To contract or not to contract, that is the question?

mandude

mandude

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I am hearing 2 totally different sides from 2 methods that work great. I think the original google places letters says don't do a contract, or that he does not do contracts, it may scare them.

but then the ORM says get them to sign a 6 month contract.
What do you think is best? Or maybe it matters on what you are selling them
 
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I am contracting all of my customers even for small pieces of work.
But I also tell my customers that this contract is for THEM, not basically for me. In that contract I just write what we agreed on at our meetings and there I define also stuff like payments and deadlines.

I think it is more professional if you have a nice contract because it doesn't only mean safety for you, but also for your customer.
 
Contracts make you look legit, not just some guy out of his house. If you look like a legit business, you can charge more, because your clients will feel "secure" with you. Use a contract.
 
So with your contracts, do you guys charge "late fees?" and do they actually pay them lol (Tactikals contract had late fees). Curious, as you said deadlines as well.
 
Doing any type of work without a contract is sheer insanity.
 
Not to redhill!
 
Don't ever do any business with anyone without a contract. Realistically, the prospect of suing someone over breach of contract is small, its more to lay out in clear wording what the extent of your agreement is and what each party's responsibilities are.

The problem that does come up with is longer term contracts. I've had prospects balk at the idea of committing to 6 or 12 months of service wiithout the ability to cancel. On that point, be flexible. If it means sealing the deal, I'll shorten contracts or provide cancellation options. The shortest one was a 3 month opt-out for SEO. With social media, i've gone month-to-month.

The contract itself is still absolutely necessary, but the time frame can be shortened or eliminated for more squeamish clientele.
 
Great answer Taktical. and I just realized I have been spelling your username wrong lol.
That is what I was nervous about exactly, squeamish clients that don't want to settle for 6 months. I thought of maybe what could be a good response to that, something along the lines of "Do you not think you will need RM (or SEO or whatever) after 2 months and will want to cancel?" .. it sounded better earlier in my head haha. But make them realize that it is ongoing and not a short term thing. Not sure.
 
The link in post #8 appears to be knackered.

This one (from Tak's awesome thread) still works -

hxxp://www.mediafire.com/?oeaeoa76aphohv4 (change "xx" to "tt")
 
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When I first started out I did not use contracts - that is true. My reasoning was simple - I wanted nothing to stand in my way of closing a deal.

Now, I am starting to use them. I would only stipulate that the contract is a month to month contract. Which, to be honest will not hurt you. I have found that most small biz owners do not want to be locked down.

This is my 2 cents. Bottom line - all of us have different styles, approaches, clients, etc - and, this is not a one-size fits all business.

Chart your own path and see what works for you.

Take action.

Best,
Red
 
Redhill has a point, if you're confident in your abilities, then you shouldn't be afraid of month to month.

redhill said:
When I first started out I did not use contracts - that is true. My reasoning was simple - I wanted nothing to stand in my way of closing a deal.

Now, I am starting to use them. I would only stipulate that the contract is a month to month contract. Which, to be honest will not hurt you. I have found that most small biz owners do not want to be locked down.

This is my 2 cents. Bottom line - all of us have different styles, approaches, clients, etc - and, this is not a one-size fits all business.

Chart your own path and see what works for you.

Take action.

Best,
Red
Click to expand...
 
For what it's worth, I'm leaning towards using contract. In my eyes at least, it looks more professional. I intend to offer shorter term contracts, say 3 months at least since it would take that long for any SEO (or other work) to start to impact a client's site.
 
I've had prospects balk at the idea of committing to 6 or 12 months of service wiithout the ability to cancel. On that point, be flexible. If it means sealing the deal, I'll shorten contracts or provide cancellation options.
 
If you don't have them sign a contract then you should at least have them sign some sort of agreement that protects you and your business from any legal ramifications. I offer several different types of services and a few of them are $50-$100/month and we deal in bulk with these types of packages, so you are always going to come across a bad egg here and there. If that person has signed an agreement of services or contract and they charge back to your merchant services then you will almost always win. Plus people nowadays are sue happy, so it's best to watch your back and expect the unexpected.
 
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