The right deal can make or break a small business.

• Step 1 is knowing who is your best customer
• Step 2 is getting the deal right.

It looks different for a product-based business than for a service firm. A colleague chatting about “What You Get When You Buy Zappo’s” last week chortled,

Zappo’s is the greatest! You can order 14 pairs of shoes, get them the next day, and return 13 – or as many as you want. They really nailed it…And now their employees are worried that it’s not going to be as much fun to work for Amazon.

Zappo’s gets the power of the right deal.

For Freelancers and Micro Business, most of whom are delivering services, the challenge is a bit different. The pitfall I observe over and over again is overlooking this telling question:

Who will promise what in order to achieve the desired results?

In a service context, clients invariably have a role in reaching targeted outcomes. But it’s a rare Freelance contract that spells out those tasks: most focus on the Freelancer’s deliverables. Therein is the pitfall.

How often have you been surprised when a client doesn’t hold up their end of a project? They miss timing that puts the entire project behind, or they’re called to focus on something else – and your project suffers? Or, while it may seem blindingly obvious to you, even well-intended clients often simply do not know what’s required to hold up their end – especially for a new project.

Ever found yourself sending email after voicemail asking a client when you might expect to receive something that you absolutely need to do your job – and gotten no responses?

Once the project is underway, unless they’ve made specific promises, even the most well-meaning client is likely to assume that you’re handing the project.

As a veteran of the mess that follows, I’ve learned to articulate a client’s tasks, including by-when, in writing – along with my own. I include the actions and timelines the client must undertake in order to achieve optimal results, as well as a promise to turnaround my messages and requests within a specific timeframe, together with an estimate of how much total employee time is likely to be involved, as part of their investment in the project.

The clear, written deal that results sets us up: we know what to expect of each other, and we’re in shape to address how we’ll deal with unexpected twists and turns – which are almost guaranteed to occur in an environment changing as fast as the one we operate in every day.

Taking the time to write down and review mutual commitments with a client constitutes a Golden Pause. It brings a handsome ROI: tasks are more likely to be completed on time and to desired specifications; relationships are more robust; it’s easy for everyone to be accountable; there’s more trust. Everything flows better.

By contrast, when those elements are not clear, one or both of you is more likely to be disappointed.

Beginning Freelancers often fear that making the deal clear enough to include the client’s responsibilities make the sale less likely. I suggest that sales lost to a clear deal are sales that will hurt you more than help you – the kind that demand a lot of time and energy and still don’t get good results. An important pitfall to avoid.

Technorati Tags: