Note: This blog post also ran in the Society of Professional Journalism's "Journalism and the World" blog. Click here to see the original post.
Okay, when freelance writers call me up for advice, I always have time to sit down over coffee and lunch and get them started. This includes introducing them to three or four editors who are looking for new writers. I'm always happy to see their names in print in a month or so.
So, in that general spirit, here is a very very basic sales checklist – this is where you should be starting with sales and marketing. It is after you do all this that you can start applying concepts like those in Cialdini’s book.
* Know your market.
1. Make a list of all the editors and magazines – with full contact information and rates – that you would like to work for. Getting the Writer’s Market is not enough, since many magazines are not listed, and those that are, are flooded with queries.
2. Prioritize the list. What are the publications you would most like to get into?
3. Sort the list. Do you have what it takes to pitch to particular markets? If not, set those aside until you're ready. Separate out the ones from directly competing publications -- you have to be careful to not overlap in your queries.
4. Group the list. Do some of these markets fall into a particular category such as "business to business" or "consumer electronics"? If so, if you focus on one particular group first, you can more quickly develop a niche and expertise and name recognition than if you scatter yourself around too many different markets.
* Know your competition.
1. Are you writing on topics that other people are willing to write about for free? You can write about puppies and kittens, or on your musings on life, in your spare time. It’s almost impossible to keep a roof over your head that way.
2. If you know your competitors personally, you can pass work their way when you have too much to handle or if there's a particular conflict for you. In return, you can get leads from them and industry gossip.
3. Join professional organizations such as the SPJ, National Writers Union, ASBPE, and SABEW. Get active on committees.
* On average, you need to make a contact with someone seven times (or so) before you make a sale.
1. Create a system in place for reaching out to your target editors with useful story suggestions and pitches.
2. Share sources and story ideas with editors. They'll owe you a favor. Stop worrying about your ideas being "stolen." Who cares. Ideas are free. It's delivering on them that counts -- and takes work and skill.
3. Refer editors to other writers. Again, the editors will be greatful and so will the other writers.
4. Find ways to meet editors socially. Invite them out for coffee and find out what kind of stories they need most. Serve on committees with them. Invite them to speak at events. The more they know you, the more they trust you -- and trust is important in this business. They have to trust you not to plagiarise, not to make up quotes, to deliver on time, and not to complain when they ask you to make changes. Basically, they have to know you're not a jerk. If they meet you personally, it will give them a bit of extra confidence.
* After you make a sale, follow up.
1. If the story isn’t up to spec when you file it, many editors won’t bother to tell you what’s wrong – they’ll just stop assigning stories to you. If you were on staff, they’d invest the time to train you, but it’s usually just not worth the effort with freelancers. You have to seek out feedback – and improve your product -- to ensure that you retain your editors.
2. Once you made the first sale to an editor, set up a schedule to make subsequent sales. Find out how often they can run your articles. Figure out what percentage of your suggestions they accept. Then pitch the appropriate number of stories. For example, if they can run one story from you a month, and they like, on average, one out of five of your ideas, make sure you have at least five (or seven, to be on the safe side) story ideas for them every month.
3. If an editor stops hearing from you, they'll figure you're out of the business. They won't bother to call and check, or email you with story assignments. Why? Because freelancing is a precarious business. Most people stay in it for just a short time before they give up and get day jobs.
* Manage the business
1. Set up a system to track all assignments and invoices.
2. Calculate the average number of days that you file your stories early (or late) -- and try to improve those numbers.
3. Calculate the average number of days it takes your editors to pay your invoices -- use this to manage your cashflow, and to weed out the worst-paying markets.
4. Calculate the average amount of time you spend for each dollar you bill. Your time is your scarcest resource. By tracking your time, you can figure out which publications – based on their rates, and the time it takes to write (and rewrite) the stories – pay you the most and the least.
5. Calculate your overhead and your profit margins. (I just calculated my profit margins for the first time last week – and discovered that three publications were actually costing me money. Yes, after all my expenses were added up, I was paying for the privilege of writing for them. Oops.)
* Get on the Web
1. Keep your website current and up-to-date.
2. Google yourself and relevant keywords. Does your site come up? Don’t mess around with “search engine optimization” – just make sure that all the articles you write are posted on your website to the fullest extent possible under your contracts with editors.
3. Ask for – and post – testimonials from your editors. Ask your editors to include a link to your website along with your name and email address.
4. Include your URL in your email signature and use it when you contribute to online discussions, forums, and organizations.
I recently hired a business coach, Carlo Wolff (I pay him in coffee and in kind words such as these) to help me with the business management side of things. He's the one who made me sit down and calculate my profit margins. After all, what kind of idiot runs a business and doesn't know his profit margin? Well, it turns out, I am that kind of idiot, since for nine years I did just that.
No wonder I never had any money in the bank, regardless of how much work I had coming in or how fast my business was growing.
Don't make the same mistake -- unless you're my direct competition. In which case, go right ahead.
None of this has anything to do with being a foreign correspondent, except in the general sense. Or sex.
How weird would it be to apply the same principles to sex? Let's see:
Know your market: Nope, don't know it.
Know your competition: I don't really have any single friends -- everyone I know is married or in committed relationships.
Make contact seven times: pretty much everything I do is work-related. Everybody I meet knows I'm writing and looking to sell articles. I don't think anyone knows I'm single. So I'm not really making any relevant contacts at all.
Follow up: Follow up to what?
Manage the business: I'm not sure what this would mean -- and I don't want to speculate.
Get on the web: That would help, wouldn't it?
So there's the bottom line folks. If you manage your freelance career the way I do my sex life, it will be abysmal.
From Shanghai,
Maria
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