This is part 5 in a 5-part series called Stop The Cycle where I ask you a question and you’ll get an actionable item to take away with you at the end of the show to help your sales and marketing so that you are on the way to stop having the feast and famine killing your business. Positioning is simply marketingWhat if you only talked with high-quality leads that viewed you as an expert?You want people to respect you, right? You want to be valued as the expert in the conversation, right?What are you as the expert doing to facilitate that?Experts ask the right questions, they try to ask the right questions early on in the process. So that they identify who they can help as well as those they can’t.Respect is earned, it’s not given. If you aren’t asking the proper questions and the lead or client doesn’t recognize them as questions that lead them to their transformation with you, they won’t respect you.Are you talking budget? Are you talking timeline? Are you setting expectations? Are you asking questions about their business not just technology? Are you talking the same language as your leads and clients?Are you helpful and serving?Being empathetic and showing humility goes a long way in getting answers to all these questions.The awesome thing about asking questions like these, is that you are showing your expertise, but also vetting leads.You want to work with clients of a certain budget. You don’t want to work with clients who have unrealistic timelines. You don’t want to work with clients that look at you as labor or someone they can just pluck from Upwork at the lowest bid. If they are open about their business goals because you asked them about some specifics, that’s a good sign they see you as an expert who knows what you can do for them.Stop the CycleIf knowing what the right questions to ask is something you have been trying to figure out, you aren’t alone. Which is why Curtis McHale and myself have built a workshop called Stop The Cycle.During the workshop, Curtis and I pull back what we’ve done in our sales processes that have let us build 6 figure businesses without 60 hour work weeks.If you haven’t already done so, head to [Stop the Cycle](https://rezzz.com/stop-the-cycle/) to learn about the details of the workshop and all the resources for you and how you will stop the feast and famine from killing your freelance business.-------------------? For full show notes to this episode & more resources for you.-------------------