Managing Expectations

Often times, especially now, businesses are trying to cut costs wherever they can. But that doesn’t mean you have to work for free or cut your budget to a level that leaves your company in distress. I think in PR we are always striving to meet and exceed our clients’ expectations, sometimes leaving us to think the only options are to agree to a lower budget or end services without discussion. In reality, there are a number of options to consider before making drastic changes. It isn’t all about money. A sudden change or end to a plan can be more detrimental to a client than they may realize at first glance. A great starting point is to sit down together and talk over the value that the program is providing and make compromises. Instead of just looking to eliminate or reduce services, talk about what options are available to adjust your plan in a way that both sides are happy.

As many clients are right now, one of mine was facing funding delays and we had to find a way to continue the momentum we had built while facing the possibility of cutting their budget in half for a couple months. The first thing we did was sit down and create a timeline of the activities we wanted to accomplish over the next sixty days and prioritize them. We then realized we had a tremendous amount of news to announce that could ultimately generate the leads that they needed, and it was not in their best interest to scale back to meet their budget. Not wanting to waste the opportunities at hand, we brainstormed ways to be creative with the budget so that both sides were satisified and we could continue without going dark. At the end of the day, we didn’t lose revenue and the client was able to stay within their budget and benefit from continuing the program. We found the solution only by looking at untraditional methods and not just focusing on the standard process.

While everyone may not be able to make those compromises, even the notion of trying to find a solution that has the client’s best interest in mind can prove to be a valuable move. Creating and keeping a good relationship with your client is invaluable and makes those negotiations that much easier.