Advice for perpetuity?

Howdy, all!  ;-)

Since the list has been so quiet as of late I thought I would stir things 
up. ~:-)

The problem comes with sites I developed literally 2-3 years ago or folks 
whose only income to my company is that they host sites with one of our 
partners.   The site owner calls only when they need advise on how to 
integrate their free or low cost bells and whistles, are stumped on some 
sort of Web development or marketing issue or require assistance in 
configing their email program for their new DSL or connectivity (Isn't that 
what their provider's tech support is for?).

I do not mind at all assisting with the configuration of software for 
clients in good standing - I do that all the time.  However, I really do 
not think because you develop someone's site years ago or because they host 
with one of our partners that entitles them to ongoing, unlimited Web 
development tech support or "what if's" for perpetuity.  That's consulting 
and what we all get fees for.  Right?  I'm thinking of looking into getting 
a 900 #!  ;-)

How do you breach this topic when they call for the usual free advice?  One 
Realtor just called asking about a software package she has to list her 
properties  and wanted to know if I could walk her through resizing 
graphics for the software and if she could ask me several questions about 
how she can change her site herself to get better search engine 
listings.  Her site launched 3 years ago, has not been updated and has 
produced no income for my company other than her monthly server fees since 
that time.

I simply commented  that SEs are complicated and that I offer just such a 
service and the info is on my site.  In regards to the graphics I told her 
about various graphic books/tools on my "do-it-yourself" site that may be 
of assistance to her, otherwise my personalized help in these areas would 
be billed as consulting.  Her comment?  "Boy, you're a nickle and dimer 
aren't you... am I being billed for this call?".  This is an extreme 
example of a non-profitable annoying customer but none the less we all have 
to deal with these types.

I was just wondering how you all handled these situations 
effectively.  This is the kind of stuff I think many of us struggle with 
and I would be most interested in how you voice these concerns to your 
clients when they call and you know what they want.......free advice 
because you developed their site 3 years ago.

TIA!
/j

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