It is difficult to convince a prospective client that your ability to write Sell-Sheets and Landing Page content is at an Expert Level, with an Acquisition Rate of 3% for your own sales on Guru. Since Guru.com began posting the Freelancer’s and Ghost Writer’s acquisition rates in the bidding list table, this can even be more of a problem for writers who are just starting out; while talking with clients, several of them tell me they don’t even bother to read a bid for Sales Pages if the writer’s acquisition rate is below 7%.
Acquisition Rate - “a measure of the ability of marketing programs to win new business “
While this may feel like a Catch-22 situation – can’t get new clients because of low acquisition, can’t raise acquisition if they aren’t reading your bids – there are several tips for breaking through the threshold.
First of all, we need to understand what a reasonable acquisition level is, otherwise we will begin to feel like “we don’t have what it takes” and if you are reading this blog posting, that type of thinking for you is just plain nonsense. Anyone in the sales arena is going to be very happy with any acquisition rate above 10% – this means that you spend the time to bid for 10 new prospects — one of them is sold. At 10% we can make a living.
With Guru.com’s Professional subscription you have 100 bids every thirty days. At 10% this is 8 new clients every 30 days. Even with meager Client Retention efforts, you’ll receive repeat business from at least 2 of these clients. As time moves forward, this growth and retention will supply more than enough work for you, if your bids are for a reasonable pay-rate.
Most Sales People can boast on a resume of any acquisition rate above 10%, so the distance between 7% and 10% is where the average sales person is located. Between 10% and 15% are where the above average make their mark. Above 16% are your Experts in the Field, the upper echelons. And if you are at 25% or above, you are a monster, and probably not reading this post (in fact, I’m probably reading yours).
