My 15-year old daughter recently asked if she could go to a concert. Her friend’s dad offered to take the girls, hang out nearby (but not too close – and probably with ear plugs) and bring the girls home afterwards. She also had her own money to pay for the ticket.
Sounded safe, sensible and well-planned, so I said, “Sure.”
A few days later, when I found out that the concert was on a school night and my daughter wouldn’t get home until after midnight, I changed my answer to, “WHAT??!!! There’s no way you’re going to a concert on a school night!” You can imagine how well that went over.
So, since the plans were made and the tickets were bought, I agreed to let her go as long as she got up for school the next morning and did not whine about how tired she was.
The problem was, I made the assumption that the concert was on a weekend. And wrong assumptions cause all kinds of grief, regret – and for a freelance copywriter – costly problems.
When Assumptions Fail. Miserably.
Making assumptions tells your prospects and clients that you don’t care enough about their business to ask thoughtful questions before beginning a project. If that’s not bad enough, making wrong assumptions causes you to do things like underestimate projects and create copy that misses its mark.
I once assumed that a prospect requesting a sales letter wanted a one-page document – he even called his project a “one-page sales letter” – and I quoted the job accordingly. Although I asked detailed questions about target audience and product benefits, I didn’t ask the prospect how he would be using his sales letter.
Come to find out, what the prospect wanted was a long-form, web-based sales letter – that would be displayed on a one-page web site! (Big difference between that kind of “one-page sales letter” and the kind that is printed on letterhead stationary and mailed in a #10 envelope.)
Moral of the Story
I honored the quote and ended up writing about seven pages of copy for a “one-page sales letter” price. I’m pretty sure I earned less than minimum wage for that project. But I learned a very good lesson: Never assume that you know what your prospect or client wants. Continue asking questions until you have a crystal clear understanding of the scope of work.
Copywriter Confession: While I’ve become pretty good at not making assumptions when it comes to my copywritng business, I clearly have some work to do on the child side. In my defense, my daughter is a master at manipulating me to get what she wants. (My dad tells me that I was just like her at that age. I think that’s called karma.)
