Communication is Key between a Buyer and a Seller

Business acumen is not something everyone has. You can have a successful business without it, but with it, business comes so much easier to you. Whether you possess acumen or not, there are some basics that are critical to success in your business relationships, among which communication ranks as king.

I cannot tell you how many times on DP I have exchanged PM's or emails with buyers who are flippant, distracted, ambiguous in their replies, or just gloss over the fact that I asked 5 questions in the last reply. When questions are posed they are specific and necessary. I dislike wasting my time asking questions of buyers, but I realize it is an essential part of forming the project agreement between us. So I carefully ask what is needed.

If a buyer is careful enough to clearly explain what they expect then I have to ask far fewer questions, or none at all. We get rolling right away. But increasingly, I am finding too many buyers here are unable to clarify what they want. This has led me to spend much more time elsewhere looking for clients to work with.

It is unfortunate that trends like this drive good talent away from DP, since it is not the fault of the forum moderators. This is the evolution of the members who are populating the forums, or rather de-evolution.

I still visit now and then and am sometimes pleasantly surprised to find an extraordinary buyer, as I have recently. He is an Indian business man and we got along quite well. There are another couple of buyers who are slowly proving to be above average, but time will tell.

What are your experiences with communication failure here?

 

I find there are two types of buyers on here - the good and the bad. The good are those willing to pay higher prices, they appreciate good work and they will answer any question you have in order to get their job done to the optimum level. The bad are willing to pay rubbish rates and in return are not too fussed if the content is a load of crap, so they don't care about answering your questions. There are of course the ugly. These are buyers who want perfect work but oh wait! They want to pay just $2 for 500 words. They will bombard you with emails and ask you to rewrite and rewrite again all for a measly figure. If they can't be bothered to answer questions to help you write to their specifications... move on... there are lots of good employers on here and they can be found

 

Wow! Crimebuster, you've hit the nail right on the head with all of those. Thanks for the synopsis. Great!

 

You can usually tell this type of client in the first email. They have a haughty tone all their own.

 

Yes, they think they are better than everybody else because they are forking out some cash to employ someone to write for them. If they really wanted to make their business a success they would either take the time to write articles for themselves or they would pay more for decent work. Not that they would see it that way of course.

 

Yes you are totally right, I have experienced not essentially with copywriting but with a SEO project that after months of communication still what exactly is needed is not known to either parties. I have seen this commonly happen in web design projects..

 

I completely agree that effective communication is paramount. And I can tell that you're very good at it from your post; it's lean, crisp and doesn't waste the reader's time.

I haven't had experience with buyers on DP but I've been a freelancer on other marketplaces (notably Freelancer.com since 2006). They are just as bad as you describe. When I started out, there weren't as many cheap sellers (and buyers), so quality actually paid. These days, everyone wants articles for a dime a dozen. The serious buyers seem to have just left; all you've got now is hit-and-run types.

But it's got its upside as well. Real writers now have to actually develop some marketing skill to get themselves out there. They need to get a website, participate in communities, scout for publishers or webmasters who appreciate quality etc.

 

Yes,you are right,communication is very important to business trade, while price and quantity are important too.

If you can sell your low quality products in high price, I will appreciate you,really.

 

You are joking?!

 

I doubt he is. Remember how the world used to think of the stamp on products: Made in China? Maybe this is the way people do business there and it is so acceptable that it is not seen as immoral, such as we might see it.

Of course, it is practiced this way in the West as well. We just have to mention Walmart or McDonalds. But the public, while flocking in masses weekly to these companies' stores, also openly and often criticize them for this immorality. Ironic, I know.

On topic, though, what you have quoted is a clear example of mis-communication. We are left wondering what donaldchina meant. Herein lies the rub of doing business. The buyer and the seller must independently be capable of clear communication in order to successfully conduct business together. If one party fails, the other may be patient or they may not. Nevertheless, if the misunderstandings continue, the relationship is doomed for failure.

What do you think?

 

The peacock feathers are definitely visible from the outset.

 

Communication is the prime and important key between buyer and seller. Without communication and good relations a constant business cannot be runned constantly. Proper communication takes the business towards positive side and business is on the way of calculated manner.

 

Everyone is in a hurry in the Internet these days. Marketing is all about 1on1 relationships. People should slow down and learn to just talk. You never know how many missed opportunities will fly by. The person you are talking to could very well be your next (or first) JV partner.

I always try to develop a friendly relationship with whomever I'm speaking. Never know when I might need someone like them

 

I have had a handful of clients who were extremely communicative and quite careful to form a working relationship, only to vanish after the first job. Repeated requests to communicate work to no avail.

I found this quite strange and still have not unraveled the mystery behind it. One was a fellow American, two others were non-natives. So that is not a factor. I was careful to produce excellent work for them, as usual, which means that could not have been a factor. Perhaps it was simply coincidence and each had some personal emergency that took them out of the game. However, in order to maintain a good reputation, you would think they would have at least emailed their writers a notice of such.

 

Yes, I'm working here since 8-9 months! When I was new in this forum, I've a very bad experience with some of the client's, they have sent me direct mail to my mail id about writing service! Once, I was completed the project then they disappeared!! Some of things that is very elusive, even some times I'm completely bogged down!! Many of the client's paid me nonsense rates like $2.5 per 400 words, even not to send a proper instructions! But I know these all things with the help of my experience.