Caution – Salesperson Headed Your Way

“Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.”
– Ronald E. Osborn, professor and author

In Issue #145

[Editor’s Note: In today’s issue, my colleague Jane Garee shares her thoughts on one of her favorite topics. Jane is a copywriter who lives in South Florida. Her hobbies include reading at the beach, traveling and calling her family in Ohio to laugh at them during the winter months. On nights when she is really bored, she answers incoming telemarketing calls and critiques them. That should give you a taste of Jane’s wit and personality. I hope you enjoy the essay as much as I did!]

Caution – Salesperson Headed Your Way by Jane Garee

Do your gag reflexes go into overdrive when you hear the following?

“But wait! If you act now…”

“I don’t do this for everybody but for you….”

“I can’t agree to this, but let me check with my manager.”

Are you rolling your eyes as you are reading this? Look! Over there! It’s not a crook or a villain or a land shark it’s…….SALESPERSON!!! Able to take your money in a single bound!

If you had any negative response, you’re going to have to get over it. Because as a copywriter, it is guaranteed that you will need to be selling. As wonderful as the fantasy is of sitting at your computer cranking out fabulous copy, the reality is you are going to have to find clients who need copy.

That means they are going to have to know who you are And that means you are going to have to tell people who you are and why they need you..

It means you are going to have to sell.

You may as well face it now. Nothing happens until something gets sold. I mean nothing. Right now, you are sitting on a chair, reading this on a computer in the confines of your home. Guess what? The chair, the computer and the house all had to be imagined, created and then, gasp, sold. And since you are in possession of all three items, you are the buyer. Who’s the sucker now?

The fact is, we are all selling all day every day. Some of us are able to admit it. Some of us are able to embrace it. Some of us are even proud of it. Be one of those people.

I have a saying that I love to tell people: Nobody can know how great you are until they know who you are. You can be enormously talented, downright gifted even and if you aren’t out there tooting your own horn nobody will know or care about you.

I know that sounds overly harsh and please don’t take it personally. It’s just that so many of us artistic types tend to think if we get a stack of business cards, set up a website and get our computer fired up business will be booming. Nothing could be further from the truth.

You may be an amazing person and an incredible writer. You may even get feedback on your copywriting with quotes like “stroke of genius,” “brilliant,” “devastatingly evocative” (okay, maybe that one is a stretch, but we’re writers, right?). But those are just three comments and if those are the only three people who have any interest in your work, you better develop a really strong relationship with them because you are going to be sleeping on their couch.

So you hate to sell, but yet you have to. What’s a poor artistic soul to do?

Let’s go back to our example of the chair, the computer and the house. You own all three. Are you really angry about it? Do you feel positively cheated? Do you stay up nights vowing revenge on that cheeky, weasel salesperson who sold you a bunch of stuff? Of course not!

So instead of looking down on salespeople, remember they play a valuable role in your life. And then, do yourself a big favor and do the following three things before you start selling your copywriting services:

  1. Understand who you are and what makes your writing different. What sets you apart from your competition? If you were a company, why would you work with you? Believe it or not, many people aren’t able to convincingly answer that question. Either they truly don’t know or they don’t believe in themselves enough. Really dig into your own psyche and get some answers. You are not going to be able to go forward until you know what’s really going on.
  2. Don’t sell to people who are unpleasant. Life is too short! Believe it or not, copywriting is a need and there are plenty of really nice people out there who will both need and like you. Find them. Quickly.
  3. Don’t ever give up and never, never take rejection personally! Clients are people. People have bad days, too little sleep, fights with their spouses. They run late to work, stress over deadlines and hate their bosses. Make their day a little better, get them to laugh, help them meet a deadline and impress the boss and you are not just a copywriter you are their new best friend. People always buy from friends.

There’s an old sales line that I love: Never starve to death in an apple orchard.

If you aren’t making as much as you would like, assuming of course that your writing is decent, don’t blame the economy, your mother or anything else that sounds tempting.

Take a deep breath and look in the mirror. See what’s staring back? There’s your apple orchard.

In a perfect world you would be so financially flush you could hire an amazing sales staff to secure new writing assignments. In this world, that amazing sales staff is you.

If you want a bountiful harvest, you need to do the necessary work. So start picking. The more you do, the more apples/clients you will have and the next thing you know you’ll be sitting down to a feast. Once you know how to work the system, you’ll never go hungry.

At that point, come on over to my house for some pie. Now go out there and start selling!

An unapologetic sales person, Jane Garee is a copywriter, author, speaker, and entrepreneur. She had a successful career as a sales manager and trainer in corporate America before she realized she was financing other people’s dreams. Now she specializes in writing travel, entertainment, real estate and employment copy.

Resource Referral: A Shortcut to Landing Your First Client

Selling seems to be in Jane’s blood. But most of the beginning copywriters I know are quite nervous about the marketing side of this business. Like it or not though, you have to be able to sell your services if you’re going to survive.

If you’re looking for ideas on how to get work, one resource that can help is AWAI’s guide called Getting Your First Client. It’s a “how-to” guide from people like Monica and me—people who have been exactly where you are today—that explains exactly what they did to win their first clients.

If you would like hearing how other people got their foot in the door, order Getting Your First Client today. You can put many of the techniques you’ll find in there to work for you right away, whether you’ve already finished the copywriting program or not.

Quick Copy Tip: Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks

I’ve been writing copy for more than five years now and I recently learned a new trick that often doubles my productivity.

Want to know what it is? I got the Polder timer that Monica referred to in CP Issue # 138.

I’ve got to tell you I love my little timer! I set it for 33:33—it’s running right now as a matter of fact—and I’m off.

If you haven’t gotten one yet, order it. It costs only ten bucks, and it’s one of the most powerful tools I own.