The Internet age has ushered in a peculiar expectation on the part of many people that they can get professionals to help them to improve their businesses and careers, for free.
I know someone that has been asked to work for nothing, every day during the past week.
One person wanted him to give away some snappy sales lines to respond to objections. The inquirer makes his money selling, and I suppose he seeks to use a famous person's creativity and experience and skill to craft something that he'll earn even more money with, while the prominent achiever gets zero for his efforts.
Another inquiry, an executive with a division of a profitable Fortune 500 company asked the pro to deliver a webinar to a potential audience of 2,500 franchisees. Those franchisees pay fees to that behemoth organization for ongoing training and support, which I have to presume, includes webinars.
Yet the professional speaker was asked to work for free. Or as the note put it, he should labor in trade for "exposure" before this group. Apparently, other speakers have done this for the company, so the big gun should as well.
Let me tell you how I have learned to gently, firmly, and quickly enforce a "pay-to-play" policy. When I get a request for a freebie I send them a standard, polite, two-line note. It directs them to read one of my articles that says I can help you, but you'll need to pay.
This is having a miraculous effect.
An aspiring author that wished me to edit her manuscript for free, actually read my article and saw the light. She wrote back:
"Okay, I read your article and I understand. I will make money to undergo my endeavor!!"
I urge you to write out your pay-to-play policy in a well-reasoned, friendly manner. It surely beats getting ruffled and riled. And who knows, you might even help your inquiries to evolve from "free to fee," and get paid for your efforts.
Dr. Gary S. Goodman teaches his original seminar, "Best Practices in Negotiation" at a number of universities, corporations, non-profit organizations, and governmental agencies. A top-rated keynote speaker at conventions and conferences around the world, he is also the best-selling author of 12 books, and more than 1,500 articles, which appear in approximately 25,000 publications. An attorney and communications professional, his expert commentary is featured on CNBC television and on numerous radio stations.
Additionally, Dr. Goodman is the creator of Nightingale-Conant's successful audio seminar: THE LAW OF LARGE NUMBERS: HOW TO MAKE SUCCESS INEVITABLE. See:
http://www.nightingale.com/prod_detail~product~Law_Large_Numbers.aspx His web site is http://www.customersatisfaction.com and he can be reached at gary@customersatisfaction.com.
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