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Serve What They're
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My wife and I love Thai food.  We love souvlaki subs with extra feta cheese, taco pizza (if you live in Gaithersburg, you know where that's served), freshly steamed Chesapeake Bay crabs washed down with cold beer, and aged prime rib (medium-well for her, medium-rare for me) nestled between fully dressed baked potatoes and garden-sized salads.    Every morning, I eat Cheerios® topped with sliced banana.  And, boy, are we looking forward to Thanksgiving dinner!

My clients are the same way.  One week they want grilled tuna steak with rice pilaf, steamed vegetable medley, freshly baked bread and a cheeky chardonnay (a promotional video or multimedia script with all the creative bells and whistles I can muster).  The next week they want a low-sodium chicken broth (three no-frills paragraphs that the CEO can read to the stockholders tomorrow morning, please).  Being able to give them what they want means that I have to don either a tall white chef's hat or a hash-slinger's hair net at a moment's notice.  I have to be able to cook supremes de volaille sautees, andalouse and grilled cheese sandwiches equally well.  And I have to know when to break out the fine china and starched white linen and when to stick with paper.

Some of my clients know that I do gourmet and fast food and in-between.  Others come to me for elegant entrees and fancy desserts, but when they just want a bowl of New England chowder or crisp hot french fries they look elsewhere.  I want my clients to give me the first shot at every assignment.    That's what makes them my clients.  That's what makes me their writer.

Here are a few tips for expanding your menu of writing services and getting your clients to dine regularly:

• Practice cooking everything.   Most of us start out writing side dishes -- small-budget brochures, newspaper ad copy, fliers, press releases -- and then move on to more complex and lucrative fare.   Some look back on those side dishes as beneath their newfound capabilities (and rates) and refuse to do them again.  Big mistake.  Short-order writing is how you keep your cutlery sharp and ready for the big projects and where you can relearn how to write simply, quickly and concisely.  Serving great steaks is fine, but your clients will be disappointed if won't bake potatoes to go with them.  One way I practice preparing light menu items is by volunteering with community organizations, like the PTSA.  They appreciate the professional touch I give their fliers, letters and announcements, and I have fun doing it.
  
• Publish your menu.   This web site and my quarterly publication, Words of Mouth, clearly tell clients that I specialize in writing scripts and speeches.   This article and a sidebar in the summer issue of the newsletter tell my clients that I do other types of writing as well.  Within three weeks of sending out that summer newsletter, I was offered three non-script, non-speech assignments.
  
• Establish a light fare rate schedule.  When you order light, you expect to pay less.  So do your clients.  If you charge $N per hour for dinner entrees, consider offering luncheon items for less.  Make it clear, however, what types of projects your lower rate applies to and be specific about terms and conditions.
  
• Recommend side dishes and garnishes.  All good food servers do it.  They recommend an appetizer that diners may not otherwise consider.  They suggest dessert or coffee at the end of the meal.  And maybe a shot of Irish Cream in that coffee.  You should, too.   At the end of a scripting project or technical editing job, suggest a promotional letter or brochure that will sell the final product.  Offer to write a press release or a blurb for the annual report.  Secondary sales may be small, but in your clients' eyes they add value to your services and demonstrate that you can do more to a tomato than just slice it and stew it.

Maintaining a varied repertoire in the old Word Kitchen does more than bring in extra work.  It keeps you prepared for shifts in the market.  Clients' tastes change.  Technology progresses.  New ways of communicating pop up all the time.  People who rave over sushi and tofu today may prefer kadu or gazpacho tomorrow.  So keep in practice, and bon appetit!

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