When should a new model restrict private messages on MFC to only be allowed from Friends? I am more interested in hearing a perspective on this from models than from members.
The common problem that sits behind this question is that members who are freeloaders abuse the PM privilege and overwhelm the model with conversation that is not paying for her time. These members are typically ignoring requests to pay for PM privilege, and it is usually the case that these members are not even tippers in the room. Someone correct me on the actual statistics, but I am guessing that maybe one member who does a PM out of 20 ends up being a tipper or customer. That leaves about 19 that are dead weight on the model's time.
There are two sides to this issue. If you are an experienced model, you eventually learn what a real customer looks like and how he speaks. That helps you filter the 20 PMs and talk to the people who are not wasting time. The other 19 you deal with however you want to deal with them. One of the experienced models here explained her point of view on this issue in this post. So basically her argument is to leave PM enabled to Premium members, because you end up getting more sales done. But in reading her post, it is also clear she has the experience and the assertiveness to do this well. She understands how to qualify the lead and close the sale, and she has no problem putting the other 19 chatters into the public room or just ignoring them.
Many new models lack the experience to do this. They feel some obligation to respond to each and every PM from any user, and they quickly become stressed out and overloaded by the volume of conversation. Many of those models end up just blocking PM to all Premiums. An interesting variation on that idea is to block PMs from Premiums but allow it from Friends. If a member bids for PM, then the model can put the user into the Friends list, and this enables PM again. At the end of the day she can clear those users from the Friends list (or do whatever she wants her process to be). Doing things this way, you will still lose customers. If you read through the many threads on ACF, it is pretty clear that some members have the idea that they will never pay for a private message privilege.
So bringing these two ideas together, my current thinking is that a new model who lacks any experience and is feeling overwhelmed should probably block PM from Premiums. After she gains experience and confidence - and most importantly once she feels she can distinguish the conversation of a serious customer from a freeloader - she can change her policy and allow PMs from Premiums again. She understands that her workload is going to increase, and she is going to be searching for that one real customer and dealing with 19 freeloaders.
Does someone want to argue against this development path for dealing with freeloader private messages?
The common problem that sits behind this question is that members who are freeloaders abuse the PM privilege and overwhelm the model with conversation that is not paying for her time. These members are typically ignoring requests to pay for PM privilege, and it is usually the case that these members are not even tippers in the room. Someone correct me on the actual statistics, but I am guessing that maybe one member who does a PM out of 20 ends up being a tipper or customer. That leaves about 19 that are dead weight on the model's time.
There are two sides to this issue. If you are an experienced model, you eventually learn what a real customer looks like and how he speaks. That helps you filter the 20 PMs and talk to the people who are not wasting time. The other 19 you deal with however you want to deal with them. One of the experienced models here explained her point of view on this issue in this post. So basically her argument is to leave PM enabled to Premium members, because you end up getting more sales done. But in reading her post, it is also clear she has the experience and the assertiveness to do this well. She understands how to qualify the lead and close the sale, and she has no problem putting the other 19 chatters into the public room or just ignoring them.
Many new models lack the experience to do this. They feel some obligation to respond to each and every PM from any user, and they quickly become stressed out and overloaded by the volume of conversation. Many of those models end up just blocking PM to all Premiums. An interesting variation on that idea is to block PMs from Premiums but allow it from Friends. If a member bids for PM, then the model can put the user into the Friends list, and this enables PM again. At the end of the day she can clear those users from the Friends list (or do whatever she wants her process to be). Doing things this way, you will still lose customers. If you read through the many threads on ACF, it is pretty clear that some members have the idea that they will never pay for a private message privilege.
So bringing these two ideas together, my current thinking is that a new model who lacks any experience and is feeling overwhelmed should probably block PM from Premiums. After she gains experience and confidence - and most importantly once she feels she can distinguish the conversation of a serious customer from a freeloader - she can change her policy and allow PMs from Premiums again. She understands that her workload is going to increase, and she is going to be searching for that one real customer and dealing with 19 freeloaders.
Does someone want to argue against this development path for dealing with freeloader private messages?
