Call it “inadvertent self-promotion”…
Men With Pens recently ran a guest post about dating rules you can apply to client prospecting. Considering I’ve inadvertently won over a commercial writing client while on a first date, I found the post pretty funny.
This has actually happened to me not once, but twice.
Dating your clients?
To clear up any confusion, I don’t make it a habit to go on a date and pitch my freelance copywriting business as a solution to a host of marketing problems. Before we went out, I had no clue if this guy was a potential client. There are certainly more effective ways to find new clients than blurring the lines between business and pleasure.
So how did it happen? It started out like a typical dinner date. Inevitably we graduated from small talk to discussing what each of us does for a living.
People tend to assume I’m either a novelist or someone who helps file for copyright protection, so I’ve become accustomed to explaining what a copywriter does, and how businesses benefit from strong, persuasive copy. We discussed everything from what I write and why to what I hope to achieve by being in business for myself.
Two days after our date, he hired me to write a press release.
Passion is essential, in dating and in business.
I would have considered this a one-off until it happened a second time. Then I noticed the pattern – I was winning these guys over because I wasn’t in sales mode. I was simply talking about something I love doing. I obsess about finding the right words and expressing concepts clearly, and that shines through when I talk about my commercial freelancing business in a setting where there’s no pressure to land a sale.
Luckily for me, each of the guys I dated runs his own business and understands the value of good writing.
After they expressed interest in my copywriting services, I tried to help out where I could. I offered to give their sites once-overs and suggested minor tweaks that could improve the language of their offerings. This showed my dates my value as a business writer and ultimately led to them hiring me.
Instead of trying to convert prospects into clients, I’m just telling people about something I love. In a nutshell, I’ve become more adept at marketing myself because I no longer see it as obnoxious self-promotion.
Be comfortable pitching, even off the clock.
The lesson in all this is NOT how to perfect the art of picking up clients on the dating scene. It’s in realizing how you talk about yourself to others in different situations.
I don’t consciously separate my business contacts from my personal contacts anymore. I’ve discovered that mindset forces you to mentally divide people into prospects and off-limits. Pre-emptively determining someone is off-limits could mean you miss out on an awesome client with a paying gig.
When you’re trying to impress someone enough to land a contract, any nervousness you might feel has a way of working its way into the conversation. However, when you talk about what you do with genuine passion and conviction, you’re providing true value, not being an obnoxious salesperson who’s just trying to win someone over.
Remember, you’re offering a legitimate service to people who need and WANT your help. Get comfortable talking about yourself and your commercial copywriting business no matter where you are – you never know when it will pay off.
Have you landed a client in an unexpected place?
Has the ‘share-don’t-sell’ approach worked for you as a way to close new clients?
Do you keep your eyes peeled for situations like this, or stick with more traditional methods?
Put another way, do you draw distinct lines between the professional and personal sides of your life?
Angie Colee is a freelance copywriter and branding expert. She loves good food, comedy shows, and the power of words. She is also considering trademarking her awesomely red hair. For more marketing and branding tips, please check out the blog at coleecreative.com. And if you’re ever in the San Francisco bay area, look her up. Coffee is her lifeblood.
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Great post, and I can certainly understand where you’re coming from. It can be hard not to ‘overpitch’ sometimes.
And maybe it’ll work the other way too. We shouldn’t go looking for love – just do lots of business pitches and wait for Mr/|Ms Right to turn up!
Love this post Peter.
Because a number of my clients are in different time zones… in the beginning of my career my wife and I used to joke about my “midnight deals”… where I would start chatting with potential clients (not knowing there was a “deal” there yet)… and the resulting discussion would involve the marketing of their business and how well it was/wasn’t doing.
Then the rest was natural, and I’ve closed many deals on Skype since as well. 🙂
Many on the first or second “date”.
I say this not to brag of course, but to bring home the point that if you’re “natural” and passionate about what you do, it shows… and it breaks down “the wall” some people put up so you can develop a relationship with them.
Charm–works in all situations.
Thanks guys,
When Angie first proposed this topic, she wrote:
I’ve become more adept at marketing myself because I don’t even see it as marketing half the time. I don’t consciously separate my business and personal lives, and I talk about what I do with knowledge and passion to whoever will listen, whether it’s a professional presentation or a first date. I share knowledge and try to be helpful, and it leads people to see my value as a business writer and marketer. The inadvertent self-promoter!
I think that next-to-last line is key: I share knowledge and try to be helpful, and it leads people to see my value as a business writer and marketer.
Great stuff. And I think what she’s getting at, fundamentally, and it’s a very important point, is the idea that what we offer as commercial writers has real value, and we need to proudly display it to the world. And when one does it as she’s obviously doing it – with service in mind – there’s no need to build barriers between our worlds.
As for avoiding being obnoxious self-promoters, given how marketing-averse most writers are, I’m guessing that isn’t the problem in most cases! Rather, we have this idea that any discussion of business in a non-business setting is somehow inappropriate. But again, if that discussion is driven by what lights us up, and by genuinely wanting to help someone out, how could that ever be a bad thing?
Yes, Peter, for some, it can be hard to not “overpitch,” but as I see it, and for the purposes of this discussion, it’s about always being aware of context. Meaning, you focus on simply making useful and relevant contributions to business-related conversations you have with people in non-business settings, as opposed to pushing one’s own business-building agenda. Seen in that light, the boundaries are clearer.
And Joseph’s story is exactly what I’m talking about: just talking with people, and as an unforced, organic extension of those conversations, you naturally showcase your expertise. No pressure involved or necessary.
And yes, Star, charm can be very effective – especially charm with no ulterior motive!
PB
Peter B.,
Yes, that is what I was getting at – it’s sort of a combination of speaking to someone who’s interested with passion and conviction, and moving on when you determine the person to whom you’re speaking is uninterested or is not “a believer”, so to speak. I’ve finally figured out what it means to avoid selling salad dressing to people who don’t eat salad – I don’t waste my time trying to convince people what I do is valuable if they aren’t open to it.
That’s left me with a lot of time to actually get the work done. I still spend a lot of time marketing, but now that I see a lot of marketing as a discussion (much like the ones I had on those dates), I’m less intimidated AND less prone to putting off marketing as some dreaded task. I’m just talking to people. Someday they may need me, someday they may night. I’ll still try to be helpful, and at the very least have a great conversation!
Thanks for posting this, Peter 🙂
Peter W. – I think you still gotta look for Mr./Ms. Right. They’re not going to show up at your door, especially if they don’t know you’re looking. But approaching that person with sincerity and interest over desperation is key, don’t you think? In marketing and in dating, your target can smell desperation like a stinky cologne. So if we approach this from a confident, conversational angle, we are more likely to get an “in” than if we’re trying to brown-nose. Make sense?
Joseph –
Nice! Congratulations! That’s exactly what I’m talking about. When it evolves from conversation instead of some sort of pressured sales pitch, people tend to be much more comfortable making a business decision. After all, we like to do business with people.
Star –
Thank you, I think. LOL. You made my morning by alluding to my charm.
This approach is especially useful for those of us who simply don’t enjoy selling — which may be most of us in this introvert-heavy line of work. It’s also an essential ingredient in effective networking, which is always about establishing mutually beneficial relationships as opposed to “working the room.”
Good point, William,
AND, to be really effective in our field, you shouldn’t be “selling” anyway – at least not in the way most sales-averse folks imagine (i.e., pushing people to buy something they don’t really need/want).
Speaking of which, forgive this “selling” moment, but given your comment about introverts and what’s easier for them to pull off, I couldn’t help but think of Ed Gandia’s “Warm Email Prospecting” program which I’ve been promoting to the list the past week or so. AND which he’s shutting down access to tonight (midnight, EST) and won’t offer again until November or December (that’s not sales-y hype, just how he rolls…).
I mention it here because it’s nothing like “selling,” and hence, it’s a far more comfortable way for the introverts in the crowd to reach out to customers without feeling icky.
And whether or not you even consider the program, for the purposes of our discussion here, know that it’s all about connecting personally with prospects through email, establishing a point of identification with them (to separate it from impersonal spam-type communications), and approaching them in a totally non-threatening way, seeking mutually beneficial common ground between your skills and their needs.
Which is at the heart of true selling, anyway. AND which sounds a lot like an email version of the strategy Angie is talking about here.
PB
very good post…infact it will help me alot to handle my clients in 1st meeting.
What a great post! And I know exactly what you mean. When I’m not in “pitch” mode and just talking to friends or people about what I do (writing), I get excited too. Since it’s an honest passion, that emotion certainly comes through and it is by all means contagious. I think a lot of writers (copywriters, bloggers, reporters, etc.) almost take for granted how easy it can be to write, so when a non-writer (i.e. “regular person”) meets someone who is not only good at writing but loves it, it has to be fascinating.
Thank you Andrew! Yes, that is exactly what I meant. And that passion translates through to my projects, too. I’ve found if I can’t get on board with something (either it doesn’t excite me or I don’t believe in it), I can’t write well about it. Everything comes out forced and unnatural.
“I don’t consciously separate my business contacts from my personal contacts anymore. ”
Absolutely 100% agree with that – it makes life a whole lot simpler. No worries about friend-ing clients on Facebook (just keep everything on Facebook friendly but professional). No worries about having after-work drinks with friends of friends – explain the business stuff to them as you would anyone else.
The crucial factor to me is that you have to love what you do. Once you’ve got that, pitching it is easy – just tell people in plain English (or whatever your language) and the passion will show through.