Friday, October 20, 2006
You want to help me? Don't ask...
Readers sometimes help me out. They email me with reminders like, "You've got a misspelled word on your website page" and they give me the URL. They point out that I haven't clearly spelled out a certain offer. I love those emails. But sometimes I get emails like, "I'm a web designer. Here's a suggestion for a revision of your website." Or "Maybe you'd be interested in my services?" Or "How can we help each other?" When I get these emails, I grit my teeth. Sometimes I remove the names from my ezine lists. They don't get it. What's wrong with these ideas? (1) Wait till you're invited to offer a critique. Think about it. I do copywriting for websites. Wouldn't you figure out I know web designers? If my website needs work, either I've made a choice to do nothing or I've been too busy to deal with a change. I have a firm rule. I will not hire anyone who sends me a "cold" email, along the lines of, "I've seen your site and I have an idea..." Or, "You may be looking for a web designer..." These folks are the Internet equivalent of ambulance chasers. They need to join my Bragging101 program. (2) Top-of-the-head ideas tend to be useless. When I write copy, I spend a lot of time learning about my client. I have a long questionnaire and i'll read through their site. Depending on the job, I may do some additional research. I need to know the client's target market and unique selling proposition before writing a single word. Once I was redesigning my business card. An acquaintance from a networking event said, "I'm a designer. Let me play with this." To my amazement, she not only played with the design: she changed my copy. Without asking. Now, a business card can be a powerful piece of real estate. I encourage everyone to use front and back. Consider your words carefully. This "designer" added little dollar signs all over the card. And while I offer a 15-minute chat to discuss my business, she proposed a "15 minute money making conversation abosolutely free." I don't want to emphasize "free." And my fifteen-minute consultation is more about whether we can work together than how you can make money. Frankly, in 15 minutes, I'm not sure I could make any worthwhile suggestions! This well-meaning acquaintance hadn't done her homework. She just threw out ideas that turned out to be worth less than the paper they were written on. (3) If you have an offer, be specific. Think about it. "How can we help each other" is pretty insulting, although the sender clearly intended to create a friendly win-win initiative. He's placing the burden on me. I'm supposed to figure out what he does and how we can work together. What he should do: Figure out what I have. Identify how he can help. Make a specific offer. But even then, you have to be careful to avoid sounding desperate. Busy people don't go chasing after individual clients, unsolicited. They don't send around emails saying, "Maybe I could help." They take the trouble to create ezines, classes and strong websites. They attend networking events and share their business cards. And mostly they stay busy. Being busy gives off vibes that attract more business. And then you're too busy to offer unsolicited advice. Cathy Goodwin, Ph.D. offers strategic copywriting and communications consulting for small biz owners and solo professionals who want to sell themselves without sounding sales-y. Ask about her three-step Strategy-->Message-->Copy system. Begin with a visit to the Copy-Cat website. |
# posted by Cathy Goodwin @ 9:32 AM 
