The POWER of NEXT and 'scope creep'...to bring in $3,000 in one hour
Why this is important? Because it sets you up for the 'upsell' and in this
case, brought in an extra $3,000 in one hour for my consulting firm!
********************************
This information as a new or 'experienced'
offline consultant is CRITICAL to your SANITY.
********************************
Here's the recent story on my client's scope
creep.
Note - 'scope' creep is a common consulting term, whereby it means you are performing services for your client at a agreed upon price and 'what's in scope..aka the work or deliverables you will do for that price.
So what happened is the client kinda 'played dumb' at my last status meeting thinking that running the entire challenge / contest we set up for
her was included in the $3,500 she had already paid.
How to control scope creep so you don't do extra work, and feel taking advantage of?
1. You have to be DIRECT and say it.
2. Say it with full confidence, voice inflections
and if in person, your non verbal communication
matching what you are saying.
3. You have to BELIEVE our value is worth it.
4. You have to STAND FIRM and be willing to walk
away if 'that's not ok' with them
5. What worked effectively for me, was I pulled
up the actual original agreement that clearly
identified what was 'in scope' so that it was on
black and white paper - and clear that what
was being asked for now...was clearly 'out of
scope' and would naturally require further consulting
fees and a new invoice.
Note: I was at my lake house more than 1,000 miles
away from my client, this was done via a gotowebinar
with the client....very sweet to be that 'VIRTUAL CONSULTANT'
6. So make sure you do that originally, when you
get a client, sometimes you are so excited about it,
you forget to clearly put down on paper in an agreement
what you are delivering for said dollars.
********************************************
Note: this WILL HELP YOU tremendously and allow you
to have a very effective and PROSPEROUS relationship with your
client.
********************************************
The end result in my story is that she agreed to a further
$3,000 for the additional work. Bringing a total of $7,500
in less than 30 days from just that one client alone.
And she is giving referrals now too because by being
professional, organized and CONFIDENT...
You gain their respect and they will purchase more
from you.
Now - the assumption is that you are delivering value and
that is why I haven't addressed that one in this message!
Hope that helped as a brief "SCOPE CREEP" primer...
****************************************
Law of Offline Consulting - Identify the scope of the work
you will perform for your client, put it on paper and both of
you agree to it...
...it will save your derriere many a time!
Another Law:
Have regular status meetings (phone, virtual webinar, live
in person) to
1. Deepen the relationship
2. Show off your results! Seriously - some busy business owners are too busy to 'read a status report' you give them!
3. Get FEEDBACK from your customer
4. Discuss further revenue opportunities for your client that aka is your upsell!
5. Get REFERRALS (yes ask for referrals - you can build a million dollar consulting business just by this ALONE! I've done it!)
Cheers and have a great start to your week!
Maria "Watch the Scope" Gudelis
ps - if you really got value out of this - I can post an image of the defined 'scope' from my agreement to all of you...let me know if that is something you'd benefit from.
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