You all remember that life-line from Who Wants to be a Millionaire, right?
I called a buddy the other day. I was looking for some tactical advice on a matter he was quite well-versed in. During the conversation, I realized there was a fully separate issue on my mind that I could use some help with; to be heard, to be understood, to get an outsider’s perspective and clarity around.
The first was a matter of me getting advice and guidance; the second, the stuff of being in a fruitful inquiry and reflection1Both the stuff of good coaching as far as I, the recipient, was concerned, no matter how hard the purists might insist the former has no place in coaching. But I digress..
That roughly 90-minute conversation was exactly what I needed. I was so grateful that he picked up, and that he so generously offered his time that Saturday afternoon, that I was moved to PayPal him $500 minutes after hanging up. Again, he’s a buddy, but we’ve had a coaching relationship in the past so this wasn’t totally out of character.
I share this, because the whole experience underscores how valuable it is to have the option to summon a committed listener, someone who’s a wizened ally, a trusted friend, and someone with relevant expertise and experience.
If you have those attributes with a given client, it is fitting to offer such a Phone-a-Friend service to them. In fact, it can be a very welcome service to have available for such a client. And to be clear, this is distinct from a more regular, ongoing coaching relationship. In this instance, for example, I’m not in a season wherein it makes sense to have a regular coaching call with my buddy, but I sure appreciated being able to have the call I had with him when I needed it.
When is it appropriate to offer this sort of on-demand, one-off service? When those aforementioned traits are already present: when you’re already known as a trusted friend, a wizened ally, and to have relevant expertise. In other words, with established clients who already know you well. That solves the need for trust and vulnerable sharing, the lacking of which has such a call be the stuff of drive-by advice-giving from a stranger (with its inherently limited appeal and even more limited ability to make a difference).
Is ”Phone-a-Friend” as a paid service a contradiction in terms? Yeah, sorta! Of course we should all hope to have friends in our corner that we can call upon when we’re in need, and coaches should not try to commoditize (and thus marginalize) another dimension of normal, interpersonal relationships2It kills me how many people seem to have lost the ability to confide in loved ones to express and solve problems, having outsourced that function to therapists who are paid to be attentive, and thus are far more indulgent.. But sometimes you just need an outsider’s perspective, possibly with expertise and insight that isn’t present on your bench of more organic friendships.
How should you present your clients with this sort of service? To handle the aforementioned need for established high trust, you should probably not have this prominently on whatever public facing “brochure”. It should be something you let a given client in on as part of the powerful conclusion to an initial stint of working together. But do have something buttoned up and created in advance that outlines this service with a clear price tag, say a pretty PDF you can share when the time is right. This is a cool service and we’ll perceive it as such if it’s packaged nicely. Don’t sell it short by just saying on the sly “Hey, this has been great; going forward, you can call me for whatever for money and I’ll pick up.” No, do better: you really can have us feel invited to something special with a little creative preparation.
Logistically, the gold standard here is that we can call you directly whenever we need, with a decent likelihood that you’ll pick up (or call us back before long), and with a copacetic working relationship in which it’s understood (and clearly not a problem) that you’ll bill us for it afterwards. That creates something special for us clients, that knowledge that you really are an ally in our corner that we can reach out to when the need arises.
But that’s a high bar, and doesn’t scale beyond a fairly narrow range of close, you might call them “premium tier”, clients. (Might work brilliantly anyway when you’re starting out, though.) You can walk down the degree of responsiveness to find a point you can realistically serve. Maybe they text you with the understanding you’ll call them as soon as you’re able. Maybe they message you by whatever preferred channel that doesn’t necessarily chime in your pocket. Or maybe even they just schedule (and pay for) a one-off by the usual channel of your online scheduler.
Options abound for how to specifically implement it. The real question for you to consider is: is this something you want to add to the mix of what you offer? It’s a fun angle to consider as you design your business model. Chances are good you’ve never even thought about it, and you might find this something your clients really appreciate. Just offering that service at all, in any form, is an encouraging signal of your availability and responsiveness. And sometimes, every now and then, it’s just what we clients need.
CA Offerings also allow you to share a link with select clients to a place where they can schedule (and pay for!) a one-off call.
Notes:
- 1Both the stuff of good coaching as far as I, the recipient, was concerned, no matter how hard the purists might insist the former has no place in coaching. But I digress.
- 2It kills me how many people seem to have lost the ability to confide in loved ones to express and solve problems, having outsourced that function to therapists who are paid to be attentive, and thus are far more indulgent.
