Christopher is the co-founder, head strategist and CEO of The Go! Agency, a full-service digital marketing agency.
getty
Picture this: You onboard a new client, the contract is signed, the deliverables have been negotiated and you think you’ve given yourself and your team a fair amount of lead time on producing their content. Then, all of a sudden, a surprise element takes place — a trade show, book deal, a spot on a morning show — and the client suddenly needs their content yesterday. How many times have you been in this scenario?
Surprises happen so often in the marketing world that they shouldn’t surprise you anymore. Clients want the most for their money, but giving them everything they want in this regard may not be the best path forward for the campaign or your professional relationship.
So, when a client wants more than you negotiated, what can you do?
The ‘That’s Gonna Cost You’ Approach
Sure, you’re willing to make sweeping alterations to the plan right before launch — for a price.
There are times when adding additional charges can be the solution to your client relations woes. They want to add LinkedIn to their strategy a week before their launch date? You can make this happen, but they’ll have to compensate you for the urgency. However, just like it doesn’t buy happiness, more money isn’t going to ensure smooth sailing. It just means the client is willing to spend now in hopes of not having to worry about something later.
MORE FOR YOU
A lot of people will use this option as a deterrent, hoping the client won’t be willing or able to foot the upcharge and will back down. That is not an outcome you can rely on.
You come to a fork in the road. Either a client will start to run low on money but still demand the same services, or they have coffers that never dry up and keep paying for whatever you’re willing to charge them for. Every bubble has a bursting point — eventually, their money will buy so much of your time that your other clients will be left wanting, and pieces will have to get moved off the board.
All this to say that more money for upgraded services is not a cure-all situation and is best used sparingly.
The Free Work Gamble
Let’s say a client has a new product launch, a big conference they’re attending or what have you, that they neglected to tell you about until after they signed the contract. Now they need content — and fast.
When I bring new clients on board, I usually factor in about three weeks to a month of development time before content starts going up on their channels. But what happens when you’ve got a client who’s not willing to wait that long? Worse yet, that client threatens to leave because you don’t acquiesce to their demands? Well, my first piece of advice would be to not get yourself into that situation and ask very thorough questions before ink touches paper. But things happen.
The “easiest” thing to do is just agree to what they ask and grind until the conference/product launch/book tour is over and then begin working within the terms of your contract. After all, if you can’t deliver what they need upfront, you’ll lose them, so you might as well do everything you can, right? Maybe not.
Extra work and “freebies” set a dangerous precedent. Once you’ve demonstrated that you can handle surprises and succeed under tight deadlines, the client will mentally redefine the relationship with the expectation that you can keep working that way. Breaking them out of that mindset is nearly impossible.
Think about it from their perspective: you’ve demonstrated that you can work well under pressure and are willing to give a little extra when the situation calls for it. For all they know, that’s just standard operating procedure for you. It’s vitally important to work under the expectations you want to set from the very beginning of the campaign.
If it helps, restructure your way of thinking. There is no such thing as “free work” — there’s just work that the client isn’t paying for. When you sink more hours than a client is paying for into their campaign, you’re still investing your time. Remember, your time is valuable — that’s why you’re charging for it and not acting as a marketing volunteer.
Ending the Relationship
This is a harsh way of resolving things and typically the least desirable, but it is valid and puts an end to the conflict.
If a client can’t abide by the terms they signed off on, letting them go might be the best option. Asking for elements outside of the contract immediately after signing the contract is a bad faith move, even if the thing that popped up was genuinely a surprise. But then again, was it a surprise? Conferences are announced months in advance and if you’ve got a placement on a morning show, you usually know about it more than a few weeks beforehand.
This is something you learn with time and experience as a marketer, but there are always other clients. If one is presenting constant surprises or “gotchas” or taking up more of your time than they’re willing to pay for, don’t renew their contract. I rarely suggest prematurely ending the relationship, as you should stick to the terms you signed off on, but sometimes extreme situations call for such measures.
Clients come to you for your expertise in marketing, but good, quality clients should know how to run their businesses, not look to you to fill in the missing pieces. Sticking by a good red velvet rope policy can help you avoid clients that are challenging, disorganized or unappreciative. Their lack of planning is not your emergency.
If you have onboarded your client properly, set clear expectations of timelines and what is and what is not part of their campaign, and you’ve asked very direct questions regarding what’s coming up for them, issues should be few and far between. Use discretion, but never set a precedent for being taken advantage of.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
Go to Source
Author: Christopher Tompkins, Forbes Councils Member
