SEO Writers: Land the Gig? Don’t Make This Expensive Mistake

Yup, it’s another rant-y post. (I know how much you guys love them!)

And this time. I’m trashing on Peloton. Again.

Long-term subscribers know that I’ve written about Peloton before. Although I mock their ads, I grudgingly have to admit that their targeting is spot-on.

Great advertising is a fantastic way to drive sales. But what happens when the company falls down AFTER the sale — and fails to delight its customers?

Looks like we have another lesson to learn from our Peloton friends.

Here’s the scoop…

People who ordered Peloton bikes and treadmills (and spent around $2,000 for the privilege) are facing significant order delays. Shipments that were supposed to be “delivered tomorrow” are being pushed out for months. Customers are not happy and are canceling their orders.

The Peloton Facebook group is filled with people feeling like they just threw away a lot of money.

It’s a mess.

Sure, I understand why things are delayed. Shipping times are messed up everywhere. The issue isn’t 100 percent Peloton’s fault.

But it IS their issue. And not delighting the customer after the sale — or heck, even acknowledging the issue —  is costing them money.

I bring this up, because I’ve talked to freelance SEO writers who sign great contracts…and destroy the client relationship. For them, the issue isn’t so much landing the client…

…it’s providing the client what they promised, when they promised it — and delighting them after the sale.

Here are some real-life examples of SEO writers “falling down” after the sale:

• The writer who constantly missed deadlines because “she wasn’t feeling great.”
• The writer who “got busy,” so he ignored client emails until he caught up.
• The writer who blew a deadline because “she had other deadlines to complete first.”
• The writer who turned in shoddy work because, “she was busy on other deadlines.” 

(And yes, these are all true stories I’ve heard from unhappy clients.)

Ugh. 

This has, sadly, happened to me numerous times. I’ll be excited about working with someone…and then, the awesome experience I expected falls apart.

Sure, I eventually get their work — but that’s after sending multiple nastygrams, waking up at 3 am worrying, and feeling generally frustrated. Often, I’m negotiating a discount because they blew the deadline and cost me time.

I wasn’t delighted. I was frustrated.

Do I work with them again, or recommend them to others?

Well, I think you know the answer to that. 

I don’t mean that you should get back to every client within 10 seconds of receiving an email. Or, put up with a client who disrespects you. (I wrote a whole blog post about firing clients.)

But, if you’re taking on so much work where you honestly can’t meet your deadlines — or, if you know you have time management challenges that get in the way —  it’s time to take a HUGE step back and reassess what you’re doing.

Maybe you need a better process. Or, it’s time to raise your rates so you won’t need to juggle 30 clients just to make rent. Or, you need to hire an assistant who is in charge of keeping your clients happy.

Bottom-line, you need to do SOMETHING before you start burning multiple client bridges and have a hard time getting hired anywhere.

Because yes, that happens too. 

So, if you’re losing clients and you don’t know why, I encourage you to consider how you could better delight your customers.

Because — and this is my favorite quote in the whole wide world — “The only consistent feature of all of your dissatisfying relationships is you.”

As a funny update…

I had finished writing this post, when low and behold…I see an email from Peloton! Apparently, they are investing $100 million dollars to ship equipment by air instead of by sea — which should dramatically shorten shipping times. Here’s an excerpt from their email:

We are (and always have been) a company that is deeply committed to your happiness and we’ve fallen short of that in this regard. Please know we’re working hard and spending aggressively to do right by all of you.

Kudos to Peloton for doing right by their customers. But this is a problem they should have acknowledged a long time ago. Telling customers, “Hey, this COVID stuff is messing with shipping, and we’re on it,” back in 2020 would have gone a long way.

But that’s a topic for another post…

What do you think?

Are you delighting your customers and giving them all that you’ve promised (and more?) Or, is this a place where you could use a little help? (Hey, we’ve all been there!) Leave a comment and let me know!