This is a YouTube video titled "The Hardest Questions Clients Ask & How To Respond To Them" created in July 2024. It features Nicholas Cole delivering a detailed monologue aimed at writers and ghostwriters, explaining how to effectively communicate with clients by answering common challenging questions. The content is instructional and focuses on client communication strategies to build trust and command higher fees, based on Nicholas Cole's extensive experience in ghostwriting for high-profile clients.
Most writers don't have a talent problem. They know how to write, they work hard, they care. The problem is they don't know how to talk to clients specifically. They don't know how to answer client questions in a way where they can stand their ground and educate them and not cower into the role of being some lowly employee or contractor. So that's what today's video is all about. If you don't know who I am, My name is Nicholas Cole and I built the first ghostwriting agency for founders and CEOs to millions of dollars in revenue. And I've Ghostwritten for over 300 different Silicon Valley founders, C level executives, Grammy winning musicians, Olympic athlet, it's New York Times bestselling authors, you name it. And I started ghostwriting and landing these types of clients when I was just 26 years old. I had to learn quick how to speak to these kinds of industry leaders in a way where they would trust me and be able to answer these 10 different questions. Because if you can't answer and speak to these questions intelligently, clients aren't going to want to work with you. Period. But if you can, they will trust you. They'll want to hire you again and again, and they'll be happy to pay you a premium. Question number one, why can't I just find someone on upwork to do this for half the price in the sales process? Most clients ask you some version of this question and you have to realize what they're trying to do is put you in a price comparison situation. The moment they ask something like this, they want you to compare yourself to the lowest tier freelancers on the market. The best solution here is to essentially opt out of playing their game. You just say you should. If you think that's what's best for your business, then go for it. By not putting up resistance and defending yourself. This will immediately disarm them. Then once they're disarmed, you can educate them on why it will be hard for them to find someone who has all the skills you're bringing to the table and you can consult them on how to make the right decision. Question number two, why can't I pay you per hour or per word? When a client asks you this, usually before you start working together, you have to realize that this is them trying to negotiate you down. It's cheaper for them to pay you per hour or per word and that's bad for you. So you have to stand your ground and explain to them why you don't do that. Why you charge per asset or per outcome and then help them understand that by pricing your projects this way, it aligns incentives. Your compensation shouldn't be tied to time or effort, it should be tied to the quality of the end result. Question number three why do I have to pick a niche? I want to reach as many people as possible. When a client asks you this question or some version of this question, it's a signal that they're new to the game of creating content and don't know yet that the whole secret is to become known for a niche you own. And when you try to create something for everyone, you end up creating something for no one. So you have to educate them on that. Question number four do you have any testimonials? This is a really hard one for beginner writers and ghostwriters to internalize. Testimonials do not matter. I built my entire Ghostwriting Agency to $180,000 month without a single testimonial because all our clients wanted to remain anonymous. If a client is asking you for testimonials, that means you haven't done a good enough job educating them on the specific problem or opportunity you see in their business. Which is why it's so important for you to do your homework and take a free consulting approach to landing new clients and not just using some AI software tool to crawl a thousand email addresses and spam your cold outreach message to as many people as possible. Question number 5 Can you send me any case studies you have? Same thing with this question. When a client asks you for case studies, that's because you haven't successfully educated them on a problem they didn't know they had, or a problem they know they have but haven't gotten around to solving. Because if you had educated them and made them aware of a problem in their business that's holding them back, they wouldn't care about case studies. They just want you to help them fix it. Writers get so caught up feeling like they don't have testimonials or case studies to land high ticket clients. But I'm telling you, I have sold over $5 million worth of ghostwriting services without using a single testimonial or case study. It is not about credibility, it's about your ability to educate the client on a problem in their business. Question number six what's the difference between you and every other ghostwriter out there? This question isn't really a question. It's almost the client just stress testing what it would be like to work with you and whether you crumble under pressure. So when a client asks you this question, don't feel like you need to walk them through your resume or defend yourself again. Disarm them by saying, well, yeah, there of writers out there who do this kind of work. Then educate them by saying, but I specialize in working with people like you and help them understand that you speak their language, you are fluent in their industry, and you understand their specific type of business. That's the differentiator. Question number seven, that's too expensive. I don't think what you're proposing is worth it. Again, this isn't really a question, but it is because the client is essentially asking you to defend what you're proposing. And the easiest way to overcome this objection is help ground them in some sort of napkin math. So what does this potential client sell? What's their business? How much do they sell it for? How many new customers do they need in order for what you're charging them to be ROI positive? Chances are it's not very many. Depending on the product or service, it could be anywhere from 100 customers to even one single customer. And their investment in you and what you're proposing pays for itself. So you have to help them understand that napkin math. Question number eight. I don't want to be famous, but I want organic traffic to my business. What should I do? I got this question a lot and I still get it all the time when I chat with other business owners looking for a ghostwriter. And it is a logical fallacy. It's like the people who think if they go to the gym and lift weights one time, they're going to wake up the next day looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger. It takes an unbelievable amount of effort for someone to become famous on the Internet. And so the best thing you can do is educate the client, help them understand that they're creating a problem they don't have, and remind them that their goal isn't to be famous. The goal is to drive organic traffic to their business. Question number nine. I want my content to sound unique. How are you going to do that? The truth here is that every client wants to believe their voice is different. But in reality, the vast majority of people's writing voices sound the same. In fact, 99.9% of clients will fall into one of these five voices. The storyteller, the opinionator, the fact presenter, the frameworker, and the F bomber. But pro tip, don't just tell them that they're the same as everyone else, okay? Instead, validate their feelings and educate them on which archetype they are. And question number 10. This section needs some work. Can you clean this up without failing? Whenever you send over a draft and a client asks you to clean something up, that means they don't actually know what they want. The mistake writers make here is they say, sure, no problem, and then they try to guess what the client means, which usually just leads to a lot of wasted time and effort and an even worse second draft. Instead, you want to stop the client in this moment. Ask to jump on a quick call and ask questions that force them to articulate what specifically they want. Do they want you to add a statistic? Do they want you to add some outside research? Is that section missing a personal story? Is it telling too many different stories? You need them to vocalize what they want changed. Now, these 10 questions only scratch the surface of what you will run into with clients. But it's important to remember that this is what's keeping you from being able to charge more and more money as a ghostwriter. It's just pattern recognition. Because if you knew how to speak to all these questions, clients would trust you a lot. They would see you as a trusted advisor. They would want to work with you or pay you more. So tell me what other questions you've run into when trying to pitch clients or when working with clients. Drop them in the comments and I'll make another video rounding up all these questions and telling you how to answer them.
