Two days before Thanksgiving I received The Email; one of my retainer projects wasn’t going to be funded in 2009 – a victim, the client said, of the economic upheaval.
No, the timing wasn’t great, but I wasn’t surprised. This was a speculative project – one living far from the organization’s revenue stream. And in tough economic times, being “far from the revenue stream” is more an epitaph than a harbinger of survival.
The point isn’t whether this will happen to you (it will). The real point is this: How will you react?
Walk Away? Or Try Again?
I’m satisfied I did a good job, and the good results reflect that. Still, it was a luxury project, and while I can walk away with my head held high, why would I walk away at all?
The client was happy with my non-revenue producing work – so why not pitch them a revenue-positive project?
I’m working on the pitch now, and approaching the client this week. The concept? They have a gaping hole in their marketing process where they should have a revenue stream.
I’m offering to create that revenue stream, and do so quickly.
To do it, I’m putting together a pitch that’s both persuasive (hopefully) and topical (it draws on recent, well-known fundraising successes to prove my point).
And to help it fly with the spreadsheet zombies, I’m willing to back-load my fees (accept the bulk of payment toward the end of the project so expenses show up after revenues are flowing).
Will it work?
Hard to say. Tough times make for bunker mentalities at a lot of organizations, and new projects – even those with revenue-positive projections – are often relegated without a thought.
Still, why walk away?
The freelance copywriting life includes plenty of rejection and down economies; both can be painful, but both also represent opportunities, especially if you’re looking for them – instead of seeing only doom and gloom.
Keep writing, Tom Chandler.
Comments 7
Bingo. That was incredibly smart of you, and also generous – should the client accept, he/she may end up earning income that wasn’t there before.
I’m fond of saying that there’s a positive in every negative. Cool to see someone apply the same theory.
Similar thing happened to me with a steady client I’ve been working with for the last couple of years, doing a quarterly print & electronic newsletter plus other communications pieces as needed. The designer & I were told the newsletter will be on hold for the first six months of next year. We suggested doing the electronic version only, and remaining available for one-off pieces, but have had no response. We’re going to have to market for more work and be creative about generating projects. Things are likely to get tight & we’ll have to prove ourselves to be better in every way.
@James: Tough times do offer opportunities – especially for selling new (and cost-effective) online technologies to clients loathe to try them when times are good, and exiting media channels are doing “OK.”
@Gloria: Good luck! After a little analysis, one of my consulting clients hot-rodded their e-newsletter efforts by moving from quarterly to monthly. The spreadsheet revealed the spike in revenues that followed every e-newsletter, and it wasn’t hard to convince them the brand benefits and potential revenue increases far outweighed the relatively miniscule costs.
Even in tough times (or should I say especially in tough times), solving problems and tying those solutions to revenue is a tough formula to beat.
Hi Tom,
This is a really good post. Something similar happened to me a couple months ago with one of my anchor clients. The experience really underscored the need to continue marketing and to diversify my freelance portfolio.
Based on this experience and some others, I passed along a few tips to readers in this post: http://tinyurl.com/67vcm5
Anyway, keep focusing on the opportunities. They are definitely out there for freelancers with the right tools, talent, and entrepreneurial spirit!
Jenny Cromie
http://www.thegoldenpencil.com/
You raise a good point here Tom. It is easy to say that “marketing” is traditionally the first thing to be slashed in a down economy. But I think that if clients saw direct results from their advertising, like your newsletter client for example, they will be more likely to continue.
“Luxury” marketing, or what you might call “fishing” (at least I would) — well, there is not so much room for that right now. So perhaps it is up to us to advise our clients on which solid, proven marketing strategies need to be kept.
And if you can partner with that client, put your fees at the back-end, and really be financially invested in the success of a campaign — well that’s all the better too. Gives them a whole new level of trust, both in your abilities and in the power of marketing in general.
~Graham
You know, I’ve had similar things happen to me recently and it’s really hard not to get discouraged. But I’ve had excellent success finding writing opportunities through oDesk and I have to hope that we’ll trudge on through this horrid economy and come out on top in the end. All we can do is keep working, and keep our fingers crossed. Tight.
Becca: It’s always scary – especially for new writers – but there are opportunities in downturns, but they’re buried a bit more, and require a bit more work to pitch.
Some clients are looking to try new things (typically cost-effective new things), but they’re not exactly whipping out the checkbook.
Post a Comment