We cannot stress enough how important it is to be as detailed as possible when telling your marketing company exactly what it is you are wanting from the very beginning of discussing the project. So many times we see new pieces come into play throughout the process, which make the project more expensive. It’s not that we want to charge our clients for every little thing, but if there was a piece that we didn’t know would be needed, we were not able to include that in the bid, and therefore, have to apply unforeseen charges to the final bill. (Now, please know that we never do this without discussing it with you first.)
Here are some examples of common “scope creep” and some analogies to help you better understand why this is so important!
1. The “Add On” Creep
It happens sometimes, where you are working through a project and realize part-way through that you’re going to need one more piece to make everything fall into place. And that’s okay. It happens. But keep in mind, if the client doesn’t know they needed a certain piece or function, many times, we couldn’t have foreseen the client needing it either, so therefore, adding it on to the project may result in needing to take another look at the original bid.
We compare this to building a home: Say you’re building a new house and you’re most of the way through the project when you realize that you may want to have more kids than you thought, and therefore you need two extra rooms. Yes, you’re already building the house, but adding those two extra rooms is going to add to the cost of that project and add to the time frame (and may change the layout of what you had originally looked at).
2. The “That’s Not Included?” Creep
We try to be very up front with our clients on what they are getting for their incredibly hard-earned money. We want them to know what value we bring to their company because we don’t take lightly that you’re entrusting us to stretch your marketing dollars to the best of our ability. (We’re a small company, too. We know the aches and pains that can go with that.) So, if you ever have any questions as to if something you are really wanting as a part of your project is included in the bid or not, please ask! We will always be very up front with you!
We compare this to building a home: So, again, you’re building a home and as the project is coming to a completion, you realize that there is no deck on your house. Now, you hadn’t discussed this with your contractor and wasn’t in the bid or blueprints, but you saw another house once he had done that had a deck. Were you wrong in assuming that decks come standard? Probably. Just as houses our customized to each family’s needs, our projects are customized to every client’s needs. We do not take a cookie-cutter approach, so, if you ever have any questions as to if something you are really wanting as a part of your project is included in the bid or not, please ask! We will always be very up front with you!
3. The “Complete Change of Scope” Creep
This one is a little different than the other two. It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes, we get to the end of the project and the client changes their mind completely. Now, we do our best to keep the client as informed throughout the process as we can. However, sometimes the client realizes that they needed something different for one of many various reasons at the end of the project (they didn’t know their demographic well enough, they had a change of heart, they had a new idea of something that might be better, or most commonly, someone who wasn’t part of the original discussion of what the project should be like is added to the mix and wants to take the project a different direction). Unfortunately, whatever the reason, if we have to start over, chances are, the bid is going to have to start over as well.
We compare this to building a home: So, you and the contractor had decided on a ranch-style home with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The project is almost done. All you have left are the fixtures, flooring and counter tops, but suddenly you realize, you don’t want a ranch-style home. You want a 2-story colonial-style home with 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. Now, unfortunately, you can’t expect that the contractor is going to be able to magically turn the project he has nearly completed into the project you’ve now decided you want and you can’t expect that he won’t want you to pay for all the work he’s already done even if it’s no longer what you want. Which is why no matter what kind of a project you’re working on, you want to be sure you know what you want before beginning.
So, next time you start a project, whether it’s with Transformation Marketing or another type of company in Lincoln, Nebraska, just keep in mind that you want to be as specific as possible and have your project thought through so that there are as few surprises throughout the process as possible! And if something does come up (like we said, it really does happen) to go into that knowing that you may have to take a second look at the project budget. We look forward to helping you with your next project and hope that we can do as much as possible on our end to make sure that scope creep doesn’t happen and that the process goes as smooth as possible!