How would you respond to this message?
By Michael StelznerOk, here is an interesting one. Let’s say you were a freelance writer and got an “inquiry.”
Please tell me how in the world you would respond to a message like this:
Hello,
We would like to find out what your company charges for:
1. Brochures & Pamphlets
2. Direct Mail Letters
3. Ad & Radio Script copy
4. Web Site Copy
5. Email Copy
6. Customer Service Templates
7. RFP Responses (what is it exactly?)
8. Article Writing
9. Press Releases
10. Announcements
11. White Papers & Blogs
12. Annual Reports
13. Newsletters
14. Technical Articles
15. Greeting CardsTank you for advising soon.
Best regards,
NAME REMOVED
TAHITI
What would you say if you were me?
(2 votes, average: 4.5 out of 5)
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August 15th, 2007 at 5:31 am
I would politely ask the requester to fill out the ‘Request for Quote’ form on my website… which asks for more details about the project.
August 15th, 2007 at 6:20 am
This is either someone who is serious and doesn’t understand the process of asking for quotes or its someone just fishing for information. Either way it could be a tremendous waste of time for you. I would respond in one of 2 ways depending on my mood.
1. I would say its somewhere between $1 and $1,000,000 depending on the scope.
or
2. I would say it depends on the scope and I would like to get more information from them in order to determine something like this as each clients needs are different.
August 15th, 2007 at 6:25 am
Perhaps it’s the sarcasm in me, but if I responded it would be something along the lines of, “If you need to ask, you can’t afford it.”
August 15th, 2007 at 7:27 am
i would answer: Thank you for calling me. Just order what you want/need the most and you will immediately receive my invoice.
August 15th, 2007 at 9:26 am
I thought Tahiti was a bit of a red flag.
August 15th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
For a split second there, I thought I was reading a product list from VistaPrint (brochures, pamphlets, etc.).
I’ve noticed that folks who have put a lot of work out for bid on freelance Web sites enter conversations with *other* writers with completely unrealistic notions of what goes into creating specific kinds of copy.
I’m more inclined to believe that the inquiry is spam in a halfway decent disguise — at least enough to get around your spam filter. Respond and you’ll probably see your spam double in a week’s time.
August 15th, 2007 at 3:00 pm
I would be inclined to simply not answer. That or ask for a particular project they have in mind and go from there.
BTW, #7 my fave. “How much do you charge for this…and what is it anyway?”
August 15th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
Believe it or no Whitney, this was a real message to a real person.
When I responded with. “Please give me 15 reasons you are requesting this,” I actually got a response from a human.
Mike
August 15th, 2007 at 7:09 pm
After 14 years in the printing business I can tell you several things:
Assuming this is a legit request (and I’m 100% sure it’s not)…
1. You’re dealing with an absolute boob who has no idea how to buy what they’re asking for.
2. Therefore, you’re going to spend approximately twice the revenue you receive from this “real person” in the form of pain and suffering and no court in the land should award you damages for allowing yourself to be suckered into responding to an obvious waste of time and resources.
3. Obviously they’re price shopping (commodity buying mode) and have very little interest in value-based anything or they would not have led with price requests. So there’s no money in it anyway.
4. If there was any money in it they’d eventually barter you right out of your socks anyway since Americans (I am one) can’t barter or negotiate worth a darn. This Tahitian’s grandmother could talk you down off a ledge and make you pay her for it.
5. Even a moron print buyer knows to specify quantity and other specs when requesting quotes. We actually get phone calls that go like this: “I don’t know what I want yet, I don’t know how many and I’m not sure what color I want but can you tell me how much that’s gonna cost?”
NO!
Apparently they breed in Tahiti, too.
This is a total waste of time, a scam, spam or some combination of that. It is, however, a perfect example of why the “Delete” button was created.
Been there. Done that. Ain’t guessing. Hit Delete. Move on.
Phillip Crum
Sir Speedy Addison (Printing)
Multi-Time National Sales Champion
Multi-Time Regional Sales Champion
Multi-Time Winner Million Dollar Sales Club Award
Etc., etc.
August 16th, 2007 at 4:25 am
Mike,
I no longer do quotes via return email. Now I say, “Can we set up a time to talk about your project?” This is how I learn if the person/company is just hitting up bunches of copywriters in order to find the lowest price. The people with real projects (and real money) always respond with, “Great. Call me!”
Dianna
August 16th, 2007 at 10:50 am
I would politely thank the person for the communication, and request that he or she provide specifics about what exactly is requested.
Otherwise, this feels like a fishing expedition by someone who needs fishing lessons.
Jackie Richmond
JVR Communications
August 17th, 2007 at 8:38 am
I agree with Jackie. Except I would just ignore the request. Here’s why:
1. The prospect sees your product as a commodity that rewards the lowest bidder.
2. The information is too general to cost out.
3. The sender is asking you to do more work in generating the estimate than they are in providing the input for estimates.
4. They probably do not have purchaser authority. If they do, then ask your printer to send them a standard spec sheet to complete for each item. But frankly, I wouldn’t waste my printer’s time on it.
5. The prospect does not see you as a professional, but as a bidder.
The list goes on. But I see these types of request on a fairly routine basis. Most RFPs also go unanswered because the key information about why I’m even on the list of RFP recipients goes unanswered.
August 17th, 2007 at 9:04 am
Here is an excerpt from the response I got when I asked for 15 reasons they wanted this information:
August 18th, 2007 at 1:58 pm
I would maybe charge on a per word or per line basis. That what I like to do when I’m programming stuff, charge on a per line basis like $0.50 per line of coding.
August 19th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
The red flag for me isn’t just Tahiti, it’s the lack of basic English skill(s) AND the give-me-a-quote-in-an-email approach. There is utterly no way, with the lack of specifics, a quote would be possible, unless it’s in the $1-to-$1M range that Andrew Kordek suggested. Which, BTW, is a brilliant response! Guaranteed to make the fishing expedition stop.