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You’ve prepared a solid proposal for a new prospect. You’ve covered all your bases and made a convincing case for why you’re the ideal person for the project.

Now the waiting begins.

A day goes by without a call back. Then another. And another. You’re beginning to wonder if the prospect received your email. Maybe she went with someone else?

Should you call? Should you wait another day or two? Will following up make her think you’re desperate for work? But what if you don’t call? Will she think you’re not interested?

While there’s no one right approach to following up on proposals, the key to any follow-up process is to strike a balance. Sure, you want the work. But, you don’t want to turn off the prospect or client with too many follow-up calls and emails.

By following the steps below, I’ve been able to significantly increase my success rate and reduce the number of opportunities that seem to go nowhere. (Note: for the sake of convenience, I’ll be referring to the prospect as “she.”)

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Recently, Amber shared a list of 35 Books All Freelance Web Developers Should Read. Her list is a great resource for web developers.

In fact, I love to read. I always have a book that I’m in the middle of reading, or am about to read. Often, the books I read are about freelancing, but sometimes I just pick a book for fun.

What Are Your Favorite Books About Freelancing?

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If you work online (and most freelancers do), how do you handle it when you encounter someone who doesn’t agree with you (or even like you)?

I grew up attending my brother’s little league games, and now I have the opportunity to watch my own children participate in sport activities. The one thing that nearly every coach stressed was good sportsmanship–which included the ability to get along with others on the team as well as the ability to handle losing gracefully.

Not only is good sportsmanship vital to good teamwork, it’s also a crucial attitude for the successful freelancer to have.

In this post, I’ll share some of those early lessons that I learned about good sportsmanship. We’ll look at how good sportsmanship can help your freelancing business. We’ll also list several ways for you to find and keep a more sportsmanlike freelancing attitude.

Why Good Sports Are More Professional

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Do you have trouble closing client deals? Do you find yourself really close to getting a new client, only to find that the deal (and the new client) never materializes?

It’s happened to me in my freelancing business, and it’s probably also happened to you. It’s really frustrating, I know.

It doesn’t have to be that way, though. You can be become better at closing deals with some practice. In this post, I’ll list a few techniques that you can use to close client deals and get more clients.

How to Close a New Client Deal

Here are five important techniques that most freelancers skip or ignore when dealing with a prospective client. Following these suggestions for closing a new client deal can help you learn to close more deals (and avoid frustration):

1. Pay attention and ask for details.
2. Do your homework.
3. Ask for the business.
4. Be positive in your communications.
5. Follow up with the client.

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