How to Handle Prospective Client Calls
One of the toughest things a freelancer faces, is managing one’s schedule and allotting enough time for all the things that he or she is responsible for. This is much different than what someone at a typical day job would face. Instead of simply managing your own tasks, you have several areas that need to be covered and finding time for them all can be tricky. Especially when it comes down to “billable time”, and prioritizing tasks based on their value and necessity. Jon Hicks wrote a great article titled Why You Can Never Work Full Time, where he lists the main areas a freelancer needs to cover in order to stay-a-float.
The ones that have been particularly challenging for me lately pertain to voice communications – inquiries from prospective clients, and support for existing clients. Up until recently, I didn’t find myself picking up the phone very often, so it was never really an issue. A half hour chat once or twice a month was nothing to really worry about. But in this past month alone, I’ve easily sunk upwards of 10-12 hours into phone chats with both prospective and existing clients. Every hour I spent on the phone, was an hour of billable time lost. So, now I find myself needing to figure out a way to accommodate phone calls without losing out on work time, which translates to losing money in the long run.
Option 1 – Raise My Rate, Add Time to Projects
When I’ve talked with other freelancers about rates and scheduling, I tend to come in at the low end of the spectrum. I charge less and have a quicker turn-around. This is because I tend to handle things like new project leads and existing client support after hours, so it doesn’t interfere with my 8 hour work day. Most people will tack on a few days to the project to allow for handling of other clients and things that may come up during that time.
Over the past few years, my rate has fluctuated quite a bit. But I feel that where I’m at now is perfect. It’s higher than some, but not high enough to deter most people. Raising my rate is not something I’m crazy about.
Option 2 – Charge for Phone Calls
I really didn’t like the idea of charging potential clients for initial phone calls, until I noticed that a lot of people were using me as a consultant of sorts. They would ask to chat about their project, which was very loosely formed. We would go over details, I’d explain how I would do things, and often enough, that would be the last I heard from them. In these cases, calls would range from 30-60 minutes, which is a decent length.
Other times, a potential client would want to speak with me merely to verify my expertise. Usually, they’ve spoken to someone else and have an opinion in mind. They run the details by me, which are usually fairly technical, and it’s obvious that they’re checking to see if I know what I’m talking about. I don’t blame people for doing this, as it’s very easy to fake who you are and what you’re capable of.
In either case, I’m spending time with people which is taking me away from my current paying client. And I would say that at least half the time, I don’t hear from the prospective client again. It’s to the point now, where I’m very hesitant to accept a phone meetings until I’ve received a deposit. But many people want to chat up front for various reasons, some of which I’ve already touched on. I fully understand this, but I’m looking for a happy medium that ensures I’m able to accept phone meetings without losing out of valuable work time.
These reasons have led me to believe that charging a set fee for a prospective client phone meetings and consultations wouldn’t be unreasonable. If anything, it could open up a whole new avenue as far as billable times goes. I could schedule a few calls back-to-back at a rate that at least matches my typical rate. If I end up landing a project, whatever amount was charged for phone calls would be subtracted from the project total.
Thoughts?
I’m looking for feedback here, as I’m still not 100% this is the right thing to do. What are other freelancers doing in this situation? Are there any huge downsides that I’m not seeing to charging for prospective client calls?