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| The Client Letter |
| The Day I Went Down in Flames |
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September 6, 2011 Sedona, Arizona I still remember the first time I lost a “head-to-head” competition with another copywriter. It wasn’t even close… He wrote a promotion for a product, and I wrote a promotion for the same product. Both promotions were sent out and the results were measured. You could say I got creamed. Today’s issue is about what I learned and how you can turn something like this into a huge plus for your business. Let’s get to it… FIRST: Don’t Cry Over Spilled Milk
I guess everyone loses at some point. But I don’t think you ever get used to the feeling. It sucks. What are people saying about Moneymaking Secrets of a Renegade Freelancer:
“Jason Leister has compiled the best list of actionable advice for freelancers I have ever read, and if I had known back then what I know now, I would not have wasted countless hours trying desperately to please clients who completely devalued everything my staff and I did for them. This book provides amazing advice about how to become a service provider worthy of earning top dollar. With the advice from this book, you will know exactly how to deal with the “why can’t you do it cheaper?” question.” Actually, I didn’t know I lost that competition with the other copywriter until well after the promotion ran. Heck, I didn’t even know my promotion was going to be part of a split test competition. (I would have worked harder on it if I had… NOTE TO SELF: Always work harder.) I was just curious about the results of the work I had done so I wrote my client an email. “Hey, didn’t see the promotion launch, did it go? How did it do?” A few days later, back came the response. Here’s the summary: “Yeah, it went. To our full file. Split-tested with another promo. You lost.” (It’s nice when they let you down easy 🙂 Here’s the sequence of thoughts and emotions that can occur after something like this… Pardon the stream of consciousness effect here: “[Insert explicative…]” [Anger turns to feeling of betrayal…] “THEY didn’t tell me they were going to split test it… That would have been nice to know.” [Insert quiet rage, building slowly…] [Rage turns inward…] “You didn’t ASK them if they were going to split test it stupid…” [General “I feel stupid” type of feeling…] “That sucks… Now what?” [Anger, disappointment and annoyance turn to something positive…] “How can I use this for something good?” One Foot in the Winner’s Circle,
the Other in the Loser’s Circle The most bizarre part of this is how it feels when you have one client where your project goes down in flames… But you have ANOTHER client where things are rocking and rolling. One foot in failure, one foot in success. Just imagine sticking one foot in really hot water and your other foot in really cold water. That’s a pretty weird feeling. Same feeling here. In my case, one of my other clients at the time was tickled pink with me helping him generate about 2,000 new qualified leads a MONTH for his business… And we were just getting started. So what’s the BIG IDEA here, the big LESSON I learned from all of this? And what’s the difference between these two clients I’m telling you about? Choosing Your Battles
Here’s the quick explanation: I’m not a famous copywriting celebrity. I don’t have 35 years of copywriting experience under my belt. And who knows if I’ll even be doing this 10 years from now. The bottom line for me is that it’s just not my aim to necessarily be the best copywriter in the world. That’s just not my goal. Frankly, I don’t believe there is such a thing. And I’m not going to pull all nighters, delay time with my kids, never see my wife, JUST to develop my craft to be in the top .5% in the world. I did that with music already… and the payoff wasn’t worth it for me. It just isn’t the way I’m wired. Challenge is good. But it’s also good to choose the challenges where your odds are good for success. I don’t consider that being lazy. I consider it to be smart. So here’s where I went wrong with my client. I chose the wrong client. (Probably.) In their eyes, I was JUST a copywriter. They hired me to write copy. That’s it. In my case, that’s a BIG potential problem. And it was my first mistake. Because sometimes I write stuff that sells like crazy and sometimes I don’t. But limiting my success so that it only comes when I write stuff that SELLS? That’s just silly for me. Particularly when I can offer a whole lot MORE value to my clients. To the clients that view me more as a MARKETING expert… and as a BUSINESS expert. Those are the clients where my copywriting is just a tool to turn the marketing expertise into results. Those are the clients that can get HUGE returns for their money. But here I didn’t do that. This client wasn’t looking for that type of a “total package.” They were looking for a “copywriter” and I stepped right into their copywriting box. And how do you measure the “worth” of a copywriter? There’s really only one way. You see how the copywriter’s writing performs. But sometimes you only get one or two chances… So like I said, it’s silly for me to play a game like that when there’s a much BIGGER game to be played. And I’m playing that BIGGER game (the marketing expert game) with the client where things are rocking and rolling. Coincidence? Probably not. Think about it… There’s no right answer here. There’s only the right answer for YOU. Are you stepping into a box that’s going to limit your success? If so, consider smashing that box to pieces starting today. And then ask yourself this question: “How can I redefine what I do and add to what I do, so that I no longer fit in the ‘I’m a [insert the name of your service]…'” box? Your answer could really, really change your life. See you tomorrow,
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