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Providing Free Phone Advice To That One Client
About a month ago, I got a call from a client who asked me a question about an anti-spam product that I installed for her a few months ago. She told me that the anti-spam product wants to update and was wondering whether it would be OK to do so. After spending a few minutes determining whether it was a legitimate message, I told her it would be fine and she went on her way.
A few days later I got another call from her regarding another problem and again, I helped her out over the phone. My personal rule with providing free help over the phone is to only do so if it can be solved in under 10 minutes and if I have done paid work for them in the past. This particular issue fit both of these criteria so I am quite happy to help her since it builds up client relationships and has always worked well for me in the past.
A few days after that event, I got another call from her asking for some help with another small issue. This issue was also within my “free help criteria” so I helped her out over the phone again. However, I could see that this will become a problem soon. To make matters worse, these phone calls would come at all sorts of hours as well, one of them was around 6:30am and another was around 11pm. It seemed to me that as soon as she hit any little question she would give me a call, regardless of what time it was. I felt I was becoming the fountain of free tech knowledge and if you have ever been put in this situation with family and friends, you know its a bad place to be. What makes this even worse is that the person isnt even family.
A full week went by before I got another call. While I do enjoy helping my clients, I need to put my foot down as this free help was beginning to be abused. I wasn’t sure whether she was doing it on purpose or even knew that it was unreasonable to expect so much free tech help but I needed to do something.
Unfortunately, this new problem was also within my free help criteria. This time she wanted to make sure that her antivirus product was setup correctly and while it would only take me 5-10 minutes to guide her through it, I would have probably spent about half an hour with her over the last few weeks.
I said “Sure, no problems. I can help you with that. I can also make sure that the antivirus is updating correctly as well as the Windows updates, kind of like a doctors checkup. Would you like to book a time?”.
This didnt go down too well, in fact, she completely ignored the fact that I said anything and continued asking for help with setting up the antivirus “How about if I do this? If I click here then..”. I think this confirmed in my mind that she had no intention of paying me and even expected this free help.
I told her that it is a little hard for me to guide her since I dont have that antivirus package in front of me and again I asked her whether she would like to book a call out time. She replied with “Oh, but this will only take a few minutes” to which I replied with:
“How about we create a list of all the small problems and questions that would only take a few minutes and once it reaches the point where it would take an hour, give me a call and then I can sit down with you and really give them the time they deserve”.
Suddenly, she told me that the issues weren’t that important, thanked me for my time and hung up. I haven’t heard from her for a little while now she knows that she’ll have to pay for my time.
As I mentioned earlier, I dont mind and even enjoy giving out some free help over the phone if I have made money with them before (Of course, I would never do this with new customers). However, I felt it getting abused with this client and once she realized that I am running a business here, the phone calls for every small problem stopped.
Have you ever encountered something like this? How did you deal with it?
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Well, in my case, I’m totally against giving free phone help unless it is directly related to a service or repair I provided.
But, it has happened to me too. I usually help the first time but if I hear from them again, I will tell them I’m in middle of a job and that I can’t talk. I ask for them to email me with their question.
Once I receive the email, I will explain nicely that this issue is not related to the work that I have performed and do to reliability issues …blah blah blah…I have to setup an appointment to come on-site. Since giving phone advice can cause unseen issues that I might be held accountable for.
This way, you don’t have to listen to their “this takes only a minute” speech.
Usually after that email, I never hear from them again.
If I’ve done the job in the past week then I’ll give them about 5 minutes on the phone.
I recently had somebody, not a previous client, call me at about 9pm on a friday evening asking for help with her issue with Safari. “Sure, I’ll book you in for an appointment” I said, her response was “Oh, how much will that cost”. Explained the cost and she went on saying how it would only take about minutes. I left it at that, I think the full conversation may be in the forums here.
I do get phone calls and I often encourage general questions, however if it goes over 10 ten minutes and I feel it’s something that will take longer for me to assist with, I will politely explain that since their question or issue will take a little longer, would they like to schedule time for me to come in person to assist them. I leave it up to them but I do find myself having to be firm when it comes to the time limit thing.
A good way to avoid the headaches that sometime come with giving out your number is taking advantage of Google Voice (I think this is US only right now thought). But, I signed up a number for my newly forming business and You can set scheduled times for calls to be forwarded to your landline or mobile. Any other time, the calls go to voicemail automatically.
I try to avoid giving free help more than a few times in a row. But having them hesitate to call is one less chance to pitch a sale of a service.
When I give free help, I usually try to go out of my way to tell them at the end of the call that there will be no charge. This helps set the expectation that you are indeed providing a courtesy.
After a certain number of calls, I can then offer to sell them a full hour or two of my time to have “on-hand” for little calls like this – minimum of 15 minutes deducted for each call.
@Nader – Do you have a example email that you send them that you could share? Much appreciated if you do. Thanks.
I give free phone help when it is directly related to a service or repair I provided recently. If its not directly related to a service or repair I provided recently then its limited to once a month for 15-20 minutes at the most. Otherwise they can book a appoinment because my time is limited (for Free support due to paying customers have higher priority). I also tell them to email me and when I get have time I can email them back.
I had several clients like this. I was getting tired of helping them out for free. It always takes time and it usually distracts me from whatever I was doing.
I now tell them at the beginning of the call or in my response email that I will be billing for any assistance provided at my usual hourly rate, incremented in 15 minute segments, with a minimum charge of 1/4 hour.
Some have been fine with that arrangement, while others are indignant but stop asking for “free” help. Either way it works out better for me.
@Kevin: I use the following phrase in an email to a client looking for free help, “Please note that I earn my living providing tech support. I do not provide this service for free.”
I agree… Although it may be a gray area, it will become black and whit to you very quickly especially if outlined like the author mentions above. We changed our engagement form to let folks know that NO matter what it is, we bill in 15-minute increments because of this abuse. I have used the email templates above as well, and found them to not be acknowledged or the client disregards and attempts to call etc. I agree… it is better to have a position now than at the frustration point. Much better delivery too.
The only thing I would add is that it needs to be communicated consistently and regularly if you do have a ‘policy’ on this topic.
I always give free advice. Always. I may ask to call the person back, and sometimes I simply can’t tell what’s wrong without looking at it, but advice is always free. Here’s why….
The IT industry is still in it’s infancy, and has a bad reputation. Granted, that bad reputation is WELL deserved. I remember fixing a computer once that another “technician” had charged the business for “removing the viruses from the monitor”. There are also some people in our industry who are still very condescending and unprofessional. This tends to weed itself out in most industries over time, but IT still has this issue. Granted, some of that bad reputation is simply the fact that computers still tend to have reoccurring problems, and can be very frustrating for the end user.
Here’s how I do business…
1) I charge $50 total labor per pc. Period. Sometimes this bites me in the backside, but nothing is more frustrated than to pay $200 to fix a $600 machine. Usually, it works out fine.
2) I give a 90 day warranty. (see # 1 regarding backside)
3) I explain what I’m doing very carefully, and give advice for preventing the problem in the future.
4) No fix, no fee.
This works great for me personally and I couldn’t be happier. I don’t advertise. All of my business is word of mouth, and there’s plenty of it.
Loren
Nice article. Ilike the way you handled that customer in a fair respectable way. Definitely a strategy I will employ when the need arises.
i think u did the right thing at the end ,even the “free help criteria” is a nice rule,but people always like to get as much as they can when it free
i am like u in the tech thing but not a business thing,i even have FB gourp to help people and there is that one time i give a women my number it was i disaster ur 10 min thing become at least 30 min with me it was the last time to give any one my number
i just read all the responses up but i have a small comment,that is ur business gays if u tell them to f*** off nicely and never herd from them again how long it will take to find ur self with no costumers at all?
Hi Ron what do you put on your emails?
I will try to answer the questions, but always have the following signature at the bottom when requied. But sometimes you get the customer that ignores it and says I have tried that, what would you recommend i do next.
If you need any help for these issues, be sure to give us a call on 07906 XXXXXX and we can arrange an onsite visit or a Remote Support Session.
Thank you
Jamie Clements
Tel: 07906 XXXXXX
Web: http://www..co.uk
Please note this free support email is excluded from the following:-
Do you offer after sales technical support?
We offer 7 days technical support after we worked on your computer; providing the questions are specific to the work we have completed for you. In normal circumstances this does not cover user training issues.
Giving “free Technical Advice/Support” is indeed a very grey area. In some circumstances it can be hugely beneficial for the technician / Support Company, however on the flip-side it can waste ever decreasing time and resources which could be better used creating better client relations and income for the individual and or business.
I am a great believer in the saying “start as you mean to go on”. I will explain. While a new client has work carried out for the first time, either via online remote support or on-site the client will have explained to them that they will receive 7 days free technical telephone support, however after this time telephone/remote/on-site support will be chargeable unless it is to investigate/fix an issue caused by the technician.
We also explain that we are happy to receive email queries not relating to any works carried out. We say that if we can help we will, however if we believe that the query is site-visit worthy or chargeable we will reply to the email saying so.
By explaining to the client in the first instance means that you will have a huge decrease of clients who want something for nothing.
If, and some do try, we do get the odd client wanting free telephone support we very, very politely ask the client to pop us an email and we will take a look at it when we are able to do so. We also explain what we will do when we take a look at it, as previously mentioned.
I have to say that 99% of clients after the above process are perfectly happy to pay for remote/on-site/telephone support services for any issue they have, including the small ones. One thing I have learnt over time is that in order to run a support business smoothly you need to pre-empt your clients. Explain your terms of business in a simple plain English manner before the client tests those terms!
To finish, I always try to remember that we can sometimes be too quick to jump to the conclusion that a client is wasting our time. I would rather have a few clients waste my time while keeping my door open to all of the clients that are happy to pay than keeping the door closed, keeping the clients who could waste my time but at the same time potentially putting off those clients that were happy to pay for the service.
My situation is a bit different insofar as most of my clients called for an on-site visit after they heard me on the radio station (see my blog).
I usually reply directly to emails only. Phone calls always go to voice mail because at day time I am mostly at some customer’s.
When I call back it is me who can direct the conversation and it is my choice to offer remote support, a for-charge visit or to give a short technical answer.
Due to the public nature if my talk-show radio appearances I do get emails with support questions from non-customers. I always reply with a short, correct but not necessarily complete answer and I end my emails with a question. 95% of the time I do not get any reply at all; the other 5% usually become customers.
One policy I try to enforce as good as possible though: I expect email contacts to identify themselves, that is at least full name and phone number. Those that don’t do it get a template email pointing to this blog entry:
http://eikes-computer-stuff.blogspot.com/2009/04/on-dorky-emails.html
So far that has worked for me. And then, the very few that don’t want to cooperate and that don’t become my customers, I believe I don’t miss them at all ;-)
Well done. Good article and good solution. Navigating the waters of good service and good business can be difficult. I hope I would handle this the same way.
I think that having a “closed door” and “voicemail only” type of shop can only work against you. Customers will typically hire the first person that answers their call, and will leave and never come back even if you disappoint them just one time. And if you’re too busy to answer phone calls (which is good), then you should probably hire someone to help you.
My company policy that has been in existence for quite a long time now is ” FREE! Technical Support” for Registered Customers ONLY. Some of you may think that is a barmy policy to have, but you can really make it work for you, it is certainly a good marketing tool.
In the first instance the initial enquiry MUST by via email, unless the customer’s Internet access is down, and secondly they MUST be a Registered Customer. Those customers who tend to email or call more frequently than others are invited to a Health Check / Training Visit, which either stops the time-wasters or actually results in a reasonable call-out.
Those customers who feel they need that little extra help are invited to sign up to a Remote Support Account for an annual fee, and a great majority do. When you send them the renewal fee they rarely fail to renew (must be that insurance in the background syndrome). However, the Remote Access Fees add to that regular income bracket. Many do not use the service, but have it just in case, which off-sets those that use it more often.
For new callers, I may give Free! advice if it is not worth the potential journey. My wife goes potty if I say too much, but my philosophy is give a little and perhaps!!! they may return requiring a lot more help, which has happened frequently.
No hard and fast rules on this one Guys, you just need to turn all calls to your advantage where possible.
when someone calls or comes into your shop and wants to chat or ask a question I spend a little time with them.
But after 10 min you need to get up and start looking like you are busy…tell them you have work to do and maybe suggest they bring their computer into the shop.
I think you have to be respectful of other people’s time. You can’t ignore customers but neither can you let them take your time away.
There’s one computer store I’ve been to a few times (he has good prices on parts etc. so I go there to buy things). But they are not friendly. I don’t think I would ever take anything there for repair.
Generally, I don’t feel I need to help people who are looking to take advantage of my kindness. Oddly, most questions I get asked by those with no intention to pay can be answered by the first 1-3 answers of a Google search. Let them find the weaker prey to leach off of.
In the meantime, when you have a paying customer worth working with, they realize they need to pay you. Go all out for them. Do what it takes to make them happy. It will generally pay off in referrals, bonuses and timely payments.
My experience has been, without exception, that anyone who doesn’t want to pay you for even small things isn’t valued by their own clients, bosses and/or customers. You’re best to get out of the way of their Fail Train barreling down the tracks…
It’s nice to hear of some of the different support models and how it works for each one of you.
For me I use the 10 to 15 minutes or short email free advice rule. I think the key is explaining once you hit that “Magic Barrier” (it’s different for everyone) that you politely explained that this is going to require more in-depth support and if they would like, we can go ahead and schedule an on-site visit. At this point they have the option of saying yes or no to a support call.
Usually I find out real quick if they are looking for free support or they are a serious customer.
I just recently started my own tech repair business and have already noticed this happening all too often. Am I just running into a bad bunch, or is this a sign of things to come regularly?
I have to be honest and express that this was indeed a fear of mine in starting this business, to begin with. It was always in the back of my mind, knowing how society in general seems to be turning in this general direction. It seems as if more and more people want something for nothing these days and I can already attest to the “expected this” comment in the above article.
I would guess that women runs a very small business. Most people who have presented the same problem to me are “tight” with their money. I think your approach with this client was excellent Bryce.
I believe this depends on the client and your relationship. If it’s a customer that hires you often and appreciates your skill and value, then by all means you should spend the 10 minutes on the phone (at YOUR convenience) and try to help them.
Even so, you should TRY to get an appointment if it appears it’s going to take a long time…. after all, you run a business, not a charity. And GOOD customers will recognize this fact while BAD customers will not. You don’t want BAD customers anyway.
As Greg stated above, you should identify your best customers (usually around 20% of your customer base) and spend most of your time and energy on them.
My policy is all business actions must be to generate revenue, directly or indirectly. I am in business after all, to make money!
Bench work gives you one call or email within the week.
I try to do no on-site work for non-contracted customers. No one, and I mean no one wants to spend $150 for my travel time plus $.50/mile. They always bring their computer in where I have everything I need in tools, diagnostic equipment and parts to repair.
Some business customers with 24/7 monitoring have a special contractual arrangements. I won’t tell the wife of a CPA firm president who is paying me $1500/mo for monitoring “no”. That is an indirect revenue generator.
All other contact is an email request and work is done at the machine not over the phone.
Love Google Voice!
Exceptions… a couple of small non-profits I donate work to.
Thankfully most of my customers understand I am in business.
I really like the responses and decided to try something on a customer that will ring every so often for free support and I have not seen her for over a year. All the free support is nothing to do with the visit, just tutorial, installing new software, printers etc.
Anyway she rang on Tuesday, I advised her I was on holiday for two weeks. She got one of my competitors around and sent me an email this morning, advising me that they charged twice as much as me and their service was “dreadful”.
Funnily enough in the last part of the email she was after free support again for something my competitor did.
I have just faked an automatic response email saying I am on holiday until mid July.
I realise I need to turn these types of customers into paying customers or let them go elsewhere.
People dont appreciate computer help they always think “it will only take a minute” if i had a dime for every time i heard that! I own a computer repair shop and i charge a flat rate repair service . I have a $10 additional charge that gets them 10 Minutes with the technician and the computer to boot it up show them its working and go through and ask me any questions they want they have 10 Minutes of my time. then after they get it home they have 24 hours to call me if they need any help setting up printer, emails, etc REMOTELY through 1click….I get around 5-10 Computers in a day and in one week ill be lucky to get 3 people get that extra service… We are here to make money, we have phone bills, rent, car payments, mouths to feed, NOT TO MENTION SCHOOL BILLS OR The TIME SPENT LEARNING ABOUT THIS STUFF..Dont give away your knowledge. “my momma didnt send me to college to give away free tech support” That usualy gets a laugh and they understand!
Yes, we encounter a lot of this kind of clients in our business. What we usually do is we first tell the client that we are very sorry but we are not allowed to give help support because of other pending responsibilities, but for just this “one” occasion we will help you and it will be a freebie. Most of them would take this “freebie” offer knowing that next time they might have to bring their computer in the store.
I believe that it is all about how you explain things. The idea is to give them a freebie, let them know that they owe you with that freebie and that it will not be allowed again.
I like the idea of giving a one-time 15 minute “freebie”. It’s a good way to gain a customer – they get to try you services without any obligation, and it’s a good way to broach the subject on how much you charge and that all additional work will need to be paid for.
I have a customer that does this all the time. She knew that I would charge her if the call went over 10-15 minutes, but I guess that meant she also knew she could get away with quick calls for free. So when it started to get out of hand, I told her “I won’t charge you for this call, but since it seems like you’re having lots of little questions, I’ll just keep track of the time I’ve spent helping you here and there and once the total reaches an hour, I’ll send you a bill for a full hour of work.” This has worked wonderfully, actually. She keeps calling, I keep getting paid my normal rate, and she can still potentially get a little bit of free phone support since she’s an existing customer–everyone wins :D
I had a similar issue (well, i have them all the time) but this particular issue was for an Apple computer under warranty, i replaced the hard drive as covered by warranty but did not re install the OS (as thats NOT covered) i explained to the customer that the OS install was very easy- unfortunately she called claiming that she could not get her OS to load/install, i explained that if there was no marks on the CD it *maybe* a faulty optical drive, a fault that would also be covered and for her to return the unit, i said we could install the OS for you but there would be a fee involved.
I never heard back from her,then my ‘end of the month’ customer survey report was sent to me – she was not happy claiming all sorts of atrocities on me and I then had to explain my actions to the powers that be.
the funny part, I tell people that ill charge, but in alot of cases when they goto pay, i tell the, not to worry about it.
I do believe that we have all experienced the free advice caller working in the tech field. I agree with most all of everyones comments here in saying that it is a grey area and there is a fine line between helping an existing customer and going too far. I also wanted to say that the comment from MI Computer Repair regarding minute tracking and then sending a bill at the 1 hr mark is an excellent idea. Thanks MI. I am glad I ran into this topic.
“Give me a call and then I can sit down with you and really give them the time they deserve” Not a bad line. Sometimes, you just have to be blunt :)
It is always tough to put your foot down. However, it needs to be done at some point since a lot of people will try to take advantage of a service. It is definately a challenge to try to put your foot down and not make the customer angry at the same time.
Thanks for the article and all the responses. It has been a great read. I work for a high level systems integrator / consulting firm. We do not work with home users or small business. Think server, clusters, SQL’s, Citrix, SUN, AS/400, etc.
I’ve thought about going out on my own and focus on the small business IT needs. This one area has kept me from doing that. I wasn’t sure how to handle the “free” tech support calls. After reading this article and the responses, I believe I have a good direction on how to handle them when they arise. Thanks all.
I think that having a “closed door” and “voicemail only” type of shop can only work against you. Customers will typically hire the first person that answers their call, and will leave and never come back even if you disappoint them just one time. And if you’re too busy to answer phone calls (which is good), then you should probably hire someone to help you.
that sounds really annoying. I am surprised that she was so rude to hang up on you. I am fortunate enough to not have had to deal with that. But as a rule I would let customers know that you don’t mind helping them out over the phone and since they are your customers give them a few freebie call cards for problems under 10 min.
Gotta be firm but fair otherwise people will take advantage of it. I always use “i’m booked out today but if you would like to make an appointment…….”
I have been running a computer maintenance service for years,and i think as a business man,you should keep an attitude that you are not happy give free support for a unknown person even a existing customer.so your customer will relise that yes,it’s his business,just be a business way.
I was reading a lot of the comments, and I think someone may have touched on this but…
If I have a new customer on the phone, depending on the issue, I will perform a little “phone support” just to put them at ease and to get them to schedule a service call / bring their equipment in for service. People tell me all the time that the “reason we used you is because you took a little time to talk to me on the phone.” A lot of the computer companies around here treat customers poorly.
The other thing is existing customers. If we have an existing customer call us up asking questions, I typically help them out with their problem via phone or remote software. After the call is done, we inform them very courteously “This call will be no charge, however, in the future we DO charge for phone support at ….”
Nobody ever gives us a problem with this. Just last week, we told a new customer that very same line. A check showed up with a handwritten note two days later thanking me for my time.
It is always tough to put your foot down. ;))
I always try to help people over the phone when I can but if I am busy I always just come up with an excuse as to why I need to be ther to take care of the problem.
This is exactly what ended up happening to me not long ago – the only difference is it was my neighbor. Just like you, I had to put my foot down and tell him that I run a business and can sell him blocks of tech support hours at $xxx price. He soon stopped calling but ended up purchasing the tech support hours for future issues. I now sell blocks of tech support hours with nearly all of my services.
I have a similar rule to what you do except I will not give out service that takes more than 2 to 3 minutes tops. If the client is struggling much at all I will tell them I would be happy to help them at the shop and when they get to the shop if the problem is totally unrelated to work I have done before I have them check it in for a pay repair or nothing at all. I have LOTS of regular clients and they all seem to get that I don’t do over-the-phone support.
I had a guy who was calling me all the time for advice. I should mention that this was before I officially started my business, we became friends and I taught him to work on computers. Set up Linux Servers, routers, systems and everything. All this time he was drawing unemployment. Then he started taking all my side work while I was at my full time position trying to provide for my wife and two kids, he is single and lives alone. Well, he was still drawing unemployment, for over a year now, and was making all my side money while I was struggling to provide for my family. I have since started my business officially, and rarely hear from him any more, he even tried calling me while he was working on clients that would of came to me, but he underbid because he was drawing this unemployment, and ask me how to fix their computers. He is still doing this, but it will bite him some time, because he is rather green, and does not know some very basic troubleshooting. I know this all my fault for letting it go on, but I believe God will keep me busy and I will prosper. Anyway, it is a lesson I had to learn the hard way, and I will never do it again. Thanks, have a great day, anmd be blessed.