Decision Time

September 26, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Dear Copywriter

Today, the focus is on one of the most aggravating parts of being a freelance copywriter:

Getting Your Prospect to Make a Decision

I’m sure you’ve had it happen. You get the proposal together, you submit it… and then:

NOTHING but silence.

You call, you write, STILL nothing. No response.

More times than not, the silence speaks volumes. No deal. But can you really ever be sure? :)
Wouldn’t it be nice to just get a simple decision so you can move on?

Frankly, when this happens, it annoys the hell out of me. Mainly because I know I could have (should have) kept this situation from ever occurring.

So today’s issue is about how to make sure it doesn’t happen to you.

If You Just Give Them the Ball,They Might NOT Give It Back

So how do you know that just because you give a prospect a proposal that you’re going to get a decision in return?

You think that’s the deal right?

Have you asked your prospect about that?

Believe it or not, the problem with an unresponsive prospect usually has little to do with your proposal.

The problem actually occurs much, much earlier in the selling process.

Not getting a response to your proposal is simply a symptom of the larger problem.

Here’s the problem:

You never had a real prospect to begin with. Because you didn’t make it clear to that prospect exactly what was expected of them.

And that needs to happen before you ever actually write words on the page. The REAL proposal happens while you are talking with your prospect face-to-face or on the phone.

The real proposal happens…

…while you are uncovering his pain

…while you are hearing HIS definition of a successful project (in dollars and cents)

…while you are making it clear your fees are not low, but your services ARE valuable

…while you are making it clear that you expect a timely decision-that you can accept a yes, or a no, but what you will not accept is a “maybe”

…while you make it clear exactly what he needs to do and when

The actual proposal you submit is nothing more than a summary of what the prospect has already agreed to. Pretty much the only thing he won’t know until he reads the proposal is the fee information.

How Easily We Forget

If I told you just how many times I’ve repeated this same mistake over and over, you’d probably fall off your chair laughing.

But that doesn’t mean you need to suffer the same fate. :)
As a copywriter, giving your prospect a deadline for a response is pretty much direct marketing 101, right?

So why is it so hard to remember that when it’s YOUR prospect?

Because when it’s YOUR prospect, you’ve got a partner to deal with. Your “partner” is your emotions.

Emotions mess up a lot of things.

Emotions say you NEED the money.

Emotions tell you that you MUST get the business.

Over the past 2 years, my emotions have been responsible for botching more deals than just about anything else.

So it’s best to deal with them as quickly as possible.

It’s Not About the Business, It’s About the Decision

Once you get your emotions out of the way, you’ll realize that all you really need from a prospect is a decision in a timely manner.

Who cares if it’s yes or no? If your lead generation systems are working, there WILL be other prospects.

So next time you’re on the phone with a prospect, make sure you get clear on exactly what is going to happen once you submit that proposal.

You do that simply by asking for small commitments from your prospect as you go along.

You can say something like:

“Mr. Prospect, I’m happy to prepare a proposal for you and get it to you within 24 hours. There’s just one thing… I always put an expiration date on my proposals. Not so much because I won’t be available after that time, but mainly so that we can decide whether or not to move forward in a timely manner.”

“If this is not a good fit, I’m sure we’d both like to know as soon as possible. So once you receive the proposal, will 4 days be enough to go through the information, get your questions answered and make your decision? Do you see any reason why you would not be able to work within that schedule?”

Try this next time. It’ll keep you moving forward and help stop time wasters from driving you crazy.

Posted by Jason | Filed Under Blog 

Peeling Onions for Dollars

September 5, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Dear Copywriter,

I’m waiting to hear about 2 proposals I have out totaling somewhere between $60K and $80K depending on which packages are selected.

The first proposal is for a repeat client. The second is for a potential new client.

The reason I’m telling you this is because NEITHER of these clients came to me for big projects.

In fact, when we first spoke, they BOTH wanted to hire a “copywriter.” One of them just needed some emails.

Peeling an Onion for Dollars

So how do you go from getting a call to write a salesletter or some emails all the way to projects worth tens of thousands of dollars?

The answer is you get there slowly. And carefully.

It’s kind of like peeling an onion.

But in this case, the onion is your client’s business. And the CORE of the onion is where all the money is.

When you get to the core of the onion, you know the REAL needs of your client and you know the REAL results that can be created by meeting those needs.

And THAT’S what your focus becomes: helping the client get from where she is to where she wants to go.

That has NOTHING to do with copywriting.

Of course, the client doesn’t always know what she needs. And chances are, she has no idea what her needs are truly costing her business.

That’s where you come in.

You point out the problems. You attach a number to those problems. You SOLVE those problems. You get rewarded.

Email Copywriting Worth $50,000?

So as your B.S. detector might tell you, there’s probably no client out there who will pay $50,000 for you to write some emails.

Maybe it happens. But it’s never happened to me. And I’m not holding my breath.

What clients WILL pay for are SALES. They WILL pay for improvements made in their business.

Copywriting can be used to do that… but it’s really just one piece of the puzzle.

And that’s why I’d recommend (from one copywriter to another), that you seriously consider getting out of the copywriting business altogether.

It’s Time to Change Your Mindset

If you’re JUST a copywriter, then you appear in the EXPENSE side of your client’s profit and loss statement.

I know that’s not what you hear. “Copywriters” MAKE businesses money. They pay for themselves… yada, yada, yada.

You usually hear that from the people that are selling copywriting courses.

And it’s true. IF the promotion works.

And if it doesn’t, then you’re just another liability.

Took me a while to realize that. But it’s KEY.

Start selling stuff your clients really want. They want more leads, more sales, more profits and a better business.

To create results like that, you need to learn how to do more than just write copy. You need to learn how to run and grow a business. You need to learn how to market products and services. How to setup a marketing/sales funnel that can be measured and improved over time.

All of those things can be learned quickly.

You walk into a potential client situation knowing how to generate leads, increase sales, and increase profits and you’ll make every other “copywriter” look like a pretty risky investment.

Try it. It works.

Posted by Jason | Filed Under Blog