Recently (past 3 or 4 months) I've been approached again and again by small businesses looking for marketing support. Typically I’m quick to respond to prospects, and often volunteer a little help and advice on the initial call or email. However, I soon realized that many so-called enquiries were nothing of the sort. Instead, they were cynical ploys to get a little free marketing help. And even genuine prospects often to blanch as soon as you mention your day rate, and quickly disappear never to be seen again.
Sadly, this has forced me to change my friendly, easy-going approach to prospects, and now I volunteer almost nothing other than the price I charge for my services. Surely there is some way that small businesses could get the marketing advice and support they often desperately need while ensuring a chartered marketing consultant like myself actually gets paid for his time and efforts. Perhaps some sort of subscription service whereby small businesses pay a regular monthly fee, and in return can call on a marketing professional for X number of hours/days per month, something like that? This would also help level out some of the peaks and troughs that occur when you’re freelancing.
When is a prospect not a prospect?
Started by
Act Marketing
, Jun 25 2012 01:07 PM
prospects marketing freelance freelancer copy writer small business sme leads consultant
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Also tagged with one or more of these keywords: prospects, marketing, freelance, freelancer, copy writer, small business, sme, leads, consultant
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