Tag Archives: expectations

Administrative, Business Strategy , , , , , Leave a comment

Contract Management Promotes Business Growth

by

Congratulations Freelancer colleague, as summer ends and the fourth quarter approaches, you’ve landed a client and have been asked to sign a contract. You are well aware that receiving a contract is the road to revenue but that’s only part of its power. When a contract and the arc of its lifecycle are recognized and utilized, you can initiate a mutually agreeable working relationship with your client and make the possibility of repeat business amenable to the client.

To the best of your ability you, Freelancer friend, should ensure that all contracts you sign advance and protect your interests, as well as the client’s. Keep at top-of-mind that expectations are foundational to contracts. A well-written contract defines and describes what the client expects of you—primarily, to produce the desired outcome or deliverable that also meets the client’s quality control standard and is completed and available by a specified date.

At its core, a contract is a commitment whose purpose is to guarantee that client expectations and your responsibilities are defined and achieved. When you think about it, a contract is potentially more than a method to certify a working agreement. In particular, contracts that pertain to B2B services or products can be considered strategic tools that provide risk management for both you and the client, in addition to revenue generation for you.

Contract management is the process of creating an official document that identifies client expectations and defines the responsibilities of the party that produces the outcome or deliverable and meets the deadlines. Contract management also includes the discussion and negotiation of factors such as payment for work performed and contingencies that, when agreement is reached, are written into the document. Contract management is considered completed after the outcome or deliverable are produced and the document is reviewed and analyzed to assess the execution of the work performed against the terms of the contract. This final step of contract management is of particular interest to B2B service providers, whether the deliverable is a one-off project or an ongoing subscription, as it may reveal where and how you could have utilized your company’s operational processes more efficiently to reduce monetary expenses or time associated with producing the deliverable.

A written agreement

Contracts typically begin with discussion and a verbal agreement, but that process should be viewed as only the first step of new client engagement. It is in the interest of both parties to commit all major business agreements to writing by creating a contract after first discussing client goals and expectations, timeline and budget to attain understanding and mutual agreement and then following-up with the development of a written document that will be signed by the parties involved.

The author of the contract will depend on the client. Corporate and not-for-profit organizations typically have a standard contract that is used for Freelance talent. Small businesses and organizations that engage with few Freelancers may be happy to allow you to author the document. Over time, many Freelancers develop a standard B2B professional services contract template; however, it will be worth your while to investigate contract templates that can streamline and speed up the contract management process, from creating the document, to negotiating terms and facilitating online docu-signing. You will find contract management software available on several platforms.

Regardless of its author, know that you owe it to yourself to carefully review all contracts that you intend to sign, to ensure that both signers will be able to meet the terms. Put questions and answers in writing (email), to provide documentation. When you are not the contract author, diplomatically suggest that you and the prospective client collaborate and negotiate when you find it necessary, to ensure that you can fulfill your responsibilities and please the client. All changes to the agreement should be in the form of written amendments, or at a minimum, an email that documents the changes.

Finally, caveat emptor—a contract is only as good as your ability to enforce it. A written agreement is nearly always useful, but if one of the parties fails to fulfill the agreed-upon terms, the other will be stuck. Even a contract written to anticipate nearly every contingency is only as good as the behavior of the signers. Integrity and trust matter and maintaining complete records is a must.

  • Document changes: If changes are made to the original contract, write them down. Make sure everyone signs off on all changes and attach amendments and signatory approval to the original agreement.
  • Keep original copies: Keep signed copies of all contracts safe and organized, whether they are in hard copy or digital format.
  • Track communications: Keep a record that includes notes and the dates of all contract discussions. This includes emails, letters, meeting notes and phone logs.

Payments

Let your contract specify when, how much and by what payment method you’ll be paid. While W-2 employees receive regular weekly or bi-weekly paychecks, that is not the scenario for Freelance consulting talent. At some organizations, we are the last to get paid and late, sometimes scandalously late, payments can be distressingly common.

Defend yourself by making it clear to the client that you expect to be paid according to the timeline that was discussed and agreed upon. In fact, once you and the client have committed to the amount of your project fee and scheduled the initial payment that you require before commencing work, as well as the milestone or other interim payments, if applicable, plus the timing of the final project payment, be certain to specify the amount and schedule of those payments in the contract. Furthermore, you might also note that all payment amounts and associated dates are non-negotiable. Trust is central to every contract and committing the agreement to writing encourages trustworthy behavior.

Along with a dispute resolution clause in your agreement, also specify how you will handle non-payment. You shouldn’t be expected to continue work if you aren’t getting paid but collecting unpaid debt can be a real challenge. Include a clause about debt collection, either through an agency or a lawyer— and that cost should be on the client, not on you.

Client expectations

Before you enter into a working agreement, you and your client must have similar expectations of one another’s roles. Assume nothing and in particular, ask questions to confirm the project deliverables and timeline—milestones and deadline. Ask also for your client’s description of a successfully achieved milestone and a successfully completed project.

In a Freelance B2B contract for professional services rendered, outline what you agree to do and how it will be done. There must be no ambiguity about the desired outcome or deliverable, or the quality of the work that the client expects. It’s also helpful to make clear what happens if you do not meet the agreed-upon deliverable deadline; usually, it means some portion of your payment is withheld until both parties are satisfied with the progress of the project.

Ensure that the client knows the full spectrum of services you’ll provide to satisfactorily produce the outcome or deliverable and the amount of time you expect will be needed. If there are complicated elements to the project, make sure the client comprehends what is needed to achieve the that vision.

Milestones

Milestones are essential for independent projects, as well as for organizations that hire Freelance talent. By detailing a project’s milestones, you can ensure that you and the client know when to expect key deliverables. If no milestones have been discussed and agreed upon before your hire, you might raise the issue yourself, in order to keep your client apprised of the project’s progress and document your intention and ability to satisfactorily complete all work by the deadline.

Intellectual property

If the assignment you’re hired to complete involves intellectual property of some sort, the contract should describe and define who owns what. Do you exclusively own the intellectual property, or does your client have some rights to it? Be sure that you understand precisely what you’re handing over and what rights you retain to make sure that you identify which party owns what rights and royalties for each product or service made available. It’s a good idea for both parties involved to have their IP attorney review a Freelance contract before signing on. The last thing either of you wants is a misunderstanding over ownership to break out after a project has been completed, especially if a significant amount of money is at stake.

Confidentiality

It is assumed that you will not share any information about your client’s business without written consent. You may be asked to sign a Non Disclosure Agreement and if so, maintain a copy in your records, along with the contract.

Confidentiality includes financial data, proprietary information and other protected details. There should be a clause that prohibits you from releasing any of your client’s personal information without permission. If you feel it necessary to disclose confidential or protected information for legal reasons, make sure that you obtain your client’s explicit permission before doing so.

Support and resources supplied by the client

Identify your client contact either in the contract or in an email and confirm that person’s availability to you and the type of support that will be provided. If on-site access to company resources, equipment, or materials is needed to execute the work you are hired to do, specify in writing what you’ll need to use and document your intention to return it and to whom it will be returned when your work is completed.

An out clause

It can be frustrating if you’ve been led to believe that signing a new client is imminent, only to have the agreement unexpectedly fall apart. In the Freelancing universe, it’s anticipated that some projects might end prematurely, whether the result of an unexpected hire of a W-2 employee or a sudden funding loss. Alternatively, you may face a health crisis or family emergency that will make it extremely difficult to fulfill the contract and forces you to terminate the agreement.

Regardless of the determining factors, a termination for convenience clause allows either party to unilaterally end a B2B contract without cause and without engaging in litigation. The client can simply provide notice that s/he must end the agreement and pay you for any work that’s been done, or you can inform the client in writing, in accordance to a predetermined specific termination notice period (14 to 30 days is common), and agree to certain post-termination obligations.

 Effective communication will be critical to soften negative perceptions and sustain future collaboration. A transparent explanation of the reason for termination is essential to preserving credibility and trust.

Next steps

Once the contract is signed, be certain to send your new client a welcome letter and schedule a face2face or videoconference meeting to begin onboarding and officially inaugurate your new client engagement!

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: Treaty of Paris, More Than Meets the Eye, 1783 (Benjamin West, 1738-1820) courtesy of The Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library, Winterthur, DE. The treaty officially ended the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783) and marked England’s acknowledgement of the U.S. as an independent sovereign entity with defined borders.

Marketing , , , , , Leave a comment

Help Customers Trust Subscription Pricing

by

The mere thought of guaranteed revenue arriving each month like clockwork will bring a smile to the face of every business owner. Recurring revenue is a dream come true; now you’ve got the cash-flow to pay expenses on time and in full. You can replace or upgrade business equipment when necessary. You can invest in professional development that makes you more knowledgeable, and therefore more useful to customers, and more respected in your professional community as well. Recurring revenue enables you to plan for the future of your business with confidence—and sleep well at night.

The leading way to generate recurring revenue is by introducing a subscription payment option to your business. Savvy Freelancers and SMBs are reviewing the buying habits of their best customers to determine if converting certain of their products or services to the subscription model can be successful. In the B2B sector, subscription pricing is a payment option where customers pay a recurring fee, typically monthly or annually, to receive access to a product or service, most often cloud-based software or storage, i.e., software as a service (SaaS). Freelancers and SMBs might offer subscription pricing for coaching, marketing, network and website management, or bookkeeping services.  

Thoughts of a subscription payment plan may make business owners salivate, but the process requires careful thought and planning. You’ve got to get things right from Day One and that is especially true for service-based businesses where value is not always immediately recognized. SaaS subscriptions, network and/or website management and bookkeeping services, on the other hand, have a readily apparent value that customers and prospects can picture themselves needing on a regular basis. For this reason, non-IT related service-based subscriptions may face challenges.

  • Value perception: To establish trust in a subscription payment plan, the business must demonstrate unambiguous value to prospective customers. If the customer begins to feel that s/he is not getting their money’s worth, there will be a risk of service cancellation. 
  • Service enhancements: There’s an ongoing customer expectation to continually sweeten the pot with (free) service upgrades. Global enterprise companies (like credit card companies and banks) can afford this strategy and the expectation has been set. SMBs and Freelancers may struggle to fulfill this wish, however.

Talk up value

Your subscription pricing model and everything related to it must align with the perceived value of what customers get in return. Customers must be able to see and/or believe the value of your product or service, consistently and at every touch point. Your job, Freelancer or SMB owner, is to continuously communicate that value, so customers will understand the benefits they’ll receive when opting-in to the subscription. Only when that is achieved will customer concerns fade and trust in your subscription grow.

Communicating value begins at the introduction of the subscription model sales process; the offer of a free trial will play a pivotal role in building the value you want to demonstrate. A short free trial invites prospective subscription customers to test the product or service, if it is new to them, or experience how subscription pricing can work to their benefit. Businesses acquired 50.0% of subscribers through trials, making it one of the most effective customer acquisition strategies. Additionally, as customization has become a growing preference, add-ons have become an essential part of personalized offers and 28.1% of customers offered add-on options to allow customers to tailor the subscription to their needs.

Prioritize quality control

The engine of a successful subscription-based payment model is customers who feel confident and happy to use and pay for your service or product. Your quality control procedures will play an integral part of making that possible. You must be forever vigilant and closely monitor the quality of your product or service performance and delivery, customer service/customer experience and the payment process.

Embed quality control into your workflow by making it part of someone’s job description (yours, Freelancer friend!) to confirm that customer expectations are met, respond to and document glitches and monitor the turnaround time for resolving issues. BTW, attentive quality control will make you quickly aware of brewing customer concerns, knowledge that can, for example, reveal service enhancements that customers may appreciate. You may discover another way to instill trust and value in your company. 

Expectations and the customer experience

Begin setting expectations when prospective customers first interact with your subscription sales funnel. Life is about managing expectations and it’s in your interest that every customer understands what is (and is not) included in the subscription you want them to buy—e.g., accessible services, products, tools, supporting technologies, change orders and how to reach customer service on the phone. In order to make an informed decision, subscription prospects must understand and accept what the service offers, channels for contact and the level of support offered by your organization.

Be advised that available payment methods are now an essential part of the customer experience. Economic uncertainty has made customers exceptionally price-sensitive and potentially influenced by their satisfaction, or disappointment, with the payment options you make available, along with the add-ons or upgrade options and other customization features. Debit cards remain the most popular payment method (68.6%), but the desire for access to alternative payment methods is now undeniable. Including subscription payment methods that were once seldom available can address the growing preference for a convenient, seamless payment experience that recognizes customer needs.  Alternative payment methods have been proven to generate more revenue (5.0% renewal invoice decline rate) and help prevent fraud (0.9% of failed fraud transactions). 

Customer retention

The smartest business owners will implement customer retention strategies designed to discourage customer churn and grow the subscriber base. The customer experience presents numerous opportunities to appeal to customers by offering potent sweeteners that may include loyalty rewards, product or service bundling, hybrid models, subscription pausing options, or other special offers designed to promote customer satisfaction and loyalty. In 2023, the average consumer churn rate was 4.1%, staying consistent year-over-year. As customers become more particular with spending, their purchases become more intentional, making them less likely to churn once a decision to buy has been made.

BTW, subscription pauses are a convenient alternative to sidestep cancellation when a customer needs relief from monthly payments or product deliveries. 39.7% of merchant sites enabled the pause functionality and prevented over 400,000 plan cancellations.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: © Lucy Lambriex /Getty Images 2015

Administrative , , , Leave a comment

Why, When and How to Delegate

by

WHY? Because you have a boatload of things to do and there aren’t enough hours in the day to complete them all. Because you may not have the expertise or inclination to do everything that needs to get done. Because removing certain tasks from your plate will improve your productivity and also lower your stress level.

The best leaders know how to delegate. There is an art to delegating, though, and to do it well takes practice. Some leaders resist delegating because they assume it will take as much time to explain to someone how to do what needs to be done as it would to do it themselves. Others are so buried in work that they’re unable to recognize what only they, the leader, can do and what someone else can do.

Those who have employees should also realize that delegating certain tasks to the team represents skills-building opportunities for them. Delegate selected tasks and you acknowledge the expertise within your team and demonstrate your trust in their professionalism. Employee job satisfaction will increase, as will the quality of work they do, because your employees will feel valued and respected.

Delegating can be a win-win for all, but upfront planning and maybe also a tutorial will be necessary. Furthermore, you’ll need to decide who you’ll delegate to and why.

WHEN? First, take an honest look at your to-do list and the timetables involved. Do you have the time and bandwidth to do it all? Then, determine which tasks can be called executive functions that only you can do, like meeting with clients or writing proposals and contracts. Next, acknowledge your primary skill set and own up to those tasks that you simply hate doing.

Now you’re ready to figure what you might delegate. Rather than muddling through and forcing yourself to take on what you either don’t do well or hate doing, do the smart thing and delegate to employees or to a Freelancer who has the expertise needed.

Bookkeeping, graphics, payroll and video meeting tech help are often outsourced. Do you have an important client proposal to prepare? If you’ve been invited to submit a proposal that may win you a new client, ask a team member who has a talent for creating data presentation graphics to turn the numbers you’ll include in the financial section into easily understood and visually interesting charts and graphs. Train a team member who has an affinity for technology to run and manage the tech requirements for videoconference meetings and webinar.

HOW?

Communicate expectations

Be specific about what you would like to be done. If there is a deadline attached, make it known. Create project milestones to help guide and pace the project and ensure that the final deadline is achieved. Commit directions to writing, so that everyone understands and you remember what you asked for. Verify that the person(s) to whom you delegate understands what to do, the process you would like him/her to follow and the deadline for completion. If you delegate to a team, appoint a project leader.

Provide resources

Empower the person or team to whom you delegate and give them full access to all necessary information, budget, authority and all necessary support to come through for you. Provide the context of why their work is integral to the overall success of the larger project, if that is what is delegated, or explain why the routine task you have now passed along may seem mundane but is nevertheless vital to operating or managing the company.

Verify and give feedback

Ask questions about the progress of the work and examine what has been done. If a mid-course correction is needed, show patience as you point out what must be redone and why. Were your directions not understood, or were the required tools or resources not made available? If everything is going well, be generous with your praise.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: Chefs training in the culinary arts program at the University of Hawaii

Sales , , , , Leave a comment

# Red Light

by

So off you go, on a mission to reconnect with clients you haven’t worked with since the four month long COVID-19 shutdown began. You gracefully maneuver to position yourself to grab some billable hours before all of your Paycheck Protection Plan money runs out. You’re also on the hunt for new clients, maybe picking up the thread on leads you were checking out in the first quarter, before the rug was pulled out from under.

If good fortune prevails, you’ll bag a live one and generate some much-needed revenue. But do keep your senses tuned to any “off notes” while you and the prospect discuss the project specs. You are trying to work with this person, or someone on his/her team, and by no means do you want to walk into a toxic environment because you will fall. You will not be able to perform at your best. You will not be able to use that client as a reference.

it is important to notice and acknowledge the behavioral cues displayed and statements made by every prospective client. Do not get carried away by a seductive mix of need and excitement. Yes, making money is the point and you may also crave a project that you find not just lucrative, but also exciting. There may be a special skill that you own but rarely have the opportunity to display and at last you could be able to flaunt it.

But if the prospect makes you feel uncomfortable before the project work has begun, the smart Freelancer must find the strength to stop and walk away from someone who is already telling you that they’re a jerk who is out to hurt you. Assuming that this individual even pays the full amount of your invoice, in the end you will have to admit that the money earned from working with this guy or gal was not work the aggravation.

The best damage control that a Freelancer can take is to stop the process and walk away. Let’s examine a few examples of bad guy/ gal behavior:

“I’ve tried working with Freelancers before. I never get what I want.”

This prospect either doesn’t understand how to write and explain the project specs; doesn’t know what actions will achieve company goals; doesn’t understand and refuses to provide the support or authority a Freelancer needs to successfully complete the task; is a rabid micro-manager who is never satisfied by any work other than his/ her own; or cannot/ will not allocate the budget to hire a Freelancer who is able to do the work.

Do you see yourself swallowed by a giant whirlpool? You should. Stop. Turn around. Walk away.

Prospect don’t trust your references

You’ve supplied two or three solid references, clients for whom you’ve done work similar to what the prospect is looking to get done and the clients were very pleased. You exceeded expectations and created a positive experience. But the prospect is not convinced. Your references are not good enough, as far as s/he is concerned.

A dear friend of mine has often said that there are some people who will not take Yes for an answer. This prospect is not ready to become your client, for whatever reason. Maybe the prospect now feels uncomfortable with outsourcing this project to any outside expert?

Whatever. You cannot satisfy this individual. Shake hands and say goodbye, while you can still pretend to smile.

Prospect questions your fee and the value you’ll bring

The shutdown caused most businesses to take a significant financial hit and the impulse to keep all costs low is in the air. Freelancers are wise to be flexible about balancing their project fee against the work that clients need to do to get their ventures moving forward and the lower budgets that clients now live with. However, exploitation is never acceptable and must never be tolerated by a Freelancer.

Before your proposal is in writing, project specs should be discussed, including a ball park budget figure. Using that information, Freelancers can with confidence draw up a proposal with budget and submit it to the prospect. In this way, there will be no surprises. When the prospect shares some indication of the earmarked project budget along with the project specs, the Freelancer will quickly know whether or not s/he can do the job for that price.

But when the prospect wants to be secretive, it’s a bad sign. People need to be transparent and if they don’t want to do that, it will be unpleasant to work with them. Moreover, if the prospect alludes to the fact that his/ her team has the ability to do the job themselves, you may need to diplomatically hint that they might need to do just that because the work to be done demands a certain amount of time and skill.

You are willing to be flexible, you are willing to do a smaller piece of the job for the money that the client has suggested for the entire project, but you cannot give your work away. Then shut up and hear what s/he says in response. The specs will either shrink or you’ll walk.

Project timetable and other guarantees are unrealistic

Timetables and deadlines may require some help from the client if they are to be met and the smart Freelancer will put into writing the kind of resources that the client will provide and by what date. Furthermore, in certain cases the full scope of the project cannot be known until the work has been started. Obtain as much information as possible about the project specs to minimize risks and promote client satisfaction.

If you’re having trouble either reconnecting with current clients or signing new ones, you may need to tweak your pre-COVID-19 business model. Things have changed. No one has a written-in-stone game plan. Pivot has become the word of the month, if not the word of the year. Your first assignment may be to get a fix on what services are in demand now and how you can package and promote your entity to be considered a trustworthy and reliable purveyor of those services.

When speaking with current clients, even if you send out an email to say hello and get the ball rolling, ask how doing business has changed and make it known that your goal is to help them cross the river without taking any more of a bath than they may have already done.

When approaching a prospect, a version of the previous question can be asked, perhaps as a statement, “As you and your team work to help the organization regain its bearings and serve your customers in the way they now want, or legally must be, served, I’d love to talk to you about how I can help you do that efficiently and cost- effectively.”

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Photograph: Kim Clark. Massachusetts Avenue leaves the Back Bay and enters the South End.