The above sign hangs in the window of a local business. I did not manipulate the photo in any way. This is really what this business is telling its customers. Call Us. Telepathically. We Dare You.
Dear Dumbass: As someone who just quit smoking in February, who struggles constantly to stay quit, allow me to share some perspective. Quitting smoking is not a cheery time in one’s life. We’re not feeling inspired enough to drive by, see your sign, drive around for a parking space, and walk in. This is bad for us, your potential customers, and it is also bad for you.
As absurd as the above is, I have had clients who are not much better. Their website copy is god awful, and they email me and say “My tech guy is making me a blog, can you write it?” No mention of needing the poor copy re-written, so I can straight off assume they’ll settle for poor blogging too. Sometimes it’s a prestigious firm practicing in an area I would love to blog about, and I have the free time, and they’re willing to pay me enough that it should be worth my while.
But in the back of my mind I’m wondering, do I really want to associate my name with a firm whose website copy looks like something my autistic three-year-old niece wrote up in preschool? On the other hand, could I sleep at night knowing I passed by what could be my best paying client while allowing a lawyer to continue to walk around with the business equivalent of toilet paper hanging out of his pants?
How do you politely tell someone their copy sucks? Should you even bother trying?
What if the person doesn’t come to you? Do you go to them? Assuming the business offers up a phone number, do you call them and risk making waves at the hope of getting business or simply doing a good deed? Or do you walk by?
I’ll admit, I’m a walker. I see it as life is too short, I have plenty of work, and if people are too ignorant to see they’re driving themselves into the ground with their stupidity then who am I to try to stop them? Thin the herd. I’ve walked by the above-referenced sign at least three times a week all summer. I’ve never gone inside, never written them a letter, never looked them up in the yellow pages. If they don’t care about their business, why should I?
Selfish? Maybe. Am I in the minority here? Most definitely. I know, because I’ve received countless emails over the past year from freelancers pointing out my typos, offering grammatical assistance, and otherwise wasting their time and mine making suggestions I haven’t asked for or wanted. Most of the time, these emails are done very rudely. But even when the emails are politely worded, they rub me the wrong way. The name of the sender sticks in my mind, filed under the mental subfolder of “has nothing better to do” — and there they remain, forever etched into my brain as someone I will never contact to work for me.
If someone has already hired me, and I have established enough of a relationship where I feel comfortable bringing up suggestions on how to improve site copy, etc., of course I do say something (in a kind way). But as a cold call? Nope, not me. Do you?
