Early on in my career as a career counselor and resume writer, I often found myself giving away my expertise to clients who were either in financial distress or asking me to answer a “quick question.”
A counselor by nature, I want to be helpful to my clients, and I found it difficult to draw the line.
Since I love what I do, before I realized it, I had provided job search strategies, interviewing or career coaching completely free. It cost me time and money. I also found myself resenting the clients who “pushed the envelope” beyond the scope of our contracted services—with my full cooperation, of course.
One day I had my epiphany.
One of my clients at the time was a middle-aged woman divorcing her physician husband. That should have been a clue right there (the physician part). She worked part-time, was completing her master’s degree and planned to find a new, full-time position.
She tearfully told me that she was seeking a divorce because of his affairs, and she and their children left him. As a result, she was having financial difficulty, and therefore, would not be able to pay for all of the services she needed.
We agreed to contract for resume and cover letter services, even though she also wanted job search and interview coaching. At our resume review session to finalize a few points on her document, she began asking questions about how to use her resume, what avenues would be best for her to time job opportunities and so forth.
Remembering her plight, I answered her questions. With each question, she asked another. Before I realized it, I had provided more than a few minutes for a quick question or two. I had divulged what she needed to get her started on her search.
Then came the zinger after her questions were answered. She mentioned that she had just spent X amount of dollars (well over my hourly coaching rate!) on “frivolous” things that she didn’t need, but just “felt like it at the time.”
I don’t know if she realized what she had said to me, however, I bristled and instantly learned a valuable lesson that has helped me manage my time and profitability. I do not give away my expertise no matter what stories of financial distress I hear.
I educate my clients on the value of coaching services and tell my clients that I will happily answer a quick question by telephone or email that will only take a couple of minutes.
However, if a client asks me a question that should be addressed in an in-depth coaching session, I will listen first and then suggest coaching. I tell them that their question is an important one which cannot be answered most effectively for them in a quick minute or two.
Depending on what they may need, I offer three tiers of coaching for questions in 15, 30 and 60-minute increments.
Although at times, I do have to watch myself as it would be easy to answer questions and let time slip away, I keep in mind that it only devalues my skills and expertise. And, it is not effective client management.
As with my former client, she found the money to buy “frivolous things.” So, if our clients value our services and skills, I have no doubt they will find a way to pay for our resume and coaching expertise.
Louise Garver, CPRW, CPBS, CLBF, JCTC, CEIP, CMP, MCDP
Career Directions, LLC
[email protected]
www.careerdirectionsllc.com
