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This is a difficult
situation for a consultant to handle. On one hand a consultant does
not want to give out expertise or knowledge without payment in
return, after all that is how he puts bread on his table. On the
other hand to refuse to answer the questions may leave the client in
doubt about the consultant’s expertise and knowledge and hence he
will not contract his services.
How can a
consultant deal with this complex situation?
The first thing
that a consultant must do is to reinforce, to the prospective
client, the hard fact that he is in business of selling expertise
and knowledge, which is how he makes a living. This must be done at
first contact.
If, as an example a
consultant receives an email as a result of someone reading an
article that says something to the effect; “I read your article on
the proper use of widgets and was quite impressed with your
knowledge. I am thinking of going into the widget business and was
hoping you could give me some advice. Any help would be greatly
appreciated.”
The proper answer
to this type of contact is; “I would be pleased to discuss the
widget business with you in greater detail", answer any questions
that you may have and assist you in entering the widget business
industry. I am an independent consultant and make my living by
assisting entrepreneurs start a widget business enterprise. I have
more than 25 years experience in all phases of the widget industry.
I would be pleased to have an initial discussion with you to see how
my knowledge and expertise may be of benefit to you. During this
discussion I would hope that we may be able to outline how we will
be able to work together. I do not charge for the initial
discussion, but please remember that my product is my knowledge and
I cannot survive by giving my product away. You may contact me at
(phone number).
If you do not
receive a response, then the person was obviously not prepared to
pay for your knowledge. If you do receive a response it is always
wise to reinforce the “payment for services” scenario early in the
conversations.
Too many
consultants seem to be embarrassed to say; “that knowledge is what I
sell and providing you with it will require a payment”!
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