Open Source Content Management

I'm no good at cold calling. Do you have any recomendations for networking groups in CT?

I was no good at cold calling either and i admit I would rather gio visit the denist, but after my business went kaput, I was forced to start all over again to pay of the debts and started cold calling. it does get easier

Cool, well thanks for the advice! Much appreciated

It's all about knowing your market as mentioned. It's a waste of time cold calling or setting up advertisements if you don't know your market. By knowing your market your can optimize your hard word like cold calling and turn those calls into sales. If you have created website before simply call up your clients and invite them to a free lunch and ask them about themselves. What they like, what they don't like, find out about their business, find out what they like about you and your company, why did they decide to use your services. In this way you can find out about your market and also build the basis for your brand.

There's a lot of info on the web in understanding your market. Once you understand them then build your brand. Use your brand based on your market and you company identity to lock in potential clients. You can go to your local library or internet and see if they have books on Finding your market, marketing, sales, advertising and Branding.

Hope this helps you a little.

Great, thanks for the advice. Will have a look online for some related articles

If your doing web dev and design you have a bit of an edge here. Browse the local site directories like Ananzi and hunt down the websites that "bunr your eyes" so to speak.

Then call up or email the company and advise them on how you can help them.
Look at their website, tell them what you can do, what it will cost and roughly how long it will take. Having them see how you can solve an obvious problem will make the sale go smoother, on another note, do not insult the current website, offer them a "refresh" or something.

If you are thinking of freelancing then consider guru.com or elance.com

I have personally had success with elance in the past.

Hi, thanks for the advice. I have been thinking about this.
How did you get things started on Elance? Is it easy to get work and find clients initially?

Cheers

It is quite easy.

www.elance.com/q/find-work/online-work-overview/

Just go there. Sign up. Apply to get verified, which is done via Skype.

Setup your profile, bio, work history and most importantly your portfolio.

Because you will be new on there, it will be more difficult to get jobs initially. you may land one for every 10 to 15 proposals in the beginning.

To start off with:

1. Quote lower than you normally would
2. Go more for fixed price work
3. Build up from small jobs to larger ones

Once you got a few jobs completed and good ratings from employers, then you can start charging more and going for the bigger jobs.

Getting paid is super easy. Just apply for a payoneer mastercard and then all payouts from elance will get paid into there.

Read through the help section of the site for detailed advice on how best to setup your profile.

Also take the tests. The more tests you pass at a higher level, the easier it will be to land clients.

Hope that helps.

Awesome, thanks for the detailed info!