Blogging Tips Every Day: List Building - Should You Use Free ...

A free consultation can do great things for building the relationship with a potential client. They have the opportunity to meet you, see if they like your 'style', and make a decision whether or not to do business with you.

It can also be the time that future customers let their guard down. They see you are taking time to meet or talk with them and this brings a level of trust that can not be transferred easily in a brochure or sales page. But what if we run a consulting, training or coaching business entirely on line, should we still offer the free consultation?

More than one expert will tell you that if you can get prospects to engage with you it doubles your chances of landing them as a paying client. It can sometimes be difficult to get people to try something new, so a sample of what you do and how you do it can relieve that fear of the unknown.

Talking with clients also gives you a chance to ask questions, see what concerns they have and tailor your help to what they need. But is it always worth your time?

For a lot of people, the appeal of having an online business is the flexibility and automation it allows. So having a face to face meeting or even a long phone call with a potential client may be something you shy away from.

Even though free consults can give you an advantage over other marketers, they do have a downside. The biggest problem with them is the time they take. A twenty or thirty minute call here and there can add up, while taking you from other important activities. So is there a way to make it work? Yes.

First, limit the time of your free consultation to a maximum of 20-30 minutes. And if you find people are on the phone with you simply for free advice and have no intention of working with you, politely end the call.

In addition to limiting the time, be selective with who you give phone or face to face consultations. Send them a questionnaire in an e-mail. Prepare them for a conversation with you. This will tend to eliminate some time wasters.

You have to control the conversation in order to keep the call to less than 30 minutes. If you allow chit chat or a long list of questions you could be talking for much longer than you intended. Make a checklist of points you want to cover, let them ask a few questions and then wrap up the call by summarizing what you can do for them.

But don't ever be rude or short with people just because they are not ready for you program. The people you talk to could refer you to many other potential clients. Or they might be ready to work with you themselves in the future.

So what are a few ways you could benefit even if they do not end up as a client? Offer them a lower priced product that could help them. This allows them another chance to sample your training without a big commitment.

Or ask to record the call, let them know it is for your personal use only, then review the call to pinpoint questions or issues that come up. Keep a list and develop a series if information products around these issues you can solve.

By the way, if you are interested in getting the help you need to honestly build your online business from scratch visit http://biz-tutor.com/

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Source: http://blogtipseveryday.blogspot.com/2012/08/list-building-should-you-use-free.html

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