When should a PR pro give away advice for free?

Here’s a scenario all freelancers will bump into at some point: I recently completed a project running LinkedIn ads for a client. My client then referred me to a friend of his, who sent me the following email:

“I’d love to chat with you about LinkedIn when you have a minute.”

Here’s how I responded:

“Sure thing! Do you have a specific project in mind? In case you don’t have the link, here’s more about my services.”

I never heard back. Any ideas why?

Here’s my best guess: This guy didn’t want me to hire me. He wanted free advice.

On one hand, you might say that I should have taken the call. If someone wants a few quick tips, it doesn’t cost me a great deal to indulge him.

He might not have business for me now, but maybe he will later, or maybe he knows someone. If you generate enough goodwill, it’ll ultimately pay dividends.

On the other hand, you can view this as a story about qualifying your leads. If you made time for every passerby who wanted only to sponge off your knowledge—well, giving away your limited time and hard-earned insights isn’t an ideal business strategy.