How much is enough? When should you stop working for free?

Do you get frustrated when you spend lots of time working with a prospect, sharing your knowledge and advice but they don’t end up doing business with you? It’s irritating isn’t it… almost enough for you to never share so freely again?

The Law of Reciprocity suggests that if you go out of your way to help someone without any expectation of compensation or benefit, the person you helped will feel obligated to help you in return. If the person doesn’t feel in that way, the universe will reward you for the behaviour – often called Karma.

That’s all well said and done but let’s be realistic – we have bills to pay and family to support.

My approach is to share feely. When I meet a new prospect, I focus all my attention on helping them solve their problems/challenges – be it mortgages or whatever. I put my own self-interest squarely aside and focus 100% of my attention on them. I will continue to do that until a time when I feel that they are 1. not valuing the advice I am giving or 2. purposefully draining as much advice out of me as possible for their own benefit without an intension of ever doing business. If this happens, I “sack” them and move on. I’m really happy that this approach has generally worked well for me and is authentic to my own personal values.

What I would warn of however is to stop sharing with prospects just in case they waste your time. That could lose you a lot of business I think. The person that shares first is in a strong position and it is the first step towards building trust.

What is your approach?