Spicing Up Your Proposals
Proposals are sometimes a little dry, so we decided to have a little fun with ours. We've altered our proposals to include the following wording:
Collaboration: Schedules and timeframes proposed for marketing promotions are based on the assumption of accurate feedback and prompt sign-off from. While the staff of the Durbin Media Group has been known to pull off miracles, we’d like to point out that the parting of the Red Sea actually took several days.
The question is whether having a little fun when pitching a client is a net positive or a net negative. On the one hand, nothing is worse than poring over Terms and Conditions. On the other, proposals are supposed to show your proficiency - can you be flippant?
The proposals we use are our contract and our roadmap. Should we fill them with legal language? It takes half of the fun out of working. My view on contracts is simple. If the two parties have to turn to the contract and have lawyers parse the language, you've already lost.
Collaboration: Schedules and timeframes proposed for marketing promotions are based on the assumption of accurate feedback and prompt sign-off from
The proposals we use are our contract and our roadmap. Should we fill them with legal language? It takes half of the fun out of working. My view on contracts is simple. If the two parties have to turn to the contract and have lawyers parse the language, you've already lost.
posted by James Durbin @ 5:39 AM PERMALINK
4 Comments:
I always cringe when I sent out my contracts. I took a basic legal contract, and modified it with numerous things specific to my business, but frankly the entire thing makes me nervous.
I'm always concerned it will "scare" the good clients (clients who, frankly, I will never need the contract to protect me from). So I try to soften it a bit by how I present it.
The Internet has, I think, made for some interesting legal grey areas. While many businesses still get signed and dated contracts, those of us who work internationally and rarely meet with clients in person generally follow the law that says an email agreement constitutes as a signature/binding agreement. I wonder, though, if this may change as the courts increasingly deal with online-related law.
By the way, I find the humor in your contracts refreshing...I would think a client might appreciate it, too :)
Speaking from the other side of the desk, I am delighted we're having more fun with our proposals. The only thing worse than sending out a dry proposal is receiving one. (ha!) And to be clear, the parting of the Red Sea took us a good week ;)
There is a difference bewteen a proposal and a contract. If you want to make a clever first impression, great, but it's best to keep legal documents business-like. I suggest keeping a proposal just that and not require a signature on it - tell your story your way. If the parties agree to work together, have a second document(contract, letter of agreement, statement of work or other title) ready to sign.
No one likes legal docs until there's a problem and then they are your best friend. Don't give your clients the legal advantage because your intimidated by the documents yourself. It's just a matter of time until you'll loose a lot of money.
James,
That's an excellent point, but I learned a lesson a long time ago about contracts. It really isn't worth the time and money to negotiate them.
That's not always possible, as many of our larger clients require the signing of in-depth contracts. We respect that, but in a lot of cases, there is no need for us to go through the paperwork.
Suing a company for the breach of contract would be more expensive in time lost than anything won, and anyone involved in a legal dispute knows right or wrong doesn't matter, just who has the willpower and the resources to keep paying the legal bills.
If someone really took advantage of us, we could always turn to our friends in the blogosphere. But even that has consequences, as who is going to hire a company that aired grievances about a client.
I can make more money, but I can never regain a soiled reputation.
And so yes, we manage our money to make sure that we don't get sued and forced into bankruptcy, but all things the same, I'd rather work on a handshake than words on paper that have to be renegotiated for a hefty lawyer's fee if they are ever needed.
Yes, when we work with large clients, we and they are g
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