The Real Deal Offline Series: "Are You Too Generous For Your Own Good In Your Offline Business?"
Hey Offliners,
Do you ever get the feeling that a client may be taking advantage of you?
Every now and then when I'm working with a client and I'm feeling generous, I try to do a little extra something that will directly result in the client making more money.
Usually, I'll tell them that I'm throwing in something special to give their campaign a nice little bump. Now, 98% of the time the business owner is thankful, however 2% of the time, someone shows a ugly side that I hadn't seen before.
In fact, I can think of several times that it hasn't worked out well for me.
There was one time that I did a massive amount of work for a client who promised to get me some referrals, but over a year later I'm still waiting for the first one.
There was the time that I built websites for a mortgage company on a shoestring budget and they quickly proceeded to screw me out of thousands of dollars.
The most recent was when I spent days putting together a marketing campaign that generated a 10% pull rate for a business, but the staff couldn't close them. The jerk began to try and deduct the cost of the mail campaign from my fees. Needless to say, he didn't get far with that one.
Now, with that being said, I have many other clients who are ethical and truly appreciate and understand that I'm doing something special for them that they didn't pay for and in many cases they simply give me a very profitable handshake.
But, when I look back on the few times when some unethical client tried to take advantage of me, it was usually because I giving away the farm without attaching a value to the services that I was doing.
See, I've learned that when I nonchalantly "throw something in" that's not related to the main service, the client is left wondering if there was a real-world value associated with it.
For example, if I'm doing a video marketing campaign for a client where they paid for five videos, I might let them know that because they bought five videos, they "qualify" for a bonus video.
That's much different than me "throwing in" five articles with a complete distribution package.
In my experience, you're training your clients to invest more money with you when you let them know that they "qualify" for a related bonus, rather than just throwing something in.
Hope this helps,
Chris
Do you ever get the feeling that a client may be taking advantage of you?
Every now and then when I'm working with a client and I'm feeling generous, I try to do a little extra something that will directly result in the client making more money.
Usually, I'll tell them that I'm throwing in something special to give their campaign a nice little bump. Now, 98% of the time the business owner is thankful, however 2% of the time, someone shows a ugly side that I hadn't seen before.
In fact, I can think of several times that it hasn't worked out well for me.
There was one time that I did a massive amount of work for a client who promised to get me some referrals, but over a year later I'm still waiting for the first one.
There was the time that I built websites for a mortgage company on a shoestring budget and they quickly proceeded to screw me out of thousands of dollars.
The most recent was when I spent days putting together a marketing campaign that generated a 10% pull rate for a business, but the staff couldn't close them. The jerk began to try and deduct the cost of the mail campaign from my fees. Needless to say, he didn't get far with that one.
Now, with that being said, I have many other clients who are ethical and truly appreciate and understand that I'm doing something special for them that they didn't pay for and in many cases they simply give me a very profitable handshake.
But, when I look back on the few times when some unethical client tried to take advantage of me, it was usually because I giving away the farm without attaching a value to the services that I was doing.
See, I've learned that when I nonchalantly "throw something in" that's not related to the main service, the client is left wondering if there was a real-world value associated with it.
For example, if I'm doing a video marketing campaign for a client where they paid for five videos, I might let them know that because they bought five videos, they "qualify" for a bonus video.
That's much different than me "throwing in" five articles with a complete distribution package.
In my experience, you're training your clients to invest more money with you when you let them know that they "qualify" for a related bonus, rather than just throwing something in.
Hope this helps,
Chris
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annemarieb -
Thanks
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