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Client Buzz: What Every Writer Should Hear
by Kathryn Schleich
As a writer, whenever you take on a project (and this is particularly important for those of us working freelance) you should be hearing client buzz. The buzz coming from your client might consist of answers to your questions about a project, story ideas, interview contacts, or feedback on completed pieces. If you’re not getting client buzz, something is seriously wrong.
I speak from experience and in the process learned some painful lessons. I had done numerous freelance writing projects for this client, a small Catholic college in the Midwest. When I was contacted by the College of Education on the recommendation of another department, I didn’t hesitate in agreeing to write the fall edition of the newsletter.
We had a two month window to complete the 8-page newsletter and to get planning underway I sent off my standard questions. You most likely have your own list, and mine covers the following:
Project tasks required (interviewing, researching, writing, revising, etc.) Who is your target audience? What is the message you want to get across? What is the tone of the piece - formal, casual, humorous, informative, persuasive, etc.? What are the length requirements? What types of materials will you provide? How many hours do you estimate the project will require? What is the project budget? How much time is allocated for revisions? What is your deadline? Joanne, the person overseeing the College of Education newsletter, seemed excited by my enthusiasm to begin writing. She answered a couple of questions, sent a copy of the previous newsletter, a list of story ideas, and contact information. Two the of story possibilities required research on her part and she promised to get back to me promptly. From the information provided I had enough to write six articles and with my deadline of October 1st firmly in place, I plunged in.
The first story on the College of Education’s study abroad program was fairly extensive, and as soon as I finished the first draft I sent it off to Joanne. To my surprise, I heard absolutely nothing in response and this quickly became the pattern for the entire project. With the completion of every article I e-mailed Joanne a copy, updates on other pieces, and any questions, only to be met by deafening silence.
Four stories highlighting the department’s newest faculty members were written fairly quickly, and the interviews dutifully completed and sent off with requests for feedback with the same result. I had written five articles and still had no indication from my client if the articles were acceptable, needed revisions, or even where some of the other projects on Joanne’s original story idea list stood.
One article on College of Education scholarship recipients was problematic – (1) one of the scholarships hadn’t been awarded due to lack of applicants, and (2) the contact information the Financial Aid Office had on recipients was outdated. The article was to focus on how the scholarships had positively affected the recipients in their educational pursuits, and I suggested the piece be expanded to include past scholarship winners. I recognized this approach would be more time consuming involving additional research and tracking subjects down, however; it was a good story and it was clear the newsletter was short on content. With the expanding scope and approaching deadlines, I tried a different tactic by leaving Joanne detailed phone messages followed by e-mails.
Still, there was no contact from my client. With no buzz or feedback I was writing blind, a position no writer wants to be in. Still wanting to fulfill my obligations on the newsletter to the best of my ability, I took the additional step of gathering the information on scholarship recipients and sending it to Joanne, so she would have it at her fingertips for future reference. I also indicated I would be happy to pursue the article for future issues of the newsletter should she decide to do the story at a later date. The silence from my client continued.
Not until three days before the newsletter deadline did I finally hear from Joanne, and it was far from a client buzzing with feedback. In a terse message left on my answering machine, Joanne wanted to know how the newsletter was coming and whether we would make deadline. It was as if all of my e-mails and calls had never reached her and she was contacting me for the very first time.
I completed one last article on a club for students planning on entering the teaching field. Again, I notified Joanne it was coming and sent in my last piece right on deadline. Having never heard from the person overseeing the project, I honestly wondered if I would even get paid. I did, but the situation taught me some steps writers need to take when they aren’t getting any client buzz.
Document everything. This goes beyond the meticulous records you should be keeping of your time spent on a writing project to include all e-mails and phone calls you’ve made contacting your client. Include dates of contact and the time if possible. Keep copies of all the articles you’ve developed for a project as well. Such documentation becomes particularly important when you fear you may not get paid for your work and need to provide proof you’ve met your obligations.
Be up-front but diplomatic about issues such as clients not following through on providing information, concerns of no feedback, changes in project scope, etc. I erred by not telling Joanne that delivering the newsletter she originally envisioned was impossible without input from her.
In a worst case scenario, don’t be afraid to fire your client. That’s a tough call, especially when you’re freelancing. A more moderate approach might be to invoice your client for the work completed and explain you’ll wait to hear from them on further details
Request feedback from a client on completed projects. I now send customers evaluations asking them to rate everything from how successfully I met their goals and objectives, my writing skills, and whether the project was delivered in a timely manner. Even if the feedback from Joanne had been less than positive, I could have used it to improve my writing in the future.
Besides receiving a paycheck from the college, I had no confirmation the College of Education newsletter had ever been published (requests for a copy of the finished newsletter went unanswered). The COE might have loved the articles I had written or scrapped them altogether, but without getting any client buzz, I can only speculate.
Kathryn Schleich is a freelance writer residing in Minnesota. In 2003 she published her first book, Hollywood and Catholic Women: Virgins, Whores, Mothers, and Other Images through iUniverse. This article first appeared in the December 6, 2006 issue of Absolute Write. She may be contacted at: kathrynschlei777@yahoo.com. Visit the web site at: www.women-write.com.
