RANT: Why I discourage unsolicited phone calls from
speakers
This rant refers to
callers who do not book an appointment and pay me for my
time. My regular consulting rate for non-members has been
$450 an hour. My rate for speakers is $150 for 15 minutes,
$300 for 30 minutes, or $600 for an hour. I am perfectly
happy to accept any call where a caller prepays for the
time required. I am also happy to take calls from reporters
and producers and meeting planners (for free!).
Here's why.
1. Easily, I work 14 hours a day, 7 days a week. After 30
years of working a schedule like this I need to cut back
hours and have some kind of life. To do this means working
only at tasks that are productive (income-generating).
2. Most callers don't identify themselves and want
information from me, but won't reveal who they are. It's
not polite and I'm not comfortable being at such a
disadvantage.
3. Many callers won't tell me what they want me to do for
them, which is counter-productive. It makes me think it
will be difficult getting any kind of information from them
if I work with them in the future.
4. Many callers are unknowns and want me to make them
famous without paying for the marketing services that I
provided for 30 years. That's unrealistic and it isn't
going to happen.
5. Almost none of the callers have read the
articles on this web site and
want me to tell them what they can easily read for
themselves. That tells me they aren't willing to do the
work and don't value my time or efforts in posting the
information. (Bye-bye.)
6. Almost none of the callers who place unsolicited phone
calls to me ever contact me again, except to call a year or
so later with the same questions they already asked me
once. That tells me they aren't ready or serious or
realistic in their expectations.
7. Those who do contact me again haven't paid any attention
to the explanations I took great pains to provide. That
tells me they don't respect my time. (Bye-bye.)
8. I usually have to answer the same questions all over
again rendering the time I spent on the phone with them for
free a complete waste of my time. Again, this shows
disrespect.
9. Most callers require about an hour of my time; with
about 6 callers a day, nearly all of my income-producing
time is eaten up by unproductive calls. Not the way I want
to spend my day, and it means I then have to stay up late
working on what I needed to do during the day.
10. I prefer to spend my time doing income-producing
activities, and to leave the phone lines open for
reporters and journalists
who want to
do a story on the directory that was to promote the
speakers who have paid to have a presence here. (The
directory is gone; too many speakers with unrealistic
expectations.)
11. I don't have hired staff to answer phones for me. I
answer my own phone because if it's a reporter who has a
deadline and needs an interview right now or a meeting
planner who needs a speaker fast, I want them to reach me
right away, not have to deal with staff or be put on hold.
12. I charge for phone consults - as indicated above and on
several pages on this web site - as a way to reduce the
number of unsolicited calls that go nowhere. When that
policy is ignored, it's a sign of someone who takes
advantage of others... and I don't do business with people
who exploit others.
13. I run a tight ship so I can serve the speaker-clients
where it matters: media and press interviews to generate
interest among meeting planners, and contract negotiations
to bring speakers greater incomes.
14. When a speaker calls me and doesn't give me any contact
info I have no way to follow up with relevant news later.
15. I have one phone - a cell phone - and no call waiting.
When I am on the phone with a non-paying caller, that means
nobody else can get through. If a reporter or producer
calls they get a busy signal. They will likely call a
competitor and not do any promotion of the directory.
This is why I preferred to hear from you
by email first. No matter how
wonderful you are, it doesn't pay for me to give away
$600 worth of my time - my hourly rate as a consultant -
where there is no hope of a payoff. This is a for-profit
business; not a philanthropic society.
Andrea