I was in the middle of a negotiation with a current client to get more work. They gave me no budget but did tell me a little bit about the amount of work they would like me to do. But just a little bit. So I thought through what it seemed like they were actually asking for, figured out approximately how many hours of work that would be, multiplied it against my hourly rate and then factored in a discount they would receive as a current client.
I sent off the estimate along with a list of the work that it would include and felt good about it all, thinking I had just delivered my client a great deal.
The response? “This costs entirely too much.” It was totally in line with the prices they were already paying, so this was shocking.
No one should be shocked when the numbers come down. That’s one of the reasons why a client needs to give a budget from the start. Let’s take a look at some others.
Incompatible budget
I don’t know why clients want to hide their budget, but it happens frequently. It is wasted time when we discover down the road that we weren’t compatible budget-wise.
What do I mean? A client’s budget is far too small, and it doesn’t come close to covering the program I priced out for them. Everyone leaves the discussion extremely frustrated.
But if I had known the budget, it could go another way. I could tell the potential client that it doesn’t cover the kind of work they are looking for, but here are some other ways we can work together. Or if they really did need that level of service and I couldn’t do that budget, then I could refer them to someone who could or let them know what is actually reasonable at that budget. In other words, I could help get them to where they need to be next.
Reasonable expectations
Sometimes, clients simply do not have reasonable expectations when it comes to a social media consultant. So when a client comes to me and says, “My budget is $300/month. I need strategy for Facebook and Instagram, content creation and community management,” I can come back and say, “Hey, that’s a very small budget, and I don’t know any consultant who will do that much work at that rate.”
Is it a harsh reality? Yes, but I’ve found that most potential clients that get this truth have a realization. They realize they need to find a bigger budget or they abandon finding a consultant altogether (which is excellent for any other social media consultants they might have called). The few that dig their heels in would have shown those same traits if they had become a client. And they would have been terrible clients for me.
How people react to my guidance on their budget honestly tells me a lot about how they’d value me as a consultant. And it helps me get rid of those who just wouldn’t value me at all. And the reverse could be true for clients as well.
Not wasting time
A client asked for me to give them a proposal with all the bells and whistles. So I did that with the all the bells and whistles pricing to go along with that. Spoiler alert: They didn’t have that kind of budget. So we spent lots of time paring down until we got to something that was within their budget. Because of course they wouldn’t tell me what their budget was. Instead they pointed at stuff to ask what it would cost if we got rid of that. It was a waste of time for both of us. And the social media program they ended up purchasing probably wasn’t the best fit for them because of this approach.
What happens when I’m given an actual budget at the beginning? I craft a program that most closely fits the goals of the potential client. I then given them two other options. One is at a lower budget, just in case something happens and they need something a little less pricy. The second is at a higher budget. That’s in case they feel like they are missing something from the budget they gave me. I find giving these options just tends to make happier clients that get where they want to be. But once again, I can’t do that if I don’t know what the budget is from the get-go.
Seriously, the more you communicate your goals and resources before you hire a social media consultant, the more likely you are to be matched with the right person doing the right things for your brand. The more secretive you are, the more likely you are to end up with a mis-match or no social media consultant at all. Talk through everything you can and you will be in such a better place.