The art of giving: how you can win more clients
Learn how offering free insights and tools can build trust and help you land more clients in the sustainability and social impact space.
One of the best ways to lower barriers to working with you is by offering something free that positions you as the expert and trusted advisor.
Especially if your work challenges the status quo—helping organizations move from "business as usual" to something new and uncertain. For clients, this shift can feel risky. They may wonder what’s in it for them, why they should take the leap, or how they can trust that you’ll deliver.
So, how do you build trust from the outset?
By offering value and showcasing your expertise early on, without pushing for the sale. This lets you build a relationship and prove over time that you care more about their success than closing the deal.
Here are five free offerings to establish trust and demonstrate value right from the start.
1. The Signature Workshop
If your work involves shifting ways of thinking, doing, or aligning stakeholders, a signature workshop is a great way for potential clients to experience your value. Design a workshop that addresses a specific problem they face—something you can replicate across organizations. Think of it as your go-to introduction.
For example, you could offer a workshop to climate tech startups through an accelerator. This lets you engage with multiple potential clients at once while showcasing your expertise in a scalable way.
Action tip
Identify a workshop topic that highlights your strengths and solves a pressing issue for your target clients. Look for networks, accelerators, or communities where you can offer this as a valuable experience.
2. The Discovery Call (with a twist)
A classic discovery call typically lasts 30 minutes, where you explore where the client is, what challenges they’re facing, and what they’ve already tried. Then, you discuss how you can help them.
While this approach allows for genuine curiosity and avoids the traditional hard sell, it's becoming fairly standard. Why not take a more creative approach?
One example is Yuval, an ethical email consultant who offers “The Cleenic” It’s a 30-minute, no-pitch session where brands bring a single pressing issue related to their email strategy, and together, they solve it.
It’s collaborative, useful, and relationship-building without feeling salesy.
Action tip
What would your version of this look like? How could you deliver value and help potential clients solve a specific problem in a 30-minute conversation?
3. The Roundtable Approach
In turbulent times, leaders often feel isolated while navigating complex challenges. A roundtable lets decision-makers share ideas and discuss solutions. Hosting a small, intimate event—either in-person or virtually—allows your potential clients to share their struggles while you listen, learn, and facilitate the conversation.
Roundtables not only build your credibility, but they also serve as valuable market research, helping you understand client needs and emerging trends in your industry.
Action tip
Host a roundtable around a theme that resonates with your target audience. Keep it small and personal, and use the experience to learn from their insights while positioning yourself as a go-to expert.
4. The Lead Magnet
A well-crafted lead magnet—like a guide or toolkit—solves a specific problem for your ideal client. However, many lead magnets fall short by offering only a teaser, holding back the real value for a sale. This can feel manipulative and erode trust.
Instead, make sure your lead magnet delivers actionable value. People appreciate when you’re upfront and generous with your knowledge.
For guidance on creating valuable lead magnets, check out Justin Welsh's step-by-step approach to crafting one that feels complete and authentic.
Action tip
Identify a key problem your ideal client faces and create a simple, actionable guide or toolkit to solve it. Build trust by delivering immediate value.
5. The Quiz
Quizzes are powerful when potential clients don’t fully understand their problem or alternatives to "business as usual." A personalized quiz helps educate them and provides insights tailored to their situation.
For example, I’ve created quizzes like "Are you ready to wok for yourself?" and another for Climate Change Coaches to help individuals assess whether they have the soft skills needed to lead the green transition. Quizzes combine education, customer research, and lead generation.
Action tip
Develop a quiz that educates and provides personalized insights. It can help clients better understand their challenges and how your expertise can support them.
Note: This is a more time-consuming and costly option compared to the others. Building and running quizzes takes effort, but the ROI can be worth it when they’re done well.
Stacking functions: maximizing the impact of your free offer
When creating your free offering, think about how it can serve multiple purposes—similar to the "stacking functions" concept in permaculture. In permaculture, every element serves multiple roles, like a tree that provides shade, food, habitat, and soil improvement.
Your free offer should deliver value to clients and benefit your business. Can it:
Gather insights into client needs and trends?
Generate content ideas (e.g., by recording workshops)?
Build your email list and generate leads?
Strengthen relationships and nurture trust over time?
The more functions your free offer serves, the more valuable it becomes—for clients and your business.
Building the offer isn’t enough, though.
A valuable free offering won’t attract clients on its own. Active promotion is key. Choose something you’re excited to share—something that genuinely helps your clients. The more aligned you are with your offer, the easier it will be to promote, and the more successful it will be.
Remember, your free offering can evolve over time. Start with discovery calls to gather insights about common challenges. As you scale, turn these insights into something more scalable, like a downloadable guide. This way, you keep providing value while reaching more people with less direct time investment.
Your turn: Share your free offerings 👇
I’d love to hear about the free offerings you’ve created!
Share your examples in the comments—not just to inspire others, but because someone out there might be looking for exactly what you have to offer.
Interesting opportunities for you
Every week we save our members hours by handpicking the best freelance opportunities from 150+ job boards. Here’s a selection of 10.
Freelance Senior 3D Designer
💰600-700€/day
🤝Contract
🗓️December 17, 2024
Landscape Review, Funder Mapping & Taxonomy of New Economy in Europe - P4NE
🤝RFP/Tender
🗓️January 10, 2025
Racial Equity & Community Partnership Grants program - Northwestern University
💰$25,000-$75,000
🤝RFP/Tender
🗓️January 24, 2025
Solar and Storage Design Consultant - A&R Solar
📍Remote
🤝Contract
Project Manager - Frankly Green
📍Remote (UK-based)
💰£29 – £35 per hour
🤝Part-time
🗓️January 8, 2025
Graphic Designer - Dreamers United
📍Remote
Organizational Development (OD) Analyst - Convive Collective
🤝Part-time
Girls Who Code - Work Prep Lead
📍Remote
💰$30 - $30 an hour
Fundraising Campaign Consultant - Sitopia Farm
📍Remote
🗓️January 12, 2025
External Evaluator of Consolidate project at EUROCITIES
📍Remote
💰 €14,450
🗓️ 17th January
PS: Thanks Valeria for sharing an opportunity with us.
Found something interesting for a friend. Share the newsletter with them. and if you don’t want to wait for the right opportunities but learn how to create them, join us.
Behind the scenes at IMMA
🌟 Our LinkedIn Pod experiment wrapped up, and it was such a heartening moment. The space we created for showing up authentically on LinkedIn really resonated—here’s what Lexie shared during our check-out:
We’re kicking off a new pod in January as part of our Nurture membership. These small groups (6-8 people) focus on shared goals—whether that’s showing up consistently on LinkedIn or building your pipeline.
We also launched a LinkedIn Prompt Library designed specifically for solopreneurs in the impact space—no more writer’s block!
We’ve paused public events to focus on an exciting community relaunch. Join us this Friday for our Winter Solstice event—a special moment to celebrate with everyone who’s been part of IMMA’s journey this year. We’ll share more with the wider community in the new year. 👀✨
Thanks for taking a moment to read this amidst the pre-Christmas buzz! ✨
Take care,
Lilli
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If you want to work for yourself but not by yourself, join IMMA Collective.