Welcome to WRITING MATTERS, celebrating the value of good writing in the business world.

 

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VOLUME 4, ISSUE 2 – OCTOBER 2010

 

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This Month's Case Study – Your Office, Inc.

 

The Company

Your Office, Inc. was a mail order office supply company serving businesses nationwide.  Founded ten years ago, the company had found a niche among small businesses and sole proprietors due to its competitive prices and good customer service.

 

The Challenge

Despite the recent economic downturn, Your Office continued to thrive, and was at the point where it needed to add additional customer service representatives.  Although many orders were processed online, phone orders made up a significant portion of their sales.

 

For several years, whenever a new customer service rep joined the company, his or her peers and supervisors would assist in the training, with very little use of formal training materials.  This practice had worked well in the past, but with recent additions to the company’s product catalog, and some procedural changes, the need for a formal training manual was becoming more apparent.

 

The Solution

Roberto, the customer service department manager, considered writing the manual on his own, but felt a professional writer would do a better job.  Fortunately, for the past several months, he had been in touch with a local copywriter named Marcia.  Marcia had initially contacted him via email to introduce herself and offer her writing services.  Since then, Marcia emailed him occasionally about subjects that might be of interest to Roberto, such as forwarding him articles about office supply trade shows and the like.

 

Although Roberto hadn’t had any writing needs in the past, he appreciated Marcia touching base once in a while, and, sure enough, the time had come where he now needed her services.  He gave her a call and they discussed the project at hand.

 

Marcia asked Roberto a series of questions to get some background information on the content of the proposed training manual.  Roberto pretty much knew what he wanted, and had even put together a couple of outlines.  Marcia always made sure she thoroughly assessed the situation before giving a quote – this would ensure a fair price to both herself and her client.

 

After their phone discussion, Marcia composed a bid letter detailing the parameters of the project, timeframe, and, of course, the price.  She emailed it to Roberto the next day for his review.

 

Roberto had never used a freelance copywriter in the past, but Marcia was happy to answer his questions during the phone call – and she also referred him to her web site, which further explained how she worked.  Roberto was impressed with her patience and professionalism, which he was already familiar with during her occasional email contacts in the past.  Roberto felt her price was fair and gave her the go-ahead to begin work on the manual.

 

Marcia and Roberto communicated primarily via email and telephone, with Roberto sharing his outlines and other background information.  As she began writing the training manual, Marcia wanted to meet with a couple of Roberto’s customer service reps – perhaps one experienced person and one newer person – just to get their feedback and input on the content.  Roberto thought this was a good idea, especially since he was a bit removed from the process itself.  Having the actual customer service reps being involved would make for a much better end result.

 

The Outcome

Within two weeks, Marcia completed the manual and sent it to Roberto for his review.  Roberto was very pleased with her work, and had only a handful of minor changes.  The customer service reps’ input was evident, and changed the tone of the manual for the better.  In contrast to Roberto’s generic outlines, Marcia’s version really focused on the training areas necessary for becoming an effective customer service rep.  Marcia’s research had uncovered some key elements even Roberto overlooked.

 

As soon as the new manuals were put into use, Roberto noticed a change in his new customer service reps.  They got up to speed more quickly, and a lot of pressure was removed from the more experience reps, who didn’t have to spend as much time assisting in the training of the new employees.  This resulted in better customer service for their clients, which would ultimately affect the company’s bottom line.

 

Roberto was so impressed with Marcia’s work that he recommended her to other department managers within the company.  And, of course, if the need ever arose again in his department, he knew who to turn to! 

 

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The next issue of WRITING MATTERS will be out November 1st.

 

Have a great month!

 

 

John Paul Tancredi, Copywriter/Consultant

Spectrum Copywriting Services

JPT@spectrumcopywriting.com

www.spectrumcopywriting.com

 

 

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