When Clients Walk Out the Door. Direct Response Copywriter Email Archive. February 2020.

The End of the Relationship

I’ve been working with one client for almost 8 years and it now looks like the relationship is coming to an end. A big company bought my client and the people at the big company aren’t direct marketers. It's really hard for a direct response copywriter to work with people who don't value copy.

Here’s one thing I’ve learned about big companies over the years: they are replete with people who don’t know how to market or sell and that’s in the marketing departments. The person with the least knowledge is usually the CMO. Big companies are into branding and image. They don’t really care about direct marketing.

No more details are necessary. I have a book coming out in May that will explain all this.

But here’s the key fact. A big client is walking out the door.

Some thoughts …

I’m grateful for the experience and fun. I wrote over 400 promotions for this company.
No need to panic. I’m enjoying a bit of free time I have.
The people I used to work with at the client are already contacting me about working with their new companies.
I’m sitting on over 1,000 leads from my website and there’s my database of over 2,000 prospects. I’ll start contacting all these people soon.
Many other companies have been contacting me about projects.
The next adventures will start soon.
I’m fortunate but I’ve created this “luck” through marketing and hard work.

Perhaps the biggest lesson: it’s great to find a big client but marketing is non-stop. Even if you get a big client, the relationship will eventually end.

For some reason I don’t totally understand, several people have been contacting me with the “latest greatest” way to find great clients. It’s been 5 of such people. I’m skeptical about their methods, of course. There’s one more thing. These people have been really aggressive with their marketing, obnoxious even. I pay close attention to how people market to me. If someone is clearly poor at marketing what they’re selling, and they’re selling a marketing product, I have some serious questions about the offer.

Be careful about the “client-finding” promises you hear. I asked one of these hawkers to send me to the web page with all the details. Nothing.

Take control of how you market yourself. Build that lead generating website. Build your database. Be active, not passive. You'll get that great client and, when they leave, you'll be in good shape.

Scott Martin