When does a conversation turn into Billable Consulting time?

[Harold Mansfield]

Like many of you, sometimes people pay me for teaching them things. I know it saves them both time and money to pick my brain or learn what I know in minutes or hours, than wasting hours, weeks or months learning it on their own. And I don't feel bad charging them, for saving them that time and money.

But as clients get more and more comfortable with you, they also get comfortable asking you a million questions about how to do things and if you aren't careful, they'll start treating you like their own personal niche search engine.

I'll answer pretty much anything that takes me a minute or two to respond, but the line between salesmanship, customer service, and full on training can be a thin one. You have to make the distinction or people will walk all over you.

I certainly don't want to nickel and dime people, but I kind of figure (absent of any service agreement) that when you need my undivided attention for a length of time (especially in the middle of the day) to help you with something, teach you something, or show you how to do it, that should be billable.

There's always going to be exceptions. Some people are just good clients and you don't mind every now and then. But some are just average, spent a little money with you once, and are now full of questions about how everything works.

At what point do you guys consider that it goes from offering a little help , to getting paid for your time?

[cheryl]

Personally, I ask myself two key questions:

Would giving this information stop them coming to me for a particular service?
If I do dedicate time to helping them, is it time I could save in future?
Ultimately, I'll provide a little free use of my time but I won't answer any questions specific to your business.

For example, a client recently asked me about developing a social media presence. He had no clue where to start, and initially wanted to know how he could get a Facebook page going. I created a basic four-page document which took me an hour or two, explaining how to launch a basic Facebook business page. I talked generally about creating content people will want to interact with, but didn't go into the details so that any client who reads the document and wants to know what kind of content will work for them will have to come to me for a specific service. Obviously it varies from business to business anyway, but I was incredibly generic with my response.

That document wasn't tailored to him. I created it for him, but it can be given to any future client who asks for the same information. I can now provide a good service if the questions are ever asked again, without dedicating more than a minute of my time to it. I'll just attach the existing file, send out the email and hopefully make a client very happy!

[huggytree]

i have a friend in IT, so i know its VERY common issue with you guys

i advised him to have a stop watch handy and after 5 minutes tell them they reached their limit for free advice

make it a company policy and when the customers know tell them your limiting their questions to 5 minutes of free advice

if they are a new customer id give them 0....if they used you once and call weekly id limit them also

come up with a policy....and id build it into your costs and increase your hourly rate for it...


i had a call last week where he pretty much said he wanted free advice...i told him to call someone else....and i gave him a phone number to call!!!...got him off the line in 30 seconds and didnt come off too rude..

send these customers to someone else if all they want is free advice w/o ever using you as a customer

ive had people call me for a bid...i show up and all the parts are sitting right on the floor....they tell me they are deciding whether to hire a pro or do it themselves....then ask me exactly how id run it...this has happened 3x...i told them that i can see whats happening and i dont give out free advice.....then went to the car, wrote the estimate and said have a great day.

people are users if you let them get away with it....5 minutes is all id give them

[billbenson]

I kind of put the same thing in one of huggy's threads, but force it to an email or blog. A customer might not want to put private details in a blog, but you can delete that and use it for blog fotter and answer him directly in an email if you so desire.

[lacarrye]

Good Question! eborg9,
I do a quick measure of client / potential business. I allow them to make many questions as they want, but in a specific point of the conversation I remind them that in order to Fix /build / improve /optimize / finish... would requiere x hours and resources, therefore I strongly recommend do xyz (which they for sure assume) will not be for free.