[Previous entry: "What To Do When the Prospective Client Says They Can't Afford Your Copywriting Fees."] [Next entry: "When Great Businesses Lose Their Edge"]

09/11/2009: "How To Stop Unqualified Tire-Kickers From Filling Out Your Copywriting Quote Request Form"

One of the most aggravating things about providing a copywriting quote is giving a quote to a totally unqualified person. By unqualified I mean someone who can't afford a copywriter or doesn't understand the value of one or is simply killing time by taking valuable time from other people.

Look at it this way: It takes as much time to work up a quote for a worthless name as it does to a name that has real value to you. So, why waste that valuable time?

You can virtually eliminate this problem by doing a few simple things. First, make it known in your quote form that you have some specific rules of the road. For example, I don't take payments. I get all my fee upfront. Of course, that's more common today than when I started online. But it's smart to put that in your quote form page. By the way, if you don't get your entire fee upfront, you may never get it. So consider doing so.

The main thing you should do to keep the tire-kickers at bay is to put a minimum fee or even your price range on the page that contains your form. You don't need to list all your fees. Simply have a reasonable minimum. Why? You'd be surprised at the lame brains who think they can hire a seasoned copywriter for fifty bucks! Do you really want those bums knocking on your door and wasting your time? I don't.

You need to put some qualifiers in the text that goes before the form. Qualify those prospects. Discard the tire-kickers and time-wasters. You'll get fewer requests for quotes but they'll be more qualified. And you really don't want any other kind.