My Writing Process

To get started with a potential project, I will send you a comprehensive Discovery Questionnaire.  This will help both of us clearly define the scope of the project and ensure maximum results.

I will send you a link to the Questionnaire through Google Docs (or an MS Word file via email, if you prefer).  Please return it to my attention as quickly as possible - for most clients that is between 1 and 3 business days.

After I receive the Discovery Questionnaire, I review and study your answers, plus any other applicable initial research needed.  From there, I will outline a short Project Roadmap.  This will save you time and help you see that I fully understand the project.  It will also be the basis for our Launch Call.

3-10 days after I receive the Discovery answers, we will schedule a 20-minute Launch Call. During this call, we will discuss the Project Roadmap.  I will listen to any additional directions and insights you have on the project.

Following that call, I will draft and send you an Agreement.  If your legal team has an Agreement, we can use that instead.

The Agreement will contain all the specifics on what exactly I will deliver, including project deadlines.  It will also list your investment for the project and terms of payment (Note: I require 50% of the project total to begin.  Most of my clients prefer to pay by PayPal or Electronic Funds Transfer.)

Once we have both signed the Agreement, I will begin working on your copy as agreed.

My research process is very comprehensive.  I begin with a complete review of your website and any other materials you send me.  From there, I will research the market, including your competitors.  In some cases, I will ask to confer with your customer service team, past clients/customers, and different department heads.

As needed, I will reach out to you for additional details, product samples, and other resources.

You can be confident the I will quickly and effectively understand your product, your voice, and your customers’ core emotional purchase drivers.

As we work on this project together, communication is critical.  Some of my clients are very busy and prefer to hand off the project to me and review the first draft, with very little communication in between.  Others like dealing with me on an almost daily basis and to be involved nearly every step of the way.

Which are you?

Please send me an email and let me know how often you’d like to communicate and what is the best way to reach out to you (i.e. email, phone, social media, text, etc. ...)

One other point . . . I require that you assign me a single point of contact on your team.  I will communicate directly with that person and they will deal with your other team members as needed to obtain information and approvals.

Finally, I STRONGLY encourage you to become familiar with Google Docs.  I do all of my writing with this word processing tool.  It allows us to track changes, comment, and collaborate in real time.  It can be shared with various team members and the working document is always the current document - no need to worry about sending wrong files or things getting lost.

Typically, you will receive the first draft in 10-14 business days, depending on the project size and scope.

When you receive the first draft, please review it carefully.  Also, have any interested team members review it.  The most important thing at this stage of the game is making sure that the tone, message, and offer are right.  We will fine-tune duirng the second draft . . . and third draft, as needed.

After you review the initial draft, it is likely that you will want some things changed.  Please note those changes using the comment feature inside of Google Docs.  You can also suggest changes using the Edit Mode feature, which I will enable when I share the document with you.

I will review all of your suggested changes within 24 hours of you submitting them to me.  I will make my adjustments within 2-4 business days, depending on the breadth and complexity of your suggested changes.

In all cases, I recognize that these are your products (or services) and customers and will defer to you as much as possible.

Sometimes, there are cases where my clients make suggestions that I know will not work and could hurt profits.  In those cases, you can expect me to be bold and direct in my feedback.  When clients insist on changes that I feel will not work, I always recommend a simple A/B split test.  Let the market vote.

After the first round of changes, there may be some additional fine-tuning needed.  You can be confident that I will gladly work with you until you are delighted with the copy.  In most cases, my clients find that one review volley is enough.  When more are needed, it is usually just one or two and the process goes quickly.  Typically, we can get to a final copy within 1-3 business days following your review of and commenting on the initial draft.

Once all revisions are complete, I will submit a final draft to you.  At this point, you approve the copy by sending me an email stating that everything is ready for distribution.

Once I receive this final approval from you, I will invoice you for the remaining 50% of the project investment.  The invoice will be due upon receipt.  I will make every effort to be prompt in responding to your requests and assume that, as a professional, you will do the same with my invoices.

In most cases, the final copy is sent to a designer for formatting.  I strongly encourage you to send me a PDF of the final version.  I will double check that any graphical elements added by your design team enhance the copy and make it more effective.

If I see something that is distracting and that might hurt your response rates, I will be direct in letting you know.  If requested, I will be happy to work with your design team to make any changes needed to ensure that the end version as effective as possible.

Once the project is complete, I provide all of my clients with a complimentary follow-up consultation.  We spend a few minutes on the phone and discuss what went well and where improvements could be made.

We review the Discovery Questionnaire and discuss additional ways to uncover new profits.  Where appropriate, we map out a new project to ensure that you continue to have excellent copy that meets your goals and grows your business.