Discovery call going well. Client interested. Then said: "Sounds good, send me a proposal." Translation: "I'm not convinced yet but being polite." Changed my approach. Now 70% of calls close on the call itself. THE OLD APPROACH: Discovery call: Talk about their problem (30 min) Me: "I can definitely help. Let me send proposal." Them: "Sounds good." Then: Radio silence. Close rate: 30% THE NEW APPROACH: Discovery call: Talk about their problem (15 min) Me: "Want to see exactly how this would work? I can build a quick demo right now." Them: "Uh, sure..." Then: I build it live while they watch. Close rate: 70% THE LIVE DEMO PROCESS: "Do you have a sample invoice you can share screen with me?" They share their actual invoice. "Great, let me show you what happens..." Then I: 1. Upload their invoice to Make workflow (2 min) 2. Run extraction live (30 seconds) 3. Show extracted data (they gasp) 4. Map to their QuickBooks format (2 min) 5. Show complete entry (they're sold) Total demo time: 5 minutes Impact: Massive THE MAGIC MOMENT: When their actual data appears correctly formatted. That's when they get it. Not theoretical. Not "imagine if." Their invoice. Their data. Working now. "When can you start?" - Exact words, 7 times. THE SETUP: Pre-call preparation: - Have Make scenario open (generic template) - PDF Vector API ready - Screen share tested - Test invoice ready (backup if they don't have one) During call: - Ask for their document - Share screen - Build live - Use their actual data THE BENEFITS: BUILDS TRUST: Not hiding behind proposals. Showing actual capability. OVERCOMES SKEPTICISM: "Can automation really handle MY documents?" Yes. Watch. CREATES URGENCY: They see it working NOW. Don't want to wait. DIFFERENTIATES YOU: Most freelancers talk. You show. THE OBJECTIONS THAT DISAPPEAR: "What if my invoices are different format?" Show: Handles their format perfectly. "What about accuracy?" Show: Extracts every field correctly.

Sent 50 LinkedIn messages. Booked 8 calls. Closed 2 clients. Here's the EXACT approach. THE PROBLEM: "How do I find clients on LinkedIn?" Most advice: "Add value, engage with posts, build relationships..." Cool. But I needed clients now, not in 6 months. THE COLD MESSAGE THAT WORKS: Sent 50 messages using this template. Got 8 responses (16% response rate). THE MESSAGE: "Hi [Name], Saw your post about [specific pain they mentioned]. I actually helped [similar company] automate exactly this process - saved them 8 hours weekly. Not sure if you're still dealing with this, but happy to share what worked if you're interested. [Your name]" That's it. 3 sentences. THE BREAKDOWN: Sentence 1: Prove you're not spam (reference specific post) Sentence 2: Provide relevant social proof (similar company, specific result) Sentence 3: Low-pressure offer (no hard pitch) WHO TO TARGET: SEARCH FOR POSTS ABOUT: - "Spending too much time on..." - "Tedious process..." - "Manual data entry..." - "Overwhelmed by paperwork..." Filter: Posted last 7 days Target: Small business owners (not employees) Sweet spot: 50-500 employees MY TARGETING CRITERIA: Posted about operational pain in last week Title includes: Owner, CEO, COO, Operations Manager Company size: 50-500 employees Industry: Service businesses (agencies, firms, consultants) THE OUTREACH SCHEDULE: Day 1: Find 10 relevant posts, save profiles Day 2: Send 10 messages (use template, personalize sentence 1) Day 3: Find 10 more posts Day 4: Send 10 more messages Repeat: 50 messages total over 10 days THE FOLLOW-UP: If they respond: "Would a quick 15-minute call help? I can show you exactly what we built for [similar company]." Book call immediately. Send calendar link. Done. THE NUMBERS: 50 messages sent 8 responses (16%) 8 discovery calls booked 4 showed up 2 closed ($2,900 total) ROI: 10 hours outreach time = $2,900 revenue = $290/hour THE MISTAKES I MADE: First 20 messages: Generic ("I help businesses with automation")

If I had to start over today, here's EXACTLY what I'd do in the next 30 days. WEEK 1: LEARN AND PREPARE DAY 1-2: Choose invoice processing (universal pain) DAY 3-5: Learn Make.com basics - Make Academy (free) - YouTube tutorials - Build 3 sample workflows DAY 6-7: Build demo workflow with PDF Vector free plan Templates: Make | Zapier | n8n WEEK 2: POSITION AND REACH OUT DAY 8-9: Join communities - 10 local business Facebook groups - 5 LinkedIn industry groups - 3 Reddit communities DAY 10-12: Search for pain points - Keywords: "manually entering", "tedious" - Find 20 posts complaining about manual work DAY 13-14: Engage genuinely - Comment helpful advice on 20 posts - NO pitching yet WEEK 3: FIND AND CLOSE DAY 15-17: Identify leads - Find 5 people with document processing pain - Start conversations via DM DAY 18-20: Discovery calls - Book 3 calls - Use discovery call framework - Listen more than talk DAY 21: Send proposals - Use winning template - Clear next steps - 50% deposit structure WEEK 4: BUILD AND DELIVER DAY 22-24: Build workflow - Use template library - Customize for client - Test thoroughly DAY 25-27: Demo and revise - Walk client through - Make adjustments DAY 28-30: Deliver and celebrate - Go live - Train client - Collect final payment REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS Not everyone closes in 30 days. Some take 45. Normal. People who follow this plan: 70%+ get first client within 30 days. People who stop at day 15: 0% success. MOST COMMON MISTAKE Stopping when you don't see immediate results. Days 10-20 feel slow. That's when most quit. Push through. Momentum comes. TOOLS TO SET UP Make.com (start free) PDF Vector (free plan for testing, $25/month for clients) Gmail (free) Stripe or PayPal TOTAL COST: $0-25/month initially RESOURCES CHECKLIST