{"id":3006,"date":"2011-10-20T09:55:05","date_gmt":"2011-10-19T22:55:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordconstructions.com.au\/blog\/?p=3006"},"modified":"2011-11-16T00:44:53","modified_gmt":"2011-11-15T13:44:53","slug":"getting-lots-of-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wordconstructions.com.au\/blog\/2011\/10\/getting-lots-of-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting lots of questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Have you ever experienced a LOT of questions from your suppliers?<\/p>\n

I aways lots of questions about new writing projects – less so for existing and long-term clients – and some people are amazed by that. \u00a0Usually amazed and appreciative, but amazed none the less.<\/p>\n

Could you imagine going to a doctor or lawyer and not have them ask questions to clarify the issue and find the best solution? Would you trust a doctor who said hello and handed you a script?<\/p>\n

As far as I am concerned, I like my suppliers to ask questions to show interest in the project (rather than the dollars) and to be sure they understand what I actually need.<\/p>\n

As a writer, I don’t feel I can’t write good content if I don’t know much about the topic of the piece. I know I can’t write effective content<\/strong>\u00a0if I don’t know who the target audience is or the purpose of the piece<\/a>. So I ask lots of questions before I write or edit any content.<\/p>\n

Although it make take you more time than you expected to hand over a project if the supplier asks many questions, it is usually worth it for the quality of the final result.<\/p>\n

Some reasons to appreciate these questions are that the supplier:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. is interested in doing the project as well as they possibly can<\/li>\n
  2. will clarify any parts of your instructions they don’t understand<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. learns the purpose of the work and can tailor it to suit<\/li>\n
  4. is able to make appropriate suggestions and recommendations<\/li>\n
  5. has the knowledge to give a different perspective<\/li>\n
  6. gets an understanding of you and your business<\/a> as well as the specific project<\/li>\n
  7. knows who to target the result at (if relevant)<\/li>\n
  8. may notice other things you can benefit from (for example, when I read a client’s website to learn about them, I sometimes find a typing or logic error that I will point out so they can correct it)<\/li>\n
  9. is being professional and showing attention to details which presumably will carry through into the project itself<\/li>\n
  10. is gathering information from the best source rather than making assumptions or using less reliable sources<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    So be warned – if you ask me to write for you or help with a communications project, you will be asked a number of questions!<\/p>\n

    How about you – how have you reacted to suppliers asking questions in the past?<\/p>\n

    Do you respond differently to ‘dumb’ questions compared to a supplier gathering useful information?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Have you ever experienced a LOT of questions from your suppliers? I aways lots of questions about new writing projects – less so for existing and long-term clients – and some people are amazed by that. \u00a0Usually amazed and appreciative, but amazed none the less. Could you imagine going to a doctor or lawyer and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,53],"tags":[397,73,238,1363],"class_list":["post-3006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-about-word-constructions","category-business-info-tools","tag-content","tag-information","tag-questions","tag-targeted"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t