As a business owner you might often find yourself in conversations where you’re giving away a lot of your expertise and/or time for free. I’ve been there. You’ll offer a free initial discovery call to learn more about a potential client and to get the opportunity to sell your product(s)/service(s) to them. Then the next minute they’re asking all sorts of questions and you’re giving away knowledge/expertise that you would usually charge for, for free and often over-running the call in the process. This can become frustrating. Especially if one of your services is providing consultancy on a topic they’re asking you about.
What to do when you find yourself giving a non-paying client too much of your time and/or advice?
This can be a tricky question to answer. Obviously, you need to invest a certain amount of time speaking to potential clients to help build rapport, demonstrate your expertise & increase your credibility. However, it’s important you respect and value your own time & decide how much you are prepared to give away for free. If you don’t do this, you will only start to resent these conversations.
Fortunately, there are a couple of things you can do to help you in these situations. In this blog, we will explore some effective strategies to break free from the cycle of giving away your advice or time for free.
Let’s go!
Identify what it is you’re selling and set clear boundaries in terms of what advice you’re willing to offer for free and how much time you’re willing to spend offering this advice. Once you’ve decided what it is you’re selling, communicate your boundaries with any clients you have and specify when you expect compensation for your time or advice.
How to communicate knowledge/expertise boundaries:
If a client asks you a question which you would typically answer as part of a paid service, give a high level summary to answer their question and follow up with:
“As part of my x product/service, this is answered in detail as well as covering….. If this is something you would be interested in, I can email you details of this after our call”.
How to communicate time boundaries:
To outline any time constraints, at the start of any discovery call say:
“Thank you for booking this x minute call. It should be more than enough time to discuss xyz. If it isn’t, we can schedule a longer call for another time.”
Alternatively, if a call is over running say:
“I’m sorry to have to end this call but I have another meeting. I’m happy to schedule a follow-up call if you have more questions or answer any additional questions you have via email.”
How to communicate a compensation request for your time/advice:
It is best not to start a call by trying to sell your services but if you’re getting to the end of your scheduled call and feel as if you’ve given a lot of value and can’t justify giving any more of your advice and time for free, you can say:
“It’s been a pleasure speaking with you and learning more about x. Unfortunately I am no longer able to give any more time or advice as I need to prioritise my paid engagements. I hope you’ve found this call and my advice helpful though. If you would like further help, I can provide you with details on my consulting rates?”
This not only helps to wrap up a call but it also highlights to your target that you have provided them with value and helps to sell any paid for services you offer.
Create free (or paid for) resources that you can offer to clients, allowing you to continue to help them without consuming any more of your time. There are a few different ways you can continue to help a client in a way which means you don’t have to continue giving advice for free and/or sacrifice more of your time.
Here are a few examples:
Create blog posts answering any FAQs
Using any frequently asked questions as inspiration you can create blogs that help answer these questions in detail. By preparing these blogs, when your next prospect asks the same question you can give a high-level summary to answer their question and then direct them to your blog for a more detailed answer. This will allow you to save time on the call by not having to going into detail yourself.
Create digital guides/ebooks
Similar to writing blogs, you could write digital guides/ebooks (i.e. PDF) which answers frequently asked questions or provides advice on how to do/achieve a certain thing. It is best to write digital guides instead of a blog for longer form content and for when you’re going into more depth. It is difficult to charge for a blog but you could choose to charge for any guides depending on the value of the information you are able to provide.
As mentioned in point one, you can offer a consultation service and request that people pay for your time if they’re asking lots of detailed questions or taking up too much of your time. Offering this type of service, you’ll be able to provide more specific help & knowledge in a more structured format. For example, a client can ask you questions they need help answering prior to a consultation. You can then prepare appropriate information and resources to share with them during your consultation. Using this method, you can provide your clients with a more valuable service which you can properly dedicate time to rather than giving ad hoc information. You can charge this service at an hourly rate.
I will be writing a blog on how you can create an online booking system with a payment facility for this type of consultation service. Subscribe to my newsletter here so that you don’t miss it!
By implementing these three points you’ll be able to get better control over the amount of time you spend speaking with clients and control the amount of advice you give away for free. You’ll also be able to deliver information more efficiently, again minimising the time you spend personally providing advice.
Most people understand and respect that a fee will be charged for any professional services and advice/help provided. Therefore, if you are genuinely delivering value, don’t feel embarrassed about asking to be paid for the value you provide.
Why is a business plan important and what to include in a business plan? Here are 5 reasons why you should be writing a business plan and what you should be including in yours!
Is your business right for you? Owning a business is an exciting and rewarding venture, but it requires careful consideration and planning. Using a new business I am starting as a case study, I will step you through the 4 step checklist I use when deciding whether a business idea is right for me. This checklist includes…
What are the benefits of automating business processes for small business owners? In this blog, we will explore the numerous benefits that small business owners can reap by implementing automation technology.
Should you quit your job to start a business? Quitting your job would give you more time to pursue your entrepreneurial dreams. However, it also comes with other effects which arguably outweigh the benefit of having more time to work on your business. In this blog we will answer the question of whether you should quit your job to start a business.
Having the confidence to pick up the phone and ring anyone isn’t a “skill” we’re all born with. I am speaking from experience. Fortunately though, it is a skill that can be learned and developed. In this blog I will outline the different steps I took to increase my confidence when picking up the phone and squash my anxiety!
Wondering how to automate invoice creation for your small business? Google Workspace’s suite of tools, including Sheets, Docs, and Apps Script, offers a powerful way to automate the invoice creation process. In this post, we will explore how to set up an automation workflow using these tools, enabling you to streamline your invoicing process, reduce errors, and save valuable time.
