Uh, I can't talk to you unless you pay me.

October 26, 2006 3:23 PM

Now that I'm consulting, how can I gracefully tell colleagues that I'm not going to give them free advice?

After years of fielding social media/blogging questions from colleagues, I finally decided to market myself as a social media consultant. This is all fine and good, but now I'm trying to figure out how to gracefully tell people who come to me looking for free advice that I now charge for that information.

I just had a conversation with a colleague who started asking me business questions after I told him I was consulting. I asked him straight out "Are you asking me to consult?" and he got awkward and said no he didn't have any money, bla bla, and then I wondered if I was being rude. How can I gracefully draw the line with people as I transition into consulting?

posted by arielmeadow to work & money (19 comments total)

This is a joke, right? It'll cost you.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 3:28 PM on October 26, 2006 [2 favorites has favorites]

I think you did fine. It's not rude to tell somebody up front that you charge a fee for that.
posted by joannemerriam at 3:31 PM on October 26, 2006

weapons-grade: yes, the irony stings a little.
posted by arielmeadow at 3:33 PM on October 26, 2006

You've got the same problem as doctors and lawyers.

"I couldn't really give you an opinion without more information. I'd be happy to set up a consultation with you if you think you'd like to retain me."
posted by Phred182 at 3:34 PM on October 26, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

You could set a threshold of what you're willing to talk about. Instead of saying "are you asking me to consult?", you could say "I don't want to give you my professional opinion" and make it sound like you're worried about liability issues, in the same way lawyers are careful about giving out lawyerly advice.
posted by null terminated at 3:35 PM on October 26, 2006

The graceful way would be to still discuss these things a bit with potential clients who bring this up. But you just stay on the surface, treat matters high-level, generally. And then you say "Look I can help you with that. I can [sort it out/ write a report/whatever] in a day"

So start with the metalevel, general observations without touching on the essential details, on the exact 'how' and then change to a proposing a definite time-constrained plan that involves hiring you.

Btw: quite funny, weapons. Ha!
posted by jouke at 3:39 PM on October 26, 2006

I struggle with this all the time. When people find out I'm a consultant, they want me to share information. Friends help friends, right? I was guilty of the same approach before I got into consulting.

What I do is say, "Sure. I could help you with that. Did you want me to email a proposal in the next couple of weeks?"
posted by acoutu at 3:42 PM on October 26, 2006

Send out a formal new venture announcement describing your capabilities to everyone. In addition to your biz card, create a capabilities at-a-glance printed piece, and keep it in your bag to hand over when questions go past the first few superficial queries and on into real substance.

Be prepared with a canned response to warm-up questions from the freebie-seekers, and then tailor a tantalizing hook specific to the questioner's particular business need. Next, whip out your materials and say, "This is fascinating and of course, there's a lot more to it -- I'd love to schedule some time to work with you on it."
posted by thinkpiece at 3:48 PM on October 26, 2006

oxford, weapons grade stole your joke upthread.
posted by arielmeadow at 4:23 PM on October 26, 2006

Quit looking at everyone in the world as a bunch of non-clients and start looking at them as a bunch of potential clients. Don't think of your time and expertise as precious resources that must be protected, but rather as valuable tools that should be exploited. Don't worry about giving out freebie advice except insofar as it actually interferes with getting your consulting projects done.

I don't know how many clients you've got lined up so far, but if your experience consulting is anything like mine, you'll end up spending half your time (ish) working for a small set of big, juicy clients and the rest of the time doing business development-type stuff. And people are way more likely to hire you if you tell them something interesting, yet minor, and they walk away thinking "huh, this guy is smart, wonder what else he could do for me," than if you clam up and they walk away thinking "huh, this guy is a dick who won't even answer the simplest question."
posted by rkent at 4:50 PM on October 26, 2006 [3 favorites has favorites]

I have this problem, but it's even weirder when you're a librarian because, well, here I am in AskMe....

What I really usually do is tell people that I'll answer quick questions [1-5 minutes] or do reference work like finding something in a database for them, but if they want to pick my brain, especially if it's for their work project, that's a consult. In reality I have a sliding sort of scale. If someone wants to take me out to dinner and chat informally about something, that's usually fine with me. If they want to shoot questions at me that they have devised, I'll say "look, my time is mostly spoken for and I'm reaching the limits of wanting to or being able to work for free, how can we work something out?" If people have budgets, they should be okay with that. Depending on how often this happens to you, you might be able to wean them off of using your information for free with some nice "this is the last time" sort of conversations.
posted by jessamyn at 5:26 PM on October 26, 2006

rkent nails it perfectly. One of the biggest things I've learned from consulting in an equally high-tech area: people talk to people all the time. Don't be a jerk and clam up once you think that you're not getting paid. Sure, don't give away all your secrets, but help people to understand the technology (building your market), the opportunities (stimulating their ideas) and the pitfalls (building trust between you).

For one, these "freebie" consultations often lead to paid work further down the line. Second: the people you give advice to are far more likely to recommend you to colleagues once they know that you know your shit. Lastly: the guy you gave free advice to a few months ago may be in a position to help you out in the future.
posted by blag at 5:32 PM on October 26, 2006

Completely second rkent. If someone asks a question that can be adequately answered in under a minute, just answer it. Usually the question will beget more questions--that's when you say something along the lines of, "I really don't have the time to go into more thorough detail, but you can always retain my consulting services if you need any more help."
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:37 PM on October 26, 2006

Also agree with rkent. The trick is to be helpful during the conversation while asking probing questions that make them realize (a) their project is much more complicated than they may have originally thought; (b) you know what you're talking about; and (c) they should hire a consultant, aka you! Once you've impressed upon them that their needs involve a large project, you can segue into paying work by saying, "We'll have to get into more details about your business and should get an NDA in place. When would you like to talk more?" The NDA shows them that you're concerned about their welfare; it also sets the stage for a more formal relationship. Once you get to that next meeting, you can bring up your rates/contract/etc.

Take a tip from drug dealers (at least the ones in afterschool specials): the first taste is free; then you have them hooked.
posted by sfkiddo at 7:06 PM on October 26, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

Good advice above, and congrats on the new gig -- being in a similar line of work, I understand the appeal!

What I find is that put simply, the more you give, the more you get. If you're offering up info that is good advice, it'll set the stage for them needing more in the future -- you want to be the one they go to when they start to succeed.

I can offer you some more specific tips around social media consulting, if you want to email me offline, but in general, I find it useful to say "this is roughly part one of twelve, but since you're not a client yet, it's a helpful place to start". It would also be good to offer "gateway" products for people who aren't yet ready for a full engagement of your services -- a "starter pack" of 3 hours of your time to review general principles, or free white papers or presentations (maybe access to a private tips blog?) in exchange for joining a mailing list that you can then use for marketing in the future.

Most of all, good luck in your new line of work. :)
posted by anildash at 12:12 AM on October 27, 2006

think of the Video Professor -- I'll send you this free CD because I'm so confident you'll come to me for all of your computer training needs -- try my product!
posted by unSane at 5:52 AM on October 27, 2006

A lot of professionals (lawyers, for example) often give a free hour (initial consultation) to prospective clients. A lot of the advice given above leans in that direction. The sliding scale also is a good idea... friends and (especially) relatives should get a break from your normal fees, as long as you're getting enough in "normal fees" to make a living.
posted by lhauser at 9:00 AM on October 27, 2006

It was probably here on AskMe that I just saved this quote, but I'm not certain - it relates to me and how since I'm a computer tech, friends and family keep asking me to fix their computers for free.

I'm not a techie, but I am a consultant. And people often ask me to answer questions -- "it's just a minute or two of your time". However, my time is very valuable and my expertise is hard-won. So something that takes me just a few minutes to do actually represents $100k in tuition and living expenses, $150k in foregone earnings, thousands of hours of passed up freetime, and so on.
posted by IndigoRain at 2:15 AM on October 28, 2006

IndigoRain, I might be totally wrong, but I am pretty sure I'm the source of that quote. :)
posted by acoutu at 2:21 PM on November 17, 2006