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“You charge too much. Any chance you can come down on that?”
I dunno, I think. Any chance you’d take less than the overpaid six figure salary you get for asking a stupid question like that?
Another potential client with a scarcity mindset has slipped through the deflectors and is peering into the mouth of my sales funnel. Gotta run that Level II Diagnostic someday.
But the guy refuses to quit while he’s ahead. “We’re talking to a couplea writers who’ll do it for $25 bucks an hour. Any chance you can get close to that?”
Not even if you were as smart and as pretty as Jessica Simpson.
Count to three. Release. Pleasant, happy, fluffy thoughts.
“No. No I won’t,” I reply. “And if they’re willing to create 3 webpages, a 12 page sales letter and a 7 part email campaign for $25 an hour then they’re really desperate and need that money. Personally, I’m not a starving freelancer and it’s pretty stupid to try to negotiate with me like I am one.
Look, I turn down more gigs than I accept because I know my value to you and frankly when all I’m asking in recompense is the equivalent of $.25 on every dollar I make you, the attempt to lowball me is insulting and since you’re insulting me before we have a contract, then I can assume working together would be every bit the nightmare I’d imagine.”
Guess I can cross him off the Christmas card list.
Sure, every once in awhile for the right company, I’ll temporarily reduce my rates to give them a shot. They’ve got the right mindset and a really great product or service, they deserve a chance to grow even larger. But in those cases, there are very specific criteria to be met before I ever offer that.
And the eventual idea is to get them to a point of profitability where I’m not slitting a vein to help them make more money.
Well a day or two after the above phone call, I read a post by marketing consultant Michel Fortin that struck home and since he defines the problem so much better than I (and in many places, he says it better) I’ll just link to his post and you can read it for yourself.
I’ll just add “Ditto!”
But first, what he wrote really sums up the problem these “scarcity vampires” create for themselves and any inexperienced writer unfortunate or desperate enough to take the gig.
“Beyond the extra work (for no extra pay) you will have on your plate, their own scarcity mindset might even self-sabotage their attempts at making money, and cut their own selves at the knees — such as, among many examples, modifying your copy before even testing it. [emphasis added by moi]
(And guess who they’ll blame if the copy is not pulling?)
Second, these vampires will be sucking precious time away from you — time you could have invested in marketing yourself more to attract and work with better clients who are both able and willing to pay your fee.”
Click here to read the rest of his educational post.
Like what you read? Then click here to buy me a coffee.
By Walter |
Topics: Client Top Secret, From The Trenches, Here's Your Sign, Lessons Learned, Pet Peeves |
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