Years ago we were working on a medium-sized project for a government client, a video production with a good mix of motion graphics, 3D animation and live video. Interesting project, fun subject matter. We were all pretty excited about the job. Not a huge budget, but certainly worth our time. Or so we thought...
A couple of weeks in and we realized that the project coordinator on the government side was a "meeting guy." I'm fairly sure he came to work on Monday mornings, looked at his empty calendar and said to himself, "Hmmm...how can I fill my schedule, so I'll appear to be busy? I know, I'll call Pixel Workshop and set up a meeting!"
The problem was, he would call a meeting, come to our shop, and proceed to spend a couple of hours reviewing things that had long-ago been settled. He was killing time. And costing us money. Even worse was when he would ask us to come to his office, which, after fighting traffic and finding parking, could easily chew up half a day.
Obviously, some meetings are important, and need to happen as a regular part of doing business. But how do you protect yourself from the time-suckers? It's an important part of client management.
Your first line of defense is, of course, to bill for meeting time. When we prepare budgets this goes under "Producer Fees," which is a nice generic container for all of the things that take up time on a project that aren't directly line-item billable. Almost every project gets at least a couple of days of Producer Fees budgeted, and trust me, once you start tracking them (and you do want to track them!) you'll be amazed how quickly they get used. For our meeting-addicted client, simply remind them that they are working against a budget with every meeting. Be polite, but firm.
"Sure, I'd be glad to meet with you, but keep in mind that our budget is limited and we don't want to burn through our time together too quickly. How about we spend a few minutes together, now, on the phone, and that way we'll be sure to have time left toward the end of the project?"
If they insist on meeting, be sure to let them know that budget adjustments will need to be made later on if they run out of hours. This isn't always going to work, of course, and there are times when you just have to bite the bullet and hang in there, knowing that next time you will either budget way more time for meetings, or simply not bid on their next project.
The important thing is for you to set the tone with your clients that your time is valuable, and they are paying for it. You will give them tremendous value for their money, you will go to the ends of the earth to give them what they want, but you simply will not do it for free. Even if you're a one-person shot (especially!) you need to set the ground rules from the get-go. If you don't, you're setting yourself up to get taken advantage of.
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