I offer free consultations. Some consultations take 5 minutes… some take an
hour. It all is dependent upon the prospective client and the specific project
for which they are seeking a writer. Although I offer a general free
consultation, on occasion there has been a charge for my time, usually
discounted, but a charge nonetheless. It is important to understand a
prospective client’s needs in order to arrive at recommending a course of
action.
A client came to me recently after a free consultation with another writer. I
was interested in what had occurred that caused the client and writer to not
bond. I probed. Come to find out, the “consultation” was 10 minutes long and
the client was not quizzed or instructed to present any information or
documents prior to the consultation! In my world, that’s not a consultation,
that’s an introduction to the writer and exposure to a sales pitch. So maybe
what other writers have been giving away isn’t really free advice, but
marketing.
Like it or not, writing often involves the sweep of a client’s life. This
includes their living situation, financial history, goals, debts, assets, and personal,
academic and financial interconnections with others. Whether a client requires
business, personal, or academic writing, I have trouble getting that
information, analyzing it, and making recommendations to the client in less
than an hour, and often two hours. This includes telephone time and the time
invested in authoring detailed email correspondence. I’m not known for being a “one-sentence
responder”.
You can’t author the proper document if you don’t know your client.
The initial consultation is some of the best work I do and the most valuable.
I invest real work in that meeting. I want the client to leave with real
information and an overview of their choices. The client wants to feel assured
that their writer is considering their interests. I have found my clients to be
appreciative of the time I invest in assisting them to achieve their
objectives.