INFOGRAPHIC: Should Your Consulting Company Do Work for Free?
I’m approaching two full years of self-employment.
It’s been real.
It’s been fun.
And many days it’s been real fun.
However, some days it can be a bit stressful, especially if you have “friends” or “contacts” that have a great offer for you, an opportunity to get in at the ground level, or however else they may pitch it.
At times it’s hard to tell them no.
At times I’ve been on the brink of saying “Sure, why not…” But luckily I’ve only had two experiences where I feel I’ve dropped the ball and gave clients a good product priced WAY below market value, only to have them expect way more than they paid for and ultimately be upset.
(I wish I would have found the infographic I shared the other day about website design warnings… 🙂 )
In an effort to know how to best tell a potential business partnership that my company doesn’t do work for free, I ran across an article that was titled, “Should I work for free?” It was actually a big flow chart that made me chuckle on a couple different levels.
I cut it up a bit, focusing primarily on the business to business “work for free” proposition, since that’s the one I’ve dealt with most in my two years of business bliss. The infographic sums it up pretty clearly.
Do you agree?
Should I Do Business to Business Consulting for Free?
What are your thoughts? See the entire infographic here.
How do you respond to the AWESOME OPPORTUNITY to get a lot of business exposure?
Share this!
Guest Post: Finding the Golden Client Over and Over Again
I’ve talked to clients a lot in the past about one key question:
What have you done TODAY to make a sale?
I’m going to take it a step further today and ask another simple question:
What have you done TODAY to find a new client?
Some might ask at this point, “Isn’t making a sale and finding a new client the same thing?”
In the past, my answer was yeah, sure. However, as I’ve thought about it more, I realize that I can make one sale today but then never, ever see that customer again. On the other hand, if my goal is to find CLIENTS, I’m really not only looking for a “sale”, but I’m also looking for a long-term business relationship that I can develop, leading to sale after sale after sale to the same client.
I was reading an article today titled “5 Smart Ways to Find Clients“. They mentioned that finding clients is something almost every small business owner struggles with from time to time. There are quite a few ways to do it, but finding new clients really boils down to putting yourself where your clients are, being approachable, and fulfilling a need or solving a problem. It doesn’t have to be much more complicated than that.
Who’s Your Ideal “Golden” Client?
