General Consultant Discussion

It only took me a few years to figure out how to manage the people who call in on the phone after doing a Google search. I've always been concerned that I don't come across as rude. This is despite a large percentage of people looking only for a free quick question. Want to know my brainstorm? Quote a fee right at the top of the call. Paid by credit card before the call begins. Nearly every one of the people calling will stop talking and tell you ""they have to check with their boss first"". Saves me about 10 minutes per call and I don't have to launch into a 30 minutes explanation of support plans and the wisdom of staying current on maintenance (none of which these folks really want to hear).

I tried this on one person. Here's how it rolled. 3-5 minutes to listen to issue , ask questions about basics (version, errors). State that it is $x to correct paid in advance by credit card. Response: ""Is that no matter if it only takes a minute to fix"" Me: Yes ""I will check with my manager"" (Translation: No) These folks were on 3.4 of MAS90. I created a PDF for charge authorization as partial defense against someone wanting to charge back. I don't expect anyone to take it but I think it will be a lot faster getting tire kickers off the phone ( no money or intent to pay ).

We have 2 PDF charge authorizations. 1 for fixed fee. 1 for hourly charges

We had a D level Sage customer knock on our door early this summer. My guy was trying to help him out and get him what he needed. I said dude ... tell him we need to do a $250 assessment of his system (my dude had already spent 2 hours talking to him). Poof - he disappeared. For grins (because I'm a sick bastard sometimes), I called them back during our team meeting a few weeks back. Had him paged. Asked if he was still looking for help and we really wanted to take care of him but we needed him to sign the credit card authorization and fax it back. He said that other things had come up but it was still a high priority. Mmmmhmmm. Great team learning lesson - we want to help clients but if the person on the other side of the phone call is only there to take advantage of you, they ain't a client.

This is how almost all the ""I found you in Google"" searches roll. From now on 3-5 minutes to understand the issue then if they want to continue I email a PDF charge form. We don't do per call support. I just find this an easier method to politely tell people no because once I request the charge form it's the end of the call without me feeling like I was rude.

@PeterWolf Reminds me of Groupon and their clients. Calling people who use your product/service at 50% to 75% off one time as 'customers' is a stretch.