How to Get Paid for Freebies

We all have them (I hope); friends and colleagues, close associates, for whom we wouldn’t dream of charging a penny to help them with their spreadsheet, document, web site or accounting.

Sometimes it seems just too crass to even think about mentioning money.

This is not the client who calls up saying “I know it will take you only 5 minutes”, selfishly overlooking the fact that you spent 50 hours learning how to do it.

This is the colleague who drives you to lunch each time you meet, the one you phone to cry on a shoulder.

Here’s What You do

I’ll take a spreadsheet as an example; you can change the scenery.

Griselda wants to know how to set up her spreadsheet; you like Griselda and she likes you and you scratch each other’s back once a month or so.

Invite Griselda over for the morning; she’ll miss her tweets and eMail, so she’ll not hang around for ever. That puts a time limit on the face-to-face stuff.

Tell Griselda BEFORE she comes over that the spreadsheet is free, but if she feels bad about it she can buy you lunch. (Always order the corned-beef sandwich with spicy-fries; you can eat only half of it anyway; bring the other half home for a second lunch tomorrow).

Tell Griselda BEFORE she comes over that you’ll support her in her endeavors up to an including the last day of the following month. That’s anything from one to two months hand-holding.

Absolutely Free

But tell Griselda BEFORE she comes over that after the end of the first complete calendar month you’ll charge her for support at 50% your regular rate, payable by retainer in advance.

Is that Asking Too Much?

I think not.

Griselda is acutely aware that she is "imposing” on you, and you on her; but as well she values your friendship and hates leeching off you; as you do her.

This establishes, up front (“Good fences make good neighbors”) that a no-strings freebie is being offered, and accepted, but that if the task becomes onerous, you will be recompensed without placing a burden of guilt on here.

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Does Staying-In-Touch Work? – 3

Here’s another one:

I attended a free seminar sponsored by a major bank – definitely a member of the deep pockets Club, and in my target market.

Funnily enough the seminar was marketing-related – all about LinkedIn.

Next morning I resisted the impulse to ask the host for a LinkedIn connection, and instead dashed off a greeting card & flyer, popped it in the mail.

I figure that asking/getting a LinkedIn connection is just a matter of form once we have met or had a chat by phone.

I also figure that a hard-copy unsolicited essay lasts longer (“sits on my desk”) than Yet-Another-LinkedIn-Invitation.

Sure enough, yesterday the phone rang, and for 75 minutes the host and I chatted.

• Sure! Send some stuff by email.
• Sure connect with LinkedIn!
• Sure!

Just what I wanted.

Lunch can’t be far away ...

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Management Measures Supplies

It’s that time of year when people hand out “day-timers”, promotional material that comes with a message.

Here’s a typical example, provided for me from a neighbour, at my request.

Inside we have one face per month.

The booklet itself occupies very little space, but we can load the inside with every cyclic expense in the coming year, the better to budget and plan our expenses.

Example 1:

Note the date of replacement of each printer cartridge.

Example 2:

Note the quantity of postage stamps at each purchase

Example 3:

Note subscriptions to networking groups, ISPs, domain registration and the like.

Now you have no excuse for ignorance of upcoming expenses as they fall due.

And yes, the booklet lives on your desk, close to your keyboard and phone!

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Management Measures Cartridges

Sure, you complain about the high cost of Laser-Printer Cartridges.

But justify, to me, the facts on which you base you complaint.

You’ll tell me that a cartridge costs $70 at the store (Quantities may vary!), and I’ll believe that you pay $70 per cartridge; no need to produce the receipt.

But then I’ll ask you how many sheets you get per cartridge, and you’ll stare blankly for three seconds, then invent a number; you’re lying, aren’t you!

So then I’ll ask you how often you replace your cartridges, and again, I’ll receive the blank look and the wild guess. And we know that a wild guess isn’t a confirmed fact, so it’s a lie, isn’t it?

Here’s what you do:

Whenever you replace a cartridge, stick a little adhesive label on it with the place and cost of purchase, and the date you popped the cartridge in the printer.

The next time I replace a yellow cartridge, I’ll know exactly how many days it has lasted.

Exercise

Assuming I don’t have a paper-counter on my printer, how would I measure how many sheets of paper I get per Yellow cartridge? Per Magenta cartridge?

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Staying In Touch – 7

I know you read a different blog yesterday that said “Staying In Touch Is Important”.

Today I’m going to tell you WHY it is important.

A client has asked me if I know a reliable web designer.

I immediately thought of Carole and David, and forwarded my client’s email to them both.

Why Carole?

Carole put me in touch with a prospective client two weeks ago, and I’ve been chatting with that prospect for a week or so now.

Why David?

David and I agreed to meet for breakfast next Friday, so he’s been on my mind.

Here’s the Catch

Because Carole and David, both web designers, were in my mind/brain/head, my reaction was instant: “Yes! I know TWO web designers; I’ll click “Forward” and send this email to them.

I did NOT go to my contacts database and search nearly 400 records to find out who has been tagged with “web” or “html” or “Sales”.

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Canada's New Anti-Spam Law

In “Canadian businesses face tough challenges with strict anti-spam law” Grant Buckler reports on the new measures to be implemented in Canada to cope with spam.

In theory.

In practice I believe that Bill-C28 will be applied seldom, and then only at great expense against mega-millionaire spam kings.

You and I don’t need to worry about Bill-C28. The lawyers are interested only in people with lots of money, millions of dollars.

So Sleep easy.

But do pay attention to what is required, because if nothing else, it makes for courteous business sense.

Opt in

“Bill C-28 ... requires recipients explicitly to opt in to receiving e-mails and other electronic communications rather than simply requiring that they be given an opportunity to opt out ...”.

Most commercial mailing list providers stress this every time you breathe in.

Done Business

“If the sender of the message has done business with the recipient in the past two years, consent to receive commercial e-mail is implied. But since that implied consent now expires after two years, businesses that rely on it will now need a way of tracking their business dealings with people on their mailing lists and either removing their names from the list or obtaining their explicit consent to keep sending them messages before the two years are up.”

This is the more interesting paragraph.

My accountant says “Business is the exchange of two pieces of paper, one of which must be a cheque”, so in theory many of the people to whom I send an occasional email could have me chased by The Feds.

Even if I have supplied them with goods and services “that implied consent now expires after two years” so I ought to be confirming, every two years, that it’s still OK to communicate by email.

How to do that? Well, having lunch every two years as a minimum ought to be a good time to ask if it’s OK to send occasional emails.

“businesses ...will now need a way of tracking their business dealings with people on their mailing lists “. Well, for sure. But shouldn’t we be doing that anyway? Keeping track of each contact, with a time-stamp of each communication, whether we phoned, left a voice-mail, mailed a letter, met for coffee, and so on. How else would you know which contacts are getting attention?

“... removing their names from the list or obtaining their explicit consent to keep sending them messages.” Again to my mind this is a no-brainer.

The strict letter of the law may find a nit-picking loop-hole, but long before it gets to court, the CEO is going to have the executive assistant ask you to stop mailing postcards; they don’t have time to take you to court.

And any judge would laugh at the suit.

P.S. Here’s a simplified view of the bill.

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