by Renee
However, there is a reason for this, we have a peculiar circumstance to deal with. I work out of my home and I have three kids. How do you answer the phone and speak to customers and look professional when you have three young children? It's difficult. In fact, most of the time, it's not possible. Since I am the main contact for our clients, we had to have a plan to handle this issue and determine how it would affect the price of our services:
1. I have caller ID. I have voice mail, I have all the bells and whistles the phone company can provide. I can usually tell when a specific client is calling.
2. For first contacts with clients, I make sure that I have control over my environment and that I am not interrupted. Usually, I choose the time to call them. During this first contact, I don't let on to the fact that I have three kids or even that I work out of my home. I hook that client in any way that I can. (oooh, that's bad, but that's business.)
3. Usually, at some point, during the second call, I tell clients, "I am available at any time you need me because I work at home, BUT, I also have three children. You will, at times, hear my children. This is a trade off, I'm available, but I have kids." or something close to that. (Depending on the client, sometimes, I may tell them up front, if I feel it's going to be an issue.)
4. This affects price. We don't charge for any support that we give over the phone. If a client calls me and hears my kids in the background or the call is interrupted by my kids, the client would probably feel a little slighted if I charged them for that time. Therefore, it is current company policy to offer any support work that I do while they are on the phone free of charge. (And sometimes this can rack up to hours of time for one project.)
5. Once the client is "hooked," they have never refused to do business with us.
6. I can't say that we will always give away free advice over the phone. Perhaps, in the future, when my kids are older, we will charge for some of this phone time. Perhaps, we will continue to give it away as a bonus, as part of our excellent customer service. We may need to raise our hourly rates to account for the phone time that is an inevitable part of our services.
source : thewritermarket.com
Picture from cafepress.com added by pitonhneg
Much of our support is provided free of charge
However, there is a reason for this, we have a peculiar circumstance to deal with. I work out of my home and I have three kids. How do you answer the phone and speak to customers and look professional when you have three young children? It's difficult. In fact, most of the time, it's not possible. Since I am the main contact for our clients, we had to have a plan to handle this issue and determine how it would affect the price of our services:
1. I have caller ID. I have voice mail, I have all the bells and whistles the phone company can provide. I can usually tell when a specific client is calling.
2. For first contacts with clients, I make sure that I have control over my environment and that I am not interrupted. Usually, I choose the time to call them. During this first contact, I don't let on to the fact that I have three kids or even that I work out of my home. I hook that client in any way that I can. (oooh, that's bad, but that's business.)
3. Usually, at some point, during the second call, I tell clients, "I am available at any time you need me because I work at home, BUT, I also have three children. You will, at times, hear my children. This is a trade off, I'm available, but I have kids." or something close to that. (Depending on the client, sometimes, I may tell them up front, if I feel it's going to be an issue.)
4. This affects price. We don't charge for any support that we give over the phone. If a client calls me and hears my kids in the background or the call is interrupted by my kids, the client would probably feel a little slighted if I charged them for that time. Therefore, it is current company policy to offer any support work that I do while they are on the phone free of charge. (And sometimes this can rack up to hours of time for one project.)
5. Once the client is "hooked," they have never refused to do business with us.
6. I can't say that we will always give away free advice over the phone. Perhaps, in the future, when my kids are older, we will charge for some of this phone time. Perhaps, we will continue to give it away as a bonus, as part of our excellent customer service. We may need to raise our hourly rates to account for the phone time that is an inevitable part of our services.
source : thewritermarket.com
Picture from cafepress.com added by pitonhneg
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