I started work on a contract for a financial services company worth around £12,000. Obviously, a nice piece of business to have, even better when you consider it is a direct client and I don’t have to hand over any of my fee to another training company! It’s a really challenging and exciting assignment with an opportunity to develop a longer term relationship with the organisation that could prove beneficial in the future.

So, how did I get this work? How did I manage to get in front of this client and win the business?
A networking event? No. Building a relationship up over time? No. Cold calling? Definitely no. Driving traffic to my website? Not that either. In fact, it didn’t involve anything like that amount of work.

My new client is already a client of another independent trainer, another trainer who I’ve got to know really well over the last few years. In a recent client meeting she was asked the question ‘Do you do ….?’ to which she replied ‘No, but I know someone who does. Would you like me to put you in touch? And I’m very grateful to her that she did.

When you first start out it’s natural to assume that other freelance trainers wouldn’t be your friends. After all, they’re the competition aren’t they? That may sometimes be the case but in lots of other cases they can actually help you win business by providing great opportunities and leads – my own experiences prove that. And it’s really nice to be able to return the favour by putting work their way.

So, it makes good sense to link up with other freelance trainers, not only for help, support and friendship but as part of your overall marketing plan.