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“Walter, this was the hardest thing for me to write and I don’t have the time to mess with it. I
need your magic pen to clean it up.”
The cool, logical voice tells me what the sensors have detected.
But as captain, I know what this means to ship and crew as I bark out the orders . . .
Shields Up!
Sound Red Alert!!
Man The Battlestations!!!
‘Bring her hard about, Mr. Sulu! Take evasive maneuvers and develop a firing solution!’
The Cling-Ons . . . (misspelling deliberate) have de-cloaked and fired upon the good ship ROI Copywriting.
<Sigh> Okay . . . fine . . . less dramatically, here’s what happened . . .
A prospect was showing me the content he’d written for a website. It was pretty horrendous and worse, he didn’t give a flip about the copywriting and marketing, he just wanted to hand it off to someone else so he could go off and do Really Important Things.
Note to self: Someday I’m going to find out what they think is more important than making and increasing your sales.
Do you know? If so, please email me because “I’d like to buy a clue, Pat.”
“Magic pen” remarks are a a tip-off to companies in trouble and they’re in trouble because they have such little regard for marketing and effective sales writing — i.e., copywriting.
When I’m interviewing potential clients, know how I determine how easy they will be to work with?
Yep, comments like the magic pen one. It’s a red flag and a deal breaker. A bona fide “Shields Up!” moment complete with red alert klaxons at full bore.
It has a variety of forms . . . “Go use your magic pen on it” . . . “Work your magic” . . . “Go do your magic” but it almost always means they don’t value the skill of copywriting and want me (or someone like me) to do this unimportant, menail task while they do the Really Important Things.
As we say in Jersey, “Yo . . . got yer “magic pen” right ‘chere.”
Like what you read? Then click here to buy me a coffee.
By Walter |
Topics: Client Top Secret, Inside The Mind, Pet Peeves |
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Comments
need your magic pen to clean it up.” 
“Magic pen” remarks are a a tip-off to companies in trouble and they’re in trouble because they have such little regard for marketing and effective sales writing — i.e., copywriting. 