I, like many before me, soon discovered that success as a freelance copywriter – or a freelance anything – is not just about coming up with good quality writing.
It’s about providing a service, cultivating a relationship, making sure clients feel assured they’re getting a good deal.
So many veteran copywriters who I admire, such as John Carlton and Martin Sayers, talk about how these skills are behind their longevity and success – even more so than the quality of their work.
I’m always trying to improve the service I provide to you, my client. And the great thing is, it’s not just other copywriters who provide those little spicy meatballs of customer service wisdom…
‘Don’t make me look a ****.’
I received this sage advice during a 3-year stint as a football official, a few years before I became a copywriter.
During a meeting of the Bradford Referee’s Association, one of the County FA’s big cheeses was in attendance.
He was talking about the best way a linesman/woman can support a referee during a match. He told us about a veteran referee he knew, who said to his assistants in his pre-match pep talk, “Don’t make me look a ****.” According to him, this rather no-nonsense instruction pretty much covered everything.
Essentially it means, ‘Do your job, don’t do anything daft, because I’m the one who’s going to cop for all the abuse when things go wrong.”
As advice goes, you can’t knock it. It’s a pretty good guiding principle for any situation where there’s a hierarchy of people executing a task.
Nowadays, it helps to guide me when agencies hire me for copywriting support. Agencies are like the referees in the middle. They’re the ones under most pressure to deliver. They’re the ones who stand to lose out the most if things go tits up. So it’s my job to support them.
I ask myself, ‘What are all the ways I could make an agency look a **** in front of their client?’
Submit crap work. Ignore deadlines. Throw the brief in the bin and go off on my own wild tangent. Respond to emails eight days after I receive them. Throw a hissy fit when clients ask for changes. Pigheadedly refuse to adapt to their preferred work processes. Show up to Zoom calls drunk and naked, and so on.
Then, all I try to do is the opposite of those things.
Simple. So staggeringly simple.
And it turns out that agencies appreciate it when freelancers are reliable and simply do what we’ve been asked to do.
Nothing groundbreaking…
I sometimes feel like I chose the wrong career. I sometimes feel like I should have been a tradesman. Apparently, they’re making more money than they can deal with. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve heard about plumbers, joiners, sparkies, roofers, brickies, you name it… simply ignoring people who want to pay them thousands of pounds, their coffers already brimming with coin. Do you feel the same?
Anyway, a couple of years ago, we paid a couple of blokes thousands of pounds to do our kitchen and bathroom. And the reasons we did so were ludicrously simple.
They were one of four different companies we’d had recommended to us, and of those four, they were one of just two who responded to our messages quickly. (One of them got in touch a couple of weeks later, said sorry, he’d been on a job and ‘Do we still want a quote?’ What, so you couldn’t take thirty seconds to send a message that you were busy? Too late now pal, do one.)
The next step was to arrange a time to come and look at the kitchen. Of the two who responded, our guys were the only ones who showed up on time. In fact, the other lad didn’t show up at all.
When they arrived, they were both sound blokes. Chatty, made our kids laugh, talked about some people we knew in common. Seemed to know what they were doing and told us not to worry if all the materials didn’t arrive when expected, they could be flexible. Nothing groundbreaking, really.
But we booked them for the job without bothering with any other quotes. We’d seen all we needed to see. They were already head and shoulders above their competitors just by doing what most people would consider to be the bare minimum of service:
- Replying to messages
- Turning up when you say you will
- Being a decent, down-to-earth, respectful person
- Being flexible
- Showing that you care and are competent
This happened just as I was transitioning out of teaching into copywriting. And it was a valuable lesson that came at the perfect time, because as I made my way in the industry, I heard from clients, agencies and veteran copywriters that many freelancers fail to extend these simple courtesies to their clients. The mind boggles.
I realised that just by emulating the blokes who fit our kitchen with those five basic elements of customer service, I could put myself ahead of lots of other copywriters.
I may not be able to guarantee you a perfect headline straight off the bat. But I can guarantee you a proper service.
If that’s important to you when you hire freelancers, give me a shout for your upcoming marketing project.