A list I am a part of has been discussing the issue of project management, receiving assets and copy and overall freelance client headaches we’ve all been through. One area of deep discussion is around the difficulty of getting content and copy for a clients website in a timely manner, if at all.

From the very beginning I let the client know that I personally will not write copy. I will provide them with a writer to do the work for them for a fee or if they want to provide the copy they can do so as long as they hit their deadlines as well.

I personally use an Extranet (Basecamp) to assign To-Do’s so that the client is notified of due dates and other tasks that need to be completed. It keeps me on track, the client informed and greatly helps to push the client to do their part.

However, this works about 50% of the time, maybe a bit more. So in our discussions someone has chimed in on a process that they have either seen or used in the past that I think is worth of blogging about, his email is below:

Quote: Khan

How do you present the pricing to the client?

If you have a basic line item pricing plan:

HTML Programming – $800
CGI/PHP Programming – $1250
Graphic Design – $650

That’s a great start.

Now for the doozy:

Project Management – $2500

Client: “What the hell, why $2500 for project management?”

You: “I get that all the time. Here’s a typical project plan sheet”

[slide over sheet of paper that outlines all the tasks that need to be delivered and on what date]

Client: “Doesn’t seem like that would warrant a cost of $2500!”

You: “I hear what you’re saying, but you’ll be surprised at what an impact it has on being able to deliver the project on time.”

Client: “What do you mean?”

You: “Well, you see this date here, March 24th? I need all the content from you on this date, so I’ll need to call you on March 17th, to see if you’re on track to get me that because I intend on being done with this project by March 24th. It’s that sort of follow-up that I’m accounting for.”

Client: “That seems a bit much!”

You: “I tell you what. I’ll amend our contract to say that you’re not on the hook for this $2500, contingent that you meet all the dates on this schedule with your deliverables. If you miss the deadline, you agree to pay the project management contingency fee.”

You’ll need to modify that script a bit, but you get the idea.

I am going to implement this into my process from here on out, this could really be beneficial in making sure the client holds the same responsibility to their project as I would.