How to Negotiate Better Copywriting Fees

After reading my articles on how to find copywriting clients, a student of mine, Jeff, asked me an interesting question.

He’s an aspiring copywriter and wants to build his own freelance copywriting business. When he read that I wrote copy for free when I started my career as a copywriter, he asked me about doing the same:

“Mike, my friends have a very small business, and they have asked me to do copy for them. They say they can’t really pay me that much. I have told them I will do it for free as long as I get rights to the copy and can use it for a reference and in my portfolio. I think this is a wonderful opportunity to get more experience, but my wife wants to see some money on the table. I value your opinion. Can you help?”

Here was my answer.

I believe your trade-off is good in principle, but meager. I would consider some money — or some larger concession on the part of the client.

Writing salescopy completely for free is not good. What you should be looking for is a return on your “investment” (because writing copy for free is indeed an investment on your part), for two reasons:

• To stop potential nibbling, grinding away your time and resources;
• And to add value to your services (doing something for free paints a low perceived value and makes you, or the services you provide and especially the final product you create, look cheap).

In short, you want to take the focus away from a trade-off based on free copy to one based on a concession: value for value, in other words.

Otherwise, it can lead to a few problems once the service is rendered — problems that will be more difficult to resolve than they are to prevent.

For one, the person could ask you for more, and more, and then more, slowly nibbling away at your time, your money, and your resources.

(While some will do this conspicuously, others will do this nudgingly and subtly, often without your knowledge — especially if they’re friends of yours, since your willingness to help will also make it easier for them to do so.)

I know this from personal experience.

Early in my career, I’ve written copy for free for clients who, after delivering the copy, kept asking for small tweaks, here and there, all the time. And I never got paid for the extra work.

The worst part was, this happened more often with clients whose copy I wrote for free, or at a substantial discount after they haggled with me on price.

Even when there was a signed contract, they still found ways around it and asked for more concessions after the copy was delivered.

Trust me. I’ve been in these situations too many times.

One of my favorite speakers is Larry Winget, author of “Shut Up, Stop Whining, and Get a Life!” and “You’re Broke Because You Want to Be.” On his program, “Success is Your Own Fault,” Larry quotes the Sanborn Maxim, which goes:

“The customers who are willing to pay you the least will always demand the most.”

(Re-read it. That statement is profound. It certainly was for me.)

Nevertheless, the problem is that there is a “concession mismatch.” Stated differently, the perceived value of each concession is not equal to each other.

It’s not because the copy is free but because it is free and what you’re asking in return is meager when compared to the concession you’re making — the concession being a finished, completely written piece of sales copy.

Psychologically, by writing copy for free you are not adding enough value to your concession. More importantly, you are taking value away from your product.

Think about it.

By making your end-product the concession itself, then the perception will be that the copy will be of low value, too. Why? Because the concession they are making, in exchange, is meaningless in comparison.

Sure, building your portfolio is important to you. But giving you the ability to add their copy to your portfolio is worth how much to your client? How big of a concession is that to them? What are they really giving up in return?

In many cases, not much.

Look at it this way: since you are not asking the client to make a significant concession in exchange for your concession, then you’re not only devaluing your product and your services but also yourself.

To be clear, asking for tradeoffs is good and you’re doing well in asking for one. It adds value to any concession by always asking for something in return.

Never make a concession, even if it’s as simple as a discount, without asking for one in exchange. This is nothing new. Most of the top negotiating experts out there, like Roger Dawson and Herb Cohen for instance, teach this.

But even if they’re friends of yours, remember this (and this is an important concept to grasp): the perceived value of the service depreciates immediately after the service is rendered.

Why is this important? For one, if the copy doesn’t do as well as expected, who cares if you did it for free? (Your client certainly won’t.)

But it goes further than that.

If all you had were rights to the copy and the copy did perform well, and if anything should happen between the two of you, would you ever consider stopping your friend from using your copy?

Friendships notwithstanding, would you be willing to work twice as hard trying to satisfy an insatiable client when you could be working on other, paying clients?

It’s something to think about.

Asking for a larger concession before work starts helps to stop the potential grinding away process after the copy is delivered. If they try, then each time they ask for a concession, you in turn ask for one, too.

Moreover, by asking for a larger concession in the beginning, you also increase the perception that each concession you will ask will be just as large, which will force them to think twice before nibbling for more.

If they are demanding (and cheap clients usually are), ask yourself:

“Am I prepared to do two to three times the work, deal with a high-maintenance client, and divert my attention away from other, paying clients (let alone away from marketing to find better clients), for a mere addition to my résumé?”

On the other hand, making a concession — giving a discount, for example — will increase your perceived worth. By raising your fees and giving a greater concession will allow you to ask for a larger concession from them in return.

So ask for something upfront, even if it’s little.

Say: “I understand that this isn’t in your budget range. In exchange for a special consideration (say, a discount), may I suggest (whatever concession you want them to make).”

Even better, let them name their concession for you. It might be a lot more than you anticipated. Say something like: “In exchange, what can you do for me?” Then let them tell you what they’re prepared to offer you in return.

(Incidentally, doing it this way also gives you a pretty good idea of how much value they place in your services and your copy.)

Your copy no longer becomes the object of the tradeoff. The concession — a discount or whatever concession you’re making — is.

Also, don’t limit yourself to a discount.

You can offer a bonus service (such as an extra revision, free of charge), an extra consultation, an extended guarantee, an add-on service (such as writing the opt-in page copy, formatting the copy, or even testing the copy), and so on.

That’s why the key is to breakdown and denominate each component of your service — from research to revisions.

In other words, give each component a price tag.

Not only will each element have an attached value to it, which can be used in the negotiation, but also it will help to justify your higher fees.

When a prospect sees the value behind every individual component, they also get a better appreciation of what you do, how you price your work, and how much they are truly getting if you were to concede on any one of those elements.

In the end, you add weight to your tradeoff, and your copy thus retains its value.

On the flip side, your client’s concession doesn’t have to be just a mere addition to your portfolio, which is minimal at best. (In fact, it should be automatically included in your agreement with any copy you write anyway.)

Remember, you want to match their concession with yours. Better said, you want to match the perceived value of your concessions.

Here’s another option.

You can offer your friends a significant concession in exchange for a percentage of gross sales your copy produces, for as long as they use your copy if not for a predetermined period of time.

If royalties are not an option (particularly if you’re new, or if you don’t know the client or their business well enough), you can ask for other things.

For example, you can barter (bartering is often the most overlooked negotiation strategy). You can have them write a testimonial about you. You can get them to give you quality referrals. You can ask them to send a broadcast to their lists promoting you, your products, or your services.

Plus, ensure they deliver their end of the deal within a specific period of time.

Remember, the value of your service — including your concession — depreciates immediately after the service has been rendered. The longer they wait to comply, the less meaningful your concession becomes.

This is preferably specified in a written agreement before work begins.

If they don’t comply within a specified period of time, then you can ask or invoice them for your full fee (and with an agreement in place before work starts, you will have legal recourse to do so).

In fact, having all this written down in an agreement prior to commencing any work is essential. Don’t get burned like I did. Get it in writing.

Finally, remember that it’s better to negotiate on a concession (whether it’s a discount or not) than it is on the copy itself — such as by offering it for free.

Last 5 Posts by Michel Fortin

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