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Advice – 5 Cents
Interesting post by Seth G. over at the magical TypePad blog.
It makes me wonder, as a service provider, how I could translate that consumption into real understanding for my clients and potential clients.
Wait. I think there are definition issues in my brain. What is the difference between a client and a potential client? A signed contract and money? Is that really all? If I give enough free advice to someone, are they a pro bono client? Or just a potential client waiting to get enough money they can give me some?
If I don’t know the difference between a client and a non-client, this is not going to be an easy conversation to have! Okay, we’ll say it’s money. The contract is assumed in the equation because contract comes before money.
So a potential client is someone I’ve spoken with that has not paid me for my services or advice.
In Seth’s post, he mentions the rates at which consumption decreased when IKEA started charging a nickel for a bag. (Go to his post to read about it, I’m not going to just steal all the good bits for my post!)
The picture in my head for how this translates to a service industry is swift and immediate:
If you’ve ever read the Peanuts comic strip, Lucy sits behind a wooden booth that’s boldly emblazoned in childlike script “Advice 5 Cents” (I can’t figure out the ALT-number to make the cent symbol.)
So do we start charging five cents for advice on whatever our specialty is? How do we do that? By using Skype’s “charge by call” or putting a big “Advice – 5 Cents” sign on our website?
Would that even work? I think it could be an interesting social experiment. But…would my time get taken advantage of by someone thinking “WooHOO free advice for a nickel!?” And would it make a difference considering I can hang up the phone at any time?
What do you think? Do you give out a lot of free information to potential clients? Do you think that could be monetized in some way to increase your perceived value as a contractor and service provider?
