[273552] in TECHWR-L
Re: Dealing with price resistance?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Steve Burnett)
Thu Oct 12 12:47:09 2017
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Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2017 10:54:48 -0400 (EDT)
From: Steve Burnett <burnett@pobox.com>
To: "techwr-l@lists.techwr-l.com" <techwr-l@techwr-l.com>
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On Thu, 12 Oct 2017, Chris Morton wrote:
> I'm interested in the tech and would like to be able to leverage my work
> with Blue Supply for other projects. I'm also tenacious (read: stubborn). I
> likely need to talk with a psychologist about this character flaw, but I
> want them to fail with Woodrow and have them come begging to please, please
> take on our work.
>
> I get on with the guys, but Jeannie is in the dark. And why a marketing
> head is in charge of user manuals says a lot, I know.
>
> But if I were to send a "Have a nice life" reply, how would I phrase it so
> as to remain in a dignified position?
* If you're genuinely interested in hearing from them again:
"Thank you for letting me know your decision, and do keep me in mind for
future projects."
* If you're not genuinely interested in hearing from them again:
"Thank you for letting me know your decision."
--
Steve Burnett burnett@pobox.com
Technical Documentation Information Retrieval
URL http://bit.ly/steveburnett
>
> Chris Morton
> (click logo ▼ for details)
>
> <http://www.the-efa.org/memberinfo/chris-morton-10670/>
> ♦ Substantive Editing ♦ Technical Writing ♦ Proofreading
> ♦ B2B/B2C ♦ Marketing Expertise ♦ Mentoring
>
>
>
> On Thu, Oct 12, 2017 at 9:57 AM, Wright, Lynne <Lynne.Wright@kronos.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Why would you want to pursue a client who has already demonstrated that
>> they're going to expect you to meet impossible deadlines under unreasonable
>> conditions, and not want to pay you what you're worth?
>>
>> You can't convince clients like that that cheaper = poorer quality, since
>> they can't tell the difference between mediocre and effective writing.
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: techwr-l-bounces+lynne.wright=kronos.com@lists.techwr-l.com [mailto:
>> techwr-l-bounces+lynne.wright=kronos.com@lists.techwr-l.com] On Behalf Of
>> Chris Morton
>> Sent: Thursday, October 12, 2017 9:35 AM
>> To: techwr-l@lists.techwr-l.com
>> Subject: BIZ: Dealing with price resistance?
>>
>> *** LONG QUERY AHEAD ***
>>
>> *SCENARIO*: Jeannie is the marketing director of Blue Supply, a smallish,
>> high-tech industrial supplier in the hinterland. Through a LinkedIn
>> ProFinder feeler placed almost a year ago by her digital marketing guy,
>> I've been courting Blue on and off ever since.
>>
>> To date, Blue has OEMed widgets from others, stuffed them in their own
>> boxes, and sold the latter to global industrial concerns. Blue only ever
>> shipped the destructions, er, user manuals furnished by its OEMs.
>>
>> Now Blue has developed its own widget. Jeannie—never having entered this
>> realm before (and not knowing much about project management and realistic
>> timelines)—began looking for a freelancer to magically whip up a ~50 page
>> technical user manual over a two-week period.
>>
>> Yours truly has done this many times over and has the chops—along with a
>> rock-solid portfolio and written recommendations singing my praises. Its
>> apparent that Jeannie only looked at the sample manuals I provided, never
>> bothering with the recommendations nor taking a few moments to look at my
>> extended LinkedIn profile that tells the whole story.
>>
>> Jeannie kept me hanging for several weeks—time I could have used to create
>> her manual, which will ultimately form the basis, it appears, of others to
>> come. Anyone who knows InDesign knows that it's critical to set up the
>> first go-round (that will become a template) correctly. This is all Greek
>> to Jeannie.
>>
>> She wanted me to give her an estimate as to the number of hours I thought
>> it would take me to complete her project. I told her a reasonable number of
>> hours, perhaps less, but that it's near impossible to estimate never having
>> seen the widget (nor having any notion of Blue's culture, expectations,
>> etc.). Much also depended on the ready availability of subject matter
>> experts to assist my when I got stuck documenting the widget's
>> hypergymballic mode when exposed to sulfur-induced cryptonium at 2000
>> degrees.
>>
>> Although I offered to meet in person or speak by phone, Jeannie has always
>> kept me at arms length, only communicating via email. I've only had the
>> opportunity to speak by phone with AJ, the project manager; it sounded like
>> he was firmly in favor of me.
>>
>> Although I kept trying to get the engagement commitment, Jeannie put me
>> off for yet another week. Attempting to meet her absurd deadline now meant
>> working exclusively on her assignment around 24 x 7, putting off all of my
>> regular clients, not sleeping, nor having any downtime to do anything else.
>> All the while, Jeannie doesn't know what Jeannie doesn't know, and her
>> initial whack at a newly-designed user manual incorporating Blue's branding
>> is already set to miss the mark.
>>
>> Finally Jeannie sent me the inevitable email late yesterday:
>>
>> *Thank you so much for your interest in working with us and for your
>> patience as we reviewed candidates. We have decided to go with another
>> writer for this particular project due to timeline and budget. It was nice
>> connecting with you and I am happy to keep you in mind for future projects
>> if that is of interest to you.*
>>
>>
>> *Thank you,*
>>
>>
>> Because of her hemming and hawing, coupled with my multi-year sales
>> experience, I'd seen it coming. I wasn't surprised—just really POed to have
>> spent so much time courting her and the company only to be treated like
>> this. I know full well that Blue Supply isn't going to be well represented
>> by the "other writer" (likely a chainsaw repairman) who agreed to both the
>> ridiculous deadline and gave her some absurd cost estimate.
>>
>> To add to my head-spinning, after sending me this kiss-off note, she
>> finally accepted my invitation to connect on LinkedIn and also viewed my
>> profile!
>>
>> *QUERY*: If I even elect to pursue Blue Supply, how would you go about
>> standing firm with your hourly rate and, more importantly, politely and
>> professionally convey the notion that, "When you finally realize you've set
>> the project up for failure and also determine that the person you hired
>> doesn't know Jack (if she ever wakes up to that), you'll know where to find
>> me."
>>
>> Are there any good books you can think of that address this issue in a
>> similar context? That is, Jeannie can have any two of the following: Cheap,
>> Fast, Good. And to quote a friend:
>>
>> "She can have it fast and good, but it won't be cheap, and that's what
>> you're willing to promise. If she insists on cheap and fast, you're not the
>> right fit because you won't do anything that doesn't include good. Or she
>> can have it cheap (relatively) and good, but there's no way in hell she's
>> getting it before Thanksgiving, from you or anyone else."
>>
>>
>> Apparently Mr. All-Too-Eager Woodrow the Woodsman has promised Jeannie all
>> three.
>>
>> Chris Morton
>> (click logo ▼ for details)
>>
>> <http://t.sidekickopen68.com/e1t/c/5/f18dQhb0S7lC8dDMPbW2n0x6l2B9nM
>> JN7t5XYgdnqQxW7fsH3H4XrddKW1pNgV-56dMhqf2Q-c6C02?t=http%3A%
>> 2F%2Fwww.the-efa.org%2Fmemberinfo%2Fchris-morton-
>> 10670%2F&si=6020636811198464&pi=954606cb-5d5b-417c-e784-84b410461031>
>> ♦ Substantive Editing ♦ Technical Writing ♦ Proofreading
>> ♦ B2B/B2C ♦ Marketing Expertise ♦ Mentoring
>> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>> Visit TechWhirl for the latest on content technology, content strategy and
>> content development | http://techwhirl.com
>>
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