I am talking about the CEOs who have given no thought at all to what they want talk about at the one and only meeting you are going to have with them.  Or the ones who won’t read their drafts out loud at least once before they face their audience.  Or those who want to review the draft with you before they have even glanced at it – resulting in a lot of time wasted as he/she edits and re-edits on the fly.  Inevitably mudding the waters.

You may want to push back at all this.  Resist. The truth is, no matter how inefficient we think their process is, it is their process, and their money and we need to adjust accordingly. 

Where push back is more important and where you must take a stand is in the text itself.  I have always believed that if the speech in the first instance meets the needs of the audience rather than the needs of the speaker to deliver his favourite message, your client will be very well served indeed. So you have to push back when he/she want to say everything. To talk about process. To talk features over benefits.  About internal restructuring.  About all those things most audiences have no interest in.  When this happens I can pretty well tell you by exactly which paragraph the audience will begin to fall asleep.

So, when it comes to the process of getting from first draft to final product it is their time – billable time at that.  So give in to the inevitable.

When it comes to the structure of the speech, the matter of messaging, story telling, and keeping the musical thread consistent, you push back hard if they resist.  Push back hard enough to where one of you is going to fire or fire on the other with the aforementioned pistol. 

Then you know you have done your job.

For speechwriters, the issue becomes really problematic. Even though we know better we too often fall for our exquisite turns of phrase, for words we know are about to leap off the page – proof positive of our verbal eloquence and elegance.

But our job is to write for the ear, and to listen for the rhythm and the music. So now a seed of doubt is sown. Do all those wonderful words add up to anything close to a musical score?

And what if you are writing classical music and your speaker is a country and western sort of guy? You want Beethoven’s Fifth and he wants “She Stomped On My Heart But It Keeps on Beating Just For Her”.

So when you think of your speaker’s voice – it is not just a matter of the words you choose but the notes you don’t. And ask yourself if your client is a classical, jazz or country and western or rhythm and blues sort of speaker. And if the rhythm of your wonderful words doesn’t match his/her personality you must change the music no matter how much the new score might set your teeth on edge. He has to conduct after all, not you.

And what to do if your guy is tone deaf with no sense of rhythm at all? Reach for the pistol.

So here goes.

Money. Write for people who have money. Seems obvious I know. But Ph.D Candidates rarely have any so you don’t want to be helping out on their oral dissertations. Wedding/reception speeches often fall under the same category. The give-away is when the prospective client says “you want how much for a five minute speech?” Not that you can’t get well paid for a wedding speech – just pick a client with more money than you.

The biggest red flag of all is when the prospect starts with “we don’t have much money for this project.” When they say that, believe them – they don’t. There are negotiations that you can still enter into – like working on a project cost rather than a per diem or hourly rate. That might make the money issue less of an issue. But generally speaking if they want to skimp on their speech costs – it says something about how much importance they place on this form of communication.

The good news is that money is rarely an issue for clients who travel the senior corridors of private and public power. Why not go after them? Someone has to write their speeches and it might as well be you. For these clients it is time you are saving and they are willing to pay substantially for that precious commodity. Think of what your hourly rate is – and what they get for the same time expended…well you get the idea.

Speaking of time, the next deal breaker involves exactly that – only it is your time we are talking about. One of the banes of a freelancer’s life is that we are so often faced with a feast or famine syndrome and we never want to turn down a first time client. So, if you have to move heaven and earth to take on the new assignment do so – as long as you won’t be short changing anyone, including yourself. It is folly to jeopardize your relationships with a long term client for the thrill of taking on what will be a short term new client. So although it is true you often don’t get a second chance to turn down a first time client, if you explain why you can’t take them on this time – they will appreciate your professionalism and perhaps come back at a future date.

The third factor concerns expertise. As a freelance speechwriter you will have to come up to speed very quickly on all sorts of topics. And in this you are much like the print journalist who also has to be a jack of all trades with really good research skills and the ability to write to tight deadlines. So I am never concerned about a lack of knowledge of a particular topic. Usually the client provides some background material. Add your own research via interview and the Internet and it is not difficult to get the basics covered.

That said I am much more concerned about my knowledge of the corporate culture of a new client, a culture where I need to know their specialized knowledge and vocabulary. I very rarely turn down work and when I do it’s usually because of the culture issue, particularly where I am asked to write a speech for a very specialized internal audience. Where you have an expert speaking to experts. Not only do you have to come up with the right research you have to know the right questions to ask. But you don’t know what you don’t know and when the language of the specialty is so unique to that particular culture it can be a very tricky proposition.

The last deal breaker is the most critical of all. It is the matter of messaging. I harp on this again and again because it is so important. If you take on a job where the client and you have not signed off on the messaging it will inevitably end in tears. You can walk them through the messages, or you can even make them up for them – but do not agree to provide them with a speech until everyone is on the same page. If you just let this slide you will give them the speech they don’t want.

And lest you think that this happens only with new clients, be very careful. Some of your tried and trusted clients could put you in the same boat. This is one area to put your foot down. They will thank you for it – eventually.

So there you have it. Money, messaging, cultural expertise, and time. Pay attention to these four potential deal breakers and you are ready to take on just about any job under the sun.