02.26.06
What to Do When People Want Everything for Free
What to Do When People Want Everything for Free:
How to Politely Get Rid of Mooches
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 towhite
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.
Amazingly Simple (Yet Super Powerful)
Ways To Skyrocket Your Sales And Build Your Business
Into A Tower of Profits! ==