When they ask for too much…

The Memo from the Desk

Trigger warning: this one might touch a nerve.

Imagine with me… for a moment.

You’ve been working with a company on a creative project. After two rounds of revisions, the client seems happy with the work. They asked for a few minor changes, which you joyfully completed, and then sent it back for a third (and final) approval.

You crack that ice cold “jobs-about-done” beverage, and take a sip. Feels good. Another project for the books. A profitable one, no less. You came in on time and within the rounds of revisions you put into your contract.

You’re not just good… you put the pro in professional.

The birds are chirping outside and there’s not a cloud in the sky. Hey, maybe you can take this Friday off. Might as well get ahead start, so you start exporting the final files.

Then your inbox dings.

It’s the client.

You open the email and your heart skips a beat.

They got your final revision, alright. But after sharing it with their cousin’s friend’s sister who watched a YouTube video about graphic design that one time… they had an idea.

An idea that would require you to start all the way back at square one.

…if it’s not too much work.

Easy right?

Storm clouds roll in.

Your computer won’t cancel the exports you started, no matter how many times you smash the button. Your profit catches fire and disappears in the smoke. Friday? Pshh… you’ll be working through the weekend now.

You remember how tough it was to land on a project budget that worked for both of you. You spent days working on balancing out the scope and price…. and now they’ve asked for something beyond the original agreement.

Waves of overwhelm, frustration, annoyance, anger, and fear wash over you.

How can they expect you to start over this late in the game?

Alright… pause.

I’m pretty sure we’ve all been here, right?

If you haven’t… you either have the magic formula for attracting unicorn clients, or you haven’t been doing this for long, hehe.

Here’s the honest truth:

You’ll run into this situation. Again. I will too. It’s inevitable.

Clients are humans after all. Humans that may be:

• scared of commitment,
• make impulsive decisions,
• love exploring new ideas more than building towards one thing,
• likes to exhaust all other options before saying yes,
• or simply too busy to keep track of how many revisions they have left.

When a client does a 180 like this, the negative emotions are normal.

But here’s the part that matters:

They’re not caused by the client.

In fact, the root of that overwhelming, storm-cloud, rage-y feeling is most likely an assumption that we made.

I know, you might be a little skeptical at this point. But let me prove it to you by changing the scenario.

What if their great idea was accompanied by a check for an additional $100,000?

Hits a little different, doesn’t it?

Too often, we make two critical assumptions when we get out of scope requests like this. We assume that our clients:

• Know and understand they’re asking for something out of scope
• Want us to pay for it (aka: do it for free)

Don’t get me wrong… I understand: Our experiences with past clients (or even our experience negotiating the project with this client) can feel more like pattern recognition than assumption. And it can color our prediction of what happens next.

But we all know what assume stands for right?

So here’s my challenge to you: Next time a client asks for something out of scope, reframe it. Allow that wave of negative emotion to wash over you. Label it. Smile at it. Let it keep rolling.

Then get excited.

The client wants more work. The client wants to extend the scope. HOORAY! That means more money. That means more time to do things that much better.

Simply reply with something like this:

“Exciting stuff! I’d love to continue exploring this with you! Since we’ve already used the number of revisions we agreed to in our scope of work, I can put together a change order and send you an invoice for the extra work. Off the top of my head, that looks like $XX to add another three rounds of Y. Sound fair?”

Notice the tone? No apology. No “unfortunately” or “but…” No conflict. Just someone who’s excited to keep the good times (and revenue) rolling.

I learned this reframe from a mentor very early on in my career. And I can’t tell you how many times it’s saved client relationships.

But what if we get pushback on the change order?

Well, I don’t know about you, but a client asking for work for free would be very surprising to me. I might ask (with a curious-but-shocked tone) if they expect me to do the work for free. Or I might ask what is the priority - keeping things in budget or exploring a new path. Or offer to continue moving forward with the version they originally fell in love with, avoiding the need for a change order.

We can handle the objection without conflict in many ways.

But let’s wait until conflict arrives before we emotionally react to it. It may never arrive.

Less assumptions.

More energy for what matters.

Hope this helps - and warm hugs for those of you who are working through these situations now and in the near future.

You got this :)

Ben Burns

Co-Founder, Maker Division

P.S.We're making good progress on our goals this year! We've already awarded FIVE 5-Figure Project badges out to members, and we have a few members negotiating six-figure projects right now. WISH US LUCK!

P.p.s. Want to join us? We'd love to help you achieve your goals in your freelance or studio business. Click here to sign up.

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