Clients are the life-blood for any business. (Okay, that’s an understatement). They create the revenue stream that keeps your doors open. But perhaps more important for owners of knowledge-based service firms, they provide the creative outlet for your problem-solving genius.
Yet many business professionals shrink back when serving clients. They don’t stand their ground about what they’ll provide, when, and for how much. They worry more about contract length than substance for fear of losing business. So they get pushed around by tire-kickers. Manipulators. And slow-payers. Especially when the client is a Big Fish.
Without a clear understanding of your scope of work, payment terms, and other rights, you can be forced to spend dozens of extra hours with rework, chasing down payments, or finding that a client shut you out of a perfect follow-up opportunity.
A Path to Progress
This happened to a firm that provided public speaking training to corporate executives. They were afraid to use a detailed contract with its Fortune 1000 customers. That is, until one company used the firm’s materials and training techniques in-house with all their employees–not just the corporate executives. Which shut the firm out of tens of thousands of dollars in additional revenue.
So we helped them say never again. We worked with the firm to develop a standard agreement that protected their work product, included better systems for client communication, and ensured a future revenue stream.
What We Do
With more than 25 years of experience in small business law, we know what it takes to build a scalable—and secure—business. We can guide you to work with great clients who respect your time, honor your value, have projects that light you up, and come back for more. We advise our clients to set up a legal framework where you don’t have to reinvent the wheel when serving your clients. This saves time, money, and effort as you build bigger things. When you have contracts that reflect your needs and way of doing business, you’re more powerfully protected. And, where using your contract is not an option (with some Big Fish), we translate their standard contracts so you can detect business risks early.