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Sllooooowwww Payers
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Great information Mads, that is definitely going into my “weapons for obtaining payment” folder. Also, i can’t stipulate enough a rock solid contract at the start of the project signed by all parties.
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All good information, some of which goes into the ol iPhone for future reference. 90 day payment by advertising agencies seems to be the norm in the US since the 1970s, when I first worked with them. But 90+ is exorbitant no matter what the business, government or not. Remember, for all they know, you have rent, staff salaries, taxes and more to pay. If you didn’t get paid for many months, you wouldn’t survive, and they rely on your taxes to pay their bills.
Do you have enough of a relationship with the senior people there to ask for a meeting? (or have you done that yet?). I found in days gone by that often a chat with a senior person, explaining that it’s a delicate topic but that you have gone long beyond your normal aging period, that you talked to folks lower down in the ranks to no avail, and you really need to know what they think you should do. Politics works on back door conversations to actually get things done. It sounds like you are justified in calling for a chat. If that doesn’t work, often a letter from a lawyer to their accounts payable department gets things moving. Do you retain a lawyer? Is it worth the cost of having them write a letter on your behalf?
Al
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It brings up one other issue, that perhaps you folks run into. What is your definition, in your contracts, of ‘acceptance’ of the product? This is a grey area. If you have a steering committee of powerful players within the organization, how do you go into the project defining what the acceptance criteria is? I know going in what the idea for the final video is for clients, i.e. cover the following topics, 7 to 9 minute film, etc. But actually specifying, so that Tom could avoid being told that he failed in his job, (something he might not be aware of). He should be able to say, ‘according to the contract, we accomplished the goals as set out in the contract, in the storyboard and in the script. Or is that too much to ask?
Al
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Hey Al,
Interesting point about failing to deliver to expectations.
In particular in creative industries it is “often in the eye of the beholder”. I have in the past had clients who moved the goal-post a couple of miles from initial idea to development, through script to final delivery. At which point I state how much work that has been done on the project, and why we could not afford to pay them for having their video produced – it is a very crude way of doing it and not one I like using. It does deal with clients not being specific enough, which is often happening when you’re working on mid to large projects for the CEO, but managed by a nervous underling.
If you do deliver a project at the specified length, then one must assume that you’ve completed the job. If the client doesn’t feel happy, it could be argued down to circumstances outside anyone’s control.
But it is likely to be the producer/director/sales manager not managing expectations – i.e. client thought that they were getting a “Super Bowl” size advert, and instead got cable channel no 783 after hours low-budget car commercial. If you don’t manage the client, you won’t win on delivery. And some clients you’ll never be able to manage, which are the ones you pass on to your competitors… 🙂
Ultimately, it is about delivering the project and get the client to accept your delivery. If it is easy to rectify, just do it. If not, and it is your fault, make sure to be insured on any project costing more than you can afford to fix.
My 5p
All the Best
Mads@madsvid, London, UK
Check out my other hangouts:
Twitter: @madsvid
https://mads-thinkingoutloud.blogspot.co.uk -
Thanks Mads. Yes, I do a very detailed job of specifying that we have to work in “pre-production” phase and “production/post production” phase. I usually require a set of steering committee monthly meetings, a storyboard and a script, if only to detail key technical concepts that need to be conveyed. I also usually require either 1/3rd up front, or the ability to bill for my time monthly as I go along. I’ve not had a failure in 3 years of doing this, but was curious as my business is growing (I’ve just won another project and have a likely sure thing under contractual discussion). So I’m starting to ponder if there is a tightening up of my processes to avoid customer dissatisfaction after jumping all their hurdles.
Al
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Sounds like the laws are different in the UK (fortunately, in your case)…
Here in the States you can’t just decide to add late charges or pentalites to a late invoice after the fact… that has to be stated in your original contract. Ours have non-specific verbage something to the effect of “…charges up to the maximum allowable by law…” which here, is just a bit over 2% a month.
Now, sometimes though adding that finance charge can help… clients not realizing they are not legally obligated to pay it if it wasn’t an item in the original contract… the threat can help get them moving.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Nick: LOL. Those were better days.
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31 days. I started using positive motivation. I add a discount now if paid by…
Much better than rattling cages.
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Well that may work – except for us who works with some grinders who pays the discounted rate after 90-180 days, and not the full one…
All the Best
Mads@madsvid, London, UK
Check out my other hangouts:
Twitter: @madsvid
https://mads-thinkingoutloud.blogspot.co.uk -
Yeah, we tend to avoid government RFPs. It’s too much work outside of doing the actual work with not enough reward.
I have a colleague who works for a production company that specializes in government work. They have a team that handles the “business” portion, the cost of which gets rolled into the production budget. He calls it a “PIA charge.”
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