14 Mar 2008 02:22:53 | Diane Hughes
It’s a sticky situation. A prospect, a site visitor, or just a
casual acquaintance asks for your help or advice on something.
You gladly give it, thinking it’s a one-time “favor.” But
instead of providing a little free advice, you’ve opened the
door to an onslaught of mooching! Now, every time you check your
email, you find question after question. What do you do?
This is a problem many online business owners face. You want to
appear friendly and helpful, but the person on the receiving end
of your favor is draining you dry. After all, these are services
you charge for. This is how you make your living.
Like many folks, you don’t want to appear rude or
unprofessional. But the time you take to answer questions and
provide help is taking away from your ability to earn an income.
Let me tell you about one approach that seems to work
wonderfully.
Minimal Information
When the repeat offender asks for help, offer a minimal response
to the question. For the sake of illustration, let’s say your
area of expertise is in Web site design. If the person asks for
information on making his/her site design more professional, you
might consider saying that adding a top border to the site would
create continuity. You might also mention that having black text
on a white background makes for easier reading (as opposed to
white text with a deep purple background). However, don’t go
into details.
This lets you give an answer to the question (instead of just
ignoring them), but doesn’t reveal any information you might
charge for.
Honesty Is the Best Policy
Next, be honest. Explain that designing Web sites is what you do
for a living. It’s how you earn your income. Let the person know
that you would be more than happy to offer consulting services
or full-fledge design and maintenance services, but these would
come at a cost. Outline your pricing structure for people so
they’ll know exactly what each service costs.
This action gets you “off the hook” (so to speak) and frees you
from having to answer any future questions.
Provide Alternative Resources
Go one final step further and find some alternative, free
resources the person might check into for additional
information. By offering a list of design forums, free ebooks,
or information-packed sites, you’re getting yourself out of the
picture in a kind and professional way.
Nine times out of ten, “moochers” either don’t have the money to
pay, or they are unwilling to pay for products and services. In
either case, you’re unlikely to make a paying client out of such
people. By using the steps above, you gain your freedom, and at
the same time provide helpful resources where the moocher can
get free information.
About Author :
Diane C. Hughes * ProBizTips.com
