What I've been up to this past week: In a recent post in one of the Facebook groups I belong to, one of my lovely friends was faced with a dilemma... she had started working with an amazing client, ghostwriting her blog posts, but was finding that her new client kept sending her emails, asking questions about how she should brand images, what her social media plan should be and other various, business-related stuff.
My friend, while happy to help, was getting frustrated because, after the first few emails, it was actually starting to turn into more of what she would cover under her consulting hours, but she didn't know how to communicate this to her client.
A number of us pitched in with how best to handle it, and I wanted to share those tidbits with you as well, so that if you're ever faced with a similar scenario, you'll know how to handle it.
Here's some tips on how to respond: - When onboarding a new client, you need to be very explicit about what your contract covers. Should they want more help from you, they can book a consulting call with you, which you charge at a set fee. For example, I charged $57 USD for a 30 min Skype call.
- Answer one email on the house, and then if you get more, respond with something like; "It sounds like you have questions about an area beyond what our contract covers. I'd be happy to help you with these other areas. Why don't we jump on a consultation call and go over them. My fee is $125 USD for a one hour call."
- Rather than answering all her questions, point her to content on your own site that deals with these questions. Create a file of FAQ that you can just refer to to grab these links and then send her to those. Add that if she wants more specific answers to her business, that she schedule a call with you, letting her know that this will cost $xx.
Clients can unknowingly steal your time if you let them. Most of the time, they aren't even aware that they are doing this, and because these questions just pop into their head throughout their business day, an email is often the fastest way they know how to get answers. Train them otherwise!
As always, do what you love!
PS: Want in on the new course? Last chance to grab your 50% discount with "HALFOFF" at checkout... you can check it out here!
PPS: Did you catch my vlog post from last week? You can catch up here: http://www.outsourcedfreelancingsuccess.com/oezv | 
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