Anti-Sell: Marketing, Lead Generation & Networking Tips for Freelancers Who Hate Sales

"Repeat after me: I. Hate. Sales."

Sales is the bane of the freelancing life. As freelancers, all we want to do is crack on and do the work we enjoy doing (whatever that work/specialism may be), but in order to do that, we have to sell ourselves to people first.

...Ack.

One of the biggest challenges that freelancers face is the sales process. Don't just take my word for it: various polls conducted in freelance communities show that "finding new leads/customers/clients" is what freelancers self-identify as their biggest weakness and the area of self-employment that they struggle with the most. We see it as an intimidating and overwhelming prospect, with many of us considering 'selling yourself' as a slimy, sleazy process. We have to go out to business events, hand out business cards and brag about ourselves to complete strangers, right? Wrong.

Well, you can do that, sure. ...Or you can sell yourself in a way that really isn't sales-y at all.

The best way to sell is not to sell. Let that sink in. The best way to sell is not to sell. It sounds completely and utterly counterintuitive, but it's the truth. Hence the name of this book: Anti-Sell. And in this book, I'll tell you how and why it works, and how to do it.

Its chapters cover the following:

• There's a long list of sales, marketing, networking and lead generation tactics and tips, to give you an idea of some of the traditional ways – but also a number of alternative ways - to get your name and your face out there,
• How you can tie the sales process into your passions and your strengths - so that sales won't even feel like sales,
• Getting you thinking differently about the types of events/communities to go to and get involved with, resulting in potentially being the only [insert specialism here] person in the room, rather than spending your time networking alongside your competitors,
• How being visible, altruistic and contributory within communities is an incredible way to be recognised as the go-to person in your field,
• There's tips and advice on how to find 'good-fit' clients, as well as why honing in on a niche makes you a lot easier to refer,
• Plus it covers a whole bunch of other sales-related topics, such as testimonials, awards, how to handle 'freebie' requests, competing against agencies for work, and keeping your cool in stressful moments,
• Right at the end, there's a list of recommended books for further reading, to help you to take your non-sales-y sales tactics even further,
• Throughout the book there's also 'Anti-Sell Stories': 8 case studies contributed by real-life freelancers, each of whom details how they've fought the fight with sales (and won).

An important note: I'm not a salesperson. I'm a freelancer, just like you. This book runs through my story, my journey and my tactics on how I've managed to win work without selling myself too much (or selling my soul too much, for that matter). So if you're a freelancer who hates the idea of sales and selling yourself, then hopefully this book will suit you and serve you well.

Happy Anti-Selling, folks.