Wiping off babe copywriters stuck to the bottom of my boot

Published: Sun, 04/08/18

Once upon a time, a reader asked:

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here’s a question from one of the babes in the copywriting forest (stuck to the bottom of your boot):

So I’ve written a few email campaigns.
A few sales letters.
Even had a little success…

But I really have no idea how to quote a client who has asked for a VSL that’s the equivalent of 11 pages — 7,500 words.

I suspect I’m cracking the “bigger” leagues here…

But clueless and wondering:

“how would Ben Settle quote this job?”

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I am the last person to be answering such questions.

But, since I’ve been yammering on about clients all weekend, I’ll take a whack at it.

Here are my not-so-humble thoughts on it:

You have to take your “copywriter” hat off, and put your “salesman” hat on. It’s ironic how well some copywriters can pitch but suck out loud at selling. They can quote David Ogilvy chapter by chapter and verse by verse. They can recite Gary Halbert’s newsletters backwards while juggling flaming torches riding a unicycle. They can rattle off dozens of A/B split test results as easily as if they’re ordering a burger at McDonalds.

But when it comes time to sell themselves to a client?

Crickets.

So, what to quote?

That’s entirely up to you.

What are you worth?

And besides that, if I were you, I’d start asking that client some questions. Like, why did they contact you? What happened when they hired other copywriters? What were the results? What’s the big “bottle neck” in their results? What kind of numbers do they need to be profitable, and what happens if they don’t make those numbers?

And so on, and so forth.

Probe.

Dig.

Root around.

Give them a vision.

Then, take that info and sell them.

Only then a pricing jedi will you be.

BTW, this is one reason freelancers (in my humble, but biased opinion) can benefit from my new Email Client Machine product. No, I don’t tell you how to price yourself. But, I do show you how to, over time, nab yourself a big, thick book of clients that come to you (instead of you chasing them), already 80% pre-sold on hiring you, and, where price might not even be an issue.

You have until 11:59 pm (EST) tonight to get it at a $100 discount.

To see if it’s something that can help you, go here:

http://www.EmailClientMachine.com

Ben Settle