next. Three, you literally just ask them straight up, 'Dude, why are you here?' and they'll tell you, 'I'm here because my business is really struggling with XYZ and I was considering this solution and thought I'd give it a try.' Fantastic — they've given you the ammo you need to shoot them later. It's a shitty analogy, but they've given you everything you need to close it and make it a win for both sides. Just ask that question first and your sales calls will immediately go three times as good. Then later, after they tell you what they want to accomplish, ask, 'Have you done anything to try and get to the solution before?' If they say, 'Yeah, we hired somebody 3 weeks ago and they weren't really good,' ask 'Why weren't they good?' — 'Because of X, Y, and Z.' Now they've given you everything you need to close the call and everything you need to avoid too — just don't do what those guys did and you're good. People overcomplicate the sales process and end up talking about themselves for hours. You don't need to make it anywhere near that complex to achieve what both parties want: someone has a problem, and you come in and solve it.
Think about it from my perspective — I'm already making a lot of money and don't need more talent, so the only way this becomes worth my while is if you do all the work for me upfront. Identify a specific problem I'm suffering from that's costing me money, solve it, and package the solution so all I have to do is click one button — don't make me come up with the problem, the solution, or a management structure for you. Don't pitch like 'I'd like a job, I'm feeling lost' — instead, put yourself in the shoes of the person you're reaching out to, understand what they're actually struggling with, do all the work, then present it: 'I think I can make you this much money — all you need to do is respond with X, Y, Z. Say yes and I'll get started immediately, you can pay me after it's done.' That's how you pitch working for someone for free. I'm good right now and probably will be until $300-400K/month, but when I am hiring again, the people who've engaged with my content will be the first I look to — you can copy this approach for other people too.