Coaching or Copywriting: Which Do You Need Most

OK, I know I’m going to step on many toes here and that is okay.

Last week I talked to a really smart coach I’ll call “Edith.” Edith is actually a composite of about ten people I’ve talked to in the last few weeks.

I know Edith is smart because we’ve had several conversations. I tweeted and commented on her blog posts.We’ve talked many times and I might even have interviewed her for a teleseminar. She’s funny, innovative, insightful and over the top creative.

But she says, “I’m not getting the results I want. People aren’t signing up for my lists or my programs.”

Edith claims to be doing well. She’s got a stream of clients and she hints she’s earning the proverbial six figures (or she’s getting close). She’s attending one of those platinum/gold/insider/mastermind weekends. And she’s paying around $10,000 a year for a coach.

Being tactful is tough for someone who’s got New York attitude in her DNA, but I manage to say it’s about the copywriting without using words like “lame,” “boring,” cookie cutter,” or “snoozeville.”

And she says, “My coach says copywriting important anymore.”

She’s telling the truth. I’ve heard many respected marketers say this publicly on their teleseminars.

She might add, “They told me to jazz it up and pay $35 an hour to a craigslist copywriter to tweak it.”

I choke on my coffee. That’s like saying you just painted your house a bilious shade of green because your cheap craigslist painter couldn’t read paint chips and now you want to touch up the trim so nobody will notice.

And then she says, “Anyway, I can’t hire a copywriter. I want my copy to sound like me.”

What I want to say is, “Frankly, your current copy doesn’t sound like you. You are smart, funny, creative. Your copy makes you sound like 50 of your closest competitors.”

Anyway, most of us can’t recognize our own voice.

Once a client asked me to include two paragraphs from a previous sales letter she wrote herself “Make sure to include them,” she instructed firmly.

So I did.

You can probably guess what happened. She loved the final copy … all but two paragraphs. Yep, those two.

“Where did those come from?” she asked. “I’d never say that.”

More than once, after I’ve interviewed Edith (or Tom or Harry) for a teleseminar, listeners write to say, “Wow! I had no idea they were so great! I didn’t get that from their website.”

And the truth is, when someone’s reading your sales letter, they’re not focused on your charming personality and style. That comes later, when they might actually look at your logo. For now they’re looking for a sense that you “get” what they’re about and you can deliver solutions. At this point they aren’t screening to see if you’re godzilla or a fairy godmother.

So let’s say you’ve got a limited budget. You can hire a coach to teach you WHAT you should do. Or you can hire a copywriter to GET IT DONE.

When you work with a copywriter, you recognize your strengths and find the holes in your strategy, usually within the first diagnostic call. You discover a whole new revenue stream, repackage your program, come up with new price points and dig up your buried treasure: the answer to the “What makes you great?” question.

Your copywriter won’t do this? Well, get another one and don’t look on craigslist.

You need a designer? Sure. Most copywriters know designers who can be trusted. Or get your copywriter to write instructions so your designer won’t create a website that drives clients away and charge you $5000.

Do you want a design that calls attention to itself? Or do you want something that works and delivers results? Read my ebook (no charge) on 5 Simple Web Design Tweaks That Will Get You More Clients.

So … does it work?

Well, awhile back I delivered a “Done For You” website for a professional on the west coast. She got a simple site with a basic design.

At first she was frustrated. Her phones weren’t ringing. She even said, “I think this whole project was a waste of money.”

Not the words a copywriter wants to hear.

Fast forward two years. She couldn’t pay someone to take down the site and she’d prepaid the hosting so she left it up.

Now she emailed me for a new reason. She was getting many queries from her site. She was moving to a bigger office to handle them and she needed to change the address and phone number on her website.

It works!

And if you want to test my ability to create your next success, check this out.

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