As freelance writers step out of the house and venture into the world, via trade shows, conferences, workshops, and other venues, they quickly learn the importance of a viable contact management system.
About two years ago I purchased MS Office Suite, including the Business Contact Manager, and I've never regretted it.
The most important aspect of a freelance writer's job is finding people who need your writing. However, giving out business cards is a waste of time and money. Instead, freelance writers should collect business cards.
I tell writers that I collect cards and add them to my contact manager. Then, when I have articles that the client didn't want, I offer them, at a discounted rate. I promise not to send out more than 1 message a month. Freelance writers can collect countless new leads this way.
You don't even need to paste the contact information in. Just use a business card scanner to do the work for you, and enter the information into the contact manager.
2 comments:
This is a great tip. We meet and talk to so many people that it's a good way to keep in touch with them - and there are always articles that you don't use - or that you write because you know something about the subject, just because it occurs to you.
You are right.
One of the weirdest things about freelance writing and blogging is that we believe everyone knows our 'tips and tricks.'
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