Got an email recently from a reader with a concern (and frustration…) we’ve all come up against at some point in our commercial writing careers. He wrote:
The challenge that’s just unnerving me is how to shift prospects’ minds from thinking they can do the writing themselves instead of paying a commercial freelancer $100+ an hour to do it. What would be the best way to create a brand that would neutralize this kind of thinking on the part of prospects?
Got a similar question posed to me by one of my group coaching participants:
What’s the best way to approach an industry that often relies on in-house engineers to write its copy? Should I try to convince them that a good writer is a better choice than an engineer, or could I instead offer editorial services in these cases?
Here’s an aggregate response to the both of them. There are two ways to approach this issue and both have merit.
#1: A question immediately comes to mind: Why are you wasting your time trying to convince people who don’t think they need a professional writer, to start using one, rather than finding those clients who understand the value of good copywriting and already use writers, or, at the very least, are open to hiring one?
In one of my books, I talk about The Salad Dressing Rule (explained by a fellow freelance commercial writer friend):
If you sell salad dressing, it’s far easier to convince someone who already eats salad to try your dressing than to convince someone who doesn’t eat salad at all that they should start doing so.
In both cases, these folks are finding people who “don’t eat salad.” So, using the prospecting strategies laid out in the book, start barking up some different trees.
Bottom line, you can’t convince those who are convinced otherwise, unless you get them to try you out and they see the difference a commercial copywriter can make. Which leads to the second approach…
#2: As many experienced copywriters have noticed in their travels, getting a prospect to understand what we do by trying us out will often make converts of them (assuming we’re good at what we do, and understand that particular client’s business). As such, in the case of the engineering firm (or ANY prospect who’s hesitant to hire you to execute a writing project from scratch), yes, maybe you offer editing as a door-opener.
If the client has an epiphany (and I’ve seen it happen plenty) based on the editing, maybe they’ll try you out right from the get-go the next time around. All you can do is offer. If the client isn’t receptive, move on. If you’ve had other clients start out as they did and become converts, make sure you’re getting testimonials from them and share those with the hesitant ones…
(NOTE: this is where building alliances with graphic designers can really help. Designers hate designing around crappy copy and ending up with a sample that looks great but reads like doo-doo. So if they have a client who’s written their own copy (and it shows), and you’ve built a partnership with that designer based on delivering superior copy that makes their design shine, they’ll often try to persuade the client to hire you, knowing the client will end up with a more effective piece, which can only reflect well on them. Not to mention they get a stronger piece for their book. In those cases, you’ve got a third-party doing the selling, which can be more compelling. Doesn’t always work, but when it does… There are few things sweeter than seeing an erstwhile skeptical client find religion after seeing professionally written copy that positively puts theirs to shame.)
All that notwithstanding, the “try-a-taste” approach is still going to be harder to pull off than finding those already inclined towards folks like us. If you’re in a smaller-market area, and trying to build your freelance copywriting business there, it might prove a necessary stepping-stone to cultivating serious clients. If, however, you’re in a major metro, you might not need to beat your head against the wall; there WILL be plenty of prospects who do “get” what we do. Not saying they’re easy to find, but likely easier than trying to get the others to “start eating salad.”
Do you only pursue prospects already sold on the value of professional writing?
Or do you try to do some converting along the way?
If so, how have you gone about getting them to try you out, and has it worked?
In a tough market, should we be investing more time in “educating the unsold” or do you feel it’s still largely a waste of time?
I think it’s a fine rule.
One of the fundamental purposes of any business is to attract and satisfy clients profitably. The simplest way to do that is to concentrate on those who are most likely to buy what you are selling.
In a situation like this, it’s possible to present a cost/benefit analysis. Stimulate your prospect to ask, “Is this really the most productive use of our engineers’ time? Or shouldn’t they be devoting that time to billable projects?”
If you’ve had success with that approach at least once before, you can write it up as a case study or report, and offer that as a lead-generation or lead nurturing piece.
It’s hard enough to sell a $1,000 mountain bike to a recreational biker who’s always had cheap store brands. But selling a $1,000 bike to someone WHO’S NOT EVEN SURE HE WANTS TO RIDE BIKES is, um, fairly impossible.
There are plenty of industries where amateurs do the writing. Yellow Pages ads are often written by people (store owners, I assume) who do little more than provide bullet points of their products and services. On some level, it works. These are people with minimal expectations of marketing and tiny budgets, and for whom primitive copy is not a disaster. Find people who will pay for real writing, like ad agencies and large marcom divisions of major companies.
Haiku Copywriter sez:
Why make so much work?
Find those ready to buy now
Earn profits faster
If a prospect sees cost as an objection, I remind him of the money he will SAVE by hiring a professional copywriter. For instance, I could do my own taxes if I wanted to, but it would take me 10 times as many hours as my CPA will need, and I’ll probably make stupid and costly mistakes along the way. I get a much higher ROI by simply paying a professional to do the job faster and better while I continue to make money doing what I do well.
Peter, as we talked about when you were here in Phoenix, there’s no better resource than a symbiotic partnership with a graphic designer who “gets it.”
I don’t actively seek converts, but if someone has been referred to me by a trusted source, and is willing to pay the freight, I’ll happily do the work. Whether it works out has less to do with whether the person has used a professional writer before than it does with their overall business acumen.
Great post as usual!
I’m a firm believer in the Salad Dressing Rule. Aside from all the excellent points you’ve made, wasting time “educating the client” also comes down to opportunity costs. If you’re too busy knocking on the wrong doors, you won’t be ready when the right people have a big, juicy project for you.
Yes, I believe in the Salad Dressing Rule. A prospect who needs convincing that a professional copywriter will give them better copy than they can write themselves is no prospect at all. I have neither the interest nor time to talk with them. Fortunately, any prospect who contacts me after visiting my website or receiving one of my mailers already has an idea of what a copywriter can do for them. At that point, my job is simply to convince them to choose me and not someone else.
Tell us about those mailers…..I was just thinking about another mailing–have not done one in a decade.
Well, seeing as they’re not producing anywhere near the same level of response as they did when I launched my freelance business in 1991, I’m not sure that you want to know much about them! But here goes.
Mostly, I mail 5-1/2 x 8-1/2 postcards to ad agencies, design studios (including freelancers) and marcomm service buyers in tech businesses and trade associations. The cards are solid color (either purple or green) with a large reversed-out headline on one side and black type on the message/mailing address side. For an idea of the messages, go to my website, and from the home page click on the three different “Why should you work with me?” links in the right column. The headlines are identical to the cards. The body copy is nearly the same, though edited to fit; plus the cards have a more specific call to action.
After doing no significant outbound marketing since 1996 (other than launching my website in 2007), I resumed mailings in early 2009. Besides sending hundreds of these three cards to a combination of hand-built and purchased lists, I have mailed highly targeted letters to key executives at energy-related associations, trade associations in other fields, design firms that specialize in annual reports, and every former client who has not had a project for me in the past few years.
The postcards produced one $2,000 assignment (with no repeat business) from a Baltimore ad agency in 2009 and $8,000 in work over a 2-1/2 month period this year from a DC-area tech firm, who simply stopped spending after looking like they were the repeat client I needed to replace another that had dried up. I was in touch with my contact last week and he says he expects to have work for me in the first quarter of 2011. I hope it materializes. My mailings also produced one in-person meeting, one good phone interview, and two email contacts, all of which led to no new work. The mailings certainly paid for themselves in the immediate work generated, but until my new tech client actually resumes or the Baltimore ad agency uses me again, the mailings certainly did not produce the main thing any freelancer should be after: new clients with ongoing needs.
I have only myself to blame for this situation. For too many years, I was too dependent on too few clients for too much of my work. And I was too complacent that work would simply continue to come in — as it had for 10 years or more — from my existing clients and from referrals and from people finding me from old marketing still circulating out there. But now my biggest design studio client is shutting down the end of this year and through turnover and loss of my best contact person my previously biggest direct (end user) tech client had only one project for me in all of 2010.
I am in need of new marketing ideas.
Sorry for the long message that is off-topic for this discussion.
Every time I’ve tried to convince a “non-believer” in the value of a writer, it has ended badly. They continue to argue the price or the value. To me, it’s not worth it. Usually, these are people who aren’t placing value in the right areas.
Sometimes you don’t know they’re not valuing your services. But I’ve found ways to weed them out. For instance, it took only two client meetings to understand that a small business with an edgy business card isn’t going to pay. I don’t know what it is, but I’ve seen three businesses now that have handed me these ultra-cool business cards, tell me about how fabulously profitable they are, then argue that my price needs to come down. They’re spending money on trappings and not focusing on the business’s needs.
I try to convert when it feels right, but in general I’d rather target clients who already understand the value of good writing. Otherwise, any ongoing project I’d get could be yanked the moment the CEO or the management team decide once again they can do it on the cheap.
Thanks to all – I suspected this could one of those “Duh!” posts, where, for the most part, there’s little debate, and that seems to be the general consensus. Probably should have titled it, “Do You Ever Break ‘The Salad Dressing Rule'”? But, still a lot of good stuff, especially for the relative newbies out there soaking it up from the more experienced folk. Some good insights into the warning signs to be on the lookout for, and the pitfalls of trying to convert the unconvinced.
Thanks Michael, Rick, William, Jake, Allison, and Ken for your ideas! And Lori, good observations. Love the thoughts about the slick companies that are “all hat, no cattle.” Isn’t that the truth? Reading that brought to mind a few such clients way back when.
I remember one company that contacted a member of my six-person writer’s group for a whole bunch of work – and yeah, they were all puffed up, some real bad mama-jamas. I even went to meet them, and they ended up hiring 3-4 of us, but not me (I was next, apparently). I was feeling all left out, until several of my homies started having some serious collection issues – and a few got stiffed altogether. But, they had some cool cards.
And yes, as Lori points out, if you DO manage to convince a skeptical client in the short term, often, they’re still not fundamentally convinced, and as such, can be quite suggestible to relapsing into old ways.
Ken, thanks for the insights into your mailing (and no worries at all about going off-topic; as long as it’s helpful, let’s hear it…). And at one point or another, we’ve all gotten fat and happy with a few good clients, thinking the good times would never end or slow down, and then paid for it when they did. Part of being human…
PB
Wow, it must be something about those slick companies – do they read from the same manual? 🙂 I walked into one place, Peter, that had top-of-the-line furnishings, decorating, and technology. We sat in their gleaming conference room and they told me about how well they were doing, where they were expanding, what clients they’d just secured, etc. Then they slid their cards across the table. Translucent, printed sideways, top of the line. I knew then, but I heard them out.
I gave them my price and they confirmed my suspicions. The CEO said, “Ooo, you’ll have to come down on that price a bit. That’s what we charge.”
I resisted the urge to say “Really? I was thinking you needed to come up in price to meet mine.” But boy, the temptation was there! 🙂
I found it more than a little galling that they thought it was perfectly acceptable for them to charge that rate, but not me. And that they had the right to tell me what to charge at all.
Yep. Still steamed about this one. 🙂
I do all my contacting through e-mails.
We do not know if they want a copywriter or not until we meet. But it’s a safe bet that most will not hire us.
With that said, I go on the offense. I go in already thinking that they either think:
A. They don’t need a copywriter because they have “enough customers.”
B. They don’t think to hire a copywriter; it’s all new to them, so they say “no” way to quickly.
C. They are turned off by the rates, not even realizing that better copy can make at least twice as many sales as they are getting now, thus getting their money back (the fee they paid me), and they will see more sales on a continuous basis.
D. They think their copy is the cat’s meow, when in actuality it’s the cat’s litter box.
So I drafted up a cookie cutter brief e-mail that covers all of that. It also has a sample of one of their copy pieces rewritten by me (and/or a sample of part of their site), and then I direct them to my website for more.
If they don’t get back with me, I’ll send them another e-mail. If I still don’t hear from them after that, I move on.
Don’t all of us try at least twice anyway? Isn’t it expected? I can’t see any of us trying a third time. So isn’t “The Salad Dressing Rule moot???
Not to derail this thread, but…
Ken,
If you still need ideas to get clients on a regular basis, and if you haven’t tried already, I go through the Yellow Pages. A ton of potentials in there.
You also have ads in newspapers, magazines and online to scour through.
What has already been mention…there are also web developers, programmers to contact. Offer a finder’s fee sort of thing.
You also have stories run on webmasters/entrepreneurs who are working for themselves. Yahoo and MSN run such stories. Contact them to see if they may be looking for a (another copywriter).
I do all of the above. I also keep my eyes open for those who have their URL’s on their vehicles and on their business buildings and signs. I figure if they do that, they focus a lot on their sites, so….
Perry:
Thanks for the list ideas. I’ve in fact used the Yellow pages and other print media ads as list sources. I found online Yellow pages to be a great source for ad agencies and design studios when I needed to update my list in late 2008. Because I had a lot of time available, I went the extra step and verified each company’s actual existence. If they didn’t have their own website, I deleted them. Plus, their websites usually gave me the name of the creative director or someone else to target.
I find Yellow pages are not as great a source for my more general high tech lists which is why I tried buying those. You’re right that ads and articles can identify prospective clients I might not have heard of.
Anyway, I’m expecting lots of free time from now through the end of the month/year. I’ve been counting on having this time to build a new prospecting list or otherwise plan my attack for 2011.
Thanks.
Peter,
Great post!
I think that we need to sell our potential clients using a pleasure/pain formula. Focus on the benefits of using our services to overcome their pain (needing more free time, hating writing, wanting more clients, etc.) rather than trying to “convert” them. Most business owners I work with are happy to buy coaching and writing service but they have to have an inner sense of needing to overcome their pain with my “pleasure” writing or coaching or editing solution.
Also, another obstacle I worked hard to overcome was not charging what I am worth. When dealing with business owners, some people are automatically suspicious of “bargain basement” rates and would rather pay $100+ an hour to get quality work that frees up their time and gets them new clients.
Peace, love, happiness, and prosperity,
Stephanie
Sorry I didn’t see your post on mailings, Ken–I was doing other things for a while. I use the Book of Lists from the Phoenix Biz Journal for calls and mailings. I had my kid qualify it the other day and half the designers and ad agencies were out of biz. NG! Onward…
My main issue with the Book of Lists is that plenty of people use it as their source. Of course, the companies I find any other way are likely to turn up there, too. So it’s not like my list is going to be any more special or exclusive.
I find that recent or current organizational membership lists (when I can get access to them) produce very few non-deliverables; paying membership dues is a pretty good indicator the company is still in business.
Another issue I remembered after mulling this mailing thing (Vistaprint does pretty neat postcards for a reasonable rate) is calling afterward. I used to increase return calling–but always ran into the “Oh, I don’t remember it, could you send another” thing, which made me think maybe I should call first, then send, then that seemed lame, and I would trail off and not do it. Do you call and follow up, Ken?
I made a few follow-up calls to my first mailing in 1991. Since then, I mail and don’t follow up. That’s probably a mistake.
Thanks to everyone, for all the additional and follow-up comments. Thanks Perry for the ideas and the resources. Good stuff. Though a few of the things you said gave me pause… You wrote: “We do not know if they want a copywriter or not until we meet. But it’s a safe bet that most will not hire us.”
Maybe this approach has worked for you, but not sure it would for me. As I see it, your second sentence explains my objection the strategy. I don’t ever meet with anyone unless I know they’re in the market for a writer. Sure, no guarantees, but I’m not in the business of driving all over town to meetings to explore whether a client needs a copywriter or not. You can absolutely qualify them for the need long before you meet (and should).
Your approach makes the Salad Dressing rule a given, in that you’ll no doubt run into plenty of folks who aren’t yet sold on hiring a writer, which can/will make most meetings exercises in futility. I’m just not that patient…;)
Also, doing your prospecting entirely by email is somewhat limiting, methinks… For the simple reason that email is SO easy to ignore. And given the proliferation of all the junk email that start out (and I receive a ton of them) with various and sundry versions of “Your website isn’t showing up on the major search engines…”
NOT that I’m suggesting your emails start out that way or look that way, but for an over-busy, overextended corporate type (which pretty much fits the description of all of them…) who gets an overabundance of email, and who’s just looking for ANY reason to cull the pile, it’s just too tempting to err on the side of making their lives easier (i.e., less email).
Nothing at all wrong with email marketing, but you really should follow up with those folks afterwards to maximize those efforts. From my experience (and I’d wager many of the folks commenting here would back me up), there will always be X# of folks who receive an email (or a direct mail piece, for that matter) who ARE interested, and who fully intend on following up at some point, but may or may not get around to it. But, a follow-up call can turn that intention into action. Just an idea…
Which also speaks to Ken who mentioned sending mail but not following up. Again, and Ken, I know you know this (and said as much), same dynamic applies.
Thanks again to all for weighing in so close to Santa Claus’s arrival… 😉 I wish all of you a wonderful holiday and new year…
PB
Hey, Peter.
You wrote: “I don’t ever meet with anyone unless I know they’re in the market for a writer. Sure, no guarantees, but I’m not in the business of driving all over town to meetings to explore whether a client needs a copywriter or not. You can absolutely qualify them for the need long before you meet (and should).”
I don’t drive all over town either. I agree.
I stay home! 🙂
I go through the Yellow Pages, ads in the newspapers, Google and Yahoo ads, look at websites that are very nice to lo0k at but their copy sucks…
I then send them an e-mail, along with a sample of rewritten copy of what I think they may need a helping hand with.
I also contact website programmers or designers.
And that’s the only way to know if they need a copywriter…to initiate contact. Then meet later. If they want to, that is.
I agree with what you said that it is so easy to ignore e-mails.
For businesses in my area (20-mile radius), I’ll put in my header stuff like: “From Perry; James Island. About your site.”
“Joe, it’s Perry, from James Island.”
“Joe, I read your site, and I have a question….”
It’s rare that spammers do this, and these businesses know I live close by, so….
For others in different cities, countries, I’ll say stuff like above. And also: “I don’t understand part of your site.”
Well you get the gest of it all.
I also use a Yahoo account, instead of my website’s.
It sounds like you don’t do too much e-mail marketing, Pete. May I ask, what do you do? Or did I miss that???
I totally agree with the follow-up.
In all my initial e-mails, along with a sample piece of their copy, I also give them a couple of free tips that may help their business. Then when I follow up again, which is usually a few days later, I give them a couple of more.
I figure that if I can’t get them after that, and them seeing my site, I move on.
Thanks, and Merry Christmas. 🙂
I’ve wasted so much time (and consequently lost so much money) violating the Salad Dressing Rule I could vomit!
First, I fell into the “everyone needs a writer” trap and approached everyone.
Then, I fell into the “those who need a writer, know it, but just need me to convince them to spend the money NOW” trap.
Now…I’m approaching those who actually HIRE freelance writers.
Responding to the discussion on marketing techniques: Cold calling is probably the most empowering business generating technique (see Peter’s last e-newsletter). I was never big on cold calling, but not because I feared it as some folks do. I thought I needed to make at least 100 calls PER DAY to get minimal results (my husband made that many calls with his inside sales job)!
Since I get bored easily with repetitive tasks, the thought of picking up the phone and delivering a spiel that many times, drove me nuts! But here’s what I’ve learned about Cold Calling:
* It’s Empowering: As Peter says in his last e-newsletter, you don’t have to sit around and wait for someone to respond to your mailing, or trade magazine article;
* It’s Great for Over-thinkers: When I think about doing a mailing, I get caught up in too many “what if”s” or “should I’s”. With cold calling, I just write the script (or use Peter’s ), pick up the phone, speak, and hang up (with hopefully a meeting on my calender).
* I DON’T have to make 100 calls per day to be effective: In fact, I now set a minimum goal of just 10 calls per day. I’ll admit, I sometimes feel like that’s child’s play and I should be doing more. But when my goal was 100 calls per day, I dreaded it so much that naturally I found excuses to avoid acting. As a result, I FAILED TO BE CONSISTENT—the kiss of death in any sales and marketing endeavor (IMO).
Now, even on those days when I’m just not “feeling it’, I say to myself: “Come on, it’s just 10 calls!” AND, what often happens is that by the 5th call, I’m ready to do more!
“…and approached everyone.”
Don’t you just about have to anyway? How else will you know if they need one or not?
You have to approach them anyway.
And, hell, they may not even think of hiring a copywriter unless it is brought to their attention.
I never could, and probably never will do phone calls. It’s too easy for them to say no:
“Hello, this is Perry Rose, and I would like to *CLICK*
Hello? Hello” lol
Of course they are not all like that, but….
And they may in fact want or need one without realizing it.
For me, I love e-mails for the reasons already given. You’ve got ’em with samples and your website, right then and there. It beats phone calls any day of the week.
My only beef is with the assumption that editing is an easier sell than writing. Not the case! It is difficult to
1) Make clients understand why they need an editor;
2) Show proof of past editing success. I’ve done this by offering a before/after-type presentation, but that takes time to look through.
Clients and publishers always want to skimp on the editing portion of a bid, in my experience. Which is frustrating, because it’s a critical piece of the overall final product and it is difficult to prove its value.
Lauri, as a rule I would agree with you that editing is hard to sell, but that’s not really what I was saying. I was saying, that when the client is balking on hiring you to do a project from scratch, sometimes you can get in the door by offering simply to edit what they come up with. Good door-opener that’s a much smaller investment for them. So this is editing as a fallback position, not editing in and of itself, which I’d agree, can be a tough sale…
PB
Just another morsel for thought:
If you do have the time, trying to convert a non-salad eater is a good exercise in itself. When you come up against people’s objections and misconceptions it can help you hone your own marketing materials (whichever strategy you use).
PS. Melzetta, thank you for your post. This sounds exactly like me: even the thought of thirty calls a day makes me want to cry – but as you say, it’s great for the ‘over-thinkers’.
PPS. Thanks for all the advice, Peter. This is my first contribution since being inspired by the Well-Fed Writer.
I think the salad dressing allusion is great; find the people who need what you have to offer, don’t waste time trying to convince carnivores to buy salad dressing. Thumbs up!
I don’t know if offering editing to someone who doesn’t know the value of great copy would convince them to hire. But, its worth the try. There are always five obstacles to making a sale: no need, no hurry, no desire, no money, and no trust. For copywriters, its always the no desire part that hits us hardest. There is value in great copy. The difficulty is convincing someone to buy services they didn’t know they needed.
Sheree! I used to use the Five Reasons all the time. Fun to review them again. I am screenwriting now. I got sick of the flaming hoops…I am old anyhow. I do remember a newsletter called FREEBIES–so I offered a free issue of a newsletter I did for 14 yrs called CHEAP RELIEF. I got 3000 requests with SASE–and darn weird SASEs–one cent kitten stamps, bill envs turned inside out, etc. I went back on the press with it–and did not get one conversion. Then it dawned–FREEBIES–they weren’t going to pay for anything. Silly me.