Don’t Take ‘No’ For An Answer

“I couldn’t wait for success, so I went ahead without it.”
Jonathan Winters, comedian

In Issue #196

Editor’s Note: Hope you had a great holiday weekend! Krista spent it getting caught up and I spent it moving! Nothing like bringing true meaning to the word ‘Labor’ Day! Thanks to Mike Klassen for sharing this essay with us – I was eager to run it since this very thing just happened to me. A local direct response company was looking for a full-time in-house copywriter. I thought about for a minute and declined. And within the week, they wrote to ask if I’d be available for overflow projects until they find the right person for the job. You can guess my answer! Be sure you don’t count out companies just because their answer is no to freelance … today. In my experience, tomorrow is always a different story!

Don’t Take ‘No’ For An Answer: Why Companies That Use In-House Designers And Writers Might Still Need You
by Mike Klassen

When I started my freelance career, I would market to every business I could think of. Many times, I’d get a response similar to, “We do all our marketing material in-house. Thanks anyway.”

At that point, I’d scratch the business off my “contact in the future” list. After all, if they already had a full-time designer or writer on the payroll, they didn’t need a freelancer like me, right? Wrong!

Three things can happen, the first two of which you’re probably familiar with:

1. Economic conditions can turn an in-house marketing team into an out-sourced team.

While it’s nice to have a team on-staff in the building, the amount of work may not justify the cost of equipment, health benefits and a host of other employee-related costs. In that case, the company may decide to start outsourcing its marketing projects. If that moment happens, you’d at least like to be in the running for future projects.

But you’re not going to be in the running if the company doesn’t know you’re available! Any time you run across a company that uses an in-house team, keep them on your contact list. Every six months or so, send a postcard or some other reminder to let them know you’re available.

A well-respected copywriter once asked and answered the following question: “How long should you continue to contact a potential client who doesn’t appear to need you? Until they tell you not to contact them anymore.”

In other words, if a company is using an in-house team, continue to let them know you’re available until they tell you to stop.

2. Even with an in-house team, companies can be overwhelmed with work from time to time.

You never know when the work will overflow – and a freelancer will have to come in and mop up the excess. Sure, you may end up getting the job that the in-house team didn’t want to touch with a 10-foot poll, but who cares? This is your chance to make a great impression on a temporary basis and get paid for it.

At the very least, your work may encourage the company to mention your name to other people, or you get a testimonial in addition to a check. There will be other times when an in-house team member will quit. The company may want to hire another full-time employee, but there could be a small period of time when projects need to be outsourced while the company finds the right person.

3. The client wants an “outsider’s approach.”

This happens more often than you might think. To illustrate, let me tell you about a job I’m working on now. The company works on a variety of marketing projects for various companies.

Because of the amount of work they do, they have their own in-house designers and writers. So why did they call me? They wanted a totally fresh perspective on one of their marketing efforts. It’s not that their own people aren’t talented. But when you’re in the same trench week after week, year after year, you can naturally lose the ability to look at the same client in a completely fresh way.

For this company, their solution is to bring in someone from the outside and say, “We’d like to have you look at this from a different angle and come up with fresh ideas.”

Now here’s the secret … An idea you’ve seen a dozen times in other projects may, in fact, be a fresh idea for another client. To borrow a cliche, you don’t always have to reinvent the wheel. But since you’re coming at the project without the baggage of what has been done in the past, even an old idea may be the perfect “new” idea for another client.

As I looked at their current control, I could see some areas that I wanted to change. In talking to the marketing director, I found that some of my ideas had been tried and failed. But in other areas, I came up with ideas that they hadn’t tried before. They were ideas I had seen applied in other projects, so it wasn’t like I was inventing some new marketing method. But in taking those ideas and applying them in a new way for this client, I was bringing a fresh approach to the project. And those were the ideas that they were hiring me – an outsider – for.

So when you’re doing your marketing, don’t ignore the companies that use in-house designers and writers. Situations can change in the snap of a finger and you want to position yourself as the first person who gets the call when it’s time to bring in a freelancer with a fresh idea.

Mike Klassen runs Klassen Communications, providing layout and design services for direct market clients. This article is © Klassen Communications and may not be used in print, online or in electronic form without written permission from the author (which we got, thank you very much!). To find out how you can use this article in your print or online publication, contact Klassen Communications:
http://www.mikeklassen.com

Resource Referral: Last Call For Recruits!

Maybe you already know … this year’s AWAI bootcamp is nearly completely booked! Click here and grab one of the last few spaces! Krista and I will see you there.

And if the change of season has you feeling ready to get a little (ok, a lot!) more serious about your career, we are accepting a few more people into a new Copy Protégé Mentoring Group. (If you get in to this next group and come to bootcamp, you’ll be eligible to join us for the Big Bootcamp Soiree – where we wine and dine you for the evening!)

Send us a 2-page writing samples and your goals for the next six months to: admin@copyprotege.com to apply!

Quick Life Tip: Knowing When It’s Time to Toss It

I’ve been moving this past week – to a much smaller house in the suburbs! In just about every way, this is a blessing and something I should have done a while ago — which I’ll be writing about in the next few weeks. (Just as soon as I can easily find a pair of underwear among the boxes every day it will be time to sit down and bang out some fresh contemplative essays!)

The one challenge I’ll share with you today about downsizing is the obvious: what to do with all the stuff?!

We all have it. Those things we don’t really need, but haven’t been willing to toss on the chance that we might use it again … the kids might still play with it … or you might need to refresh your memory on research you did for a promotion three years ago!

On all counts, the odds you’ll need the item in question are very low. Here are a couple ways to handle it …

First, be brave and just toss it. Or, box it up and store it for a year – then toss anything you didn’t miss when you clean out the garage this time next year.

And here’s another way to tell if you really need something. Are you willing to pay to store it? Run some numbers. And if it doesn’t make sense to shell out the cash for a storage unit every month, then it probably doesn’t make sense to keep it, either!