Free Consultation: Pros and Cons
Posted February 1, 2010 in Managing Clients, Marketing
In my search for effective marketing strategies for freelancers, I keep running into this idea. Get prospects on the phone for a free consultation with you.
You may have seen it yourself on some freelancers’ websites: an offer of a free 20- or 30-minute consultation to anybody who is interested in hiring them.
Should every freelancer offer free consultation to get more clients? The answer isn’t simple, and there is no one right answer for everyone. To see what the answer is for you, let’s go over the pros and cons of providing free consultation to prospects.
Pros
Some experts claim that getting a prospect on the phone before submitting a proposal doubles your chances of landing the project.
This makes sense. The free consult gives your prospect a sample of your expertise. It makes them feel better about entrusting their needs to you.
We all know that sampling is a highly effective marketing strategy in the retail world. It’s difficult to get people to buy something they haven’t tried before. However, if you give them the chance to try it out (and assuming you have a top-notch product), then your target market is more likely to buy it. Observe your own behavior when you’re in Costco. How often do you end up buying something after getting a free taste?
Getting on the phone with a prospect is also a faster way of addressing his questions and objections than through back-and-forth emails. The communication is also more likely to be effective. You and your prospect have the added input of your voice inflections — something absent in emails — so you should be able to understand each other better.
Another advantage of offering free consultations is that, even if the prospect doesn’t hire you, you’ll learn a lot about them. After talking to a number of prospects, you’ll have a much clearer idea of their problems and questions. This knowledge will help you improve your services and even develop products for your prospects (more on that later).
Cons
On the other hand, free consultations can be a real drag. When you offer them prominently on your site, you attract freebie seekers — you know, people who want your expertise, but have no intentions of hiring you whatsoever.
The biggest disadvantage of offering free consultations is that they take up your precious time and energy. Twenty minutes here and there sure can add up, taking you away from other marketing activities, paid client work, family and personal growth.
So, You Want to Give Free Consultations…
At this point, you may be thinking that you’d like the advantages of giving free consultations, but without any of the disadvantages. Is there a way for you to enjoy the pros while minimizing the cons?
I think so. Consider these suggestions:
- Be selective. Instead of offering a free consultation call to everybody who lands on your site, make it available only to those who contact you with projects you’re interested in. Let’s say somebody emails you requesting a quotation and gives a few details about their project. Check out their website and look at their profiles in Twitter and Facebook. If the project interests you, and the prospects look like someone you may like to work with and who can afford you, then you can reply with an offer to discuss their requirements over the phone.
- Limit the time to a maximum of 20 minutes. Let the prospect know that the call will only be for 20 minutes. Of course, if the conversation is going extremely well and you think talking longer will improve your chances of landing the project, then you have the flexibility to extend the call. Do ask beforehand if your prospect can stay longer on the call. She’s busy, too.
- Make it easy for you. Create a set of guide questions, an outline or checklist of things to go over with your prospect. You can also prepare a corresponding set of recommendations for each issue that might come up. This helps you cover plenty of ground in a short amount of time.
- Stay in control of the call. Let’s face it, some people enjoy talking and your 20-minute call can easily stretch to one hour. The checklist or guide you prepared will help you keep on-topic. Do give your prospect about five minutes towards the end of the call to ask questions, and use the last two minutes of the call to summarize the action-points you’ve covered.
- Leverage the call. As I mentioned above, you can benefit from each consultation call, even if the prospect doesn’t end up hiring you. One way to do this is by using the consultation calls as the basis for creating a paid infoproduct. Record each call (let your prospect know this beforehand, but reassure him that it’s for your personal use only). Make a list of frequently asked questions or issues that keep coming up with your prospects. And then, create an infoproduct (or several) around these issues. Your infoproduct could be a workbook, a set of video tutorials, special reports or even full-blown eBooks. This infoproduct will let you help prospects who can’t afford you, and can become a nice side income for you.
So am I going to be offering free phone consultations now? To tell the truth, I’m still undecided. I may do it when a really attractive prospect shows interest in working with me. I will certainly oblige when somebody who fits the profile of my Ideal Client requests a phone call.
As long as my youngest child isn’t in school yet, it’s a major production for me to arrange for distraction-free phone calls. So, until then, my phone call policy isn’t going to change.
How About You?
Does the idea of giving prospects a taste of your expertise excite you? Have you already been offering free consultation to prospects?
Do let us know your thoughts below.
Image by invisiblehour
Related posts:
- Freelancing For Agencies: Pros and Cons
- The Pros And Cons Of Freelancing “On The Side”
- We All Love Free Stuff – Give Some Away And Get More Business
- The Three Vital Rules of “Free”
- Do You Take Yourself Seriously As A Freelancer?
About the author: Lexi Rodrigo is the creator of The Savvy Freelancer, a blog that's all about achieving creative and financial freedom through freelancing. Check out Lexi's free guide, 31 Days to Start Your Freelancing Business (or Make Yours A Better One).
The Unlimited Freelancer is Now Only $19
Unleash the true potential of your business. Get The Unlimited Freelancer and start transforming your freelance business,
now only $19.
Try searching "Getting Clients" or "Productivity"
Free Report
Sign up for our product discount list to get a free copy of Why Some Freelancers Thrive and Others Barely Survive. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Forum Discussions
- Brand New Unlock Apple Iphone 4g 34Gb
May 25th, 2012 - 12:47 am - Make Your Support Service Efficiently
May 25th, 2012 - 12:00 am - Want to sell Apple iPad 3 (Wi-Fi + 4G) 16GB : $450
May 24th, 2012 - 8:27 am
Popular Articles
- SEO Techniques All Top Websites Should Use
- When a Client Can't Afford You: Why It's Still Better to Bid High
- How To Stop Scrambling For Clients And Get A Steady Stream Of Paying Gigs
- A Simple Way To Stop Clients From Rejecting Your Proposals
- 3 Reasons Your Rates Are Still Low (And How To Start Raising Them)
39 Comments
Deborah Brody
February 1st, 2010 at 9:36 amUnfortunately, you will always be required to give “free” consultations to prospective clients. What is most important is to give them an idea of how you think, rather than what you think. If someone is pressing me for details, I tell him/her that my ideas have a price and I am willing to share if he/she is willing to pay.
Rik
February 1st, 2010 at 9:38 amI can’t say I’ve given a free phone consultation. The closest I’ve come would have been more of free advice (the occasional consulting) via email to current clients or do one client who I’ve done much work for in the past. All of these are done via email because that’s how they contact me first and because of the “quick and easy” answers that they can receive, there was no need in a phone call.
I would consider it, as you said, if I was well aware of the client’s financial position as well as feeling pretty good about it.
For wedding photography, I always try to meet face to face with the couple to go over details. This includes me bringing my photo book portfolio, some sheets to fill out if necessary (if they agree on the spot) and my knowledge of pricing (and sometimes, I will bring a sheet outlining that as well). This allows the couple and myself to meet in person to get a “relationship” going and meet in a casual atmosphere (usually a coffee shop) to try and ease into the project. It’s more personal that way… :)
Fran
February 1st, 2010 at 9:49 amYes, we give free consultation! Takes time, but It gives us a good relationship with our potential customers, take down their guard and they start to trust us.
Lexi Rodrigo
February 1st, 2010 at 10:39 am@Deborah Brody – “What is most important is to give them an idea of how you think, rather than what you think.” That’s very good advice! Thanks for sharing.
@Rik – Emails consults are a good idea. Not as time consuming as a phone consultation. Thanks!
As for meeting prospects in a coffeeshop: Don’t you find this too demanding? I mean, they can just as easily see your portfolio and pricing online, right? Of course, when they’ve hired you then you should discuss the details with me face to face. Just a thought.
@Fran – Thanks for sharing your experience. Nice to know it really works in “real” life :-)
poch
February 1st, 2010 at 10:52 amHow about emailing instead of phoning.
That would give you both more time to give sensible answers.
Federica Sibella
February 1st, 2010 at 11:48 amYes I do, I give free consultations and not only on the phone: it happened to me to give consultations in person too! It’s true, it’s time consuming, but it gives the prospect a sense of “real” that he/she can not have just sending a message through my website.
Moreover I can give out my card and that is a very good reminder. Thanks for the pros and cons anyway!
curtismchale
February 1st, 2010 at 12:03 pmA company I sub-contract for doesn’t offer any type of free phone consultation. They charge $75 for a 1 hour phone consultation and if you do the work with them it is taken off the total of the project. I personally will be adopting a strategy like this.
Lexi Rodrigo
February 1st, 2010 at 12:11 pm@Poch – Yes, email consultation is an attraction alternative to doing it by phone.
@Federica Sibella – Looks like a number of freelancers get good results from face-to-face consultation. Thanks for your input, really appreciate it.
@Curtismchale – Excellent idea, Curtis! I am definitely considering this. Thank you!
Nimit Kashyap
February 1st, 2010 at 12:16 pmThese days I think its a good idea to give free consultation if you believe that whatever service you are selling will really be helpful for clients.
Joanna @BOCOCreative
February 1st, 2010 at 12:22 pmI offer free phone consultations but not to everyone. Like you suggest, I select the prospects based on the project they are inquiring about and how likely I think they will turn into my customers. My time is very constraint so I specify the length of the call at scheduling.
Unfortunately some require a lot of babysitting and one consultation may not be enough in their minds.
I was recently asked for a second consultation by the client who kept silent for over a month. She was shocked that I refused (I figured that she wasn’t that much interested and the project wasn’t ideal so I decided that this wasn’t a good match). It actually spurred a recent blog post. Some think that you are desperate and will go out of your way for a chance to work on the project.
I think a free phone consultation is a good way for both sides to figure out whether or not to go forward.
Rik
February 1st, 2010 at 12:29 pm@Lexi – I see your point in “getting hired first” and than the face-to-face. The reason I tend to leave just this face-to-face for wedding photography is from experience, the bride (mostly) wants to meet with the photographer before making any decisions. The husband to be probably doesn’t want to be there, and in most cases, is true, so it’s more for the bride. It just seems to work for me. :) I wouldn’t do it for other things like design, etc. Some photography I do wouldn’t be like this either, wedding photography is a unique category for me.
Thanks for the insight!
Lexi Rodrigo
February 1st, 2010 at 12:37 pm@Nimit Kashyap – Yes, a free consultation is a good way to showcase what we have to offer. Thanks!
@Joanna – Nice to know offering consultation selectively can work, but even then prospects can abuse it. I’d love to read your post about this experience. Please share the link.
@Rik – Very interesting! Goes to prove women make decisions very differently than men, and seeing somebody’s face is very important before we can trust them. Thank you for sharing your experience :-)
CaZ
February 1st, 2010 at 12:52 pmWhen I was working primarily as a consultant (great home-based biz if you like to travel) a few years back, I invoiced potential clients for both the initial consultation time and travel time (slightly different rates). And like Curtis, I deducted that total amount from the first invoice once the project contract was signed.
Of course, my clients were mostly lawyers at that point, so it would have been more difficult to give away a consultation than to charge. They would not have taken me seriously had I offered free consultations, especially since the services required an onsite initial consultation.
More recently, when 2Chicks opened the Co-sult Coop, we chose not to offer quick or immediate access to a free initial consultation. Our rationale? Our time is valuable, as is the time of the chicks we’re talking to.
We are, of course, perfectly happy to talk to anyone interested in our services. Yet by offering clear details on the website of the various programs available, we effectively limit the time-consuming one-on-one contact to those chicks interested in our private services.
Essentially, by imposing a limit on access to the free consultation, we tell potential clients that if the group service meets your needs, then sign up for that and so much the better for you and us. If not, then give us a call and we’ll sort it out together.
There is no one size fits all answer to this one, Lexi. Each of us must assess the value to our own businesses and hopefully make the choice that brings the best return.
Excellent post. Thanks for sharing.
Mosotomoss
February 1st, 2010 at 1:28 pmGreat post.
New York Web Design
February 1st, 2010 at 1:34 pmAccording to me Free Consultation is good. But i cant agree more about the
# Limit the time…
# Stay in control of the call…
Thanks for spending time to create this awesome article
Amber Weinberg
February 1st, 2010 at 3:43 pmWhat do you consider a free consultation? I use to say that I give free consultations, but realized I had to talk to the clients anyway to accurately gauge what they needed – I would never be able to charge a client just to talk to them…or do I have that wrong?
Mike B
February 2nd, 2010 at 5:04 amIts definitely a balance act, if you’re giving free consultations you want to make sure that it pays dividends and that its effective. If it isn’t then you can always say, right that didn’t work I’m going back to how I did things before.
BigM75
February 2nd, 2010 at 6:11 amgood article, great stuff
Wellington Grey
February 3rd, 2010 at 1:19 amHmmmm. I follow almost none of the above advice, but it works for me. I offer a free hour (yes, a whole hour) lesson to all newcomers. I think this works for me because many people aren’t exactly clear what they’ll get from time management coaching — and 20 min is just too short for people to really see the benefits.
Yes, I get a some people who don’t intend to pay, but I think I get more clients with the offer than I would without. YMMV.
dp
February 3rd, 2010 at 6:38 pmfree consultation? My design/process knowledge is my most valuable asset, so I ain’t gonna give it away for free. If they want to assess me, I’ll give vague suggestions/directions, giving them just enough info so that they can see that I know what I’m talking about. Nothing concrete for them to apply.
So it goes -dp
Jonathan Roseland
February 11th, 2010 at 4:03 amI am a believer in free consultations, as long as you keep them short & timely…
I have gotten in the bad habit of doing in person free consultations, which are definitely more time consuming when I am going to downtown to meet people at coffee shops & such.
I will make it a habit now to do all my free consultations over the phone
Corey
February 28th, 2010 at 3:02 pmI offer a free, 30 minute consultation to anyone. Most of the time it turns into an hour, but most of the time we do it over lunch so they treat.
I worry less about proving myself to the potential client. I use it to decide if we can work together, and if I want them as a client.
Marketing and Management
March 5th, 2010 at 7:49 amConsultation is very must for effective marketing strategy
Derrick
October 26th, 2010 at 10:48 amOne easy way to put this idea into action is to setup a web service called Skedgeme (www.skedgeme.com) and set aside a certain time each week to let prospects schedule themselves. Try it!
everythng about seo
February 2nd, 2011 at 8:24 amIn case desire to become more proficient in Search Engine Optimization I would advise you to check SEOmoz. And there is another blog called Slava’s SEO Secrets. Both these websites have magnificent posts on how to make your business highly competitive on the Internet.
Trackbacks