features >> What Salespeople Know that Writers Should

“Production minus sales equals scrap.”  Spencer Johnson, MD.  from The One-Minute Salesperson.

The most valuable ideas and the most beautiful words will end up in the trash if not sold to a publication and printed for the public to read. How many times have you read something and thought, “I could write better than that”?  And you probably could, but you didn’t sell as well as that writer did.  Just as there is no substitute for quality writing, there’s no substitute for marketing skills, if you want to be successful.

After ten years as a professional salesperson, I learned many lessons that helped me reach my sales goals. I was surprised to discover that those lessons would be equally valuable in my new vocation as a freelance writer.  Here are nine lessons, which I learned as a salesperson, that every writer should know:

1) Believe in Your Product – There’s no room for modesty. You have to believe that your manuscript is worthy of publication.  As Frank Bettger says in his book, How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling, “The real test is: do you believe it, not, will the other person believe it?” If you don’t believe in your work, then perfect your skills until you do.

2)  Know Your Customer – You can’t sell air conditioners in Iceland, or fashion tips to Scientific American. Research the potential markets before you submit by reading several issues, studying the writing styles and topics, and understanding the submission process for that publication. In Selling for Dummies,(IDG Books Worldwide, 1995), Tom Hopkins says “What you don’t know can kill your chances of success.” The hours spent in research may seem time-consuming, but you will save on postage and yield higher returns.

3)  Keep Your Pipeline Full – That’s sales jargon for maintaining a steady rate of prospecting. It’s human nature to relax and celebrate after earning a choice assignment, but what will you be doing six months or eighteen months from now? Magazines sometimes work on production schedules a year in advance. You will be rewarded later if you take time away from current projects to put some queries in the mail.

4)  Make Sure You Get A “No” – We always hear how busy editors are, and we should respect that, but you deserve a timely response to your query. If you’ve received no response after 90 days, send a reminder and ask for the status of your submission. Be professional. You don’t want to burn any bridges, but you need to know what to do with your piece. If they don’t want it, someone else may.

5)  Persistence – It won’t happen overnight. It might not even happen within a year. Most sales positions will give a novice salesperson time to reach quota. That trial period is based on the sales cycle of the product. For instance, selling a car is approximately a two-week sales cycle; whereas, selling corporate computer systems might have a sales cycle of over a year. Writing for periodicals can mean publishing dates of nine months to eighteen months after a sale is confirmed. Even with a full pipeline and a lot of persistence, it might take a couple of years to get established.

6)  Contacts, contacts, contacts – So far, I’ve never failed at selling my writing to an editor that I’ve met in person. It sometimes took more than one meeting and more than one pitch, but I eventually won out. It’s harder to reject a person than a piece of paper in the mail. Obviously, this is more likely when selling to local publications, but that’s where most beginner writers need to start anyway. Also, let people know that you’re a writer. You never know which neighbor has a sister who is an editor for Family Circle.

7)  Repeat Business – The easiest selling is to current customers. Once you sell a piece to an editor, be professional in every way. Turn your work in on time and without errors. Be open to suggestions and be willing to make any requested changes.  Even though you may not agree, the editor is the customer and the customer is always right. Then when the project is complete, ask for more assignments.

8)  Learn to Handle Rejection – There is only one product on earth that everyone likes and needs and that is water. Not everyone is going to like or need your writing. Your job is to find the editors that do want your article- and  that requires research and persistence. Instead of interpreting a rejection as judgment of your writing skills, assume that your submission was not a good fit because it was too long or too short, had already been done, or was the result of bad timing.   If you get several rejections for the same piece, then look for ways to improve it. In Selling for Dummies, Tom Hopkins says,  “Never see failure as failure, but only as the game I must play to win.”

9)  Set Goals – Setting goals is imperative to keep you focused. It’s very easy to give up after a few rejections when you don’t have any way of measuring success. Make sure your goals are based on your production, not the outcome. For instance, you might set the goal of one submission a week. Even if you get 52 rejections that year, you have succeeded at your goal. Don’t set a goal to publish five articles in your first year because you are not in control of the publication dates. A better goal is to garner five acceptances in the year and let publication dates fall where they may.

If you’re thinking that writing is about the art of bringing words to life to inspire others, you’re right. But without marketing skills, no one will ever read those inspiring words.  Spencer Johnson puts it plainly when he says in his book The One-Minute Salesperson, “Everyone who succeeded was really an effective salesperson, whether he or she realized it or not.”