My love affair with voice mail
Yesterday and today I made a total of 37 phone calls to local businesses. I bought the list from San Diego Business Journal, and Sunday I put together a postcard that I sent to 186 people.
Of the 37 calls, I left 30 voice mails. Two companies said "No" immediately. One woman said, "We don’t do any copyrights in this office." I tried to explain that I was doing "copywriting, not copyrighting." After that call, I started saying I was a freelance writer, not a freelance copywriter.
Here is the basic script of the message I left on the voice mail:
Hi, so and so. My name is Beth and I’m calling from Avenue Z Writing Solutions. I am a freelance (copy)writer here in San Diego. I just wanted to call and introduce myself to see what kind of needs you may have for outside writing services.
A postcard is on its way to you with more information about my services. It’s got a scary-looking lady on the front, so you should be able to pick it out in the pile of mail.
And then I left my phone number, repeating it twice, and reiterated that this was Beth from Avenue Z Writing Solutions.
One guy seemed genuinely interested and passed me along to another voice mail to see if any projects were pending. Another woman told me to keep in touch. A couple of other people passed me along to their marketing departments.
I’ll keep you posted on the results.
Claire (Little Miss Sew N Sew) on 13 Nov 2007 at 5:25 pm #
If you are good at editing, you might sell yourself as a freelance writer/editor since every company needs an editor of some sort – even if it is to proof content and save them from embarassing mistakes.
Hope it works for you – although personally, I wouldn’t say “scary looking woman”. Even with humor, it has a negative connotation and my philosophy is always to try to sell things positively. A business development friend always tells me to try to get in the client’s head and help them see what’s in it for them.
Just my unsolicited advice for a fellow writer. I sincerely wish you luck!
Beth Ziesenis on 13 Nov 2007 at 6:12 pm #
Claire,
Great thought on the description of the “scary lady.” I can make her memorable by saying she’s a distinctly striking lady or something. She doesn’t have to be scary. (But she is scary, of course. Scary and creepy. My EX hated to see the postcards on my dining room table.)
As for editing, I can edit, but I don’t really like to. I think there are others who enjoy it more than I do, and there are many who are faster.
Good luck in your writing as well….