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10 Insider Secrets For Creating A Personal Brand Based On Your Unique Superpower

February 7, 2020 by Dan Lok

Are you looking into creating a personal brand, but you don’t know where to start?

I see and hear a lot of bad advice when it comes to creating a personal brand. People who never actually built a successful or powerful personal brand themselves, want to tell you how to do it best.

It’s smarter to listen to people who practice what they preach. That’s why people ask me for advice on creating a personal brand, since I have credibility in the form of success and millions of social media followers.

Personal branding is important because ultimately, your personal brand will differentiate you from your competitors. When creating your personal brand, you want it to stand for something. The last thing you want to do is to be another boring realtor, another pushy sales agent, another coach who lacks that ‘X’ factor. You are unique, and you need to figure out your unique superpower and incorporate what makes you stand out into your branding. Your personal brand should be a reflection of your unique superpower.

I spent a lot of time building my personal brand. And that’s why today, I want to share 10 insider tips on creating a personal brand based on your superpower.

Why Should You Be Creating A Personal Brand?

A personal brand isn’t something you create after you already have millions of followers on social media. Instead, I like to think of your personal brand as your reputation and your image. If you asked others to describe you in three words, what would they say?

Would people say positive things about you and your brand? Would you like what people said? Or would it be negative?

Get some clarity on how you want others to see you. Figure out the three words you wish other people would use to describe you, and your brand. Those three words will become the base of your personal brand.

For example, the three words could be, “Diligent, “Honest”, and “Humorous”. It can be whatever you most desire to be known as.

Now, my personal recommendation is not to stop there. Next, you want to find out what your unique superpower is, and build your personal brand around that.

Why Should Your Personal Brand Be Created Around Your Superpower?

What do superpowers have to do with creating a personal brand? If you’ve followed me for some time, you know that I love superheroes like Iron Man or Batman. Studying comics, I noticed one thing. Superhero characters often have longevity. People remember these characters. Some of these superhero characters have been around for decades. People like to follow the story of superheroes.

That’s why when you are creating a personal brand ,you want to model your brand story after a superhero story. Basically, you are creating a character. The character is you, but maybe not all of you.

In other words, perhaps you tell your audience certain stories from your past, such as things that shaped you, but you don’t tell them about your current private life. That’s perfectly okay. Your personal brand doesn’t need to be based on your full story, or include every little detail of your life. With personal branding, you just have to reveal enough of a story so that you are authentic and people can connect with you.

Focusing on your superpower also has another benefit. Instead of trying to be good at everything, you narrow it down to what you are best at. What you’re best at is your special gift – your unique superpower. You have positioned yourself as an expert on one particular subject.

If you claim to be an expert at everything, nobody will believe you, and nobody will like your brand. That’s why specializing in one thing or one niche creates a lot more credibility. If you position yourself as an expert in one niche subject or field of focus, your brand will garner more respect and attention.

I personally have been using this strategy, and it’s been working. I have positioned myself as an authority figure and established myself as an expert in certain niche fields related to business, copywriting, sales, and closing. That means that my personal brand won’t be for everyone. My brand is for certain kinds of people who are interested in learning what I am an expert at. P

art of developing my personal brand involved telling my story of how I became an expert at these things. I won’t be around forever, but the character of Dan Lok will live on.

Below are 10 insider secrets for creating a personal brand using your unique superpower:

1. Creating A Personal Brand by Discovering Your Superpower

The first thing you need when creating a personal brand based on your superpower is, of course, your superpower. I’m not talking about superhuman strength or the superpower of flying, though.

Your superpower is what you exceed at. You superpower is your special gift, skill, or talent – it’s something you are exceptionally good at.

It could be anything from public speaking to consulting to SEO copywriting. Your superpower is based on your primary skill that you are an expert at.

Focus on a superpower that you enjoy, which will also bring value to the marketplace. Then, communicate your superpower to your target audience.

What if you aren’t sure what your superpower is, exactly? Determining your strengths and weaknesses is an important task to further your growth. So you might want to dig deeper and get to know yourself.

Usually, your superpower feels effortless. It’s what you’re naturally the best at, without trying that hard. You are great at it, and it amazes others. Your superpower can be a skill or something you understand more clearly than others. It could be something you’re so good at, you’re are almost fearless. When you discover your superpower, you will notice because it will feel just right, and you’ll feel very confident doing it.

2. Be Clear on What You Want to be Known For

Tying back to your reputation, what do you want others to say about you?

Maybe there are others that have a similar superpower to yours. For example, there are several motivational speakers out there, but what if your superpower is motivational speaking? How do you break through the noise and stand out from the crowd? You do this by creating a personal brand that is solid, unique, and powerful.

When you are clear on what you want to be known for, you don’t leave anything to chance. If you look at my personal brand, for example, what do people know me for? Possibly things like “Dan Lok is a millionaire”, or “Dan Lok is the King of Closing”, or “Dan Lok is the boss in the Bentley”, or “Dan Lok wears a red suit.” Now, do you think any of that was by accident? No. I made very conscious choices about my personal brand and what I wanted to be known for.

So, what do you want to be known for? What do you want to be viewed as an expert in? Make sure you are clear on this. Then start to communicate it with your actions, words, and personal branding.

3. Creating A Personal Brand By Adding A Face To Your Business

Another reason why personal brands are so powerful is this: When you are creating a personal brand, you are adding a face to your company. Your business isn’t just a logo or a product anymore. That’s important, because people don’t really connect with logos. They connect with humans beings they like and trust. That’s why adding a face to your personal brand can really help you.

Adding your face to your brand adds credibility and increases trust. Why? Because at the end of the day, people buy people. They don’t buy products as much as they buy people.

With a strong personal brand, it’s no problem if your product or career might change. You and your personal brand stay the same. You are so much more than a logo and that’s why you will stand out. If people are connected to your story and you ‘why’, they will follow you. Even if you change careers. They want to know what you as a character will do next.

4. Creating A Personal Brand by Adding Your Backstory

All superheroes have on thing in common. They have a backstory, which tells their audience how they became superheroes in the first place.

There are three very powerful ways to tell your backstory:

The reluctant hero: In this story, the hero is an ordinary person. But something changes in their lives that makes them step up as a hero. In the beginning, they aren’t sure if they can do this though. Only when they find a reason – a strong ‘why’ – they fully pursue their story as a superhero.

An exceptional person who overcame serious obstacles. People aren’t interested in ordinary people. They love to watch people who are great at something and succeed, despite obstacles and challenges in their way. When you build your personal brand on such a story, people will want to follow you, because they are wondering, What will happen next? People also love underdog stories.

Us versus Them. This is another powerful story because people tend to naturally think in belief systems. It’s very powerful if you and your tribe have the same enemy. Use this tip only for good.

Now all you need to do is look back and see which of the three fits best with your story. Are you a reluctant hero who only found your true calling after something significant happened? Or have you always been on your path and overcame big obstacles to get where you are? Or maybe you want to create your personal brand on an us vs. them framework?

Decide which one you are, and start telling your story. Storytelling has infinite power when it comes to marketing. Maybe you heard of the saying, “facts tell and stories sell”?

5. What Do You Stand For?

When you are creating a personal brand based on your superpower you also want to communicate what you are stand for.

If you look at popular superheroes, they all stand for something. People don’t care that much about what you do. They care about why you are doing it. So if you share your story and share why you are doing what you are doing – wouldn’t that add much more power to your personal brand?

Think about successful entrepreneurs or celebrities that you look up to. What do they stand for? What does Elon Musk stand for? Or what about Oprah?

This also ties back to your backstory and your ‘why’. Tell people what you stand for and why. Are you contributing to a good cause? You will be creating a powerful personal brand if you are. Even if others are doing similar things as you, you can find a way to be unique. Even if others have a similar ‘why’, nobody has the same unique backstory as you do. So when you link the two together you will stand for something and nobody else can do it the same way. You will be able to cut through the noise and stand out with your story.

6. Creating A Personal Brand Based On Your Parables

You might be wondering, what are parables? Simply put, parables are your stories. You have your main backstory but you also have other stories that you use to make a point or strengthen your personal brand. So, if you watch my YouTube videos, for example, you will see I have a few stories. I have my copywriting story about my first mentor who taught me the art of copywriting, I have a story about my mother, and a story on how I used to work in a supermarket, and so on.

You’ll want to create an inventory of stories that you can tell when you are making a certain point. You also want to continuously add more stories to your inventory. Because at the end of the day, marketing is storytelling. Never forget that facts tell and stories sell.

7. Your Secret Language

When you are creating a personal brand, you also want to pay attention to how your target audience is speaking. Maybe they are using certain words and phrases that don’t make much sense to outsiders. But when you use the secret language they will feel connected to you much faster.

So, you might want to do some research on your target audience and see how they speak and what their lingo is. But since you are your personal brand, you want to make sure your secret language also makes sense to you.

You are unique and you want to show that by creating a personal brand. Don’t try to copy others. Don’t try to copy me. There is only one you in this world.

8. Create Your Own Technology

This is very closely linked to your secret language. When you are creating your personal brand you want to come up with your own technology or your own mechanism. What do I mean by this? This means you are creating a system that helps your customers solve a problem, and then you give it a name.

For example, if you are an accountant you most likely already have a system in place. You have some way of how you help your clients. Now all you need to do is give that system a name.

Maybe you hear of the book “S.P.I.N. Selling”. In this book, the author is teaching how to sell following a certain method. He came up with it and called it SPIN.

Now while there are many people that teach sales, he is the founder of the SPIN sale technology. He stands out from the crowd because nobody else uses this kind of technology.

Maybe what he teaches is very similar to other sales methods. But because of the technology, it is special. You could easily do the same for your superpower when creating a personal brand.

9. Creating a Personal Brand For Your Niche

When it comes to marketing and branding, you don’t want to appeal to everyone. Many people think it’s better for sales to try to relate to everyone, but it’s actually not. Trying to market to everyone is counterproductive. You become too vague and you end up selling to nobody. Why? Because consumers in the marketplace would rather buy from someone who specializes in solving the specific problem they’re looking to solve.

Take a look at your current customers – what kind of professions do they have? If a large chunk of your audience are realtors, start by marketing to realtors. If, however, a large part of your audience are entrepreneurs, market to them. You get the idea.

Nobody goes to get a specific surgery from a general practitioner.

It’s the same when creating a personal brand. Maybe there are several things you are good at. Still, you want to start narrow and very specific. If needed you can always go a bit broader later. As I said, your specific superpower also helps you to be more specific. You aren’t an expert in everything. You are the go-to person for one or two very specialized things.

10. Creating a Personal Brand Based on Your Signature Style

When creating a personal brand, your signature style will play a role, too.

Remember my superheroes analogy? All superheroes have a signature style. They all have a special suit or outfit that they wear when they get into their hero persona. That’s also what I did with my red suit. I wear my red suit for special occasions, like when I’m on stage. People easily remember it and it became part of my personal brand identity.

Your signature style means more than the clothes you wear, though. Your signature style incorporates the color themes you use on Instagram, and the general feelings you evoke with your style. Is it luxurious? Sporty? Intellectual? Adventurous?

Your signature style also is formulated by the way you speak. Are you direct and authoritative? Or are you warm and bubbly? How about humorous and sassy? Choose a way to speak to your audience that matches your signature style and helps solidify it.

Again, you want to make very conscious choices about this. Base it off your unique superpower. I also suggest you make sure that your personal brand is congruent. Congruent in itself and congruent with your personality.

Ready To Supercharge Your Personal Brand?

You’ve probably learned a lot about creating a personal brand by reading this article. However, there is still much, much more to consider when it comes to building a powerful personal brand.

Since you are your personal brand, you should always be working on bettering yourself. If you become better, your personal brand becomes better, too. That’s why I always advocate for the importance of lifelong learning.

If you want to supercharge your personal brand and become a better version of yourself, now is the right time.

To celebrate the Lunar New Year, I’m offering a special discount in the Dan Lok Shop. Buy any two of my courses and get one for free. So, for example, you could get my Personal Branding Secrets, my YouTube Secrets and choose one more course for free. Use this package deal to educate yourself and create an even stronger personal brand.

Check out the special Buy 2 Get 1 Free store-wide discount HERE.

How To Get Out Of A Bad Business Partnership

February 3, 2020 by Dan Lok Leave a Comment

Feeling trapped by your business partner and looking for a way out? Learning how to get out of a bad business partnership can be difficult, especially when legally binding documents such as contracts are involved.

There’s no worse feeling than being stuck in a business contract with a bad business partner. At that point you’ll be dying to know how to get out of a bad business partnership.

At first, everything was going smoothly. You were on the same page, you had the same goals and it made sense for you to become business partners. But as time went on, small cracks began to appear. First it was a few emails that they didn’t reply to. Then it was an important business decision made without your approval. And slowly but surely, those cracks began getting larger and larger.

Now, it’s gotten to the point where you two are on completely different tangents, and you don’t know what to do. You feel like they are holding you and the business back. Perhaps it’s finally time for you to part ways with them and go on separate paths. If you’re wondering how to get out of a bad business partnership, let’s discuss a few tips to help you do so:

How a Bad Business Partner Creates Resentment and Kills Business Potential

Imagine that you are a tiger on an isolated mountaintop. You have not eaten for three days, and you are starving. But a few moments later, you see a nice looking deer that is within range of you. You begin stalking towards it slowly, careful not to make any noise to alert the deer of your presence.

As you get closer and closer, you realize there is another tiger on the opposite side of the mountain that is doing the same thing. That tiger is also slowly making their way towards the deer – your deer.

That tiger poses as a direct threat towards what was supposed to be your food source. Now you have a decision to make – you can either walk away and try to find another deer that isn’t contested, or charge towards the deer and hope you get to it before the other tiger does. But even if you manage to reach the deer first, you still run the risk of having to fight off the tiger in a bloody battle in order to claim your spoils.

The tigers represent you and your business partner, and the deer represents the business. In a fruitful business relationship, this does not happen. Both tigers would be looking to work together in order to capture the deer. They would split the food amongst themselves. That way, both of them can eat and neither one starves.

In a bad business partnership, you and your partner will end up fighting each other in order to gain control of the business. Even if you do reach the deer in time, you will have to put up a fight in order to keep it. And this struggle continues until one of you gives up and can’t fight any longer.

When a Prosperous Business Partnership Suddenly Turns Sour

Not surprisingly, most business partnerships do not work out. Statistics show that 70% of business partnerships ultimately end up in failure. More often than not, most business partnerships are between spouses or family members, which makes getting out of it even more complicated. This is due to a variety of reasons such as trust issues, lack of communication, and not drawing the line between business and personal life.

If things aren’t working out, you need to examine why. Why did the business partnership go downhill? Is it an issue between you and your partner, or something in the business? Getting clear about where you are coming from can save you a lot of headaches down the road and give you clarity about what exactly is not working out.

For example, if the issue is that you and your partner are incompatible, then there is no choice but to move on. That means either you or your partner has to leave the business, and go your own separate ways. Two tigers cannot share the same mountain, just as two incompatible business partners cannot run the same business.

One Mountain Cannot Contain Two Tigers. - Ancient Chinese Proverb Share on X

The Risks of Starting a Business With a Family Member or a Friend

Starting a business with a trusted family member or friend can seem like a very intriguing idea. However, when it comes to business there is more at stake than simply just losing the business. With business comes money, and money is widely seen as a controversial issue. If you are going to start a business with someone you know, ask yourself if you can handle the worst case scenario.

If for example your business partner is your spouse, you have to make a decision. Do you want to save the business, or do you want to save your marriage? In the situation where neither person wants to back down, making a decision like that is sometimes necessary. Either one of you has to accept that things are only going to get worse, unless someone surrenders. That means letting them take over the business and calling all the shots, whether or not you want them to.

In Dan’s own organization, his wife Jenny is a valuable business partner. However, as much as he values her insight and opinions, at the end of the day his word is final. They have come to an agreement that as chairman of The Dan Lok Organization, his decisions have more weight than anyone else’s. As a result, everyone in my organization understands that even if they think he is wrong, they have to respect and follow his decisions. Because of this rule, it makes it easy for everyone to come to an agreement, and keep our business lives separate from our personal lives.

When Your Business Partner is Strictly Business

If your business partner is your friend or family member, you have to take your relationship into account when making a decision to walk away. However, if your business partner isn’t closely related to you, then it simply comes down to a matter of business.

When you first started out as partners, you most likely had contracts and agreements in place. In most businesses, partners will divide up the company into shares, and allocate an even number of majority shares to each partner. That means you and your business partner could be holding onto 40% of the company, with 20% open to the public. If you want to get out of your business partnership, you will have to sell your shares to your partner. However, if you want to continue running the business and want your partner out of the picture, that means you will have to buy their shares.

Business is all about negotiation. In the scenario where both of you are in agreement – you want to own the company and they want to leave, your partner will state their price and the two of you will negotiate back and forth about how much their shares are worth. Once you’ve reached an agreement, simply sign the documentation, shake hands and you both continue on your way.

The worst case scenario when two business partners aren’t closely related, is that both of them want to run the company and neither is willing to budge. That means either you have to make them an offer they can’t refuse, or you make the decision to walk out.

Making The Difficult Choice Between Leaving The Business or Fighting For Control

If you and your business partner are not aligned – which is the most likely case considering you want to get out of the business partnership, you have to decide. Are you willing to make the sacrifice and leave the business, after you’ve poured in all your energy, time, sweat and money? Or will you stand your ground and stubbornly fight for control – and risk bringing the business down with you?

Fighting for control of the business is a game of chicken. It is like both of you being in two separate cars side by side, racing toward the finish line of bankruptcy. Whoever decides to hit the brakes first before crossing the finish line, loses control. The one who perseveres the longest, becomes the one and only chairman. In the process however, the business will have plummeted in value due to both of you fighting for control instead of managing the business. What’s left over are the scraps of a business you once had, and your job after regaining control will be to rebuild everything you have just lost. It may be a victory, but it will be a bitter one.

The other choice you can make, is to walk away. If you choose to walk away, realize that it doesn’t mean you have lost or given up. It simply means you recognize that fighting for control of the business with someone who is not willing to negotiate is not worth your time and energy. Your time that you would use to try and gain control, is much better used to pursue other more fruitful opportunities that await you. And you never know – in the future your partner may want to sell the business. That gives you an opportunity to buy back the business.

How a Royalty Agreement Allows Both Partners to Remain in Control

In situations where neither partner wants to budge, both parties can still own the business without having to step on each other’s toes.

For example, let’s say your business partner created the product or service and you managed the daily operations. After working together, you realize they aren’t that passionate about continuing to run the business, leaving you to do most of the work. After many heated arguments, your business partner declares they don’t want to give up the ownership or right to their own product. But without it, your business can’t continue functioning.

One way to allow them to remain the rightful owner while you run the daily operations of the business, is with a royalty agreement. A royalty agreement allows the creator of the product to earn royalties for every sale that is made. This way, your business partner can still profit from what was originally theirs, and you can continue running the business the way you want to. Now, instead of having arguments about who rightfully owns the business, you can focus on running and making it grow. It’s a win-win situation for everyone involved.

Always aim to create a win-win situation in business. Share on X

When You Can’t Reach an Agreement, Let Your Employees Make The Decisions

If you and your business partner can’t come to an agreement, the best thing may be to not agree at all. This is where the old saying “Agree to disagree” comes in. In situations where a compromise is not possible, but both partners understand that the business won’t succeed if they continue their arguments, a third party may be the best solution.

Instead of letting the company be run by either partner, you can delegate that task to your employees. Some of the most successful companies today are not run by the owner’s themselves, but by employees acting as the CEO or President. Because they aren’t personally invested in the company as much as the owner’s, they are able to provide a rational perspective and avoid any conflict that would arise from having just one person running the company. That’s why larger companies will have a board of directors, to allow decisions to be made only if there is a majority vote from many members.

By letting a middleman such as hiring a CEO to run the company, you and your partner can still own the business without needing to get involved in the internal affairs and conflict that would arise. Even if you and your partner hate each other’s guts, you won’t feel the same way towards a third party who is making decisions on your behalf.

If you’re struggling to get out of a bad business partnership, the best option may be to substitute yourself with an employee who is willing to take over your role and responsibilities.

Getting Out of a Bad Business Partnership: What’s Next?

Let’s say that despite trying to negotiate and work things out, you think the best thing to do is for you and your business partner to go separate ways. What do you do after that? Should you secretly check up on them every single day and hope that the business will fail without your guidance? Or should you be humble, accept that it’s just business and move on?

In the world of business, nothing is personal. Learning to let go after a setback or negative experience is just as important as learning how to build a business. If you carry around your past with you, it will only negatively affect you in the long run and harm you in any future endeavors you may undertake.

Keep your business life and your personal life separate. Letting your personal emotions cloud your thoughts and affect your judgement means you never really got out of a bad business partnership. You’re still with someone who’s toxic or doesn’t help you grow. And this time, that business partner is someone you won’t ever be able to walk away from: Yourself.

Learn From Your Failures: Don’t Be Haunted By Them

Dan’s executive director Desmond had a similar story. When he was younger, he became business partners with some Australian men that took advantage of him. At that time, he was young and eager and displayed a lot of passion for entrepreneurship. These are the kind of qualities that will get you ahead in life. But unfortunately, these are the same qualities that his business partners would later on take advantage of.

His business partners saw that he was young and eager, and used him for their own personal gain. He ran the company, putting in his time, sweat and energy and in a few years grew it to the million dollar mark. One day when he tried contacting his business partners for an important meeting, he felt something was wrong.

They wouldn’t reply to his phone calls. They wouldn’t reply to his emails. All the ways he previously contacted them before, no longer worked. At that moment, he realized that his usefulness had come to an end. The company was wildly profitable, and so were the owners.

Overnight, his business partners took everything and left him with nothing. He had nothing to show for all his years of hard work, except the tears that were shed as the realization of what had happened dawned on him.

A few years later, Dan would meet Desmond and listen to him tell me this exact story. And unlike his former business partners that sought to use him for their own personal gain and then leave when the time was right, Dan made sure Desmond knew that if they were to become business partners, they would be in it together.

A 4 Step Process To Getting Out of A Bad Business Partnership

If you’re stuck in one and want to know how to get out of a bad business partnership, here’s a 4 step process you can use.

1. Get Clear On What You Want Out Of It

At this point you are clear that you want nothing to do with your business partner any longer. You cannot work alongside them, or you want complete control of the business. The first step is to decide what you want.

Ask yourself what you want to salvage from the partnership. Do you want a cash severance for all the years of work you put into the business? Or do you want your business partner to step down and let you make the decisions? You need to get clear and stay clear on what you want after ending the business partnership. These should be things that are non-negotiable.

When you finally talk to your business partner about ending the partnership, you need to know exactly what you want or you will settle for a compromise. For example, you might want 60% ownership of the company, but after talking to your business partner they might somehow influence you to settle for a million dollar check. In reality you could have forgot that it’s not about the money, it’s about owning and operating a business.

Unless you know exactly what you want, you will waver in your convictions. Get clear on what you want out of the partnership, before you approach them to end it.

2. Look At Your Partnership Agreement And The Business

If you have a partnership agreement from before you two became business partners, review the document and familiarize yourself with what was written.

Look at what belongs to your partner, and what belongs to you. If you both own equal shares in the company and you want to buy them out, you’ll have to determine how much it’ll be worth. If your business is making $10M annually in revenue and your business partner is preventing it from going any higher, it might be worth it to simply buy them out for $4M. While it may be a hefty price to pay, it’ll allow you to grow the business you want to without any limitations.

If you can grow the business so that it brings in $12M the next year and $14M the year after that, you’ve essentially gotten rid of a problem that only costs you 2 years worth of revenue. Analyze how much each decision would cost and then implement it.

3. Create A Legally Binding Agreement For The Breakup

Once you’ve talked to your business partner and negotiated a deal that you both can agree on, it’s time to put it into writing.

Create a legally binding agreement that includes the details for how you two will dissolve the business partnership. The agreement should detail what the terms and conditions include – such as exact sum of money that will be disclosed to either party, the rights each party now holds, and what each party is or is not allowed to do afterwards.

The last thing you want is for them to steal all your insider business secrets and become a competitor. If you want to avoid this, make sure your agreement outlines it in the terms and conditions.

4. Go Your Separate Ways

Once you’ve discussed with your business partner what you each expect and have put it into writing, the last step is to go your own separate ways. You two no longer have anything to do with each other, and can do things the way you like.

Unlike a bad relationship where one partner might have cheated on the other, your former business partner is a professional. Getting out of a bad business partnership is just like becoming partners – it’s a mutual agreement between two parties.

Don’t make the mistake of labeling your former business partner as an enemy or someone to get back at. You are simply two people that weren’t able to make the business relationship work. No one is to blame, and you both can now focus on what it is that matters to you.

Your Failures Only Make You Stronger

Knowing how to get out of a bad business partnership is only the first step towards becoming a success. As a teenager Dan failed at 13 businesses but never gave up despite being $100,000 in debt. Once he discovered that he could earn a high income without needing to rely on starting businesses with other people, his entire world changed. If you want to learn more about the skill of High Ticket Closing, watch the free training series here.

LinkedIn Strategies To Master Networking

January 5, 2020 by Dan Lok Leave a Comment

Have you ever gone to a conference or networking event and you were an absolute wallflower? All you did was watch everyone else connect and making deals?

All the other people seemed to manage to take it to the next level. They took it outside the event and generated business together. But you were standing on the side – all alone?

Maybe you managed to make some connections. You got some business cards but you already know you won’t really use those. All you made were loose, superficial connections.

So now, you spent all this time preparing and actually being away from your business. But you are not really taking anything away from the event.

Going out there and spending time away from your business is an investment, however. That’s why you want an ROI – Return on investment.

What if I told you, you can resolve all of this by leveraging LinkedIn? Most professionals don’t do this, because these strategies are a bit unknown. But really, there are millions of professionals on LinkedIn right now. They are waiting for you to connect with.

Let’s make sure the next event you attend will be worth your time. Let me share the 3 Unknown LinkedIn Strategies To Master Networking.

LinkedIn Strategy #1: Before The Event

The LinkedIn strategy number one is to put some time into research before the event even happens. Find out who is attending and connect with them beforehand.

On the event page, you can usually find and attendance list. Go through the list, take the names and put them in the search engine of LinkedIn.

Connect with them directly. Message them and let them know that you are going to the same exact event and why you are going to be there.

That way, you have the first touch point before the event actually happens.

At the event, you can go up to the individual and re-introduce yourself. They might recognize you because you have already made that connection beforehand.

But even if they don’t recognize you, you’ve done your research. You’ve looked at their LinkedIn profile, check the jobs they have done and the projects they were on.

Usually, you find all of those points in their LinkedIn description or in the experience part of their LinkedIn profile. Remember some interesting facts about them. Ask them about specific projects they worked on in the past.

They will likely be surprised that you remembered. That is a great way to build a good relationship early on. It shows, that you actually care about the individual and what they are doing.

On LinkedIn, you can also check other people they are connected to. Simply scroll down the page and look at the recommended section. You also want to connect with those individuals and check what projects they’ve been on.

LinkedIn Strategy #2: Follow Up Sequence After the Event

Use this second LinkedIn strategy after the event.

So, you had that touch point with the individuals before the event. During the event, you introduced yourself to them. Now afterward, you want to make sure you connect with them again.

After all, you want to take the connection to the next level. This is to make sure the connections you made have actual value for you and the other person.

The 7 Touch Point Theory

A touch point is whenever you interact with another human.

Have you heard about the 7 Touch Point Theory? This theory says that you have to interact with a person 7 times to build trust and rapport. By the seventh touch point, you are usually ready to deepen the relationship.

This theory is often used in sales. The idea is, that a lead has to interact with a brand seven times before they consider buying from them. But the principals are equally powerful for building business relationships.

Touch points can happen through direct interaction – for example, if you message the person directly. But, it also helps to have some indirect touch points. First, you connect with them on LinkedIn. Afterward, you post high-quality articles or other content on your profile.

Make sure others see your posts frequently to generate more interactions with them.

Ideally, the individual and you have different forms of touch points over time. Obviously, you don’t want to spam them with messages. That would more likely scare them away from you.

Some experts argue that the ideal number of touch points might actually be 13 and not seven.

Most people get a lot of messages and see ads all over different social media platforms. That’s why it might take more than seven interactions to build that trust and rapport.

Once the relationship has deepened, you are ready to take it to the next level. That can mean you get a sale or form a business partnership. Sometimes it means you get an official introduction with another person they know.

LinkedIn Strategy #3: Be a Super-Connector

LinkedIn strategy number three is being a super-connector.

What is a super-connector? It’s a person who might not have any direct value to give, but they have indirect value – which is their network.

Let’s say, for example, that you met John, who has a Facebook ad agency. John needs a copywriter. If you know someone who is an excellent copywriter, you may go ahead and introduce those two.

When you make that connection you aren’t directly adding value – as you are not the copywriter yourself. But, by making that connection you added value to both parties. In the future, they are more likely to trust you because you built that rapport.

You have given value to both individuals and you are now a super-connector that they both know and trust. They will think about you for any future business references.

What is Rapport?

Rapport is basically an emotional connection between people. Sometimes rapport happens naturally.

This happens when you get this feeling that you and the other person simply get along well. The conversation is in the flow and there are mutual trust and understanding.

If you meet a new person you can make sure to build rapport. Even if the other individual and you don’t have that much in common.

Usually, you would want to break the ice. Talking to a new person can be stressful to some, so pick an easy and safe topic for the first conversation.

If you’ve followed LinkedIn strategy number one and actually contacted them before the event, this will be even easier. Simply introduce yourself again and fall back on your research.

During the conversation, you want to be an active listener and show empathy. Keep eye contact for approximately 60% of the conversation.

An expert tip for rapport building is to mirror the other person’s body language subtlety. You can’t do this too obviously though as the other person might feel ridiculed.

So, make the best out of the touch points you have during events and follow up with your LinkedIn strategies.

How To Become A Super-Connector

Maybe these LinkedIn strategies sound valuable to you but you feel you aren’t a super-connector yet?

If you attend conferences or networking events regularly you will quite naturally become a person with a huge network.

As it grows you will get to know more and more people who are experts in their field. Those are valuable contacts you can refer to later.

Use LinkedIn to organize all your business contacts. That makes connecting others easier too.

The three top tips to becoming a super-connector fast:

You want to attend events often and always show up when you said you will be there. Don’t reach out to people on LinkedIn and introduce yourself if you don’t plan to show up. It’s a waste of time.
Always follow up and keep old contacts fresh. Individuals want to feel cared about. Show them that they are more than a number on your LinkedIn profile.
When you connect two other individuals, always do so with a clear idea in mind. Make sure the connections you form are actually valuable for both parties. Never make a connection just for the sake of making a connection.

Become A World-Class Connector

Do you still struggle with confidently speaking to people, influencing them and persuading them? Is your fear of public speaking interfering with your ability to make a strong impression in networking events or prospecting calls? Do you want advanced ways to skyrocket your confidence so you can get more clients and retain them? There is a way, if you’re willing to put in the work.

To elevate your life and career success, you must become a master closer, negotiator, speaker and connector all-in-one. That’s how you get competitive advantage and stand out from the rest. To accelerate your growth, click here to get The Rainmaker Collection now.

How To Use The Process Of High Ticket Closing In Your Business

December 17, 2019 by Dan Lok Leave a Comment

High ticket closing is the one skill that an executive, entrepreneur or business owner unquestionably needs if they want to take the success of their business to the next level. The process of high ticket closing, once mastered, can dramatically increase your business revenue, while improving customer relationships and client retention.

Are you confident in what you have to offer? Do you believe that your business is built for success, and that you’re meant for greatness?

Greatness may be coursing through your veins, but it’s unlikely you’ll reach your full potential without mastering the process of high-ticket closing.

Greatness may be coursing through your veins, but it’s unlikely you’ll reach your full potential without mastering the process of high-ticket closing. Share on X

You can be the best in the business at what you do, but if you don’t know how to close, your career might come to a standstill. Regardless of your expertise or your capabilities, without proper training on closing high-ticket clients, you’ll be limited in how far you can go.

Billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk once said, “I think it’s very important to have a feedback loop, where you’re constantly thinking about what you’ve done and how you could be doing it better.”

What could you be doing better? For many people, closing is a skill they could definitely benefit from getting better at. Truthfully, however, few people can become great at closing without proper training.

Acquire This Skill and Be Set For Life

Closing is an art, and unfortunately, many people still use old school sales techniques that no longer work. There’s a huge difference between selling and closing. What’s the difference between a salesperson and a closer? For starters, a closer can ‘wow’ their prospect and intrigue them, but a salesperson tends to push prospects away.

A closer leans back and exudes confidence, while a salesperson leans forward and exudes desperation. Once you master the process of high ticket closing, you will find that each sale comes more naturally, and the sales experience becomes more enjoyable for both you and the prospect.

Setting Your Business on a Growth Trajectory

Growth is likely one of the core values of your business. Your business’s future growth potential, however, relies on your ability to close. In fact, if you are running a growth-driven business, you should be motivated to develop advanced closing skills. Why? Because high ticket closing is more than just a beneficial skill. High-ticket closing is a powerful weapon that holds the potential to make your competition obsolete.

Part of your business strategy should be mastering the art of closing. Why? Because scaling your business requires the implementation of and mastery of certain processes. High ticket closing is one of those fundamental processes.

The value of each customer you acquire goes up when you start selling your offer at high-ticket prices. Share on X

What happens if you have competitors who offer a product or service that is just as good as yours, or better than yours, but they fall short when it comes to closing? They’ll likely lose the customer to you, especially if you know how to close.

The value of each customer you acquire goes up when you start selling your offer at high-ticket prices.

Many business owners also fall short by pricing their product or service too low, because they’re not confident they could close the offer at a premium price. There are clients out there, however, who are willing to pay double or triple what you’re currently charging – especially if your offer can solve their problem or meet their unique needs.

What Are You Looking For in a Client?

You probably spend a lot of time ensuring that you’re meeting the needs of your clients. You check off boxes that indicate that you’re what your prospective clients are looking for. But what about you? What are you looking for in a client?

Chances are, your ideal client is high-ticket client who is willing to pay top dollar for your services. High-ticket clients give you the gift of time. When you start closing upscale clients who pay premium prices without even blinking at the price tag, you end up making more money working less.

In addition to clients who have money, you also want clients who have a need for your product or service, and trust you to fulfill that need.

When you start thinking about what you’re looking for in a client, you’ll realize how important mastering the process of high ticket closing is. You see, the type of client you’re looking for, is the type of client everyone is looking for. So you’re not the only one trying to close them. You could, however, gain the competitive advantage required to be the one who succeeds in closing them.

Master the Process of High Ticket Closing

The world’s highest-paid, all-star athletes commit to peak performance and hire the highest-caliber coaches to maintain their elite status. Business all-stars must prepare the same way.

It won’t be easy to master the process of high ticket closing. If it was easy, everyone would be closing high-ticket offers instead of slumming it by cold-calling unqualified prospects or charging low prices to get the sale.

Statistically, it takes around 18 dials to connect with a buyer, and only 23.9% of sales emails are opened. As a trained closer, however, you can rise above statistics. You’ll be seen as an anomaly; an exception to the rule.

You should expect that learning the secrets of high ticket closing will be challenging, expensive, and will require resilience. Not everyone will have what it takes, but the ones that do will master the art of closing and gain an esoteric advantage over their competition.

How a High Closing Ratio Can Change Your Life

When you become a master at the process of high ticket closing, you can expect a high closing ratio to be one of your claims to fame. A high closing ratio doesn’t just mean you’ll make more money. It also means you’ll no longer be exhausted or drained. You’ll have more energy, more free time, and more confidence.

A high closing ratio will be transformative for you, because you’ll no longer feel overworked and underpaid. Share on X

A high closing ratio will be transformative for you, because you’ll no longer feel overworked and underpaid. You’ll finally be making a real income by working smarter, not harder. The hard work is in the preparation. Learning the process of high ticket closing is part of that preparation.

Are You Ready For a Personal and Professional Transformation?

If you understand that success requires training, hard work and preparation, you might be ready to join my exclusive mentorship program. Members of HTC Platinum will go through a personal and professional transformation. Applicants that are accepted will receive high-caliber business coaching, exclusive mentorship, a master’s closing script, and live roleplay practice sessions with expert feedback. What you’ll learn as a member of HTC Platinum could transform your professional life, and arm you with advanced business acumen that changes your career.

As far as your personal life goes, members of this elite community report coming out of it with dramatically increased self-confidence and self-motivation.

You won’t apply for my exclusive program unless you want success badly enough. If you want to gain the esoteric wisdom of high-ticket closing and set yourself up for success, reserve your spot in HTC Platinum today.

How To Successfully Conduct An Elevator Pitch

October 24, 2019 by Dan Lok

Do you know how to conduct an elevator pitch, if you unexpectedly find yourself face-to-face with a high-ticket client? Imagine that your dream client gets into the same elevator as you, just by chance. It’s your lucky day, because you are alone in an elevator with a powerful decision-maker. This is it. This is your golden opportunity.

You would never want an opportunity like this to go to waste, all because you froze up, didn’t know what to say to them, and didn’t know how to conduct an elevator pitch. When you actually visualize your dream client getting into the same elevator as you, by pure luck, it’s understandable why the concept of the elevator speech is so fundamental.

Remember that ‘luck’ happens when preparation meets opportunity. This expression is attributed to the Roman philosopher Seneca, and reminds us that we create our own luck.

By memorizing an irresistible elevator pitch, you’re ensuring that the opportunity won’t go to waste. You’re ensuring that bumping into an influential person in an elevator will be lucky, rather than a tragic, lost opportunity.

What Exactly is an Elevator Pitch?

An elevator pitch is a short description of an idea, product, service or company that explains the concept in a clear and concise way, so that the listener can understand it in a short period of time. A captivating elevator speech should entice the listener by overviewing a problem they have and do not want, or a result they want, but have not yet achieved.

Short and sweet, elevator pitches are nothing if not persuasive. In essence, an elevator pitch is a compelling summary or overview of your offer. Think of your elevator pitch as the most important bullet points of your sales pitch.

An elevator pitch is a short and compelling summary of your offer. Think of your elevator pitch as the most important bullet points of your sales pitch. Share on X

The original term stemmed from actual sales pitches taking place in elevators, back when catching a Hollywood executive in an elevator was a golden opportunity for the likes of a hopeful screenwriter. Today, the term is used for any sales pitch delivered quickly, concisely and effectively.

A common myth is that elevator pitches must be only 30 – 60 seconds long. An elevator pitch doesn’t actually have to be quite that short. However, it’s certainly not a bad idea to have a 60 second version memorized – just in case you just happen to ride the elevator with a top executive.

Is it possible to have an impact on someone in under 60 seconds? Absolutely. You can be remembered by someone based on a short and compelling elevator pitch.

Where Did the Term “Elevator Pitch” Come From?

It’s popular belief that the term “elevator pitch” comes from the studio days of Hollywood, when aspiring screenwriters knew they might catch an unsuspecting Hollywood executive on an elevator ride. There, with the decision-maker trapped within the confines of an elevator, the screenwriter would quickly pitch their idea during a 30 second elevator ride, hoping to make an impression in a very limited amount of time.

There are, however, other origin stories for the elevator pitch. One commonly-known origin story is that of Ilene Rosenzweig and Michael Caruso, two Vanity Fair journalists in the ’90s. Caruso was a senior editor at Vanity Fair and, according to Rosenzweig, he was always attempting to pitch story ideas to the Editor-In-Chief. However, he could never pin her down long enough to pitch her, because she was so busy. In order to pitch his story ideas, Caruso would join the Editor-In-Chief during her elevator rides. This was one of the few occasions where she would actually listen to him. Thus, the concept of an elevator pitch was created.

Essentially, the concept of an elevator pitch originated because high-level executives at companies (the decision-makers who you want to pitch yourself to) are notoriously tight on time. There may not be many opportunities to get their time or attention, but an elevator ride is a window of opportunity. Pitching a busy executive during an elevator ride is a wise way of finding the time to deliver your pitch.

It Might Not Happen in an Elevator

You need an elevator pitch ready at all times. You literally never know where you’re going to meet your next high-ticket client. It could be in an elevator, but of course elevator pitches don’t always take place in elevators. It could happen at a networking event, it could happen on a train, you might meet a prospect at an open-bar mixer before a conference, or you could even meet your next client in line at Starbucks.

Imagine for a moment that you’re in line at Starbucks. It’s the morning rush. Two businessmen are behind you in the line-up. You can’t help but overhear them discussing their need for an excellent SEO copywriter. You just happen to be an SEO copywriter. That just so happens to be your high income skill. You can turn around, tell those businessmen that you couldn’t help overhearing, and pitch them on why they should hire you. But if you’re going to pitch them, you’d better have a solid elevator pitch memorized.

The Modern Day Elevator Pitch

An elevator pitch is not a new concept, yet it’s still relevant and widely used. The reason the term “elevator pitch” is still used today, is because it’s important to have a very short version of your sales pitch memorized, in case you’re lucky enough to get even just one minute of an important executive’s time.

Because the short version of your sales pitch should not be much longer than the average elevator ride, the term “elevator pitch” has stuck around, and is used when referring to the quick version of your pitch.

This type of quick sales speech is not only used by modern business people and high-ticket closers, it’s also used in interviews. When you sell yourself in an interview, that is essentially an elevator pitch about yourself. An elevator pitch for an interview is a short sales pitch on why you’re the best candidate for the job.

Today’s elevator pitches are also used by students. If you are a student networking at a career fair, you might memorize a short “elevator pitch” that provides an overview of your skills, experience, passions and goals. That way, a company’s representative will be more likely to remember you, and put you in touch with HR.

Generally speaking, a modern elevator pitch is a condensed version of a sales pitch, used by entrepreneurs and people in business, with the object of obtaining a longer sales meeting.

An elevator pitch is a condensed version of one's sales pitch, with the object of obtaining a longer sales meeting. Share on X

In her book Small Message, Big Impact: The Elevator Speech Effect, Terri L. Sjodin explains how an elevator ride is a metaphor for an unexpected window of opportunity where one does not have much time to act. In her book, Sjodin explains,

An elevator ride is a metaphor for unexpected access to someone you want to sell on some idea, project or initiative.

An elevator ride is a metaphor for an unexpected window of opportunity. Share on X

The Difference Between an Elevator Pitch and a Sales Pitch

Yes, an elevator pitch is a form of sales pitch, but there are key differences between the two. A sales pitch typically occurs when a lead has expressed interest and agreed to a meeting to hear more about your offer. An elevator pitch is the short and compelling introduction of your offer that gets a prospect interested.

It is often because of an impressive elevator pitch, that a prospect agrees to a sales meeting where you will deliver a more in-depth sales pitch. While elevator pitches are more casual and conversational, a sales pitch is typically longer and more formal.

The Anatomy of a Great Elevator Pitch

A successful elevator pitch will be short, clear, direct, and uncomplicated. The message should be extremely clear, as should the value proposition. What makes you different or better than other options out there? Below is the anatomy of a great elevator pitch:

1. The Hook: The hook draws the listener in, and should happen right away, within the first sentence or two of your elevator pitch. The hook can be a question, such as “Have you ever wondered how certain businesses similar to yours have two, three, or four times as many social media followers as you, even though they haven’t been around as long as you?”

2. The Problem: The goal is to lay out a common problem that you have a solution for, hoping that the listener will resonate with this problem because it’s one they are currently experiencing.

3. The Value Proposition: Your value proposition, or your USP (unique selling point) is a clear explanation of how your product or service solves the problem in a unique or better way. You need to be certain of the specific value you offer. If you have a special skill, know how to explain why your unique skill is so valuable. What is your superpower? If you have a special, highly sought-after skill, then build your pitch around that.

4. The Benefits: In one or two sentences, briefly lay out the benefits that come with solving this problem. For example, you could briefly provide some statistics on how social media followers convert to customers.

5. The Foot in the Door: Don’t forget to ask for their contact information so that you can schedule a meeting to discuss your offer in more detail. Remember to end your elevator pitch with your foot in the door. You could say something like, “Since you’re interested, why don’t we schedule a meeting?” Another option is to ask them a question it’d be hard to say no to, such as, “I’d love to rewrite one of your ads for free, just to show you what I can do. How does that sound?” In general, the goal of every elevator pitch should be to set up a time to talk in more detail, and to get the contact information of the person you pitch.

Other Key Components of a Successful Elevator Pitch

What are some other qualities of a successful elevator pitch? For one thing, you need to know how to properly introduce yourself. You’ll start by introducing yourself, with your full name. Then, provide some brief background. Say something like, “I’ve been an SEO copywriter for 10 years.”

Ask questions. You don’t want to talk at someone. Elevator pitches should have a conversational, informal, and easy-going feel to them. Be sure to sound natural, not scripted.

Building rapport within a short pitch can be achieved various ways, for example through compliments. Compliment them with comments such as, “I am a huge fan of your brand” or even, “That’s a great suit you have on.”

Elevator pitches are best delivered in person. Most people want to hire someone they like and have met in person. Hiring a faceless candidate who submitted a resume online is less ideal.

Enunciate your words and speak slowly, because they are hearing your offer for the first time. That means you can’t talk too fast, as you have to give them a chance to process what you are saying.

It’s key that both your verbal and non-verbal communication skills are on point. Why does this matter? Because it’s not just what you say in an elevator pitch that matters. It also matters how you deliver the pitch. Your tone of voice should be strong, upbeat and confident during an elevator pitch. A stand-up comedian could deliver the exact same joke to two different audiences in two different ways, and only make one of those audiences laugh. It’s all in the delivery. If you have personality in your voice, people will pay more attention. If you speak in monotone and you don’t sound upbeat or excited, people will tone you out. Now, let’s discuss non-verbal communication.

Body Language: What You Need to Know About Non-Verbal Communication

Non-verbal communication such as your body language, can make a world of difference in how your elevator pitch is received.

Body language is a strong indicator of one’s confidence. If you stand up straight, stand tall, and stand with good posture, you’ll appear more confident during your elevator pitch. Why does this matter? Because if you don’t seem confident in yourself, your prospect won’t be inclined to feel confident about you, either.

Don’t forget about other non-verbal cues that improve your overall delivery, such as eye contact, hand gestures, and a nice big smile.

Your eye movements matter, too. Looking downwards or off to the side reflects low self-confidence. That’s why your best bet is to maintain eye contact during the delivery of your pitch.

Many people argue that non-verbal communication such as one’s body language, is even more important than verbal communication.

Albert Mehrabian, who was a Psychology professor at the University of California, was known for his extensive research on non-verbal communication and its importance. In his popular book Silent Messages, Mehrabian concluded that prospects base their assessments of credibility on factors other than the words spoken verbally by the salesperson.

Build Your Pitch Around a Niche Area of Focus

The more narrow or niche your area of focus is, the more unique your service is. This is a good thing. People are more likely to remember you and the service you provide, if it’s very niche, and narrow in focus.

Many people mistakenly think they will miss out on opportunities and lose clients by being too narrow. But it’s actually the opposite. Being narrow positions you as an expert. They will have that “ah hah!” moment feeling that you offer exactly what they’re looking for. And when that happens, price is not typically an issue.

Let’s imagine a relationship coach’s elevator pitch as an example. A relationship coach who says “I help people solve their relationship problems” won’t get very many clients. But if they say, “I help married couples on the brink of divorce save their marriage and rediscover their love for each other”, they will get more clients. Being an expert on one specific thing holds tremendous marketing power.

How to Memorize Your Elevator Speech

Practice, practice, practice. Rehearse your elevator pitch to friends, family, or by yourself in front of your mirror. Repetition is how you memorize a speech. Practicing it out loud helps you memorize it, too. While you practice your elevator speech, you can also change it, modify it, and continue to test it out. Just like a stand-up comedian tests his jokes in front of a live audience to see which jokes get the most laughs, you can test different versions of it with friends.

When you set out to memorize an elevator pitch, you’ll first need to write it out. How long should an elevator pitch be, on paper? It should definitely be less than one page long. Aim for about half a page, or a maximum of 250 words.

While you’re rehearsing your speech, get some feedback from friends and family about your non-verbal and verbal communication skills. Since elevator speeches are a form of public speaking, ask yourself if you are confident when it comes to public speaking. If not, continue to practice your elevator pitch on real people, so that you can get used to the idea of public speaking. Since your elevator pitch won’t always be delivered to just one person, and can sometimes be delivered to a group of people, it’s crucial that you develop some public speaking skills.

Elevator Pitch Mastery

A great elevator pitch is a key component of a first impression. Introducing yourself at a business event could lead into an opportunity to deliver an elevator speech to a powerful decision-maker. How can you become a master at conversation, so that when you conduct an elevator pitch, you’ll successfully make a great impression? My Perfect Closing Script is a great resource to use when crafting a compelling elevator pitch. By reading my exclusive Perfect Closing Script first, you’ll have an easier time when you write and memorize your perfect elevator pitch.

How To Negotiate A Retainer Fee With A New Client

August 29, 2019 by Dan Lok Leave a Comment

Are you a freelancer or independent contractor who is currently only closing clients on a per-project basis?

Do your clients only pay you once you complete a project, and are they often late paying your invoices?

If so, it’s time to learn how to negotiate a retainer agreement with your clients. I believe that closing clients on a monthly retainer fee is the best business model for freelancers, or anyone trying to succeed in the gig economy.

Closing clients on a monthly retainer fee is the best business model for freelancers, or anyone trying to succeed in the gig economy. Share on X

Retainer contracts are formal, written agreements made between a freelancer, consultant or independent contractor and their client.

A retainer agreement means that the client is agreeing to pay for your services in advance, thus retaining your services.

A retainer fee is a fixed fee that the client agrees to pay based on their anticipated need for your services, and the anticipated volume of work.

The fixed fee is either a single advance payment, a recurring monthly fee, or an annual fee.

The benefit of successfully negotiating a retainer agreement for the freelancer is obvious: Guaranteed, predictable, and consistent income that they can count on.

It’s not just the freelancer who prefers being paid via a retainer fee. Many clients prefer retainers, too. Why? Because it means they’ll secure your services.

Essentially, the client is securing your commitment with a retainer fee.

Your clients are promising advance payment in order to hold your services for a given period of time.

Why would a client want to pay in advance to guarantee your dedication to them? It’s usually because you have a highly sought-after, in-demand skill – or it’s because you’re great at what you do.

If the client perceives your services or your specific skills to be in high demand, they will be motivated to sign a retainer agreement to ensure they don’t lose you to a different client who was willing to sign one.

That’s why people with high income skills are successful at closing retainer contracts.

Should You Propose a Retainer Agreement to New Clients?

If you have a few clients who currently give you steady work each month, it’s completely appropriate to propose a monthly retainer fee. But what about new clients? You might feel nervous asking a new client to sign a retainer agreement.

Freelancers often feel more comfortable proposing retainer agreements to existing clients with whom they’ve already built a good rapport, and clients who already regularly request their services.

It’s these clients who are more likely to see the value of formalizing an agreement and developing a long-term partnership.

New clients, however, might be less likely to agree to retain your services, since they haven’t yet seen how skilled you are.

But is it still possible to convince a new client to sign a retainer agreement? Absolutely.

I’m going to give you a few tips for negotiating a retainer agreement with a new client, as well as some examples of retainer agreements and how they work. But first, let’s discuss some of the main benefits for clients who sign these types of agreements.

Benefits For Clients Who Agree On A Retainer Fee

If you’re going to close a client on signing a retainer agreement, you should be able to articulate the benefits to them. So, what are some of the benefits of retaining your services?

Think of the retainer contract as a down payment for future services. The retainer secures your services, and your loyalty. As I said earlier, this is beneficial if your skills are in high demand.

The retainer secures your services, and your loyalty. Share on X

The benefits for your clients who retain your services are obvious if you really think about it. I want you to imagine that you are a high income copywriter. Copywriting is your gift, and you have therefore decided to pursue a career as a freelance copywriter.

If a potential client knows they’ll be using your services a lot, because they often need sales newsletters written, brochures written, and press releases written, what should that client do?

The answer is obvious: Put you on retainer. This way, they won’t have to contact you to get a quote every time they need something written.

Instead, they can simply pick up the phone, call you, and get you going on writing it for them right away. You’re on retainer, so of course you’ll get going right away, as soon as they need something written up.

It’s easier for you, and it’s also easier for the client.

You can position your monthly retainer as a necessary recurring payment to ensure that the client gets your time, easy access to your services, your dedication and your ongoing loyalty.

For example, if one of their competitors wants to hire you, you’re less likely to be swayed if you’re already on retainer with your client.

You can position your monthly retainer as a necessary recurring payment to ensure that the client gets your time, easy access to your services, your dedication and your ongoing loyalty. Share on X

Preventing talent poaching is a real motivator for clients to sign a formal agreement.

If your client is automatically paying you a monthly retainer fee, you will be much less likely to be poached by one of their competitors.

You can offer your clients extra services that you reserve for your retainer clients, such as a few hours of consulting each month, monitoring services if they have active marketing campaigns that need tracking, media outreach on their behalf, and more.

Your clients will also get the most value from your services if they use them every month on an ongoing basis, and monthly retainer agreements encourage clients to do this.

Benefits For Freelancers Getting Paid Via Retainer

A monthly or annual retainer fee is the ideal way to get paid if you want to succeed in the freelance economy, for many reasons.

First of all, it’s guaranteed income, and it’s often set up as guaranteed steady income.

This reduces the uncertainty when it comes to cash flow, budgeting, and your monthly income.

Additionally, it’ll make your life easier when you no longer have to remember to invoice your clients, and it’s also nice to no longer have to chase clients for payment.

Using retainer agreements as your payment model will help you sleep better at night. It’s a very comfortable and safe position to be in as a freelancer.

Once you start using retainer agreements as your payment model, you’ll wonder how you ever survived without them. You’ll wonder why you didn’t think of this sooner. Share on X

If you used to have a traditional 9-5 job, you probably took for granted the predictability of automatically getting paid every two weeks.

The reality is that most freelancers don’t know when they’re going to get paid for their work. It’s simply not very predictable when you’re a freelancer. But retainer agreements change everything.

With retainer fees in place, predictable payment is a perk the freelancer reclaims.

With a retainer agreement and automated payments in place, you’ll become more motivated to dedicate your time to your clients. It encourages the client not to go dormant on you, and it also encourages you not to go dormant on them.

Financial freedom is the number one benefit of having clients on retainer agreements.

No longer will you have thousands of dollars in unpaid invoices, putting limits on the way you live your life while you wait to get paid.

No longer will you be scrambling to get invoices paid in time for your rent and other fixed monthly expenses to come out of your account.

If you need funds to book a vacation or make a big purchase, you’ll already have those funds available, and you won’t have to wait to get paid first.

Once you have that financial freedom gained from securing a few retainer clients, your life will get much easier, and your business will grow.

Let’s say you have three clients on retainer. All three of them pay you an agreed-upon lump sum on the 1st of each month.

One of them pays you $2,000 per month, one of them pays you $3,000 per month, and one of them pays you $5,000 per month.

You now have $10,000 per month of guaranteed income.

Receiving these lump sum payments each and every month in the form of retainer fees, exactly when you are expecting them, helps you budget and grow your business.

Financial freedom is the number one benefit of having clients on retainer agreements. No longer will you have thousands of dollars in unpaid invoices, putting limits on the way you live your life while you wait to get paid. Share on X

Which Clients are Good Candidates for Retainer Agreements?

If a client will indisputably have an ongoing need for your services, then they’re a great candidate for a retainer agreement.

Your client might have a blog that needs new content on a weekly basis, social media accounts that need daily post, monthly marketing initiatives that need to be written and monitored, or a bi-weekly newsletter that must be compelling and engaging.

Any client who is looking to grow their business, and needs monthly upkeep and monthly services in order to grow their business is a good candidate for a retainer agreement.

As long as the client is willing to set aside a certain budget – a fixed monthly fee – for the purpose of meeting their growth goals, they should be open to paying an ongoing retainer fee.

If a client will indisputably have an ongoing need for your services, then they’re a great candidate for a retainer agreement. Share on X

How To Negotiate a Retainer with New Clients: Why Should They Pre-Pay Before Seeing Results?

With new clients, you’ll have to be able to intelligibly communicate your value in order to convince them to pre-pay before seeing results. Perhaps you have client testimonial videos you can show your new clients, or reference letters from past clients.

It is possible to convince a new client to sign a retainer agreement, but first you’ll have to make your client feel comfortable and confident.

To make your client feel comfortable with this type of payment model, you’ll have to have established some rapport with them first, either via phone conversations or a couple of in-person meetings.

You’ll also have to exude confidence and clearly lay out what your value is. What will you be offering them each month? What will your monthly deliverables be?

A big reason why some clients are willing to pre-pay before seeing results is if your specific set of skills are not only in demand, but also exactly what they’re looking for.

You can explain to a potential client that your services are in high demand, and because of the limited space in your schedule, you’re currently only taking on retainer clients.

Before you try to close a new client on a retainer agreement, take some time to identify what some of their current pain points and challenges are.

From there, you should clearly communicate exactly how your services can help solve these problems, and why.

Types of Services That Would Be Most Efficient Under a Retainer

There are certain freelancers who have an easier time landing retainer clients than others because the service they offer is a type of service that would be most efficient under a retainer agreement. This is typical because it is a service that requires ongoing work or ongoing maintenance.

Social Media Managers, for example, offer a service that requires consistent monthly effort.

A monthly retainer would make sense because they need to post several times per week on their client’s social media pages, monitor social media marketing campaigns, and consistently engage with the community to attract followers.

Content Writers who write for company blogs on a freelance basis could easily get retainer agreements signed since most of their clients require a certain number of blog posts per month on an ongoing basis.

If the client knows their blog needs a set number of posts per month, they won’t mind retaining their writer’s services if that writer consistently produces great content.

Copywriting is another service that typically requires ongoing work each month, and is therefore well-suited for retainer agreements. High income copywriters offer various services that are required on an ongoing basis.

These services include writing advertising copy, press releases, newsletters, direct copy for marketing materials, copy for brochures, and website copy.

Website maintenance services are also required monthly, on an ongoing basis, which is why many clients wouldn’t argue that it would make sense to retain the services of their website specialist.

Web developers often are retained in case emergency website services are required to quickly get their client’s website back up and running, or to fix website issues quickly.

Those are just a few examples of services that work well on retainer.

How Much Should a Retainer Fee Be?

How much is a retainer, on average? It depends on what service you are offering.

Freelancers with a high income skill such as website development, Instagram marketing or SEO copywriting could charge their clients a monthly retainer fee of $10,000 per month.

If you’re not quite at an expert level in your industry yet, you might not be able to charge $10,000 per month yet.

How much should your retainer fee be if your skills are good, but not at the expert level yet?

A good rule of thumb is to charge at least $3,000 per month for your retained clients because this way you’ll only need 3 clients to sign retainer agreements in order to earn a six-figure income.

Your goal should be to develop high income skills so that each client is paying a $10,000 per month retainer fee.

Another option is to offer your clients different pricing tiers, where the retainer agreement starts at $3,000 per month, but can be as high as $10,000 per month depending on which tier your client chooses.

Pricing tiers give your client options to add on services that they find valuable.

Let’s take the Social Media Manager’s services as an example.

Tier 1 for $3,000 per month might include content creation, graphic design, daily scheduled posts, and strategic social media promotion.

2nd Tier for $5,000 per month would include everything tier 1 offered, as well as daily community engagement, strategic growth strategies, and marketing campaign monitoring.

Tier 3 for $10,000 per month would include everything tier 1 and 2 offered, as well as influencer outreach, strategic collaborations, partnership agreements, video creation and daily community management.

Your goal should be to develop high income skills so that each client is paying a $10,000 per month retainer fee. Share on X

Common Objections to Retainer Fees

What should you do if a potential client is interested in working with you but hesitant to start things off with a retainer agreement?

The first thing you want to do is find out what their objection is.

Is it about the money? Are they hesitant to fork over that much money in advance, or worried about the high price?

Or, is it about value? Are they unsure of the value, because they haven’t worked with you before? Or, is it about results, and they aren’t sure they’ll get the results they’re hoping for?

If it’s about the money, do not offer them a discount.

Some clients might mistakenly assume that signing a retainer agreement comes with a discount on your services.

As a skilled consultant or contractor, however, you should never offer a discount.

You can offer a special package of different services, but don’t use the word ‘discount’. Offering a discount will only cheapen the perceived value of what you are offering.

Add value to your offer instead of offering a discount. They will still see this as getting a good deal, but you’ve avoided using language that cheapens your offer.

There are many ways you can add value to your offer, for example by offering additional services.

A freelance content writer, for example, is suddenly more valuable if they offer SEO-friendly content and add their SEO strategies to their writing offer.

When the client starts thinking about the value they’ll be getting, the money they’re spending suddenly starts to matter less. Share on X

You can also say to the client, “Are you looking for a good price, or are you looking for results? My services are in demand, because very few people are as good as I am. So if you don’t want to sign an agreement with me, it’s perfectly ok, but I’m only taking on retainer clients at the moment.”

If the client says they are hesitant because they haven’t seen what kind of results you could produce, my advice is to offer them a trial period.

Not a free trial, because you should never give anything away for free. A trial can involve a one-time payment for the completion of a certain task or project. If the trial goes well, why wouldn’t the client want to continue?

In general, if a client has objections to this payment model, it’s your job to keep reminding them of the various benefits.

Focus on benefits to the client, such as the fact that you’ll now have a set number of hours per month that will be dedicated to them, and they’ll have guaranteed access to your services.

How To Close Clients on The Idea of a Retainer Agreement

How do you sell your client on the payment model of a retainer agreement? Should you propose the idea of a retainer fee via email, in person, or over the phone?

Closing clients in person isn’t always possible, especially if your client lives in a different city.

Don’t worry about that, though. The best way to close clients on paying you via retainer is to first introduce the idea over the phone. Then you will follow up with an email.

Below is a step-by-step guide for closing your client on a retainer agreement:

Step 1: Schedule a phone call with the decision maker. (There is no point even talking about the idea of a retainer agreement to anyone except for the decision maker.)

Step 2: Before you get on the phone with the decision maker, prepare an answer to the question… “How does a retainer agreement work?”

Step 3: Once you’re on the call with the decision maker… The first thing you’ll ask them is how much work they anticipate over the next 3-6 months. Ask what their goals are for the next 3-6 months. Help them estimate the volume of work that will be required in order to accomplish these goals.

Step 4: Suggest additional monthly services that could be of value to the client… In addition to what they’ve already mentioned they’ll need. Explain that you could offer these services as well.

Step 5: Tell the client that you’ll come up with a flat monthly fee that will cover all these services. Explain that the fee will cover the anticipated volume of work.

Step 6: Explain that what makes the most sense is a retainer agreement where the fee is paid each month. Wait for the client to ask, “How does a retainer agreement work?”

Step 7: Confidently explain how a retainer agreement works, making sure to include all of the benefits to the client. Explain that a monthly retainer agreement means the client is retaining your services. This guarantees access to your time, skills and expertise on an ongoing basis. Remind them of other benefits. They are saving time, getting more of your availability, loyalty and dedication. They are lessening the amount of paperwork, and speeding up the task turnaround time. Getting quotes or purchase orders will no longer be necessary,

Step 8: At this stage, the client will likely ask, “How much will the monthly retainer be?” This is when you explain that you will be sending them an email. They will receive three different monthly retainer fees. Each of which involves different options in terms of workload, monthly tasks, and add-on services.

Step 9: End the call and start working on your email proposal, with three different retainer agreement options for the client to choose from.

Here is an example email template:

“Hi John,

Further to our earlier phone conversation, I wanted to extend three different retainer agreement options to you. There are three different pricing tiers to choose from, each of which give you access to different services each month.

Based on the challenges you have laid out over the phone, and considering your growth goals for your business… I would suggest going with tier 3. I am confident that tier 3 offers you the most value and therefore the best possible results.

While on retainer, I will be sending you monthly reports. This way you can review the progress we make each month and feel confident that our partnership is valuable.

The retainer agreement will give you guaranteed access to my skills, expertise and dedicated time spent helping you reach your goals.

Please confirm which tier you have chosen, and I’ll send the agreement over.

Cheers!”

How To Keep Your Retained Clients Happy

Encourage your retainer client to clearly lay out their expectations.

What results do they need to see every month, to make their monthly retainer fee a worthwhile expense? Make sure you discuss what the monthly deliverables need to be, in order for the client to be happy.

For example, let’s say a client is retaining your services as a Social Media Manager.

Perhaps they’re happy to pay your monthly fee as long as they see specific results. This could include a certain number of new followers per month (growth). Or a certain number of post shares per month (engagement). And a certain number of conversions per month (leads from social media that convert to paid clients).

Your client might be too busy to track these results themselves.

However, that doesn’t mean they won’t notice if you fail to inform them that your monthly goals aren’t met. It is your job to keep track of your progress and results.

It is also your job to send your client monthly progress reports. If a client is too preoccupied to ask for reports, it’s still your responsibility to ensure you’re meeting goals.

It is still your job to ensure you’re sending reports. If you don’t, then you will burn bridges with your clients.

Don’t take advantage of clients who give you leniency. That is them trusting you to do what they are paying you to do. Never take a client’s trust for granted.

Summary

If your clients currently only pay you upon project completion, and they often make late payments… It’s time to change your payment model to a retainer agreement.

Negotiating a monthly retainer agreement is the best payment model for freelancers.

Retainer contracts are formal, written agreements made between a freelancer, consultant or independent contractor and their client.

A retainer agreement means that the client is agreeing to pay for your services in advance, thus retaining your services.

A retainer is typically a fixed monthly fee that the client agrees to pay based on an anticipated work volume.

Benefits for clients on retainer.

The retainer secures your services, and your loyalty. This is beneficial to the client if your skills are in high demand.

They might lose you to a different company who was willing to sign a retainer agreement, if they don’t sign one.

Your monthly retainer is necessary to ensure that the client gets your time, easy access to your services, dedication and your ongoing loyalty.

Which clients are good candidates for retainer agreements?

If a client will have an ongoing need for your services, then they’re a great candidate for a retainer agreement.

A client will be open to a retainer agreement if they want to achieve certain business goals. They are looking to grow their business, and are willing to set aside a certain fixed budget per month.

Yes, you can propose a retainer agreement to new clients.

With new clients, you’ll need to communicate your value in order to get them to pre-pay before seeing results.

You’ll have to make your client feel comfortable and confident with this payment model.

Confidently lay out what your value is. What will you be offering them each month? What will your monthly deliverables be?

Benefits of retainer payments?

Financial freedom is the number one benefit of having clients on retainer agreements. No longer will you have thousands of dollars in unpaid invoices. No more limits on how you live your life while waiting to get paid. It’s a very comfortable position to be in as a freelancer.

It is possible to close new clients on retainer agreements, which is the most ideal payment model for freelancers. Start getting paid on your terms, and you’ll get that much closer to financial freedom.

Learn How To Close More Deals On Your Terms

You deserve to be paid for your work on your terms. You deserve to be paid in advance and retained instead of chasing clients to pay their invoices.

It can be challenging to close deals on your terms sometimes, though. It’s not always easy to close a client on the idea of a retainer agreement.

Sales skills and expert closing skills are required to get retainer contracts signed.

With practice, you too can close more deals on your terms.

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Should You Propose a Retainer Agreement to New Clients?

Benefits For Clients Who Agree On A Retainer Fee

Benefits For Freelancers Getting Paid Via Retainer

Which Clients are Good Candidates for Retainer Agreements?

How To Negotiate a Retainer with New Clients: Why Should They Pre-Pay Before Seeing Results?

Types of Services That Would Be Most Efficient Under a Retainer

How Much Should a Retainer Fee Be?

Common Objections to Retainer Fees

How To Close Clients on The Idea of a Retainer Agreement

Here is an example email template:

How To Keep Your Retained Clients Happy

Summary

Learn How To Close More Deals On Your Terms

I hope you enjoy reading this blog post.