"If ivver tha does owt fer nowt"

(should we undertake ‘FREE’ work)

 

As a relatively young company Spot On is often asked to demonstrate its capabilities with a ‘FREE’ piece of work. We are not opposed to doing this but we feel it can sometimes ‘Cheapen’ the brand somewhat, or “and if ivver tha does owt fer nowt”, as they say here in Yorkshire.

We have (in a previous lives) worked in the industry for many years (30+ years) servicing blue chip multinational companies with great success but currently we have a small but constantly growing, portfolio of work we can hold up as our own, hence understandably the requirement to sometimes prove our quality of services.

This ‘FREE’ work is a necessary hook to get new business but we have seen this can be the thin end of the wedge, where some would-be clients are concerned and “you did it for free last time so you must be cheap” mentality.

Our approach has been to build relationships and true partnerships, so if we do the ‘FREE’ piece of work we always make the client aware of how much the work would have cost, this manages expectations for the next project and hopefully returns some control back to us. We have found the true partner appreciates the openness and accept the ‘FREE’ work for what it is, a try before you buy sample, not a route into cheap work.

If we do get a client who is constantly trying to undervalue our proposition we have to ask, is this client a true partner and are they traveling in the same direction as us? Martyn Duffield MBE once gave a memorable lecture about staff and clients swimming in the same direction and building the business, rather than swimming against and destroying it, we now see the relevance.