Up to you and the client, roley.

If you do 50%, make sure the amount is what you're comfortable with keeping if your client sours or disappears.

I mean as a copywriter i feel more comfortable asking for 100% upfront as I haven't worked with them.

If i ask for 50%, i might get it but i might not get the other 50% unless they are honest people.

People are not honest will say they are honest lol.

Its a tough one.

i see michael fortin asks for 100% upfront which i think is wise

http://www.warriorforum.com/copywrit...e-clients.html

I have done several consulting jobs for general internet marketing and website optimization.

At the beginning I asked for 50% upfront, and it resulted in 2 clients running away, and never paid the other 50%. It really depends on who you are selling to. If it's a fellow member of this community (trusted, good amount of posts), then I guess it's OK to ask for 50% upfront

When I started copywriting for others full time, I had the pleasure of watching one of Harlan's videos... I think it was Value Based Copywriting, I can't remember.

But he mentioned something about getting the entire fee, up front, and so that's what I did when I first started. There was no 50%, it was all or nothing.

Now, full disclosure, I also had a very nice cushion, or "screw you" money as John Carlton called it... so it didn't matter one bit if a client balked at paying the full fee. I just didn't accept them as a client.

And it wasn't cheap, either, we're talking $3,000 to $5,000 up front for a simple sales letter. But again, I was pretty well known in the niche I started writing in (fitness) so I had a track record to refer people to.

If you're new and not known, you may have to go the 50% up front and 50% upon delivery.

Here's a tip that saved a lot of my copy students.

I tell them if they do 50% up front for a client, they don't send the work until they get the other 50%.

Yes, I have them send PROOF that the work is done. After all, that's what the client is worried about as well, not getting the work done.

So, I had my copy students send over proof that the letter is done, so their clients can see it. Out of 300 or so times they've done this, not a single client of theirs refused to send the other 50%.

What they do is, they send over the letter with chunks of copy taken out, so that way they can show that the letter is done, but they don't have the entire letter until the other 50% is paid.

This works very well, at least it does for me if I ever use it, and for students.

I aways ask for 50% upfront and in 10 years have had only one
client ditch on me. Never heard back from him after sending the
final copy and as far as I know never used the copy (at least
online as far as I can tell.) Interestingly that was a referral from
another copywriter, so I don't know if he smelled the rat and
passed on the job to me. (I doubt this though.)

I would say clients not paying the balance is very rare. They are
more likely not to hire you than try to rip you off.

-Ray Edwards

I've always been one of those businessmen who goes against the industry standards. I say screw that. This is your business. Do what works for you and allows you to sleep well at night.

I think of copywriting as custom made products. So instead of 50% down like you would for a contractor or tradesmen, the client is required to put 63%, 67% or 69% down.

Sounds odd I know but for some reason clients don't complain. This allows for those who might skip, and my loss is minimal.

The other area of business to protect yourself and your business is in your contracts make sure it is stated that a lien will be filed against the person and company if the balance isn't paid in full.

You will have to check with a contract attorney in your jurisdiction for any and all legal matters in regards to liens and promissory notes.

Most won't take this route but not me. I'm all business and I've only had to enforce my legal business rights less than 5 times in 20+ years. Those that thought they were exempt paid handsomely once the courts get involved.

That's my spin take it or leave it I'm still getting paid.

You will almost certainly get ripped off if you don't get
paid 100% of the fee prior to delivering the finished copy.

You will not get ripped off every time, but you will
get ripped off for sure.

It all depends on many things. Reputation, positioning and due diligence on who they're hiring.

I've had people pay me 100% up front. I've had people pay me 50% up front and the other upon completion.

However, I will not send them the completed sales letter until the money is in my account and then I will hit the send button.

But, you're always going to have that dipshit that's predetermined they're going to get screwed over. And really they're not worth the time when you can be working with people with money.


Bill


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