Contracts are Just Not Worthwhile.
Just the other day a client asked me to send over the contract that we use for our $200 Social clients. They are ready to move forward with us and wanted to look over the contract. I replied, "sorry we don't use contracts with our clients." Quiet on the other end then, "Seriously? That is so cool!"
A little history of our company High Impact Media Group Panama. We began in 2012 after my partners decided they did not want to keep me around. It was a pretty stressful time for Anabell and I as we scrambled to build an online marketing company from scratch. We were newly married and now lost 80% of our income. What do we do now?
I reached out to a few friends who were also in the precious metals industry and told them I was free to work with them and they agreed to have us do their social media. When I was asked if they needed to sign a contract I told them no because I trust that they will honor the deal.
Over the next four years we have had over 30 clients come and go. Some stick around for the long term but there have also been a few that quit on us after 30 days. What I have learned is that not having a contract is good for both sides.
Why Would Not Having Contracts is a Good Thing?
- If the chemistry between the client and us does not match we can end the arrangement.
- Feelings are never hurt.
- No lawyers involved.
- We have to prove our worth to a client. They don't have to worry that they are signing a deal with a crappy service.
- If the client does not follow our leadership we can end the deal.
Now some of this may seem harsh but imagine what some clients and services deal with because a contract binds them. What if the client is a perpetual pain in the ass and takes up 90% of your time? Maybe they don't listen to anything you say. In the game of social media word gets around quick who your clients are. If the client is sharing poor quality content the followers will quickly assume that we were involved which reflects upon us.
We have had clients that were stubborn and thought they knew it all. We had one client a few years back who hired us to boost their presence online. After just a few days we had her accounts flying high across social media. She had images that were going viral left and right. Then three days before renewal she messaged me that she could do it on her own.
Over the next few weeks her accounts languished as all the momentum quickly disappeared. She emailed me and asked what she was doing wrong. I told her that the only reason she was getting any results was because we were leveraging our over 200,000 followers to boost her posts. Over the next few months her business practically disappeared from social media.
Then we had a client tell us that the way we do social media makes very little sense. Why would we share images to grow a business? I recently looked up that clients account and over two years later they still have practically zero growth. Sometimes I just shake my head and realize some people need to find their path on their own.
We also have had clients that have placed their whole online business in our laps and said, "make something of this please". These clients tend to be the happiest because they realize we are never going to do something that harms their accounts. Some of these clients have gone from nothing to thousands of followers in very short periods.
Can Contracts be a Good Thing for Your Business.
- No, I never want to work with contracts.
- We have very few American clients who seem to be the ones who are used to working with contracts.
- Sure, if You like to work with a chain around your neck.
Frankly Contracts are Against Everything I Believe In.
I truly believe we have avoided many headaches over the last few years because we decided to not require our clients to sign contracts. We also do something that is very different than our competitors. We are very open about what we do for our clients. Everything we do is open before the client. They could easily do it themselves. Our peers think we are nuts but if a client thinks they can do what I do, more power to them.
It comes down to the question, "do I let Randy handle it or do I take the time to learn every aspect of social media?" I have a saying that I like to tell my clients from the beginning. "You can either have a professional do it for you or you can take the next fours years and learn on your own." Most would rather let someone who knows what they are doing handle their online presence for them. The same goes for guidance. I don't tell our client Dr. Cashion how to do chiropractic care. She trusts us with her brand.