bad client meeting
by Josh Monen
Have you ever had a meeting with a prospective client go bad on you?
Well, here’s the story of the worst client meeting I’ve ever had as a freelance writer (names have been changed to protect the innocent — and the snobs):
I walked into the small office and sat down behind the small table. The two agency creative directors, Alex and Nicole, followed me in and sat to my right and left.
Alex pulled out a piece of paper, “Well. We have your resume here. But why don’t you tell us a little about yourself.”
I told them how I left my career as an insurance agent in May 2011 to start my own freelance writing business. And that I specialized in direct response copywriting for the financial services and insurance industries.
I ended by talking about some of the clients I worked with.
It seemed like things were going well enough until…
“You don’t have a degree?!”
After I finished my elevator speech Nicole looked at me with a puzzled look. “So how did you transition from insurance to writing? Do you have a degree?”
“No. I don’t have a degree. I took English in college but never finished my degree. I’m self-taught. I read books, completed online training and learned from seasoned freelance copywriters.”
“So have you ever worked with designers, editors or other writers?” she asked condescendingly.
I gave specific examples of projects where I had worked with designers, editors and writers. But she wasn’t impressed.
Then I decided to ask my interrogators a question.
“What do you look for when you hire a freelancer or a full-time writer? Is a degree a must?”
“Yes,” Nicole said, gently nodding her head.
“So that pretty much excludes me, right?”
“Umm… well, not necessarily. If you could build a portfolio and prove you could do the type of writing we need then we’d consider you,” she said.
Finally Alex spoke slowly, like he was talking to a child: “If you don’t have a degree, then you could work on building an online portfolio.”
Did the office manager not forward my information to these guys? I thought.
“Yes. That’s a good point. When I’ve shown prospects my relevant samples it’s helped them see I can do the same type of work for them,” I said, hoping the light would dawn that I already have a professional portfolio online.
No response. So I continued, “What type of projects do you anticipate you’ll need help with this year?”
“At this time, we don’t have any need for freelance work or a paid full-time position. And it’s hard to tell what we’ll have need of a year from now. We mainly do corporate responsibility writing for Fortune 500 companies,” Nicole said.
Alex said out of the blue, “The main thing that separates us from freelancers is we have editors, writers and designers all working together. The writing goes through a rigorous review process before it goes to the client. And that’s why Fortune 500 companies choose us over freelancers, because they don’t want to take any chances.”
Go to college and make $10/hour
“If you don’t mind me asking, what’s a typical salary for writers here? You don’t have to answer if you’re not comfortable,” I said.
“There’s a range. We have writers in their first year and 30-year professionals. So it varies,” Alex said.
He continued, “A writer right out of college, an A-Level writer would earn about $20,000.”
“Oh okay,” I said, trying to mask my shock.
The meeting ended shortly after that. I got in the elevator and thought, That was the most awkward interview I’ve ever had!
Laughter is the best medicine
When I got back to my car the first thing I did (besides laugh) was pull out my phone to do the math: $20,000 / 52 weeks = 384/ 40 hours in a week comes to $9.62 an hour!
They start writers – with a degree – out at $9.62 an hour! That’s ridiculous. I charged at least $75 an hour at the time (my minimum is now $100/hour). How crazy.
I laughed, drove home and told my wife the story. We both got a good kick out of it.
And I decided I wasn’t going to let this get me down.
3 days later: another meeting
Exactly three days after my nightmare meeting, I received a phone call out of the blue from the CEO of an insurance marketing company. This particular CEO is arguably the highest-paid copywriter in the insurance industry (charging $15,000/day).
He asked if I’d be interested in a full-time copywriting position with his company. It would involve relocating.
I told him I would, but would need to talk to my wife first. So after talking with my wife, I called him back three days later and told him I was interested if the compensation was right.
He said, “OK. What are we talking?”
I told him how much I would need to make, naming a substantial figure I thought would probably be too much for them.
But he simply responded with, “That should be no problem. That fits within what we had budgeted for the position. But you’ll need to earn that amount. For that amount I expect results.
The next step is for you to come down and meet me and the team. My assistant will call you to set that up.”
After a much more positive meeting than the one I had with the agency… Fast forward three weeks, and I had a full-time copywriting job that pays well — with six weeks of paid vacation to top it off!
This whole experience proved to be a great lesson for me. I discovered some people have their own preconceived idea of what it means to be a professional writer (i.e. having an English degree, working for an agency, etc.).
But others look past all that to see if you can get the results they need.
You just have to find the clients who appreciate you, whatever your writing background.
I’m thankful for Carol and the writers who supported me in the Freelance Writers Den, who’ve taught me an important lesson: you become a professional writer when you decide you are.
Have you ever had an awkward client meeting? Feel free to share in the comments below.
Joshua Monen is a freelance copywriter and marketing consultant who helps businesses grow by flooding them with qualified leads. He has written for PerkStreet, MicroVentures and American Express. You can read his marketing blog for valuable tips, tactics and strategies on how to grow your business.
