I don't have set fees for my work. My fees reflect my contribution to the value you expect to garner from my help and support, so you have an outstanding return on your investment and I am equitably compensated for my contribution to that return.
Together we quantify the dollar value you expect to gain from using my expertise, and then you tell me what you're willing to invest to realise that return. Look, we're living in a just universe.
If you invest in Dom Perignon, then you most probably get Dom Perignon. Maybe not tomorrow or next week, but you'll get it. If you invest in carbonated horse piss, then you most probably get carbonated horse piss. Your investment is a function of your expected return. You're the sole controller of what you get for your money.
My copywriting fees consist of a flat fee plus a royalty, a certain percentage of gross sales generated by my copy. The royalty varies with the flat fee. It's like a car lease payment. The more dough you cough up and plunk down upfront, the less your monthly payments are. Simple really.
Basically, I give you a tool to generate money for you again and again as long as you use it, so it's only fair that I get a part of that dough again and again.
What's also important about my fee is that we establish it before we start working together, and it remains the same. No surprises.
So, your investment depends on what you're building: Small investment for a d doghouse and a larger investment for a castle.
Some people have asked me why I insist on flat fees and not work on a full royalty/commission basis. Fair enough.
Over 50% of my past royalty-only clients - at the dawn of my career - never used my copy. I fulfilled my end of the deal but they failed at their ends. When I asked them why, they said they either had better ideas or got too busy to complete the very marketing initiative which my copy was supposed to fit into.
"No investment -> no commitment -> no improvement."
The truth is that when I finish writing and give you the copy, you have to put that copy into action. And that step is out of my hands. I can give you a tool but can't force you to actually use it.
And if you use it, we're not done yet.
This is what's happening...
The copy is about 10% of your success. About 60% is the quality of your list of prospects who will read the copy. And the final 30% is your offer.
So, if you sell crap to an apathetic list, like a list assembled from cold-calling, then you're toast, and the copy is about as useful as a barber shop on the steps of the guillotine.
So, since 90% of the results come from what your people put in, I don't want to carry the risk for other people's contribution.
What I've found is that people in major league businesses don't mind investing in their own successes.
And boys and girls in the minor league, in the "Barbie zone"... well, I don't even go there. I'm too old for that.
But when you have your own money in the deal, it's an indication that you are serious about your goals and objectives. As the late copywriter genius, Gary Halbert used to say, you're a player and can be taken seriously. Now you're wildly committed not merely mildly interested. You become a force to reckon with.
Huge difference.
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