What to do when a client pulls out of a job last minute. EP #316 - Den Lennie

Hey, guys, have you ever wondered what it would be like or have you experienced the situation where a client has pulled out of a gig with just literally days to go and you've already committed some resources? What do you do in that situation? Well, that happened to one of my clients recently and for obvious reasons and privacy, we're not going to reveal the specifics of the client and so some of this will be bleeped out. But I think you'll find the way in which we rallied round this client in the VBA Elite Mastermind will give you some insights as to the power of a really good community, especially one that is powered by video business owners. Here's what happened.

It is, you know, business lessons are never free and they sting, especially when you get caught your pants down.

But we've got to look at that for what it is. It's happened, it's a lesson.

Certainly those contractual kind of cancellation policies, what this comes down to is what is fair and reasonable. And I think I would use a phrase like, look, we understand that for reasons with our control, the plan has changed. We accept that. We understand that happens in sport when there's no hard feelings on our part. But we've put in an enormous amount of time in logistics and planning this. We've had to stand down a bunch of people who are going to bill us for work done today. We've committed to various travel commitments and we've turned down a lot of other work to focus on this. So in any other circumstances, I think 50% would be fair and reasonable. But as a gesture of goodwill on our part and the fact that we've looked at minimizing our actual out of pocket expenses and the work that's done today, we're. I think it comes down to what is fair and reasonable. And we feel like we've had a look at this and the minimum we could go is 25% of the original budget because we're really, literally, we put so much work into this and we're out of pocket for work that we can't do now because it's too late, they've gone with other people. So I think we just want to come to an agreement that is fair and reasonable for both parties. We understand things have changed. We also have to be remunerated for the work we've done. I hope you can see that that's a fair and reasonable requ. You could also say to your contact at the.

We're out of pocket a fair chunk of change on this and we've blown A lot of goodwill with our suppliers, which is insurmountable in terms of value. We've got.

Fixers and gear hire companies that we've literally just fucked around and have a really frank conversation with him about the fact that we've literally bucked, we worked so hard to get this done. Now, that aside, you know, I understand this is not in your control. You know, I think 35% is probably 15% short of where it should be. But what's important for me here is two things. One is I want to maintain our relationship because I don't hold you in any way responsible for this. And shit happens. And we get it. We're a business with big boys like.

But, you know, we've got to be paid for all the effort we put in so far, not to mention all the stuff we've canceled or postponed or not being able to do because of this. So, you know, I'd like to get us to as close to 35% as possible. But here's what I'd like to offer you is because of my relationship with you and because we're going to be and other things, and this is just a moment in time, stuff happens, we get it is that I'm going to give you the authority to go down to 25%, but I'd like us to try and get close to 30. So why don't you use that as a negotiation tool and use it as your leverage to say, look, I've worked really hard to get these guys down. They could be charging you 50, I think, if we can get, if we get to 30. But that would be fair and equitable and reasonable under the circumstances. And then he's the hero for negotiating you down. That way they get to save some money, save a bit of face. The is the hero. They're going to look after you again.

So if you found these interesting and useful, there's a couple of things you can do next. One is you can join our free community, the Scale youe Video Business Community, or go and watch our free training. Both are linked below. And let's work together to build your video business.

You've been listening to the Video Business Accelerator podcast with your host, Dan Lenny. If you are a video business owner who is tired of going it alone and would benefit from mentorship, support and weekly accountability, then mouse over to www.videobusinessaccelerator.com to learn more about how the Accelerator program can help you today. Don't forget to subscribe and rate the show over on itunes. And we'd really appreciate you taking a few minutes to leave a review.