Fergus Dyer-Smith

I find the whole NoSpec movement rather a Luddite one although I understand why they exist, (us humans hate change)

So why do I mention them?.. Well I’ve been thinking about sites like crowdSpring and our own Wooshii and it further seems to back up why I think the whole campaign is a short sighted one.

I like sales! I like seeing sales happen and the journey a customer goes on for a sale to complete. From finding a customer in the first place right through to making sure they have an awesome time and return to buy again.

The most difficult part of sales is the first step, getting a new customer. Much easier to retain a customer (as explained by my good friend @permjtovalia over at businessangelblog.com)

Attaining new clients is also expensive. It takes time, cash and effort to get that customer to come through your door and actually spend money. You have to find them or pay to have them find you and then spend time and more money converting them from an observer to a paying client.

So it struck me that crowd sourcing sites like crowdSpring and Wooshii provide you with the perfect base to build up new customers.

Take the traditional route

1.Identify new customer → cash out
2.Spend cash on marketing campaign → cash out
3.Identify warm leads → cash out
4.Qualify leads → cash out
5.Sell services → cash out
6.Convert to paying client → cash out
7.Do work ← cash in
8.Gain feedback on process ← knowledge in
9.Sell services again

Almost at every step you are expelling cash and not gaining any meaningful feedback until right at the end of the process

Now what if you were to look at a crowd sourcing site as a lead generation engine

1.View a list of fully qualified and hot leads
2.Pitch on projects → cash out
3.Gain feedback on process ← knowledge in
4.Win Project ← cash in
5.Sell services again

Follow the the second route and

• Your time to cash is reduced massively
• Your feedback is almost instant and
• you quickly attain new clients

You are only really limited by your own awesomeness. Conduct your pitching properly and you should quickly gain knowledge and insight into what makes for a good pitch.

I know from my own experience using sites like elance and freelancer that once you have found a reliable freelancer you stick with them and are often prepared to pay a premium to do so.

In short sites like these should be seen as enormous opportunity to win new business and get paid to do so. How many other lead generation methods do you know that give you cash and feedback that quickly.