THE WELL-FED E-PUB - April 2008

Welcome to THE WELL-FED E-PUB!

Serving up food for thought and tasty tips for the prospering FLCW* writer. Come

on in, sit anywhere and bring your appetite!

*FLCW, peppered throughout the ezine, stands for “Freelance Commercial Writer” – the designation for anyone who freelances for businesses (as opposed to writing magazine articles, short stories, poetry, etc.), and typically earns $50-125+ an hour.

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VOLUME 7, ISSUE 4 – APRIL 2008

Our 72^nd ISSUE! We’ve Been Publishing “The WELL-FED EPUB” for SIX Full Years!

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The Well-Fed Writer BLOG Has Launched! http://www.wellfedwriter.com/blog

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INPUT WANTED for TWFW2: Social/Business Networking Sites & Academia-to-FLCW Transition. See details below in Coffee, Mints and Toothpicks!

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White Paper guru Michael Stelzner hosts Lawrence Grobel, the “Mozart of Interviewers” in a teleclass on Wednesday, 4/16/08 (2 PM EST): “Proven Techniques for Interviewing Experts”! Details: http://www.whitepapersource.com/cmd.php?Clk=2333410

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NEW! “The BODACIOUS Banquet” – Issues 1-52 of The EPUB! Just $10.95!

Details: Below and http://wellfedwriter.com/thebodabanq.shtml.

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MISSED MY TELECLASS? “Thriving as a Freelance Commercial Writer”

38-PAGE instant download just $12! www.wellfedwriter.com/jan07tstranscript.shtml.

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THIS MONTH’S MENU:

I. APPETIZER: THE DUMB THINGS CLIENTS DO TO COMPLICATE THEIR LIVES

Designer’s Sad Tale Reminds: Price and Quality Don’t Necessarily Correlate!

II. CRISP “FIELD” GREENS: FEEDBACK ON MARCH ISSUE

Reader Comments About Pushy Salespeople and Quoting Hourly Rates

III. MAIN COURSE: ARE YOU MAXIMIZING WORK FROM EXISTING CLIENTS?

Atlanta FLCW Keeps Radar Up for Internal Opps, Stays Persistent, Lands Big One!

IV. DESSERT: Sweet Success Stories and Tips

Bangkok FLCW Hands Out Cards, Lands Work from “Walk-By” Prospect

TIP: WA FLCW Assumes Client Knows His Skills, Almost Misses Out on Work

V. COFFEE, MINTS AND TOOTHPICKS

- INPUT WANTED for TWFW2: Social Networking & Academia-to-FLCW Transition

- Well-Fed Writer BLOG Launched! 60+ Comments Greet First Post!

- NEW! The BODACIOUS Banquet – Issues 1-52 of the EPUB; Just $10.95

- MISSED MY TELECLASS? Full 38-PAGE e-Transcript – Just $12!

- AWAI Copywriting (& Other) Courses: Register Here, Get 2 Bonuses (no charge!)

- Well-Fed E-Pub Needs All Courses!

- How Can My Mentoring Service Serve You?

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I. APPETIZER: THE DUMB THINGS CLIENTS DO TO COMPLICATE THEIR LIVES

Designer’s Sad Tale Reminds: Price and Quality Don’t Necessarily Correlate!

I have an exceptionally talented graphic designer friend in Florida (designers are our “creative kin,” giving this story parallels to our world). She called the other day to check my availability for an upcoming job (gotta love that “graphic-designer-alliance” thing – the gift that truly keeps on giving; I did nothing to get this job but answer my phone). She shared a sad story about losing part of one her big accounts recently. The company had two divisions, and one was sold to another company.

The marketing guy for the new owners needed to create a small brochure – just a four-panel piece (11 x 17 page folded in half). Now, if he’d had half a brain, he would’ve saved himself and his company a ton of hassle and money by simply hiring my friend to continue on as the designer. After all, she’d been working with this company for years, knew them inside and out, and had been doing effective, rave-worthy work for years.

But, nooooooooo. He put the project out to bid, picked the most expensive company – a design firm with a tony address in the area. Why? BECAUSE they were the most expensive, and because, according to him (by way of her “mole”), the staff “had mohawks and ponytails.” To quote Dave Barry, I swear I’m not making this up.

Well. Weeks later, after beaucoup delays, miscommunications, and according to her, “lots of drama,” the project’s STILL not done, and what they’ve come up with she’s affectionately dubbed, “The Barf Piece,” given the chosen color scheme (her mole emailed her a copy). Plus, she reports, the piece doesn’t begin to address the ONE key hot button of the intended target audience. They must have listened really carefully during THAT creative meeting. Oh, and the price tag for this horror? Roughly 14K.

That ONLY included graphic design. No copywriting or photography. Apparently, the price tag is climbing towards $20K with everything (MINUS printing). I asked her what she’d have charged to do it, and understand, she’s NOT cheap. She said $3500 – one-quarter of the fee. We figured that for under $10K, a few freelancers could have knocked out the whole piece – design, copywriting, and photography – AND printed it to boot.

Naturally, it’s killing her. It’s one thing to lose an account because your competition is really better (or perhaps offers more than you can), but to lose out to exorbitantly priced dreck is especially hard to swallow.

So, the next time you hear that a client or prospect passed you over in favor of “Agence Fru-Fru” in Hoity Town, know that all that client is certain to get is a much higher bill, but not necessarily a superior job. Happens all the time. Small consolation, perhaps, but if it helps you shake it off and keep going, then it was a good thing. Let’s eat!

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II. CRISP “FIELD” GREENS: FEEDBACK ON MARCH ISSUE

Reader Comments About Pushy Salespeople, and Quoting Hourly Rates

On the “choice of two positives" concept (i.e., "Would Tuesday or Thursday be better for you to have me swing by and share my portfolio?"), MA-based professional copywriter, author and consultant Shel Horowitz (www.principledprofits.com) writes: “Careful with this! If the client isn’t ready, you could get blowback and be perceived as ‘pushy salesperson.’ Shel’s right. Mea culpa. Sometimes my evil sales twin takes over.

Reacting to this example: “Or in place of, ‘So, are you ready to get going on this project?’ try ‘Which piece of the campaign is more important - the press releases, or the brochure?’ Shel notes: “This one is better, because you have to be much further along in order for the question to even make sense, but I might phrase as, ‘Which piece would you like me to do first?’” Thanks Shel. Good advice.

Weighing in on the subject of quoting hourly rates, NH-based FLCW Diana Huff (info@dhcommunications.com, www.dhcommunications.com) writes: “When asked for my hourly rate, my standard reply is, ‘I quote by the project.’ Whenever I get an email that reads, ‘We need a brochure written; what is your cost?’ I email back with, ‘I’d love to talk by phone. When is a good time?’ I then talk to the prospect about why he needs a brochure – and often find out he doesn’t really need one, or in addition to a brochure, needs a whole bunch of other things.”

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III. MAIN COURSE: ARE YOU MAXIMIZING WORK FROM EXISTING CLIENTS?

Atlanta FLCW Keeps Radar Up for Opps, Stays Persistent, Lands Big One!

Got this cool piece from friend and fellow Atlanta-area FLCW Angela Durden (angeladurden@msn.com, http://www.angeladurden.com) about keeping the radar up, and being persistent about lobbying for new opportunities with existing clients – opportunities that can pay off for many years. As we’ve all heard, and many no doubt experienced, it’s FAR easier, less expensive and less of a hassle to land additional work from an existing client than it is to find a new client. And along the way, Angela not only got more work, but opened more doors to OTHER companies. Check it out.

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REFERRALS, OPPORTUNITIES, PERSISTENCE, CHANGE, AND PAYOFF.

REFERRAL: Almost 10 years ago, I was referred to the vice-president of a company who wanted a quote on writing, designing, printing, and mailing a quarterly customer newsletter for one of their divisions. The VP liked my ideas and price and we were off and running. During the next year, I learned more about the company and met many of the employees. I soon realized that Employee in location #1 didn’t know his counterpart in location #2, and enjoyed hearing about him. How much more money could this company make if there was a connection between all employees in all locations?

OPPORTUNITY: I saw an opportunity for increasing the business I did with this customer. The company desperately needed an employee newsletter to go to their 600+ employees in nine locations within the metro area – one that would let the employees meet each other and build a stronger organization.

PERSISTENCE: I decided to call the CEO and tell him what he needed. He wouldn’t take my call. So I wrote him and told him what I would have told him had he talked to me. He still did not call me. Over the next year, while I was still producing the customer newsletter for the other division, I continued to call, be rebuffed, and then immediately followed up with a letter telling him what I was going to say had we talked. One day he took my call. He said, “tell me everything now” I said, “No. We need to meet in person.” To my surprise, he agreed, we did, and it was a successful meeting. Within two months, the first employee newsletter was making its way to the home mailboxes of each employee. For the next 8 years I produced this newsletter three to four times a year.

CHANGE: The company grew to include 16 brands, 15 locations, and over 1300 employees during that eight years. The employee newsletter gig ended however, sadly for me and the employees, when an inside marketing person decided to “take over” and began to produce, what in my opinion is, a substandard newsletter But, hey, the company is saving a few bucks now and the CFO is happier.

PAYOFF: During the time I did this newsletter, I kept my eyes open for more business opportunities within this large and growing company. The business was there on many fronts, including writing the script for and directing an employee-orientation video (now in its third update). Also, quite a few referrals have come from this connection, including a national organization, which hired me to write for, manage the process of, and edit their monthly industry newsletter. This has brought even more connections within huge multinational companies, both manufacturing and service-oriented.

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IV. DESSERT: Sweet Success Stories and Tips

Bangkok FLCW Hands Out Cards, Lands Work from “Walk-By” Prospect

TIP: WA FLCW Assumes Client Knows His Skills, Almost Misses Out on Work

Thailand-based FLCW Dave Lowe (theloweroad@gmail.com) writes: “Though based in Bangkok, work takes me to Singapore and Vietnam frequently, as I used to live in both places. While in Singapore, I gave a business card to a friend who runs a health club there. He didn’t even need writers, but put it on his desk and went to lunch. A director for a new resort chain in Vietnam saw it and eventually I got $2,000 work on 3 brochures and website. Hand out cards to everyone!”

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Got this wise tip from Ferndale, WA FLCW/Graphic Designer Mike Klassen (mike@mikeklassen.com, http://www.mikeklassen.com) about letting clients know what you do. Don’t assume that if they hire you, they’ve necessarily checked you out. NOT always the case. Just proof positive of my assertion that clients don’t want to hunt around to find a writer (or any creative vendor) and if the right one crosses their path at the right time, they may hire them with minimal vetting.

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As part of a design project I was doing for a client, the files had to go through someone at a separate company for approval before being sent to the printer. After a couple of projects, my contact at this other company needed similar design work done, so he hired me to do it. Some weeks later, we’re casually talking and I mentioned I was finishing the layout of a book. My contact said, "Oh, you do book layout? We might have need of someone who can handle that soon."

Somehow, I had assumed that since he hired me, he had visited my website to make sure I was the best choice for the job, or at least visited out of curiosity (my URL’s always in my sig.) Nope. I was hired simply because he had seen my work through the other client. Turns out he didn’t have a clue what else I did and only thought I did projects like the one we were working on together with the first client. He had a company to run, so popping over to my site never made his priority list.

Talking with some other copywriting and design freelancers about this, I found I wasn’t the only one who had (embarrassingly) made some assumptions about what our current clients know that were far from correct.

So not only do you want to tell non-clients what you do in the hopes of drumming up business, but you also need to educate your own clients as to everything you can do for them. I’ve been finding that when I’m landing clients through word-of-mouth or like the example I gave, they’re only aware of a small piece of what I can do.

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V. COFFEE, MINTS AND TOOTHPICKS

- INPUT WANTED for TWFW2: Social Networking & Academia-to-FLCW Transition

- Well-Fed Writer BLOG Launched! 60+ Comments Greet First Post!

- NEW! The BODACIOUS Banquet – Issues 1-52 of the EPUB; Just $10.95

- MISSED MY TELECLASS? Full 38-PAGE e-Transcript – Just $12!

- AWAI Copywriting (& Other) Courses: Register Here, Get 2 Bonuses (no charge!)

- Well-Fed E-Pub Needs All Courses!

- How Can My Mentoring Service Serve You?

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INPUT WANTED FOR UPCOMING EDITION OF TWFW:

The updated version of TWFW (due out 4Q08/1Q09) is cranking along nicely AND I’m looking for some input. Can’t guarantee I’ll use all submissions, but I’m on the hunt for good relevant info in several areas:

1) SOCIAL/BUSINESS NETWORKING: If you have had any good experience using LinkedIn, Facebook, ZoomInfo or other such sites to boost your business, I’d love to get a few paragraphs from you. Just send to peter@wellfedwriter.com. Include your city and state (and web site if you’d like it mentioned).

2) ACADEMIA-TO-FLCW: Hail from academia (preferably University level, but K-12 is OK), but made the transition to working commercial freelancer? I’d love to get your perspectives – especially those who perhaps had a former negative perception of “commercial” freelancing, how you got past it, and how the Academy still views it.

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Well-Fed Writer BLOG Launched! http://www.wellfedwriter.com/blog

Well, it IS about time, but I finally launched TWFW Blog this past Sunday, 3/30/08. And judging from the 60+ (and counting) comments from new subscribers, hopes are high all around. Subscribe at the above link and join the festivities!

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NEW! The BODACIOUS Banquet – ISSUES 1-52 of the EPUB; Just $10.95!!

Every strategy, technique, tip, and success story from 5/02 to 8/06 in one KILLER easy-to-use 280-page ebook resource! http://wellfedwriter.com/thebodabanq.shtml.

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MISSED MY TELECLASS? “Thriving as a Freelance Commercial Writer”

38-PAGE e-Transcript! $12: www.wellfedwriter.com/jan07tstranscript.shtml.

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AWAI COPYWRITING (& OTHER) COURSES: Register Here, Get 2 Extra Bonuses!

Six-Figure Copywriting, Graphic Design, Internet Writing, Fundraising, Health Market and more! TWO Bonus CDS: http://www.wellfedwriter.com/awai.shtml.

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WELL-FED E-PUB Needs ALL COURSES!

“GREENS” (200-300 words), MAIN COURSES (400-500; query first), TIPS (150-200) and SUCCESS STORIES (200-300) to peter@wellfedwriter.com.

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HOW CAN MY MENTORING SERVICE SERVE YOU?

For details and testimonials, visit www.wellfedwriter.com/Mentoring.shtml.

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NEW Subscribe/Unsubscribe feature. To Subscribe (YAY!), Unsubscribe (boo!) and/or update your address for the E-PUB, visit: http://www.wellfedwriter.com/ezine.shtml.

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