FAQs
- What should the customer know about your pricing (e.g., discounts, fees)?
I normally do my marketing and copywriting services on a fixed-fee basis rather than an hourly rate. This is because I am results-oriented and believe in delivering with clarity and on a deadline, regardless of whether the project takes longer than I anticipated. I have found that clients also prefer knowing that one rate covers the whole project, rather than always being concerned about cost and time overruns. But that said, I normally don't quote a fixed price until I have a clear understanding of the project and the time it will take to research and write it.
- What is your typical process for working with a new customer?
More than half of the success comes from good research, which means talking with the client and getting all the relevant material. I also ant to talk to salespeople, engineers, customer service staff, and even clients, in order to get all the relevant facts on a project before writing. Then, once we know what the thing is, the writing part begins and we formalize an offer, an approach, and work out the proper media and ways of getting the message out that will work with the client's budget and timeline. I see my work as a partnership with clients, where we sit on the same side of the table and maintain an open dialogue during the process. It is not a transactional one-and-done relationship, but rather a limited-time partnership where I help you build out new marketing and selling assets in your business that you will own forever.
- What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
The only relevant training for a good salesperson is time in the field and success, of which I have both. I sold life insurance successfully from 2008 to 2016, and have run my direct-marketing consultancy since 2015. Eventually I began getting more consulting clients than insurance clients, and made the switch. Before getting into financial services, however, I was a professor and Ph.D. student at Fordham University in New York City. I went there on a full-ride scholarship to study philosophy and theology. Later I discovered how small the job market was for this field, so got into financial services. But in the process I developed a keen ability to read and digest a large amount of material quickly, retain it, figure out what the most important pieces were, and digest it into content that 18 year old students would not only understand, but get emotionally involved in. I transferred this skillset into professional selling, and later, when I discovered how to take my selling skills into media other than face-to-face selling, using the skills I had gained as a professor, I knew I had found my home.