Chapter 14

Writing for Entrepreneurs and Virtual Workers

IN THIS CHAPTER

check Communicating in a virtual world

check Using the tools and techniques of teaming

check Mapping your communication plan

check Handling the entrepreneur’s writing challenges

Today, three major trends in the U.S. economy converge to transform how business is practiced, and business communication hustles to catch up. One trend is the growing number of people working as freelancers. In 2019, this group already accounted for 35 percent of the U.S. workforce with 53 percent of Gen Z workers engaged in freelance and gig work. Fueled by new technology that makes independent work practical, this trend reflected the situation before the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 upended the job market and accelerated the need to earn a living in nontraditional ways.

The second trend is toward a remote workforce. Those who work for an employer but carry out their jobs from a home base full-time comprised 18 percent of the workforce in 2019, and another 34 percent based from home part-time. Those figures also represent the pre-pandemic situation, and now we see the trend accelerate at a dizzying pace. The health catastrophe showed many enterprises that they can function well or in some cases, better, with a fully remote or partially remote workforce and more short-term workers.

The third trend is a growing reliance on teaming. As business hierarchies flatten in line with newer ideas about leadership, a project orientation flourishes and team performance becomes a prime concern. A growing proportion of work is assigned to in-house teams as well as outside teams, with many projects mixing the two groups together.

These trends together are pushing all varieties of enterprises to recast their business models and reimagine their workforces. Leaders have learned that remote workers lighten the need for expensive real estate, business travel and in-person meetings. For their part, many employees like the flexibility of working at home, at least part-time. A growing number embrace the independent lifestyles of freelancing and entrepreneurship. Most people like working in teams.

So, everybody wins, right? Well, not exactly. Competition for those on all sides of the equation is more fierce than ever. For industry, nonprofits, professionals and even education, “agility” is the new watchword — the ability to sense how winds are blowing and quickly reset the sails. For remote and freelance workers, the corresponding imperatives are “flexibility,” “creativity” and “resourcefulness.” And there is more focus than ever on communication skills, the subject of this chapter.

Communicating as a Virtual Worker

Tip Everyone agrees: In today’s economy, effective communication powers success for the one-person operation, small business, remote worker and big enterprise alike. In fact, it’s emerging that to work successfully in remote, freelance or team mode, communication is key.

This makes sense. How else can you inspire, organize and manage people you never see at a distance? Or win the jobs, function as a team member and demonstrate your value? New needs demand smart use of classic and relatively traditional tools — emails, letters, marketing materials, social media, blogs, newsletters. It’s also necessary to adapt other platforms to new needs, like presentations and chat media, as well as media that may be new to you such as videoconferencing. But few of us are trained to function well in a virtual environment.

This section focuses on using written communication, as well as oral communication that depends on writing, in this “new normal” perspective. Think of it this way: Today, we are all in business. If you have any need at all to make yourself known, connect with other people, build relationships, find work, create trust, collaborate and promote your own causes, it’s time to polish your communication skills.

Tip In general, if you work from a home or office base apart from those to whom you’re responsible, it’s a good idea to over-communicate — especially in writing — more often than you may be used to or is required. Keep the boss at headquarters, your client or your team members updated on what you’re accomplishing, significant insights you’re developing and what you need to do your job well.

Document as much as you can for sharing and record-keeping because depending on casual conversation and updates won’t work. Also, when the team is scattered in different time zones all over the country or world, communication is asynchronous. This makes it more important to make information and decisions easily accessed by everyone at times convenient for them.

Organizations that are experienced in remote operations ask employees to not only submit frequent reports, but also write about what they do and how so a central repository explaining company practices — information that often resides in people’s heads — is universally available.

Remember Writing can give you more “presence” for supervisors, collaborators and colleagues, so use it to advantage rather than just chiming in at established checkpoints or when asked.

Teaming Techniques and Practices

Communication technology opens up new possibilities and ever-easier ways to collaborate virtually. But they come with a learning curve. Based on groundwork laid by teamwork’s early adopters, guidelines for what distinguishes successful teaming are emerging. Virtual teaming adds to the challenge.

Remember Except for occasions when we see our virtual coworkers on screen, as with teleconferencing, interaction is generally by written messages and perhaps occasional phone calls. This brings a host of drawbacks. You must collaborate without being able to read people’s facial expression, body language and perhaps, intonation because people don’t behave naturally on screen. Therefore, it can take much longer to understand people’s perspective, establish trust and know what to expect from each other, essentials of working together smoothly. If you participate in short-term projects with new teams every time, developing a set of good practices is especially important.

If your role is as project leader, your responsibilities are broader than with in-person teaming. You must devise ways to help team members who work independently connect more personally than may readily happen. This can take the form of an ice-breaking activity at the start of each meeting or a coffee break together or an ongoing set of virtual get-togethers during the project course. Using teleconferencing breakout features is a good option to promote understanding via smaller groups.

Tip If you have a choice, try to kick off your collaboration in person. Meeting face to face at least once pays many dividends. Second choice is to use a virtual channel with visuals, such as videoconferencing, Skype or even Facetime for getting-to-know-you sessions. And don’t forget the plain old telephone: Hearing someone’s voice is important, and once it’s in your head, you can communicate more effectively with the individual, written messages included.

The initial work meeting should fully clarify the team goals and objectives; establish guidelines and milestones; assign individual roles and responsibilities; set timelines and meeting dates and consider each person’s availability, taking locations and time zones into account, as well as working preferences (for example, are folks reachable at night? On weekends?). Include a checklist to keep track of progress and preferably, a system for holding team members accountable.

And far from least, establish communication processes, channels and tools for sharing, such as Google Drive, Google Docs and Dropbox. All these factors should be covered in a written document distributed to everyone involved.

If possible, plan for periodic meetings by videoconference if not in person to maintain momentum, coordinate tasks and solve the inevitable roadblocks — all are handled much better face to face or as close as you can get.

Tip It’s important to know who’s in charge of a team. If there’s a designated project leader, that person’s role should be fully specified. If “everyone is equal” and no one is centrally responsible, it’s a good idea for the group to agree that a specific person will coordinate, keep everyone on track and keep team members accountable. (See Chapter 13 for ideas about leading without authority.)

A notetaker or communicator-in-chief should for designated for meetings. If this unpopular task is up for grabs, volunteer! In notetaking lies power. You’ll know more: Everyone shares information with you. And when you’re the reporter, you create the perspective.

Here are some ways to be a good virtual collaborator and a good team member, whether or not you lead:

  • Communicate always in a positive, upbeat way that promotes relationship building. Avoid a negative tone, which more easily arises when people are physically distant from each other. Express appreciation for other people’s good work or contributions — written notes are especially valued, especially when the recognition is shared with the group.
  • Be sensitive to the language of other specialists and take trouble to understand it. At the same time, be aware of your own field’s jargon and its use. Don’t assume your team members have the same knowledge base — part of the challenge is to educate each other. When participants literally don’t speak the same language, work through some basic meanings.
  • Listen, listen, listen. Actively absorb information and ideas voiced by teammates but practice asking good questions to clarify the interchange for everyone.
  • Learn to use the chosen communication channels well. Write clear and concise messages and respect good-practice demands of media like Slack and Zoom, covered later in this chapter. Many organizations find that training in these media, and a set of guidelines, is useful.

And if you are team leader:

  • Think about incentives. They are less clear for good work as a team member, especially if it’s functioning virtually. It’s worthwhile to come up with tangible ways to inspire or recognize strong performance in line with what’s possible for the organization. Don’t forget how writing can help: Send personal notes when someone beats a deadline, contributes an idea, helps a team member or goes above and beyond in any way.
  • Hold everyone clearly accountable. At meetings, call on everyone to speak. Make it clear that there’s no room for sitting back. Virtual meetings make invisibility impossible, so use this to advantage. Be sure that responsibilities are handled fairly. Nothing undermines team spirit so much as needing to shoulder the burden for slackers, and rather than blow the whistle, most people will suffer in silence. The work stands to suffer substantially.
  • Introduce a written repeat-it-back technique to confirm everyone is on the same page. Doing so prevents misinterpretations, especially if there is a shift in direction. For example, confirm your own actions with notes such as, “To follow up on our conversation Tuesday, I plan the following … .”
  • Routinely ask for written feedback on each meeting. Solicit ideas for accomplishing the agenda more efficiently and productively.
  • Build in one-on-one or subgroup meetings to promote efficiency, more personal collaboration and camaraderie. It’s wise to regularly meet “privately” with team members in order to show appreciation, field personality problems, discover roadblocks and find solutions early on.

Using Everyday Communication Tools: Email and Group Chat

For everyday sharing, reports, project-hunting, client correspondence and more, you need email. For the ongoing back-and-forth between team members, you may depend on Slack or another instant messaging channel that is restricted to a group. The difference in how we use email and work chat today is that we need to help counter what is lost through the growing absence of in-person contact.

Making email more personal

As you depend on email to help bridge the gap between yourself and the rest of the world, consider thinking about more conscious, strategic use. One appropriate adaptation, in line with the more isolating lives many people now lead, is in the tone of your messages. An upbeat, positive tone is always more than welcome and supports relationship-building. A few specifics:

  • Avoid giving your message a negative vibe with statements like these: “This is not what we agreed on”; “It worries me that …”; “I don’t really like …”; “You seem to have forgotten that … .”
  • Frame even a critical message in a positive spirit: “I appreciate how quickly you provided the report”; “I have some ideas for clarifying the data next time around”; “You make a lot of good points. It led me to think about how we might improve … .”

  • Tip Use positive sentences that lead people to feel good — it costs you nothing! “I appreciate that …”; “What a great job on …”; “I really liked what you said about …”; “I enjoyed working with you on … .” And always and perennially, “Thank you for … .”

  • Tip Humanize your messages. Use people’s names in the salutation (“Dear Sarah”) and/or the body of the message. (“Thank you, Sarah, for crunching the data so quickly.”) Use a conversational and somewhat personal tone to make yourself real to people, rather than coming across as an efficient, narrowly focused work machine.

  • Take space to connect emotionally: Show empathy, or interest, in the other person on an appropriate level. Rather than

    Dear Al: To follow up on the plan to print flyers …

    try

    Dear Al: I hope this finds you and your family well. Are the west coast forest fires affecting you much in Nevada? It’s sad to read about what’s happening in California.

    I’m writing to see if this is a good time to follow up on the plan for the flyers …

    Even if you spend just a sentence on the weather or sharing how you spent the holiday, you can warm up a virtual relationship incrementally over time.

  • Use writing deliberatively to stay connected with clients, collaborators, prospects and more. Develop a list of people important to you and check in on them via email — and/or consider whether to increase your social media and blogging activity or use teleconferencing and other channels, such as an e-newsletter.

Using team chat to your advantage

There are numerous instant messaging apps to facilitate collaboration on a company-wide or team scale, including Slack, Google Chat, Skype and Microsoft Teams. They are at the top of the informality scale for business communication, so I won’t advise on writing style, except to remind you that clear and concise is always in season. Issues with chat media for business revolve more about protocols. If the organization does not provide guidelines, set your own with group discussion, and consider these:

Don’t:

  • Deluge coworkers with a steady shower of messages and notifications that are irrelevant to them.
  • Write messages that are rude or inconsiderate in tone or substance, air grievances or criticize people, especially in an all-staff channel.
  • Tell jokes or include any humorous material that could offend anyone.
  • Attend to chat so much that you are distracted from the project or goal — team chat is not a social media tool.
  • Use chat to communicate about complicated matters that demand nuanced conversation.
  • Use chat as the constant default channel. When you need an immediate response or need to discuss something personal or sensitive, pick up the phone!

Note that you can create channels or rooms to accommodate specific teams and projects. Separate public channels can be set up for non-work interactions, so social life is supported separately from work needs and people can elect whether to participate and to what degree. Some groups see this as a water cooler stand-in; other groups dedicate channels to recipes, personal news and so on according to group interest.

If you’re not team leader, suggest a conversation about setting such rules at a meeting or via teleconferencing — my next subject.

Using teleconferencing effectively

Tip At first blush you might think, why would this book cover a visual communication tool that doesn’t involve writing? Think again: Videoconferencing tools like Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Skype are not a simple substitute for live events. They impose different demands. Meeting by video takes more planning to succeed, and this depends on solid written preparation and less improvisation to be productive. Far more than in-person meetings, videoconferencing depends on good written agendas, plenty of informational materials and thorough documentation.

Beyond serving as the new meeting rooms for groups and teams, videoconferencing has become indispensable for interviewing job candidates and interacting with clients. In these situations, too, writing is prime. When you compete for a job or contract virtually, your written credentials need to do a lot more speaking for you, and you need to be extremely well-prepared to make your case.

Therefore, to use videoconferencing tools to your advantage, call on the tools of good writing covered throughout this book, from analyzing your goals and audience to writing clear and concise emails; developing résumés, elevator speeches and presentations; creating stories and using talking points to field questions and challenges. Here I focus on some particularities of teleconferencing that require rethinking the usual approaches.

Recognizing videoconferencing limits

When a group of people gathers for a purpose in person, the experience is three-dimensional. We see each other and interact subtly through body language, facial expression and reactive glances. Side comments arise. A comment can tip the conversation in a more creative direction. A group spirit develops — enthusiastic and goal-driven if the meeting is well planned and managed. But these elements don’t naturally happen with a video meeting.

Remember Videoconference-style conversation is linear: We speak one at a time to many, which has a different effect than addressing one person. We learn not to interrupt a speaker and may even be asked to raise our hands to speak. We avoid making even a sound of approval or interest. Body language is basically absent, since we typically can’t see anyone’s hand gestures, and subtle facial expressions are hard to discern.

There is little small talk or interplay, and the natural bouncing off each other that good meetings generate is typically absent. It is hard to promote a conversation or debate that leads to a creative solution. The experience is more akin to watching a series of speeches and giving our own, rather than participating in an interactive meeting of minds.

On a personal level, people are self-conscious and less forthcoming when they talk into a computer screen rather than a live situation, especially since it’s hard not to fixate on our own face or how visible we are to everyone else. Small talk is minimal and generating trust is difficult. In short, the impersonality of the videoconference experience does not easily lend itself to camaraderie, flights of imagination or creative brainstorming. To counter the agreeableness that meetings tend to fall into, some companies deliberately foster conflict. They present a goal or idea — for example, what should we change about X — and channel people to take sides.

More commonly, many organizations react to videoconferencing shortfalls by making meetings briefer and more structured, tightly focused and efficient.

Structuring meetings with agendas

If it’s up to you to plan and run a meeting, remember that many people feel “Zoom fatigue.” Acknowledge this by scheduling meetings only when you need to accomplish something specific, rather than hold them for the sake of it or because you always meet on Monday mornings. For many enterprises, experience with videoconferencing is leading them to backtrack on how they approach in-person meetings as well. The new-normal agenda is the key.

Tip A central principle: Build each agenda around a concrete and clearly expressed objective. That objective — which may be to generate ideas, decide on an action or solve a problem — can often be framed as a question, such as: “How should we counter online criticism of our customer service?” “How can we trim $X from the department budget so we can support more training?” Once an objective and the outcomes you want are clarified — which isn’t always easy — you can determine the process needed to achieve the outcomes specified. This too should be spelled out: who will speak on specified topics and which components are to be involved — brainstorming, SWAT analysis and so on.

In “earlier times,” an agenda might include a whole series of decision-oriented items or just list topic areas or people’s names (“John Smith, update on HR”). But given our shorter patience with teleconferenced events, savvy organizations are finding it better to hold short, more closely focused meetings with a single purpose.

Tip To make the most of group time, create and distribute all relevant informational materials and written input from team members in advance of the meeting. When everyone prepares for the session by reviewing everything before they meet, they need not sit bored through a tiresome on-the-spot grounding. When they think through their own part of the discussion in more depth, they come up with ideas, commit them to writing and are prepared for a more useful discussion. This enables the group to accomplish the goal in a tight time frame.

If your organization dictates a format for agendas, which might require following Robert’s Rules or a company protocol, you may need to cover a range of items such as approval of minutes and categorize topics under labels like “new business” and “old business.” Then just fit your objective, process and outcome into the format.

Don’t be surprised if a good agenda — one that engages everyone in addressing a specific situation or problem — takes time to create. It forces you to think the challenge through much more thoroughly.

Warning Do not depend on open-ended brainstorming, where everyone is asked to throw in bright ideas on a subject, on the spot. This can occupy a lot of time and yield little concrete results. It’s better to have team members brainstorm their own ideas and commit them to paper before the meeting.

Tip Should you start meetings with a touch-base or socializing time? Research shows, as you probably know from your own experience, that the most successful teams are characterized by mutual trust. Ideally this is achieved through some light-hearted activities or personal sharing, which deepens over time. Teleconferencing, however, does not offer a warm atmosphere that invites personal confidences — participating feels more often like being a deer caught in the headlights.

An intermediate approach is to make an opening exchange less personal: For example, go around the table asking each person to remark on the best and worst of their week. Better if possible is to devote a session to getting acquainted before launching the collaboration. In general, stay aware of realities and show some flexibility: A work-at-home parent may have children at home and an occasional guest appearance may be hard to avoid. If a home is small, it’s hard to silence the sound of a barking dog. Technical glitches happen.

Remember Take advantage of the breakout room feature of some teleconferencing apps and build that into your plan, or use it impromptu. The larger your online group, the harder it is to focus on specifics. Breakout rooms offer a good way to assemble people in smaller groups to work out an aspect of the shared challenge.

Reporting on meetings

These are often called “minutes,” which understates their value and influence. I recommend calling them “reports” and assigning this role to someone with good judgment who thinks fast enough to take good notes and also writes well. The report’s format can vary as long as it’s clear, concise and complete to the right degree. Distribute to all — these reports are indispensable documentation. Without them, team members will have entirely different memories of what occurred and what needs to be done. Trust me on this.

An agenda gives the notetaker a healthy head start on creating the report efficiently. It can follow the same structure, and most include discussions and approval of proposed actions and follow-up. It should always detail responsibilities, deadlines and a next-meeting alert if called for.

How thorough should a report be? In most cases, as complete a record as possible will provide a good resource for the immediate future and beyond. It’s also an official record that belongs to the organization. The questions that arise usually center on how much of an open discussion to report. Minutes may need to be publicly posted, and in controversial or sensitive situations, a discussion can be specified without necessarily including details.

Writing as an Entrepreneur

If you own your own business, consult or freelance, you’re an entrepreneur. My first recommendation is to define your own “value proposition” — your unique selling points. Chapter 8 shows you how to do this. If your enterprise is new or you want to build it further, you then need to explore your audiences and how you connect with them.

Communication technology opens up a wealth of possibilities. How do you know which communication channels to deploy when time can only be stretched so much? Here’s a practical way to chart out your priorities and clarify your goals, audiences and best communication channels. It can help you customize your messaging to different groups, too.

Charting your communication plan

shortcut This marketing analysis starts with simple lists. It may not immediately sound like a shortcut, but in the long run it saves you a load of costly trial and error. It also gives you a good jump toward a business plan, a necessity.

As an example, consider Jed, the arts technology specialist I talk about in Chapter 10. He’s just left a job and plans to freelance. Here’s how Jed described himself on his last résumé, when he was job hunting:

  • Arts Administrator, Art Historian, Practicing Artist
  • Experience and advanced training in archiving, preservation and photography. Special expertise in designing computer systems to perform administrative work more efficiently and economically. Adept at training people to use new technologies cheerfully. On every job, recognized as the go-to person when computer glitches happen.

Who might hire him for short-term projects? He brainstorms a list:

  • Museum directors
  • Historical sites
  • Historical associations
  • Museum associations
  • Museum curators
  • Museum IT officers
  • Archivists
  • Preservationists
  • Art collectors
  • Art galleries
  • Museum consultants
  • Book publishers
  • Art bloggers

This list is just a start — for almost every group on it, subcategories should include national, state, regional and local levels, because Jed might want to connect with them in different ways. Jed might add the International level should he want to travel. Once he fills this list out in more detail, it becomes obvious that he has to identify a much narrower niche and make decisions about geographic aspirations and priority audiences. A sensible choice is to start locally, because it’s easiest to connect with nearby places and people. Moving up each level geographically demands a more impressive track record.

Next, he thinks about how to deliver his message to his priority groups. Channels might include:

  • Website
  • New brochure
  • Email
  • Letters
  • Blogging
  • Associations in his own and adjacent counties
  • Museum directors within 50 miles
  • Publication articles for historical associations
  • Publicity in local publications
  • Speaking at regional conferences
  • How-to videos on YouTube
  • Social media groups: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest

Now Jed knows where he must start: with a strong website, which every contact is likely to check out if their interest is sparked. A blog could be excellent for establishing credentials, too, but will need its own campaign to find readers. A print or virtual brochure? Maybe.

On the other hand, some ideas are clearly long range. Securing conference speaking engagements and publishing articles in industry magazines can easily take a year at best, since they are typically planned far in advance. Other options are more controllable: an email campaign, for example, and posting video about an aspect of his work that’s relevant to photographers. Jed must calculate time against probable value in each case.

With tentative choices determined, Jed can turn his two lists into a chart by writing the target audiences as a vertical column on the left, and the media options horizontally across the top. Doing such a chart — or just the lists — will accomplish several interesting things for you:

  • Push you to choose your audiences so you can aim for realistic targets
  • Show you which channels could reach more of your target audiences
  • Discourage you from over-focusing on any one audience or channel, and from concentrating marketing efforts on channels less likely to create value
  • Help you evaluate the relative merits of potential channels and the resources each will take, enabling you to better assess the practicalities
  • Enable you to better customize your messaging to your chosen audiences
  • Help you sequence and integrate your marketing efforts so they are more productive

Tip By the way, if you are more advanced than Jed and are already an active marketer, try charting out the communications channels you use against who you need to reach. It is always enlightening. When businesses and nonprofits alike analyze their effectiveness this way, they invariably find major gaps, such as over-focusing on some audiences and entirely disregarding others of great importance.

Pitching the media for free publicity

Coverage in print or online media is an attractive proposition for most businesses. It gives you free exposure, right? The catch is that everyone knows this, so gaining media space is competitive. On the other hand, more outlets materialize every day, especially online, demanding a steady flow of new content. Finding opportunities takes some time and energy.

Keep in mind that today’s magical Internet enables you to publish and distribute your own news. You can post it on your own website, distribute it by email or use a service that reaches journalists such as PR Newswire (www.prnewswire.com), 24-7 Press Release (www.24-7pressrelease.com) and eReleases (www.ereleases.com). You can also subscribe to a site called HARO (Help a Reporter Out, www.helpareporter.com), which works in the opposite way: Journalists from everywhere look for sources by posting requests for experts to contact them.

Tip If you want to have your product or service publicized a print or online outlet, know that the bigger its audience, the more it is flooded with professionally crafted media pitches. Even mid-sized organizations maintain in-house PR departments or hire agencies to do this work.

If you run a small business, or a one-person operation, generally assume that:

  • Your best target is local media. Local editors see their role as giving people in the community opportunity to shine and, of course, share news of interest to their readers. Community and city newspapers, regional business publications and local magazines flourish in many locations. Most publish online versions as well.
  • Your best strategy is to pitch by email. Or possibly by telephone, depending on the editor. If you study the media in which you’re interested, you can easily learn what the organization looks for and figure out how to relate to those needs. Watch for perennial interests such as stories that relate to the seasons and holidays, ideas that help readers with common problems and material that speak to the heart.

Informal releases that don’t adhere to the traditional format can be fine, but many of your targets prefer the familiar approach. In any case, knowing how to write a traditional release sharpens your thinking.

Writing traditional “press releases”

Remember This formal press release format works best when you have “real news” to share — meaning something of interest to a publication’s audience is happening. For example, it’s of local interest if you’re holding a benefit concert and a well-known performer will appear; you’re being presented with a significant award; or your business is opening a new office. Such events are good fodder for a community newspaper or regional business publication.

If you’re fishing for coverage of your event, bear in mind that a static meeting, speech or presentation is rarely worth a journalist’s time. But you can provide an after-the-fact account yourself. If you handle this as a reporter would by writing in the publication’s style and supplying a good photograph, and if the editor has space to fill in that issue, your event may earn some of it.

Tip You can make even a static event interesting with specifics. If a notable CEO gave an interesting speech, for example, reporting what he said is much more appealing than simply stating he was there. If a high school student was presented with an award, exactly what earned the recognition? What did the student say at the ceremony? What are their future plans?

A media release is traditionally structured as follows. Let’s assume your subject is an event:

  • Date and full contact information — a specific person reachable day, night, weekends!
  • A compelling action-oriented headline.
  • Subhead with supporting information.
  • Lead focused on most interesting or relevant information for the editor’s audience. Important: Is the public invited? Is the editor or a reporter?
  • A few paragraphs with essential information. The guideline is to cover who, what, when, where and why. An interesting quote can be included and any specific photo ops.
  • How the editor should follow up. Can you supply a schedule of events?
  • “Boilerplate” statement describing your business in a few lines.

Writing email pitches

A good alternative to writing a traditional press release is the email pitch, and in fact, many editors prefer it. But it must be carefully thought through. Know your story. Here, too, you need a compelling headline that will be your subject line. Then construct a few tight paragraphs that make your happening interesting, important and relevant, and also answer the who-what-when-where-why questions. For example:

  • Subject: Clever Computers Help Disabled Nursing Home Residents Explore the Internet
  • Dear Mike:
  • Nursing home life is a lonely enterprise for many of our community’s elderly. The busier family members get, the less they are able to visit, and many residents have few chances to leave the limiting premises.
  • My colleagues and I at Clever Computers have been teaching nursing home residents how to socialize with family and friends on the Internet, and pursue their personal interests through online resources and online courses. But we discovered that a number of these seniors cannot handle the keyboard well enough.
  • On Monday, July 24, we’ll show ten residents of the Maple Tree Home who are unable to type how to access the Internet’s wonders through voice control alone.
  • We invite you, or a member of your staff, to join us and witness first-hand how these senior citizens experience their power to open up the world for the first time.

  • Clever Computers ([email protected]) is a 10-year-old community-based company serving the business community with computer troubleshooting, networking systems and training.

    [Event time, place, date, directions go here]

  • Call me any time for more details. A photographer is most welcome. We expect the best time to catch a heartfelt moment is 10:45 a.m.
  • Sharon Fisher, CEO

An alternative approach is to invite coverage with a Media Alert, delivered at least a week before your happening:

  • MEDIA ALERT!
  • From:
  • Contact:
  • Event: (Headline)
  • Event date:
  • Event time, including best photo op:
  • Place:
  • Description of what will happen and its significance, who the organizer is (up to three short paragraphs)
  • More information about organizer (with website address)
  • Direct invitation to attend

A local newspaper, magazine or business publication is likely to respond to either form of pitch. They are increasingly short-handed and able to show up only at high-priority events. Therefore, the editor may invite you to send a write-up after the fact, or a high-resolution photo and caption. Then, the better you do the reporter’s work and deliver well-written, ready-to-use material, the better your chances of gaining some media space.

If you want to contribute a full-fledged article, or columns based on your special expertise, it’s wise to pitch the idea in the same manner before writing. If interested, editors will provide guidelines to help you produce what they need. My advice on writing blogs in Chapter 12 can help.

Check out whether your community has an online news channel, always starved for news. And consider local television. But to draw a video crew to the scene requires a promise of strong visuals. You might be able to produce acceptable footage of the event yourself and submit it. Or hire a local videographer.

Finding ideas for the media

Tip You may have thought in reading this section that your enterprise doesn’t offer attractive activities like teaching nursing home folks to use the Internet, or running a charity concert or opening a new office. Companies and nonprofits identify good ideas in two basic ways: First, they constantly keep eye and ear open to notice what the organization and every member of it is engaged in that is share-worthy. Second, they create activities that merit publicity.

Clever Computers, for example, might have decided to initiate its nursing-home program because someone recognized the need. Or they might have thought about what they could contribute to the community that would be of value and justify media attention. The desire for publicity is a motivating force behind many wonderful programs. Every enterprise today wants to be known as a good community member and looks actively for ways to connect through good causes.

Tip If you are doing something wonderful or truly innovative in your industry, look to the wider range of possibilities. Trade and professional publications need material, too, and if you have something to offer, their doors may open. Pitch editors as I outline in the foregoing sections, taking account of your suggestion’s value to the audience.

Remember News venues also thrive on relationships. Do your homework and become familiar with your local outlets: what interests them, their presentation style, their scope. Professional freelance writers always study at least several issues of a publication before making a pitch to analyze how the editors see their market and distinguish their product from all the others. You advantage as a businessperson is being able to write for free, since money from writing is (I assume) not your motivation.

Find out how to reach editors and reporters. Find opportunities to talk to them locally. If you’re interested in the national or regional level, note that most major publications today scout for ideas and accept pitches through social media. Follow them on social channels to understand their orientation.

If you want to connect with online communities and bloggers in your field, the same approach works. Follow a blogger who’s interested in what you offer and rather than just hitting them with a request, familiarize yourself with their blog and comment on it frequently. Think about how they aim to serve their audience and how you can help them with that: Contribute items of mutual interest? Give them a free sample of your product to award to a follower? Cover an event? Interview a celebrity in the field you share? Exchange guest blogs?

Creativity scores.

Writing Challenges for the Entrepreneur

Many of the communication channels are covered in other chapters of this book, but of course I can’t cover them all. But you’ll never go wrong if you use the basic strategic thinking explained in Chapter 2. Your messages, major and minor, succeed when they’re based on your own deep thinking about what you want to accomplish and the specific people you want to connect with. My goal is to equip you with a thinking structure, not formulas.

To demonstrate how to use this structure, here are some examples of how to handle difficult messages that challenge many entrepreneurs.

Introducing yourself in writing

When you open a new business, assume a new role in your company or join or take over a professional practice, consider introducing yourself to your significant by letter. It’s an important step toward building relationships and sounding the right note.

Suppose you’re an accountant and you’re taking over as head of a firm specializing in corporate tax counseling, or head of that department in a large practice. Your primary audience is the firm’s existing clients and your goal is to retain and start building relationships with them.

Tip Asking “What’s in it for them?” — the audience — grounds your content decisions. It’s good to think through your particular audience’s characteristics as explained in Chapter 2. But the ultimate question is, what can you say that will help this audience feel comfortable and well-disposed toward dealing with you, someone they know in a different capacity or not at all?

shortcut When people need to introduce themselves, they often make the mistake of thinking in terms of “what I want them to know.” Instead, consider “what do they want to know.” Put yourself in their shoes and brainstorm what points to make, remembering that people center on their own interests. They want to know how a change affects them. For example:

  • Will I receive the same level of service?
  • How do I know the new person will do a good job?
  • Will I be inconvenienced in any way?
  • Is this a nice person, someone I’ll like?

The accountant can then translate this set of needs into a content list:

  • Demonstrate my respect for the former business owner (whom clients presumably liked) and mention why they’re gone (but never cite a negative reason).
  • Assure clients that service to them continues with absolutely no inconvenience.
  • Tell clients about myself:
    • Where I’m coming from, plus my most impressive affiliation and clients
    • My specialized expertise or experience (early work for the IRS and certification in relevant subject area)
    • Honors I’ve received that prove I am an expert
  • Mention my plans for improving client service (plan to implement new technology to make records more accessible).
  • Share my contributions as an active member of the community (to show I’m a nice person).
  • Explain why I love my work and/or want to know my new clients personally.
  • Offer to meet all or most important clients one-on-one.

Tip Notice how few items on the list speak to professional credentials. Contrary to many examples I see, an introductory letter is usually not best viewed as an opportunity to detail your accomplishments and qualifications at length. Most people overestimate others people’s interest in credentials. Unless you’re hiring someone for a staff position, it’s often enough to provide just enough to establish your suitability. People tend to take for granted that you are qualified. Supply a highlights version of your professional history and spend the rest of the space communicating how life will be better when the client works with you. And show how nice you are.

Once you’ve outlined your substance, the letter nearly writes itself. Most often aim for a friendly but somewhat formal tone. Fashion your lead: a down-to-earth simple opener that explains why you’re writing is fine. It may help to visualize your favorite client (see Chapter 2). One version:

  • Dear Ms. Wish:
  • I’m happy to introduce myself as the new Managing Partner of Donnybrook Tax Accountants, Inc. As you may know, my good friend and colleague Tom Marx retired in June. I want to assure you that my goal is to give you the same level of personal service and counsel you’re accustomed to, in every way.
  • I have been an enthusiastic tax consultant for 22 years …
  • I discovered my passion for this work when …
  • Most recently, I managed tax services for …
  • I had the privilege of serving …
  • I am especially proud to contribute to our mutual community, which was recognized by …
  • I am working on additional ways to make your tax experience pleasant and productive with new technology that …
  • I would very much enjoy meeting you in person soon if that is possible. If you would prefer a phone conversation or videoconference, just let me know and I’ll arrange my schedule to accommodate yours.
  • Sincerely,
  • Len
  • Leonard March

Len can email the letter or send a “real” one via the post office. If he evaluates his readers as older and probably conservative, he’ll choose the post office and sign every letter. In blue.

Tip An introductory letter need not be reserved for taking over a business. If you were promoted into a role that brings you new contacts, it’s wise to write a similar letter. If you’re a freelancer in new territory — geographically, or because you’re undertaking a new line of work — introduce yourself to the community and potential customers. If you join a consulting firm, an introductory letter is a good way to tell clients and prospects how your presence expands the firm’s capabilities. If you work for a nonprofit, use letters to announce your new role to grant-giving organizations, major donors, relevant government offices and other stakeholders.

A well-written letter is easily adapted for secondary audiences. If the tax specialist hopes to bring clients over from his former situation, they can slant the content to them (providing they have the legal right to solicit them). They can also quickly adapt it to reach new prospects. It’s also easy to adopt the information to a press release or profile on the company website.

Sometimes a bad example can make the point clearer. One I received myself was from a dermatologist taking over the practice of a doctor I’d gone to for years. After a standard lead sentence stating his reason for writing, he supplied three long, dense paragraphs naming every disease that he customarily treats; every stage of his education; and all his professional affiliations and journal articles.

My reader reaction: I did not look forward to becoming his patient. Citing all the dreadful diseases he was familiar with was more horrifying than impressive. The mistake was basic: He mistook his audience. Rather than communicating that he cared about people and would provide a comfortable, knowledgeable experience, he wrote as if to peers from whom he wanted referrals.

Warning If you’re part of an organization or representing one, make sure introductory letters are in line with your organization’s culture and that the contents won’t surprise your higher-ups.

Remember Our digital environment does not preclude the usefulness of a traditional letter, direct mail, local marketing initiative or print media. In fact, the digital world itself enables personalization: curated and tailored content, individualized messages, micro-segmented target audiences, strategies to generate active participation and word of mouth. In addition to being sent as a letter, a written introduction can take the form of an advertisement, a conference exhibit, an online profile, your website “About Us,” or be used for many other purposes.

Writing to pitch your services

If you’re a solopreneur or partner in a small business or a salesperson, you may regularly need to write pitch letters or deliver cold-call messages. Typically, your goal is to bring you, or your product or service, to someone’s attention and obtain an in-person or teleconference meeting.

Such letters are important for professional specialists of many kinds. One approach is covered in the proposal section of Chapter 7. Here is another oriented to a specialized consultant, a historian.

Sarah knew that a county preservation office would soon need someone to organize an application to obtain landmark status for a local building. Aiming for an appointment to present herself, Sarah drafted a letter.

  • Dear Mr. Johnson:
  • I had the pleasure of meeting you last July when I accompanied Jane Maxwell of the city preservation office and architect Roger Brown on a site visit to Marigold House. At that time, Jane and Jeremy were working on the city’s new Local Landmark designation for properties of historic and cultural importance outside the Big City Historic District …
  • The Pritchard Building was officially approved by the City Council on November 28 … . I served as the consulting historian, preparing a historical title search and the land use, cultural, and biographical information necessary to establish the significance of the health center.
  • The nineteenth-century Marigold House has more than 300 years of stories to tell and a number of them are nearly unknown. For example, the eighteenth-century correspondence of Margaret Green and Eleanor March …
  • I would like to research the title and history of Marigold House and prepare the significance portion of its application for Landmark designation in conjunction with Lisa and Roberta and the city preservation office. Can we schedule some time to talk about this?
  • Sincerely, Sarah Jones

Did you have trouble getting through this version, even in its abbreviated form?

Try This: Outline a new version. How would you improve this message? Compare your ideas with my version.

  • Dear Mr. Johnson:
  • We met at Marigold House last July when I accompanied Jane Maxwell of the City Preservation Office and architect Robert Brown on a site visit. I’m taking the liberty of writing now because as a professional historian, I would very much like to work with Jane and your office to research the property’s title and history for its application as a designated landmark.
  • This eighteenth-century house has more than 300 years of wonderful stories to tell. For example:
    • The correspondence of …
    • Mary Jennings’ 1810 book of poems …
    • The first-hand account of the slave Emelia who escaped …
  • All these stories contribute to Marigold House’s historical and cultural significance, but only a few of them are now part of the official registries.
  • I would like to prepare the significant portion of the application and include these stories and many more.
  • I’ve previously worked with Jane to develop the city’s new Local Landmark designation regulations and I served as the consulting historian to establish the significance of Margaret Field …
  • I am the former resident historian for …
  • Can we schedule some time to talk? I will welcome the opportunity to explain my qualifications to research Marigold House and support its application for Landmark status.
  • Sincerely, Sarah Jones

Based on comparing the original and revised letter, here are some useful guidelines that apply to many pitch letters:

  • Say what you want ASAP so the person knows why you’re writing. When you have a personal connection, begin with that because it positions you, establishes trust and builds instant connection.
  • Format the letter to be quickly read and easily understood. In the revised letter, the short, bulleted list breaks up the copy and gets the examples across more effectively. Shorter paragraphs and sentences encourage reading.
  • Make the most of what’s interesting, relevant and/or close to the reader’s heart. The “wonderful story” examples are highlighted in Version 2 rather than buried, which enlivens the whole letter and also speaks to Sarah’s knowledgeability better than listing credentials.
  • Use a writing style that relates to the audience and your goal. In this case, the writer is addressing someone with an academic orientation similar to her own, so a slightly formal tone feels right.
  • Include credentials, but not necessarily up front. They are often not your best sales points, as I explain in the previous section, “Introducing yourself in writing.” People respond more to your understanding of their challenges and what you can do for them, rather than what you’ve done in the past. This isn’t really counterintuitive: Knowing how to bridge your expertise to solve other people’s problems is a hallmark of professionalism.

Tip If you came up with a different version you like better, that’s great. Editing and writing are far from scientific. It might be nice to think you can follow formulas or use templates, but “canned” approaches come across as overly general and boring. Practice thinking each challenge through with a goal-plus-audience framework in mind, address head and heart, and you’ll get results.

Creating letters that get you in

Writing “cold call” letters to sell a product is a work staple for professional copywriters, and for good reason. So many pitches compete for attention today that people are automatically skeptical, impatient and bored with the piles of “buy me” messages from direct mail to emails, videos and social media. While today’s online environment offers amazing opportunities to create and deliver a marketing message, don’t expect to do so easily. It takes work. Here are some ideas to draw on:

  • Aim for incremental steps toward your goals. Don’t expect someone to respond to a single communication by putting a check in the mail. More realistically, aim to pique reader interest, begin to establish trust, and entice them to the next step. An initial message need say just enough to interest your reader in going further. Adopt the “customer journey” outlook.
  • Know both the organization and important individual. If you’re selling, it’s your job to understand the business’s challenges and explain how you can help. Think also about the particular person you’re writing to — their goals, pressures and role, which I talk about how to do in Chapter 2. Treat everything you write as an opportunity to advance a relationship.

  • Make a connection. People trust people who appear to be from their own worlds. This isn’t prejudicial; it’s just hard to trust strangers. When you have a connection, cite it: “We met at the such-and-such event” is good. More possibilities:

    • We have a friend or professional connection in common.
    • I talked to your company rep at a trade show or conference.
    • We work with a client you know.
    • We won an award for achievement in our mutual industry.

    Or perhaps you read a blog the person wrote, heard them speak or read about them in the business journal. Dig as you must.

  • Start strong. Try to combine both a personal connection and your problem-solving capability in a single opening sentence, such as:

    Chuck Smith suggested I contact you to explain how I solved his most pressing problem, one I’m sure you share with him: reducing government audits of overseas investments.

    Alternatively, lead with a story, a hot button, an unusual benefit or offer, a surprising fact or statistic. It’s nice to be catchy, but don’t go crazy trying to be clever or funny. Better not to tell a joke than one that falls flat or could be misinterpreted. Knowing your value and how you can benefit the other party puts you on sure ground toward making the match.

  • Remember “the ask.” If you want the reader to check out your website, request a free ebook, sign up for your blog or ask a question, say so. If you want an appointment, say so. It’s smart to set a time frame: Offering to establish your value in ten minutes, for example, is more attractive than requesting an open-ended commitment and suggests you’re focused and won’t waste the person’s time.
  • Prepare to be checked out. Keep in mind that if you piqued their interest, readers will likely look you and your organization up on the Internet. Your website and LinkedIn profiles, among other platforms, should be in good shape to support your marketing message. And if you can find any embarrassing posts related to your personal life, rest assured a sales prospect or decision-maker will, too. Clean up your act — and screen yourself in the future to avoid losing valuable opportunities.

Remember Never take existing clients or customers for granted: New ones are hard to get, even for big corporations, and they are expensive to replace.

Here are some ideas for using your writing skills to both protect your own interests and handle problems proactively while minimizing the risk of relationship damage.

Spelling out services performed

If you’re self-employed or operate a small business, balancing your desire to retain a client with your need to communicate something uncomfortable can be hard. You must sometimes balance the need to protect your interests against the risk of relationship damage.

Prevention is always the best cure. Clients can have short memories, so use your writing skills to make problems less likely. One way is to routinely communicate the specifics of the work involved in each project both at the agreement stage and when invoicing.

Tip For example, if I write a marketing publication for a project fee, I don’t say:

For writing service: Marshall & White overview brochure — $X

My invoice reads more like this (the agreement would be similar but a little more general, specifying deadlines rather than dates):

  • For Marshall & White overview brochure: 16 pages, 4-color glossy to serve as linchpin for major marketing campaign:
    • Meetings with Executive Team (June 1, June 8, June 22, July 7)
    • Ongoing telephone consultation
    • Presentation with PowerPoint to Board, June 14
    • Concept development: delivered three creative strategy ideas
    • Full treatment of chosen concept: 16 pp. mockup
    • Content recommendations: CEO “ideas” letter, employee spotlights, infographic of 10-year advances
    • Informational interviews with 9 staff members, 7 clients
    • Overseeing photo shoot, July 10
    • Coordination with graphic design

And more. Notice that the list doesn’t yet include copywriting.

Remember Even well-intentioned clients only see the tip of your work iceberg. They observe a product, like a finished brochure or a workshop or situation analysis, and because the work is distant from their own expertise, have little idea of what went into it. They also may overlook that preparing for and attending meetings consumes a lot of time (not fully paid workdays like in their own case), and that creative work involves a lot of thought that doesn’t tangibly show and doesn’t stop at 5 p.m. It’s a rare client that likes to pay a consultant for thinking, even though that’s often the crux of the service.

Tip Anticipate the tasks a project demands and specify them in the agreement. Keep track of them as accomplished with dates, which forestalls many arguments, and put them right into the invoice. And if what you provide is intangible — like consulting — spell out as many tangibles as you can: creating the survey instrument, the 32-page report, the PowerPoint, the graphs for the website and so on. If you can cite early evidence of the project’s success, work that in, too.

Collecting on your invoices

No matter how carefully invoices and contracts are written, every consultant, freelancer and entrepreneur has trouble collecting money at times. How to maintain a good relationship while pressing for payment?

Remember Ideally, head this problem off from the beginning by requiring a retainer on signing, no matter how much you trust the person you’re dealing with and how steady a client the firm has been. People are known to leave jobs and those who replace them may prefer suppliers of their own, or bring the work in-house. Companies have gone out of business without warning. You may also encounter disputes about whether, in the buyer’s opinion, you delivered to the standard expected.

No one with honest intentions will ever fault you for acting in businesslike ways. And don’t lay the groundwork for cheating yourself if the nature of the work means you’ll do a major portion in the beginning, like coming up with ideas or creating the blueprint. Set up the payment schedule to cover this aspect of the job should the agreement dissolve, and specify the number of re-do’s included in the fee.

When payment is running a little late, minimize resentment by saying as little as possible in a perfectly neutral, blame-free, impersonal tone. Make the person you’re writing to a partner in the collection effort:

  • Subject: Can you help?
  • Dear Tardee,
  • My payment for the Tyler project hasn’t come through yet, though the work was finished two months ago. Is it possible for you to nudge the machinery a bit on my behalf?
  • I’ll appreciate it very much. —Marty

Or:

  • Subject: Friendly reminder
  • Dear Tardee,
  • I’m wondering if it’s possible to speed up the processing of my second check for the Curio Design work. In line with our agreement it was due September 4 but has not arrived.
  • I’ll appreciate your help with this.
  • Thanks, Marty

Tip There’s never a reason to plead poverty. Don’t say you need the money to pay your bills. Late payment messages, unlike most I talk about in this book, work better when they are impersonal. The same minimalist approach is useful when you bear some responsibility. A friend was embarrassed to discover that she had neglected to deposit a check and it was too old for the bank to accept. She wrote to the client:

  • Dear Mr. Black:
  • In tracking invoices and payments for tax purposes, bookkeeping has brought to our attention that your check #9174 written on January 12 of this year was rejected by ABC Bank due to endorsement requirements.
  • Our records indicate that the check was not redeposited.
  • Attached is a copy of the check that was not credited to the Marketing Pro account.
  • Would you kindly issue a new check to replace the one that was originally provided?
  • We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.
  • Thank you,
  • Marcia White

Assuming the editorial or kingly “we” along with the formal tone depersonalizes the request and presents it as a glitch between bureaucracies, though the writer runs a very small company from a virtual office.

Sometimes, however, a true “letter of record” is called for to document an event or problem or present your claim more formally. This kind of letter may have legal implications that involve lawyers. That’s beyond my scope, but I can share a strategy to keep in your back pocket for severely late payments and other confrontational situations: a chronological accounting. Here, it’s all about the facts.

Tip Marshal all the relevant bits and arrange them in a timeline. Then create a letter that simply marches down each item on your list in a dispassionate, matter-of-fact way: no frills, no flowery adjectives, no emotion. Start each item with the date.

Suppose you’re an independent graphic designer and a client hasn’t paid your last bill, which was due six months ago. He now hints that the work wasn’t done to his satisfaction and won’t take your phone calls. You don’t want to go to court, but you do want your money.

Your letter can go this way:

  • Dear Mel:
  • On July 6 of this year, you contacted my firm, Morning Glory Design, to inquire about website services for your firm, Thompson, Ltd.
  • On July 8, we met at your office for two hours to discuss Thompson’s needs and goals.
  • On July 15, I sent you a summary of our conversation with our suggestions for a website to meet your specifications. You called and said “I like the approach very much, go ahead.”
  • On July 22, I sent you an agreement specifying that Morning Glory would provide the services outlined (see attached contract pages 1 and 2) at a proposed fee (see attached contract page 3) and a schedule of payments.
  • On July 22, we both signed the contract. You remitted the one-third payment due.
  • On August 10, I presented the preliminary design. You said “with some revision it would be exactly what I want” and that you’d mail the second payment at week’s end.
  • On August 19, I presented the revised version based on your input. You said, “It looks fantastic, let me take a more careful look with my staff, and I’ll check about the payment you didn’t receive.”

And so on. Further entries might include the dates the invoices were sent, when the new web design went live and every other relevant detail — the more, the better. The close:

  • In sum, I have met every obligation of our contract in a timely manner and with your full approval. The site is online exactly as I designed it. But six months later, you have not paid two-thirds of the fee to which you agreed in writing. Kindly remit the balance owed immediately.
  • Very truly yours, Natasha James

Tip This may be the only place in this book that I recommend a stilted, formal language with an archaic tone. Such a letter sounds as if a lawyer is advising you. Or at the least, your reader will recognize that you have a good case and are prepared to seek legal redress. If Mel doesn’t come through and you decide to take the legal route, your letter becomes part of that process and serves you well.

The approach works just as nicely when you’re on the other side of the fence, presented with charges you believe to be unmerited. Moreover, if you don’t want to pay an unfair bill and clearly state that you have no intention of paying, the other party’s recourse may be limited, depending on the state you live in.

Tip Underscore your letter’s legal undertones by mailing it — or better yet, certify it and require a signature to prove receipt.

Raising your fee structure

Most freelancers I know hate talking about money. Often, writing is a good way to do it. You can marshal your thinking points and articulate them more effectively without the person present, and give them breathing space to consider your request as well. Clients typically don’t enjoy these conversations any more than you do and may blurt out a negative response that’s hard to reconsider.

Tip Many successful consultants sidestep cost questions before presenting a written proposal because they’re not ready to specify all the work involved (similar to the invoice structure I suggest in the “Spelling out services performed” section). Writing also enables them to analyze and define the larger value of the proposed work to the company. This sets the stage for a better conversation.

One challenging need is a request for a fee increase. Most people who hire independent workers are content to continue in the same groove forever. I can’t recall hearing of any instances where a freelancer was offered a raise. Ask you must, whether your business and living costs are going up like everyone else’s, or because you’ve experienced “scope creep” — that is, you find yourself investing more time than your fee structure covers fairly.

The approach for collecting on invoices also works for this problem. List your possible content points. You will have specifics according to the situation, but here are some fairly universal points to make in framing the message:

  • I’m raising my rate 5 percent.
  • I haven’t increased my fees for three years.
  • My overhead and operating expenses go up inevitably.
  • My work is valuable to you, as proven by …
  • My service this coming year will be even better because …

Tip The last point is optional, but if you can think of something that doesn’t really cost you anything — like a staff expansion or new capability you planned on anyway, an offer to meet more often, or a way to repurpose your work for additional uses — you provide a mitigating factor that inclines the client to agree more easily. They’re spending more, but getting more.

Warning Remember that a message like this will probably be passed up the managerial chain and reviewed by financial people, so supply your connections with information to help them win approval on your behalf. And use an impersonal but still friendly writing style.

When you spell out your basic points first, with a list like the one a few paragraphs ago, you spare yourself a lot of agonizing. Just follow the trail!

  • Dear Anne,
  • I’m writing to alert you, as a client of many years, that Marsh Sisters will raise our project fee rate by 5 percent this coming year.
  • I know you’ll understand that just like Tailor Enterprises, our operating expenses steadily increase. We have not raised our rates for three years, and did so only once in the seven years we’ve worked together.
  • Of course, we want to continue providing Tailor with the best possible service. We were very proud to earn the March Association Award of Merit for the Chancellor Project this past year, and even happier to know our work played a part in helping Tailor increase its Blue Division revenue this past quarter.
  • We have plans to support you in meeting your business goals even more effectively. We’re implementing a new software system right now that will give you more detailed reports, with even faster turnaround.
  • All of us at Marsh look forward to working with you this year and together, know we will achieve new heights.
  • Sincerely,
  • Maggie

In writing difficult letters as an entrepreneur, always check yourself out with the ultimate criteria: If I got this message, would I say yes?

And don’t overlook all the material relevant to your needs in the rest of this book: Building your writing and editing skills in Part 1; writing emails, letters and business materials in Part 2; principles of persuasion, creating presentations and hunting for jobs or gigs in Part 3; writing for digital media and creating your online presence in Part 4; and the chapter preceding this one, on workplace writing challenges.

And this, dear reader, is where I leave you.

But don’t go away quite yet: The following “Part of Tens” chapters give you two sets of quick helpful insights about using your writing skills to advantage.

I hope you will take the foundation this book gives you to enjoy writing, practice it in your daily work life and keep learning. I know this investment will always reward you — often in unanticipated ways.

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