It’s Monday — that means it’s time to open up the mailbox and answer YOUR questions!
Hey there Rainmaker, happy Monday!
Today’s the day where I answer YOUR questions. That’s right, it’s Mailbox Monday!
Remember: to get YOUR question answered in an upcoming issue of Breakthrough Marketing Secrets, simply email it to [email protected].
Today’s question is about how to get your next (or first) client or customer for your business…
NOTE: It’s written from the perspective of a copywriter, but every piece of advice can be adapted to work for any business. The key is asking the question, “How can I apply this to my situation?”
Let’s dig in!
—
Roy,
Just joined your list this week, but I’ve been loving all the detail you put into your emails.
Was wondering if you had any advice on getting my first few copywriting clients.
I’m going with the email them an irresistible offer this weekend you discussed in one of your blog posts.
Enjoy your weekend man,
Jacob
—
Jacob, welcome, and thanks for the question!
I’ve definitely written a LOT about copywriters getting clients, including that post on writing an irresistible offer letter to get your first client.
And frankly, if you’re doing that, you’re on the right track!
In fact, the other day I got a letter from Brandon, a copywriter who implemented the advice in that article. Actually, he’d done it on his own the first time, as I understood it. (It’s not a particularly original idea!)
Anyway, he sent a letter to a client, offering a “beat the control” challenge. What he got back from the client was this deal…
Brandon gets $1,000 up front, to write the letter. If he beats the control (he picked the client because he thought he could), he gets another $7,000. The potential for an $8,000 deal.
Then, he found my article. Figured out he was onto something (if he didn’t know already), so he decided to try it again.
He approached an even bigger marketer, with the same offer. Except he screwed up his math. Accidentally asked for $1,000 up front, and $8,000 if he beat the control. He said he didn’t mean to charge $1,000 more… But the client didn’t mind!
They took the deal…
And now, based on two of those irresistible offer letters (advice I give away FREE)…
Brandon in in a position where he’s got $2,000 guaranteed, in the bag, plus the chance to make a total of $15,000 MORE — $17,000 TOTAL income.
Now, a lot of this will rely on Brandon’s ability to beat the control. But if he did a decent job picking clients whose copy he’s got a good chance of beating…
Well…
There’s a good chance Brandon is walking away with all $17,000. And even if he wins one and loses one, the minimum he’s going to earn is $9,000.
I know a lot of copywriters who’d be very happy with that payday!
The single-most powerful piece of advice I have for you is…
“Just do it.”
Implement.
Take massive action toward achieving your goals. (Not little onesy-twosey actions here and there — MASSIVE action!)
I’m actually going to get on skype this week with Dan Meredith, who I met last year at The Titans of Direct Response.
Dan is committed beyond compare to taking massive action.
When I met him at Titans, he was practically brand new to copywriting.
He’d just landed a gig with Ryan Levesque’s agency, doing copywriting.
Well, fast-forward less than a year, and he’s made nearly half a million dollars in his copywriting business.
There’s a few things he’s gotten right. I’m going to be posting the audio from our call on Ryan Levesque’s Next Level Mastermind (remember, you can still get the $1, 7-day trial through tomorrow at midnight — click here — and you’ll be able to see that post when I put it up).
But the one principle that Dan beats everybody on is MASSIVE action.
The next piece of advice I have for you is get clear on your offer…
I have a ton of information coming out soon on this, so I’m not going to go too deep here…
But here’s the thing…
People don’t buy what they don’t understand.
This is why it’s so easy to sell a physical product. It’s easy to see what you’re getting. It’s very clear. $20 and I walk out with this shirt. $40 and I walk out with these jeans.
It’s easy from the merchant side to make these offers. It’s easy from the buyer side to decide if you want these offers. They’re unmistakable.
But what happens when you sell services?
Well, let’s say you were selling something that wasn’t copywriting. Let’s say you were selling house cleaning services.
Compare the response you think you’d get between these two offers…
— “Do you need any cleaning done? Call us.”
Or…
— “We’ll clean your entire house, top to bottom, every week. For your kitchen, we have a 28-point cleaning list — 14 points are cleaned every week, the other 14 are in a 2-week rotation. Every bathroom in the house has a 17-point weekly cleaning list. Every room is dusted weekly, top to bottom. Every carpet vacuumed. We have 32 other standard housecleaning tasks that we do on a 2-week rotation, so you always feel like your home is clean and comfortable. There’s a no-cost, no-obligation Clean Home Consultation we do to start every new client relationship. But if you want a rough estimate of what it’ll cost per week, we charge a $25 visit fee plus just $0.02 per square foot of home. To request your free Clean Home Consultation, visit [web address] or call ###-###-####.”
The problem with most copywriters is that they never get clear on what they offer clients besides “writing.”
The reality is almost nobody wants to buy “writing.” And those who do will be dissatisfied with the results.
That’s not what clients want.
It’s not what you should give them.
Sure, your deliverable is a bunch of writing.
But that’s not what they’re buying.
That’s not what you should offer.
What they’re buying — and what you need to offer to clients if you want them to value you and pay you good money as a copywriter…
Is results!
More leads. More customers. More sales. More profits.
Maybe… More traffic to their website. More opt-ins. More followers on social media.
The farther you get from the sale, the less the copy is worth.
The closer you get to the sale — all the way up to your copy being what brings money through the door — the more your copy is worth and the more you’ll make for writing it.
Which means they’re not actually buying copy. They’re not buying words.
If that’s what you’re offering, you’re going to come up short.
Yes, that’s the mechanism through which you get your clients results, but your offer needs to be more than that.
So… You want clients and customers (whether they’re your first or your 100th)?
Here’s what to do…
— Get really clear on what you have to offer. Who it’s for. Why they want it. What results it gets them. And what you’re actually going to deliver to get those results.
— Find those people who are most likely to buy it.
— Reach out to them and make the offer.
— If you get responses, congrats! You win!
— If you don’t get the response you’re looking for, find a way to adjust the offer. Make sure you’re actually giving them what they want, not what you want to sell them.
— Rinse and repeat.
A better offer will get you more and better clients.
Taking massive action will get you more and better clients.
And remember, this applies to ALL businesses, not just copywriters.
For copywriters… Book update… “The Copywriter’s Guide to Getting Paid.”
UPS has the first order of 50 books.
They were originally going to be here today.
They’re now supposed to be here tomorrow.
Which means I should officially start taking orders on Wednesday for the books.
I’m going to give them away if you pay shipping.
I’ll lose money on every one out the door. But this is a really important message. It will help lots of people, I think. So it’s worth it to me.
And if you like what you hear, I think you’re also going to want to get more info on building your offer as a copywriter. Which I’ll have training on very quickly after the book is released.
More on that in a couple days…
Yours for bigger breakthroughs,
Roy Fur
Editor, Breakthrough Marketing Secrets
