Reselling Your Services

I have an ongoing contract to write monthly newsletter articles for a client. As per an earlier conversation regarding the theme of the month, I wrote a series of articles for the next edition. Then, I ran into the person who is my contact in this organization. I mentioned that I had the articles written in time for her deadline. She said that she had written some articles herself and probably wouldn’t need my material.

My initial reaction was going to be to remind her that we had a contract and I would have to bill her for my time. Instead, I decided to take a less confrontational approach. (Always a good idea with a regular and pleasant-to-work-with client.)

Since she had not given me specific instructions to write these articles, I told her that I wouldn’t bill her for them unless she used them. I told her I would email them to her and let her look at them. If she chose to use them I would bill them, if not, I would wait for her direction for the next edition.

I emailed the articles and waited. When the newsletter came out, my articles were in it. It was followed by an email requesting some additional work on another matter. Since then, I’ve gotten a lot of work from another department in this same organization.

Occasionally, you’ll have a client that forgets the value that a professional writer brings to the table. At that point you can resell your abilities, or force them to honor the contract. If you’re good enough, your abilities SHOULD win the day. I’m glad I took this approach. If it hadn’t worked out, at least I wouldn’t have burned any bridges.

A Tantrum As A Selling Tool?

If you want to be a copywriter…you’d better learn salesmanship. After all, copywriting is simply salesmanship in print. A common complaint in many of the forums is, “I’m not a salesman.” Sorry Sparky, but that’s just pure, unadulterated crap…and you know it. As a species, we are born salesmen. You started selling as soon as you were old enough to express your wants.

Making a sale is just moving people to your way of thinking. You threw a tantrum when you didn’t get your way. Then you tried whining, pouting, and crying. After awhile you realize that these methods don’t work and you start to learn the subtle art of persuasion.

Think about when you used the simplest form of sales…the bribe. You told your sister, “If you wash the dishes for me so I can go play baseball…I’ll clean your room for a week.” Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t. (And, if you had a sister like mine…you were held to cleaning standards that a NASA scientist would have envied.) It wasn’t sleazy or unethical. It was simply a matter of trading something of value for something of value. Every party to the agreement got what they wanted.

People buy because they “want” things. If they only bought what they “needed”…then all sales would only involve food, shelter, and basic clothing. Your job as a copywriter is to get them to buy what they’ve subconsciously decided they already want.

Now, you can throw a tantrum…but I don’t recommend it. Or…you can use that mighty pen and your unique powers of persuasion to help them gain that feeling of _________ that your product will give them.