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There Is Such A Thing As A Free Lunch
“You should make yourself more available by phone,” she said around a mouthful of her Cobb salad.
I arced an eyebrow, “Oh yeah? Why’s that?” to give the impression she was advising me on something useful.
I swear, I am so polite at times. Those diplomatic skills are gonna land me an ambassadorship yet! The Redhead would be so proud.
My lunch appointment had been “trying” to hire me for months, but somehow couldn’t quite get the money together and thus, here we are at lunch . . . again.
At least she was buying.
Now, just so you don’t think I’m being unduly harsh, a little explanation. I’m a results producer and a knowledge worker. And a freelancer. There are only 3 valuable assets I bring to the table: writing to produce the desired effect, knowledge of strategies and tactics to make #1 happen and most importantly — my time.
Sparkling wit and scintillating sense of humor are glicken and not the main course.
And something all of us who make out living by what we know and do, is that the invitation to “coffee” or “lunch” is code for ‘I’d like you to review my sales copy . . . look over my marketing plan .. . review my upcoming email campaign.. . and suck as much free information as I can from you without paying for it.’
Something others pay anywhere from thousands to tens of thousands for, this person wants for free or for the price of a cup of coffee or lunch — which essentially means free.
A-mazing.
And while it may sound ridiculous as you read the words, it happens nearly every week. It’s also why prospects don’t get my direct office line until they’ve committed themselves and they have a slot in my schedule.
I can’t tell you how many times, even to this day, they call and “Just want to run some copy by you. Just 5 minutes, okay? ” Not unreasonable, you say?
Multiply that innocent request by 10-20 times per week and it adds up and you can clearly see why it’s a problem.
Interestingly enough, the request always makes me wonder when they think I’ll have time to write their copy? But, oh wait . .. that’s not their concern. They’re not a client and have no space in my schedule. They’re just kicking the tires as they circle me to snatch up whatever information scraps I’m willing to toss them. And that can be quite a lot because if you catch me just right, I will usually verbally rattle off ways to plug all the holes in their leaking dike.
So not only are they trying to just to the head of the line of people who have paid and who have committed themselves — they’re trying to circumvent the paying part of the process altogether.
Kinda like the illegal alien problem we have in the States – they’re trying to ’skip to the head of the line’ ahead of their law-bidding, dues-paying countrymen.
So what’s the solution? (To the free lunch issue, not illegal aliens). I have one, but I want to talk about something else first.
I’ve also noticed that hand-in-hand with the free work request masquerading as an invitation to coffee or lunch, they never offer anything to compensate. Now granted they probably can’t (otherwise they would already be a client). But even the thought of reciprocation seems to elude them.
So here’s my solution and one guaranteed to to get people like me to accept more of these invitations and create a win-win for all involved:
When You Can’t Pay, How To Pay The Copywriter For Their Time
If you can’t pay the fees, then offer this – send that person a bunch of referrals*, a couple of which are bound to become clients or at least lead to clients.
That way, when you ostensibly ask them to coffee or lunch, you’ve more than enough paid for their time and besides, sending someone referrals doesn’t cost anything — other than your time. Which is what they’re asking of me, or someone like me.
So please keep in mind that freelancers have the same challenge as dentists: “If they’re not fillin’ then they’re not billin’.” Next time a freelancer takes a meeting with you or agrees to lunch, coffee, dinner, whatever — please understand that they’re giving you the most precious gift they have — their time.
* = What referrals are not — they are not a list of people you think we should call. A legit, useful referral is sending qualified people to that person, i.e., they are people you send and have them contact the freelancer, not the other way around.
By Walter |
Topics: Client Top Secret, Here's Your Sign, Lessons Learned, Pet Peeves |