Jump to content

Overcoming Competition & Expanding Your Market - UPYOUR


eoinfinnegan

Recommended Posts

If you are experiencing difficulties in getting orders or are struggling because of the amount of competition there is, then this post is for you. Below I will give some methods which will help you to expand your target market and so increase your sales volume.
This post is part of my UPYOUR series based on This Poll and aims to help sellers to deal with issues related to the following three parts of the poll:

  • Too many sellers offer the same thing - 51%
  • I don’t show up in the search results - 31%
  • Buyers only want new sellers because they are cheaper - 7%

The above are common complaints and CAN be difficult to do anything about as they are pretty much beyond your control. You cannot do anything about the number of sellers here; aside from doing the basics right, there is not much you can do if for some reason (like an algorithm change, bug etc) you do not show up in search; finally, aside from lowering your own prices, you cannot really do anything about new sellers being cheaper than you. At some point they will have to increase their prices but by then there will be more new sellers.

Expanding your target market can be done quite quickly.
Take your most successful gig. This should be something that you offer which has sold most and consistently given good results but recently its sales have dropped. The “primary” market for this gig is those people who are looking for your service at the price you are offering it for. In almost every business, there are 2 “secondary markets” which are:

  1. Those who want something like your service but at a lower price
  2. Those who want something like your service but with better quality of service

These two secondary markets can sometimes be persuaded to pay a higher price (1) or settle for lower quality (2). What I suggest is to adapt so that you find a way to make one or both of these into another primary market.
Many of the world’s most exclusive brands do just this extremely successfully - take the German car manufacturers BMW and Mercedes for example. They offer distinct ranges which have specific price points and are targeted at specific people based on age and income level.

You can do this by adding NEW gigs to cater specifically for the different markets.
While the packages system does allow you to do this within a certain degree, having too many options and variations causes confusion which leads to dissatisfied clients and/or cancellations (“I thought I was getting…/But your description says…”. This is why I suggest creating SPECIFIC GIGS for SPECIFIC MARKETS. You can still have packages which offer more options for each but with separate gigs you can target the title and description at each market.

Please Note: It is important that there is substantially more or less included with the NEW gigs. Fiverr does not allow multiple gigs with the same service so it should easy to see the difference with a markedly different title and description.

For number 1, you should create a new gig with a service that is a “lite” version of your main successful gig. What this means is that you will provide your service but with some of the features removed for a lower price. This can be as simple as a writer who offers 1000 words for $10 adding a gig which offers 300-500 words for $5; a logo designer who offers custom designs offering to create a logo based only on 1 of (let’s say) 20 templates and for a lesser price; a translator who removes proofreading from the service; a custom video creator who offers a shorter option or from a number of templates; etc.

For number 2, you should create a new gig with a service that is an “advanced” version of your main successful gig. This means that you are adding a lot of features as standard and adding an extra cost. Examples would be, a writer/rewriter offering to write both sides of a discussion or add a new opinion on a topic; a logo designer who offers a draft sketch system where several rough options are sent to the client (how about including 3-5 “over and back” discussions, like is done with offline designers?); a translator who adds 3rd party proofreading; an SEO person who offers a monthly service rather than a once-off.

You can also interlink your gigs by saying things like - "Need something more? Check this gig “[giglink]” etc.
This can also help you deal with those asking for discounts or extra features as you can direct them to the relevant gig. Creating a new gig also has the added bonus of potentially being shown higher in search results for a time due to Fiverr’s system of boosting new gigs in the short term.

The last method I am going to mention is offering a Consultation Gig.
This is something I have mentioned time and again and I fully believe many sellers are missing out on sales without it. If you are an expert in your field, that ability on its own is valuable and people are prepared to pay just to get your opinion on something.
In addition, when you get a client who wants to discuss a project or has LOADS of files/info for you to go through before they order/you send a custom gig; offer them a consultation and specify that you need to give them your full attention for this and that this costs money. Some will not like it, in which case you ask them to summarize their brief instead whereas others will be delighted to pay you to focus your full attention on them!
Someone who did this recently has had around 7 consultation orders in the past 4-5 weeks so what are you waiting for? Stop leaving money on the table!

So once again, I ask you - What are you doing about your business? How are you working to expand?
The competition will always be there, positive outside forces may not last forever - take control of your business and make the changes you want to see happen.

This post is one of a series of posts I am doing which are aimed at helping sellers to Up Their Game and begin to earn more from their work, gain new clients and make the most of being a freelancer. The posts will be based on This Poll which is still open so if you haven’t made your voice heard, please do so as the more that vote on an issue in that poll, the more likely I am to post about that issue.
To see all posts in the series, Click Here

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

If you are experiencing difficulties in getting orders or are struggling because of the amount of competition there is, then this post is for you. Below I will give some methods which will help you to expand your target market and so increase your sales volume.

This post is part of my UPYOUR series based on This Poll and aims to help sellers to deal with issues related to the following three parts of the poll:

  • Too many sellers offer the same thing - 51%
  • I don’t show up in the search results - 31%
  • Buyers only want new sellers because they are cheaper - 7%

The above are common complaints and CAN be difficult to do anything about as they are pretty much beyond your control. You cannot do anything about the number of sellers here; aside from doing the basics right, there is not much you can do if for some reason (like an algorithm change, bug etc) you do not show up in search; finally, aside from lowering your own prices, you cannot really do anything about new sellers being cheaper than you. At some point they will have to increase their prices but by then there will be more new sellers.

Expanding your target market can be done quite quickly.

Take your most successful gig. This should be something that you offer which has sold most and consistently given good results but recently its sales have dropped. The “primary” market for this gig is those people who are looking for your service at the price you are offering it for. In almost every business, there are 2 “secondary markets” which are:

  1. Those who want something like your service but at a lower price
  2. Those who want something like your service but with better quality of service

These two secondary markets can sometimes be persuaded to pay a higher price (1) or settle for lower quality (2). What I suggest is to adapt so that you find a way to make one or both of these into another primary market.

Many of the world’s most exclusive brands do just this extremely successfully - take the German car manufacturers BMW and Mercedes for example. They offer distinct ranges which have specific price points and are targeted at specific people based on age and income level.

You can do this by adding NEW gigs to cater specifically for the different markets.

While the packages system does allow you to do this within a certain degree, having too many options and variations causes confusion which leads to dissatisfied clients and/or cancellations (“I thought I was getting…/But your description says…”. This is why I suggest creating SPECIFIC GIGS for SPECIFIC MARKETS. You can still have packages which offer more options for each but with separate gigs you can target the title and description at each market.

Please Note: It is important that there is substantially more or less included with the NEW gigs. Fiverr does not allow multiple gigs with the same service so it should easy to see the difference with a markedly different title and description.

For number 1, you should create a new gig with a service that is a “lite” version of your main successful gig. What this means is that you will provide your service but with some of the features removed for a lower price. This can be as simple as a writer who offers 1000 words for $10 adding a gig which offers 300-500 words for $5; a logo designer who offers custom designs offering to create a logo based only on 1 of (let’s say) 20 templates and for a lesser price; a translator who removes proofreading from the service; a custom video creator who offers a shorter option or from a number of templates; etc.

For number 2, you should create a new gig with a service that is an “advanced” version of your main successful gig. This means that you are adding a lot of features as standard and adding an extra cost. Examples would be, a writer/rewriter offering to write both sides of a discussion or add a new opinion on a topic; a logo designer who offers a draft sketch system where several rough options are sent to the client (how about including 3-5 “over and back” discussions, like is done with offline designers?); a translator who adds 3rd party proofreading; an SEO person who offers a monthly service rather than a once-off.

You can also interlink your gigs by saying things like - "Need something more? Check this gig “[giglink]” etc.

This can also help you deal with those asking for discounts or extra features as you can direct them to the relevant gig. Creating a new gig also has the added bonus of potentially being shown higher in search results for a time due to Fiverr’s system of boosting new gigs in the short term.

The last method I am going to mention is offering a Consultation Gig.

This is something I have mentioned time and again and I fully believe many sellers are missing out on sales without it. If you are an expert in your field, that ability on its own is valuable and people are prepared to pay just to get your opinion on something.

In addition, when you get a client who wants to discuss a project or has LOADS of files/info for you to go through before they order/you send a custom gig; offer them a consultation and specify that you need to give them your full attention for this and that this costs money. Some will not like it, in which case you ask them to summarize their brief instead whereas others will be delighted to pay you to focus your full attention on them!

Someone who did this recently has had around 7 consultation orders in the past 4-5 weeks so what are you waiting for? Stop leaving money on the table!

So once again, I ask you - What are you doing about your business? How are you working to expand?

The competition will always be there, positive outside forces may not last forever - take control of your business and make the changes you want to see happen.

This post is one of a series of posts I am doing which are aimed at helping sellers to Up Their Game and begin to earn more from their work, gain new clients and make the most of being a freelancer. The posts will be based on This Poll which is still open so if you haven’t made your voice heard, please do so as the more that vote on an issue in that poll, the more likely I am to post about that issue.

To see all posts in the series, Click Here

Many of the world’s most exclusive brands do just this extremely successfully - take the German car manufacturers BMW and Mercedes for example. They offer distinct ranges which have specific price points and are targeted at specific people based on age and income level.

I just want to expand on this point as the example is extremely valid for sellers.

BMW and Mercedes are 2 German luxury car brands. They have been synonymous with high quality (and pricing) for generations. While they also have different variations within each series and have even added more Series/Classes, the basic breakdown I will focus on here are the Series 1, 3 and 5 (BMW) and Class A, B and C (Mercedes).

This setup can be replicated by all sellers by using the packages system with a Basic, Standard and Premium offering.

If you go to a dealership for either of these manufacturers and you are looking for the Basic model, you will get a certain level of service. Even though you are still likely to be paying more than €30,000 for a car, this is still the basic model for these companies. As such, you cannot expect that the staff will be rolling out the red carpet for you and they are likely to initially try to upsell you to the Standard but if you refuse then they will just try to close the sale quickly and move on. They know that at the Basic level, many buyers are already struggling to afford this and so there is no point trying to push any further. Most of us know that on Fiverr, upselling a buyer from the Basic to Standard is a tough job but it is much more likely when they come back having bought from you before.

When you go and inquire about the Standard models (Series 3 or B-Class), you will get a hugely different approach from the staff. They will take much better care of you, give you more of their time and overall you will enjoy this experience a lot more. The reason for this is simple, the value of the sale is higher, the margins are better and most of all - Someone who buys the Standard range instead of Basic is actually seen as a Future Premium Buyer. It may be possible to upsell a Standard buyer to Premium but if not this time then next time is more likely. Do you use this approach with buyers on Fiverr?

When you go and inquire about the Premium models (Series 5 or C-Class), you will be treated like royalty. You will get as much time as you need, all questions will be answered, the manager will be available to talk to you etc. This is because those who buy Premium are most valuable and also are likely to be loyal clients to the brand. Do you do this with those who buy your Premium services?

So, can you learn from BMW and Mercedes? Their methods are extremely successful, their clients are extremely loyal and generally, as soon as the client can, they move up to the next level. Worth thinking about and replicating for sure!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...