​​As we’re heading into Q2 already (which really is insane to think about), I want to share a BTS look at what I’ve been working on for my clients this past month.

1) Contract reviews:

We recently had some projects that made us reevaluate our contract terms, plus shifts in the industry and creative space as a whole.

Now, disclaimer time, I am not a lawyer, so I never do legal advice (hard pass), so while I advise of clauses and terms to add or adjust, I always have my clients run the final questions through their lawyer to confirm the legality of it. All that to say, we recently added a couple things to our contracts ⬇️

• AI Disclosure: we grabbed this one from The Legal Paige (not an affiliate).
• Pause Clause: Make sure your contract has terms around feedback and delays. The Pause Clause essentially states that the project may be paused if requests aren’t met (ie, feedback or prep work) or they stop communicating after a specified period of time. The kicker? We include a fee for this. If we have to pause a project, that’s going to cost a pretty penny. Why? Because we held the spot on our calendar (and our team’s calendar) for the project and are losing money by delaying it and not booking new projects.

2) Service, scope, and timeline reviews:

My background is in the design industry and I’ve been an OBM for designers and copywriters for almost four years now. I’m pretty in tune with how these industries work, mixed with my client’s needs and goals.

Some of these changes include:

• Scaling back on deliverables that clients were fully utilizing (offer stuffing is a real thing and so often completely unnecessary).
• Extending timelines for a more thorough, less rushed project execution.
• Introducing new services, including templates with a customization add-on.

For one client, we even created a detailed spreadsheet of all the services and add-ons, accompanied by the inclusions, rate, and payment plan options. That way when they hopped on a sales call, they could pull up the spreadsheet and answer specifics about every single thing we offer (including payment plans) so they’re aware of the cost before we even send a proposal.

3) Workflow and operational updates:

We’ve been busy fine-tuning our operational workflows to accommodate new team members, transitioning to more efficient platforms (e.g., from Zoom to Sessions), and crafting specialized follow-up communications to enforce contract terms. We're also in the process of creating a new system for design support requests from past clients.

4) Analytic tracking:

To better inform our strategies and where to focus our marketing efforts, we’ve revamped analytic tracking. We monitor everything from leads conversation rates (leads > calls > booked projects) to social media engagement and email marketing effectiveness. This helps my clients know if they should be repurposing specific content or focusing on one platform over another to maximize engagement and conversions.

This is just a glimpse at what’s possible if we work together. I have ONE retainer spot open and if you’d like this kind of support in your business, fill out my contact form to get started!

Til next time,

Liz