Today, a client has requested, out of the blue, a refund for copywriting work performed last year. Yes, last year!

Can you believe it?

Over seven months have passed and this one client is asking for his money back. His excuse? “I need the money.” Of course, I refused. But he sounded desperate, so I presume he won’t be happy with my decision.

Likely, he will pull tooth and nail to make his case, likely by highlighting all the negatives, warts, and things he doesn’t like as to justify his case.

The thing is, while the client did not hide the fact that he’s strapped for cash, we had an agreement. I can sympathize, but why should that be my responsibility?

As Larry Winget often says, “A deal is a deal.”

I ask for 100% of the fee upfront. No exceptions. I work hard enough as it is to market my services, find clients, and then write copy for my clients. Why would I want to work twice or three times as much just to get and/or keep my money?

Even though there’s an agreement in place, which states that I give no refunds but do offer a 30-day revision period for rewrites, it still irks me on a number of levels.

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Recently, a coaching client asked me about dealing with prospective clients over the phone.

This copywriter understood the importance of communicating with prospects and answering their pre-sale questions. However, like me, he preferred to avoid the telephone and asked me if his strategy was sound.

Free consultations are often a necessary step in securing clients in your early days as a copywriter before you’ve established your expertise and developed a reputation.

It’s natural that potential clients want to get a feel for your style and standards with a “getting to know you session.” Quite often, they will want to do this via a phone consultation with you.

I’m a big believer in opening the lines of communication, and I also like to pick up the phone to speak with a client when writing copy.

But before a client hires me, I prefer to remain off the phone. Why? Because the telephone can be counterproductive and even hurt your business.

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Many copywriters, both new and experienced, struggle with how much to charge their clients. In fact, it is a problem that many in the service industry face.

The dilemma?

Charge too little and you risk losing credibility in the eyes of your customers and potential clients. Additionally, the quality of your work, even if it is worth 100 times what they paid for it, will be seen as having diminished value.

Worst of all, when you charge too little, you may begin to resent the project, the client, or even your chosen profession.

In short, charging too little doesn’t do anyone any good, least of all you.

On the other hand, if you charge too much you run the risk of losing a potential client. You may lose out on opportunities to work with clients who could open doors and provide you and your business with an abundance of work.

The solution?

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An interesting thread appeared on my copywriters forum. A member asked who, be it men or women, are better at writing copy for certain products than others.

Albeit a little close-minded in my estimation, the question seemed like a legitimate one and without any ill-intent. So I welcomed it. But while the thread started out gracefully and on-topic, it quickly took a few turns.

The discussion turned out to be nonethetless quite enlightening.

For example, one tangent went into the role of women in copywriting, as copy has been long touted as “the boys club.” This is where one proud board member offered some great nuggets that I wanted to share with you.

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Ryan Healy, a talented copywriter whose blog I love reading, recently said that copywriters shouldn’t be cheap, especially when they start out.

It’s a powerful notion, because many beginning copywriters believe that being cheap will get them more business. (There are other ways around this, of course. Knowing how to market yourself is one thing. Focusing on a specialty, a niche, is another. But more on that at another time.)

The bottom line is, if you lowball your rates, you will not get as much business as you think you’ll get. Sure, you will probably get some. But it’s the kind of business you don’t want.

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Gary: Your wife has triplets. Now somebody comes up to you and explains, tells you your wife has triplets. Is there any way that that piece of information could be transmitted to you in a way that wouldn’t be of interest to you? I mean, if they use broken English, bad grammar, if they use sign language.

However it was, if it was, if your wife had unexpectedly had triplets I think you’d be interested in the message. And, and, and that, that’s a point, uh, I think it’s really important ****.

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