Custom Work for Standard Prices?

Robert was a professional writer, not of screenplays or magazine articles, but of original custom newsletters. Despite his ability as a wordsmith in a range of contexts, the market consistently regarded him as a newsletter specialist and brought that business to him. Robert decided to embrace this reputation. The rationale behind his business model was simple: Give people what they want.

He developed a business model that would always create original, authentic newsletters – best to maintain a credible connection between his clients and their readers. In an apparent paradox, he would always charge standardized fees and make a profit.

The reputation for newsletters that had driven demand for his writing was based on reliably good writing. His writing for any client always retained a degree of original authenticity that made his third-party authorship invisible. He trained and managed a small cohort of writers in his techniques also, so that readers would always assume the writing to be the issuer’s.

Robert ensured that each newsletter would have a look unique to the issuer, as well. Then, each issue would be laid out with client-approved text and images by the same person who designed the original template.

Robert paid his writers and designers fixed fees and had them work under a contract that protected the business interests of all parties. Likewise, he charged his clients fixed fees under a purchase agreement that both encouraged decisive collaboration on newsletter content and allowed the flexibility necessary to make each issue fulfil its potential as a timely reflection of the issuer:reader relationship. His purchase agreement even included a pay-upon-approval satisfaction guarantee.

Q1 If you could have original, custom work performed for you by a small team of creative people with the security of fixed fees and a satisfaction guarantee, would you bypass low-cost, off-the-shelf alternatives?

Q2 If you were to read a newsletter that seems to be a generic, impersonal product with the name and photo of an individual pasted in, would you consider it worth much more to that individual to issue an original, custom newsletter like those Robert and his team create?

- Glenn R Harrington
Articulate Consultants
www.articulate.ca