In this case, I wasn’t pitching copywriting. I was selling the benefits of a long-term engagement marketing program, an act which requires some education.

I like the diagnostic idea, but if I’d simply laid such an offer on the table (and they weren’t looking for copywriter to begin with), I’d have wasted their time and mine.

I approach this kind of pitch the same way a salesperson might view selling enterprise-level software to a company. It’s not something that happens overnight.

At one point, the client asked me to attend a conference call with her consultants, and I cordially backed away, suggesting I’d be happy to educate everyone involved once I was being paid to do so.

Selling to bigger businesses often demands you tell half the story. The last thing you want — as you pointed out — is for all your ideas to be handed over for free, so a client can start shopping for the best deal.

Sell the benefits, but keep the details and technology largely to yourself.

Thanks for the thought-provoking comment. There are so many levels to this stuff, and I think it’s helpful for folks to see differing viewpoints.

So I prefer to offer instead a no-pitch, no-sales copy diagnostic/jumpstart. If clients hire me afterward, they can deduct the fee. If they prefer to do-it-themselves or hire another writer, no problem.

I also sell my own products and am working on some classes and group products. So when times are slow, I become my own best client!

Your idea is sound, and the ability to quickly get something in the mail – containing a custom message designed to fit the situation — is helpful.

My personality suggests I add a smile to the equation, which is why I usually prefer a toy or other “fun” goodie.

It has worked rather well and I have a drawer full of inexpensive but suitably lumpy keys.