Welcome to WRITING MATTERS, celebrating the value of good
writing in the business world.
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VOLUME 1, ISSUE 12 – AUGUST 2008
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This month's case study comes from fellow freelance
copywriter Chris Williams of Blue Ferret Communications (chris@blue-ferret.com, www.blue-ferret.com).
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Last month I received a call from Jim, a mortgage broker
near me. He said he needed a letter
written ASAP, and a fellow copywriter had recommended me.
Why the referral?
The letter needed would seek damages from a software company, whose
product had caused severe damage to his business. My colleague was not a "detail-oriented" kind of
writer, by her own admission. And since
online marketing is my specialty, I definitely am.
I spoke with Jim at his office. He laid out a very thorough portrayal of what had happened. This software company - we'll call them
WhizBroker Software - had sent an upgrade to Jim two weeks prior. Not wanting to risk any data loss, Jim
called the company and had them walk him through setup. Everything went fine.
Until Jim went back and checked.
WhizBroker's upgrade had erased his database of customer
information!
At first, WhizBroker tried to fix the problem remotely,
connecting to his office in California from their center in Texas. While they worked like this (with no
success), the software upgrade actually traveled out across his company network
and erased any remaining data in the system!
Then the company brought in technicians from their
California office, hoping to restore the data on-site. Over a week's effort only netted a 15%
restoration.
Jim was crushed. His
business had been destroyed. All the
backups were gone, his paper files only covered a fraction of customers...he
faced going out of business. From one
software upgrade.
WhizBroker declared they would like to settle with Jim, and
requested a damage estimate from him.
Here's where the letter came in.
I was a little busy that week with two other clients, but
after hearing Jim's story I felt like I should definitely give him a hand. A week later, the "request for XXX
damages" letter had been sent off to WhizBroker.
This was more of a legal/financial writing project than
technical, so it was a unique sort of challenge. But I had several things going
for me:
1.
Jim was thorough, and completely open.
He provided every detail I asked for, and then some.
2.
Jim’s lawyer stood ready to look over my work once completed. In case a change was needed to satisfy legal
requirements.
3.
Because WhizBroker had in fact requested a damage estimate, I didn’t
have to use a hard sales angle. I
focused on writing out a solid case for Jim, so his damages would be 100% valid
in any reader’s eyes.
After Jim gave his seal of approval,
his lawyer took a look at it. His response? “There’s nothing I need to change!”
Jim called me a week later to say the company had arranged a
meeting to discuss a settlement. He
said he finally felt good about the process, and had hope of salvaging his
company again.
I've always
believed writing has tremendous power in business. This is one example of good writing saving a business itself!
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Thanks again to Chris for his submission...once again
showing how writing matters and also how a freelance copywriter can save the
day!
If you have your own "writer-to-the rescue" story,
please let me know at JPT@spectrumcopywriting.com.
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The next issue of WRITING MATTERS will be out September 1st
.
Have a great month!
John Paul Tancredi, Copywriter/Consultant
Spectrum Copywriting Services
Subscribe to WRITING MATTERS at: www.spectrumcopywriting.com/ezine.html
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