In any business managing client relationships is a delicate balance between their needs and your time and effort. Client communication is key to sustain and develop positive relationships. Your diligence at the beginning of a project will eliminate misunderstandings and conflicts. Before taking on a project make sure it is within your capabilities and aim for a mutually beneficial professional collaboration where you respect each other’s time and ideas.
The key elements are:
a) Set expectations early and upfront – what they want and what is possible within their budget and time scale.
b) Ensure you keep your client informed about every phase of the project – set dates for reviews within the deadline. Inform your client of the difference between major revisions and minor ones. Be specific on how you bill for major revisions – e.g. hourly rate or flat fee and include this in your legal contract and initial estimate sent to the client.
c) Clearly articulate upfront the number of revisions, based on your professional knowledge of the complexity of the project, allowed within the contract and let them know additional revisions will be billed at your hourly rate. This is also a benefit to the project as it will help them be more thorough with their feedback.
d) Set a rush fee for the project – putting in more hours in a short period of time to help them meet their tight deadline requires a special fee. Having said that be realistic with your client so they understand a ‘rushed job’ is not in your or their interest for an excellent product.
e) If your client does not comply to the set number of revisions (within reason) then you need to state the agreement on the contract and advise them extra charges will be applied. The more detail you set out at the start the better.
Put a stop when needed
Sometimes enough is enough. If a client isn’t complying with what they agreed to in your estimate and contract, you’ll need to start protecting your boundaries or else risk getting taken for a ride.
As long as you have clearly communicated to the client upfront how you manage the revisions, you have a basis for calling a stop to their endless revisions.
Confidently (and pleasantly) say to your client something like this: “Since your request comes after we’ve completed the agreed upon rounds of revisions, I will have to charge you for this.” Short and simple.
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