Thanks Erika -- great advise!! Yes ... I'm closely connected with the VP of Finance whom previously was my direct contact when they needed help + their other higher ups know to contact me when necessary.
Best regards, ~ Dakota On Mon, Dec 12, 2011 at 10:03 AM, Erika L. Rich <[email protected]> wrote: > > I'd find out what the issue is first, and see if it's an easy "Oh sure, > just do this!" > > If it smells like something business related, then just try and be > diplomatic. > > Also - even though she is the "primary contact" I would immediately if not > sooner get a secondary line of defense with this company. Just because she > is a primary contact, doesn't mean you cant have a dialogue with a > supervisor, or upper management, or especially someone in the billing > department. I'm sure this woman doesn't sign your checks. > > Always, always back your contact up. Don't leave your "money" in the hands > of what appears to me to be, from your description, a simple lower echelon > employee. > > > On Mon, Dec 12, 2011 at 10:29 AM, Dakota Burns <[email protected] > >wrote: > > > > > Hi - > > > > As an independent consultant (CF Dev, IT Consulting), I don't have a lot > of > > people nearby to bounce ideas off, so thought I'd post here. > > > > I have this client that paid X amount of dollars last year. Earlier this > > year they hired a "trainee" to learn the ropes on-the-job and query me > for > > paid advice when needed. My income from this client went down 50% as a > > result of the new hire, which is fine in a way because the client is a > Non > > Profit -- albeit a million+ dollar funded NPO that can afford all the > > latest hardware. > > > > The new employee / trainee, whom is now my primary contact, sent me an > > email from her "business address" asking for personal computer help. Said > > she cannot afford to pay me but would return the favor if she could. I > > don't want to sound heartless, but -- I am running a business, and since > > she sent from her business address, I question the validity a bit. My > > primary concern is that she's my primary contact, and she's a constant > > complainer of other vendors she's come in contact with, so ... need to > > handle this lightly. Will likely ask her what the problem is and tell her > > if I know the answer I'd be happy to share, but if I need to research > > Google for more than a few minutes -- that's something she should be > doing. > > > > Any of you ever experienced primary-contacts from your clients that for > > some reason believe they should get free support? (I've had other similar > > situations, though most expect to pay.) > > > > Dakota > > > > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:344415 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
