Comments on: The Payment Plan

By: Lori

Lori — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:34:41 +0000

Super idea, Anne! I love the idea of billing it out monthly. It's also an indication of whether your client intends to pay you without an argument.

By: Anne Wayman

Anne Wayman — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:31:14 +0000

Yes, I do what Devon says, two revisions, sometimes three and after that we go to hourly.

For truly big projects I'll take a third or even a quarter… more recently, in an attempt to get clients to do their end I've started asking for monthly payments… take the total value and divide it by the number of months… great for smoothing out cash flow too.

By: Wendy

Wendy — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:23:34 +0000

I would have to second what Devon mentioned. My biggest mistake was offering free edits or revisions, but I didn't clarify what those would be. I assumed minor little changes, but one client took advantage of that.

Needless to say, I have never made that mistake again.

By: Lori

Lori — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:05:27 +0000

Great idea on the revision definition, Devon. It's true – a lot of them will think changing a few sentences isn't really a revision. Sure it is. I think also it's important to spell out that a revision does not equate to a complete rewrite.

By: Devon Ellington

Devon Ellington — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 14:11:14 +0000

Also, define clearly what constitutes "revision." I have two rounds of revisions included in my initial quote, with additional revisions billed at either my hourly or per page rate.

But clients will sometimes say, "oh, that was just a TWEAK. It wasn't a REVISION.'

You've got to define terms clearly. And put the late fee and the dates those kick in into the initial agreement.

By: Lori

Lori — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:02:15 +0000

LOVE it, Diane! At that point, you wield the bulk of the negotiating power. Great idea!

By: Diane

Diane — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:26:40 +0000

Once I knew I'd picked up a bad payer, and once I knew they wanted me enough, I negotiated a deal in 3 parts – 1 part on contract; 1 part on delivery; 1 part on publication. Worked well enough for me for quite a few years, and if they didn't pay the 3rd part, they didn't get the next contract.