How delicate to be when offering help

The question of how to offer your services to someone you think needs help is a very delicate matter.

I got this message recently from a reader of my Quick Tips:

I really like your concepts but I think you could use a better website. As my personal Marketing offer I want to give you a FREE upgrade to your website. If you are interested please email me back. I work in Joomla and in Flash.

What do you think of this approach?

Comments

[mave]

with regard to the marketing question - I think it's important to be able to approach people confidently and offer help in a respectful and dignified way when necessary, for sure. I don't see the above approach as a particularly shining example of this, and an offer of free services for work that is as extensive as a site redesign is a huge red flag. inappropriate and unprofessional.

"beware the free lunch" as they say, and in this era of online, "beware the free site" is also extremely true. just like a coupon that offers a deal on something you might never otherwise have purchased, it is a perceived value but not a genuine one. you could find yourself taking a site redesign from someone just because it's free, but not necessarily because it or they are appropriate for you.

when choosing a web designer/developer, it's extremely important to shop around, and it is true that "you get what you pay for". a reputable designer will give you a quote, not offer to do something for nothing. that may include a reduced fee in exchange for advertising, but there is a budget and a quote and a contract and a portfolio and a selection process - none of which should be bypassed.

*loyal, overprotective reader and professional web designer steps off soapbox*

[Jill]

I just did almost the same thing when I received an enewsletter that was desperately lacking in design. It was one of those with a huge jpeg as the email and was very illegible.

So, I emailed the person back and gave them a link to Emma's newsletter tips. The woman emailed me back with a big "thank you."

I'm hoping in the future if she decides to enlist help with her newsletter she'll think of me.

I think it's okay to offer your services, and I agree with Mave that offering "the free lunch" can be dangerous. So, I suggest when you come across someone that could benenfit from your services, you do reach out with a little advice to show that you are an expert in your field and know what you are talking about.

[patricia]

I would agree with the previous two comments. The only thing that I'd like to add is that you never know how invested someone is on their design (financially or emotionally). By offering your services and saying they can use improvement you can in fact be offending them. Your message will have the opposite effect which you intended it to have.

[lidia]

I agree with Patricia's comment, and often wonder how to offer services in this way without potentially offending the client-to-be. Perhaps offering an "addition" to what they already have (for example, website), i.e. offer to assist with creating a new marketing brochure, which then in turn may lead to redesigning that website. Just a thought... any other ideas?

[Jasmine Holmes]

I agree with Lidia and Patricia. It might be better to create a relationship with a customer before actually proposing redesign of their pieces. That way you can get a better read for how invested they are in the piece.

[Jezra Kaye, Communicate with Power and Ease]

This type of outreach seems to work best if you're positive, specific, and give something of value. I've twice offered unsolicited speaker coaching tips to strangers I heard on WNYC. Once, I told a China analyst that if she paused more at the end of her sentences, listeners would have more time to absorb her excellent points. The other time, I asked an executive to consider not diluting her clear and decisive comments with the preface "I think." Neither of them have become clients (yet!), but I got warm and appreciative responses from both.

The designer who reached out to Ilise might have seemed less rude if he'd offered her an insight with clear value.

[Ursula]

I am all for directness (and in fact prefer it)IF I have solicited the advice. However, given that this "help" was not solicited, I agree with all of your comments.

My thanks to mave to point out the dangers of giving away your services or accepting free services. I had never thought about what message that might be sending.

[Karen Commins]

Hi, Ilise. I actually wrote a blog essay titled Some advice about unsolicited advice. In addition to my own stories about this topic, I referenced an article by noted copywriter Bob Bly, who had received an e-mail almost exactly like the one you quoted. He provides compelling reasons to refrain from offering unsolicited advice.

I think if you want to redesign your web site, it will be because you decided it was time to do so and not because some random person sent you an insulting e-mail.

Karen Commins
www.AVOICEAboveTheCrowd.com
www.KarenBlogs.com