Beware Ideal Deals

I've been around a fair amount, so when I had a client talking about a retainer agreement early last month, I took it with a grain of salt. Now the client is late on a large payment for work I had already done. While I expect to get my money one way or another, it was a reminder not to buy into someone else's hype. There are many companies and people who will talk of their plans and what they want to accomplish. Far fewer actually make good on their words.

When people start setting the picture of how well you're going to do by them, it's almost a guaranteed red flag that you won't. Instead, that plan will get put off, then modified. When it goes to the farthest extreme, you're asked to do some free work for now to show your commitment, or to hang on while the funding comes in. At that point you should head out the door instead.

The best way to avoid such a lure is to remember the following points:

• Good clients want to check you out as much as you want to check them out. Anyone who is ready for a commitment at day one is someone who takes such an arrangement lightly and who is then likely to find it easy to break the commitment, whether now or later.


• A client or prospect can't push you any farther than you allow. Keep your business plan and strategy in mind. If you're adverse to letting a client become more than 20 percent of your income, then reject out of hand suggestions that you devote far more time to the client who walks in a dream.


• When you hear big plans, suggest phasing things in with a trial project and then maybe a second, larger one (should things get to that point). You'll get a chance to see what the client is like to work with and whether pay comes in a reasonable amount of time. Better burnt on something small than something large.