Giving It All Away
There’s you in pursuit of new business, all starry-eyed at the prospect of hooking a corker and what do you do? You misbehave, that’s what you do. You’ve spent months - years even - perfecting your systems, policies and procedures and as quick as a flash you shoot yourself in the foot and give stuff away.
In the normal course of events, there’s nothing wrong with giving stuff away. Quite the reverse. Being generous is extremely good for business, but it needs to be as part of a strategy. Knee—jerk giving is not a strategy.
In business, the giving trap can manifest in a number of ways, many of them seemingly harmless.
Time generosity is the most common giving trap for independent professionals. If you charge for your expertise by the hour, it follows that every hour has a value. Your potential client or customer needs to be under no illusion that this is how you work.
Dedicating time to the pursuit of business is of course fine and often very necessary. But you need to keep a handle on it. Your clients must know what you’re doing, why you’re doing it and how far you’ll go.
From time to time you’ll be pushed or gently nudged to go further and it’s your response to this that is the entrance to the trap. The moment you go further — without at least clearly flagging it — you risk devaluing your services.
Good, strategic giving is when you add value without being asked. The giving trap is when you discount your services or weaken the perception of your value by going too far.
Scenario 1:
You give a free one—hour consultation as part of your business development strategy. You’re so keen to hook a client that you let one—hour turn into 90 minutes. You say nothing.
Scenario 2:
You give a free one—hour consultation as part of your business development strategy. At around 50 minutes you realise it’s likely to run over the hour. Assuming you’ve determined it’s beneficial to continue, you pause, make clear you are about to complete the hour and offer your client an extension of 30 minutes. You take the opportunity to fully explain your motivation for this action.
Spot the difference? In the first scenario you’re signaling a lack of respect for time AND creating a potentially damaging precedent in the eyes of a potential client.
In the second, you’re highlighting the value of your time AND adding value by giving more.
From which position would you most like to begin a new relationship?
Author Credits
Robert Gerrish is a director of Flying Solo and its founder. He is the co-author of
Flying Solo - How to go it alone in business and supports soloists as a coach, writer and presenter. This article first appeared in the online magazine for solo business owners,
www.flyingsolo.com.au