For the latest
tool in the Marketing Mentor Toolbox, (watch for "The Pricing Bundle"
next week), I talked to Sarah Durham, principal of Big Duck about how
her firm thinks about pricing.
The question
of "scope creep" came up and Sarah described her technique for how to
broach the topic when the scope of a project starts to change:
Start as
early as possible, even before it’s a problem. In the very beginning,
at the kick-off meeting, say: “As you remember from our contract, our
fees are based on time, so over the course of the project I’ll be
monitoring our time and letting you know how we’re doing.”
Then in
two weeks, you say, “I’m glad you liked that presentation, and so far
we’re on track with our time.” If you’ve done that, then when you say,
“You’ve asked us to do something that’s beyond the scope,” you’ve
already set the tone that it’s okay to talk about time and money.
In
essence: bring it up early so you can bring it up later.
I love this
idea. It's so simple and can be pretty useful in the rest of our lives
too. (The entire interview with Sarah Durham will be included in the
new "Pricing Bundle: The Tools for Smart Pricing")
