Extra Work Can Become an Unplanned Discount

Extra work can be a form of discounting. Check the workload your fixed price covers and make the next pricing decision deliberately.

The price stays the same, but the work grows. A follow-up becomes another meeting. A small revision needs another person. A task outside the original agreement becomes something the client now expects.

Those additions may be worth doing. The question is whether the business has chosen to include them and understands what they cost.

Look at what the team actually delivers

Compare a recently completed job with its original scope. Include preparation, meetings, revisions and follow-up. Ask the people doing the work which requests were expected and which arrived later.

Some additions are ordinary judgment calls. Others recur often enough to be treated as part of the service. Distinguishing them helps you decide what belongs in the next quote.

The SBA’s break-even guide separates variable costs from fixed costs. The amount left after delivering a job still has to help cover the business’s fixed costs before it becomes profit. Keeping the quoted price unchanged does not protect that amount when delivery becomes more expensive.

Decide which extras you want to keep

An extra check may prevent mistakes. A useful follow-up may help the client use what they bought. Keep work that serves a clear purpose, and decide whether its cost belongs in the standard price.

For a request that changes the assignment, discuss the additional work before treating it as included. That could mean a separate quote, a revised scope or agreeing which other task will wait.

A request can also be declined. Explain what the existing agreement covers and what you can offer instead.

Use the next quote to make the choice clear

Before renewing or quoting similar work, compare what was promised with what the team actually provided. If you intend to keep the extra support, describe and price it. If it was an exception, make that clear before the client relies on it again.

Bring the people selling the service and the people delivering it into that discussion. They need the same understanding of what the next price includes.

More from this week

This piece stands on its own. Here are this week's 5 pieces:

• Monday: Extra Work Can Become an Unplanned Discount (this post)
• Tuesday: Leave a Job With Relationships You Can Keep (coming Tuesday)
• Wednesday: Your Website Should Promise What Your Team Can Deliver (coming Wednesday)
• Thursday: Before You Accept, Ask How Success Will Be Judged (coming Thursday)
• Friday: Ask What You Lost Before You Change the Price (coming Friday)

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