15
votes
Is it unprofessional to approach a business, unsolicited, based upon technical problems you see on their website?
Imagine you're walking down the street... some stranger walks up to you....
"Hi. I'm Johnny. I am a professional stylist. I would like to point out that your haircut is not the correct cut for ...
- 17.4k
11
votes
Accepted
Is it unprofessional to approach a business, unsolicited, based upon technical problems you see on their website?
I think there are some factors to consider.
The general "aggressiveness" of your marketing strategy: As Scott pointed out in his answer, you might offend or insult people with your offer. This is ...
- 288
6
votes
Is it unprofessional to approach a business, unsolicited, based upon technical problems you see on their website?
I would say to go ahead, offering fixes for problems, even if they don't realize they have problems. I wrote about this as well with another answer, about SPIN selling.
You created the Situation - ...
- 6,843
5
votes
Accepted
Cold calls and corporations
It is a great question.
Your first problem: You have no contacts.
Knowing who to contact is often the golden question. Being heard or actually making contact is another. In a large company that sort ...
- 1,750
3
votes
What's the best cold call pitch for a freelancing software engineer?
I try to keep things quick, to the point, and professional - saves everyone time. I've never written down a script since each project/company can vary a lot, but something along the lines of:
"Hi, ...
- 151
3
votes
From a company/manager's perspective, what are the advantages of hiring a consultant over a FTE?
To answer the question, you have to consider beyond the headline cost...
With an employee, as well as the salary, you have to factor in (depending on the jurisdiction):
Additional payroll taxes
Other ...
- 1,906
3
votes
Is it ethical/effective to apply to full-time positions when looking for a freelance work?
Ethical? Yes.
Effective? Probably not. When a company has made the decision to hire a full time employee and told a manager to find one, that manager rarely will accept a contractor. The person who ...
- 1,567
2
votes
Company stability
I will answer with a question: are you willing to grow your company by yourself? If that's a yes then read on. If that's a no, then I'm afraid that you already know the solution, the partial buy-out ...
- 63
2
votes
Accepted
Can I write a book from someone's else talk?
These videos are free of use and don't have any copyright
Everything is copyrighted. Just because there's no explicit statement doesn't mean you can use it. Always assume you cannot use someone else'...
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2
votes
Can I write a book from someone's else talk?
Yes.
The work is copyrighted. Transposing the media (and/or language) which it is delivered on does not remove copyrights. At best your book would be a derivative work, still requiring permission.
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2
votes
Is it unprofessional to approach a business, unsolicited, based upon technical problems you see on their website?
Be honest and completely communicative. This is in no way unprofessional.
One keynote here is that you're not some random cold caller. You are a user of their website and their service. Or at least ...
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1
vote
Is it unprofessional to approach a business, unsolicited, based upon technical problems you see on their website?
Be prepared for various personalities of site owners. Some would appreciate your offer where solid fix/change for reasonable price can introduce you to further business with them. Others (sometimes ...
- 111
1
vote
How to sell my software online and deal with VAT?
Q1: yes, but financially this would be silly if you intend to make your living off of it, also regarding liability having a company is the better choice.
Q2: No, unless you get a VAT number / become ...
- 1,629
1
vote
How to successfully niche and differentiate as a freelancer?
Maybe not the answer you are looking for, but there are many ways to be "niche" of differentiate yourself, and not all of them boil down to skill.
Skill
Let's get the obvious out of the way: if you ...
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1
vote
Phone or e-mail when attracting clients?
I truly believe that the best way to attract your clients would be to give them a call ...Speaking for my self it's better to hear a voice than to email that is how you build trust and loyalty also ...
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible