The true cost of the "$0 change request"

Documented scope

In the the services world, you start each project with a statement of work (SoW) that lays out what the consultant will provide—fees, assumptions, client responsibilities, etc.

Like any contractual document, it reflects the best information at the time.

Then real life happens:

• You / the client find something else that needs to be done to support the work
• The complexity of a particular component of work exceeds the bounding assumptions that are defined in the SoW
• The client comes to you and says, “Can you add [this] to the work you are doing?”

Giving away work for free

Any time I’ve had a contractor do work at my house, I of course don’t want to have to pay for the changes. I just want the contractor to do the work… just get it done.

As a service provider myself, sometimes I even find myself thinking, “Eh… I’ll just do this additional work without bringing up additional fees with the client… it will just make things go more smoothly.”

Sometimes these changes are small, and if you bring it up with a client, they're likely to say, “Come on, it’s an additional 10 hours on a 500 hour project… it’s like 2%...you can absorb that!”

And so I believe: too often, PS practitioners have given up brining it up for discussion with the client – and just do the work without mentioning anything.

You’ve not only doing unpaid work—you’re not even getting the credit you deserve for being a such a good person!

I’ve heard (and said!) it all before myself

There may be a host of reasons to NOT charge the customer for the additional hours:

• There’s no more client budget to pursue
• It truly is a small item that will not negatively impact the overall project margin
• This is the first project with the client and you're trying to build a positive relationship

…and so on.

When I was running a PS org, I heard all of the above and more. As the leader of a small consulting firm, I’ve told many of the same lines to myself!

But: you need to avoid the dreaded “death by a thousand cuts” associated with giving away a few hours here or a few hours there.

Pretty soon, those small little things start to add up to real time and real dollars... and possibly a boss or finance manager asking you some tough questions.

Get the credit you deserve!

For the past while, I have been advising clients to do a “$0 Change Request.”

Yes—doing a change request does cost you some admin time and money—but hear me out.

There is a “theory of reciprocity” in negotiations: when one party receives something, they feel compelled (at some point) to reciprocate with their negotiating partner.

The concept of the $0 Change Request is to enable the service provide to:

1. Document the work they are doing
2. Document that there is no fee for the changes
3. Get the client to acknowledge both: a) the changes and b) no additional fees

So, instead of this simply being a conference room discussion about “can’t you just do this for us now?”, it turns into an official scope change—and you get the credit (as documented in the change order) for doing the work at no charge.

You may even do 3 or 4 of these $0 Change Requests (CR) in a row. More credit for you is built up.

Now, take the credit you deserve!

At some point, you will not have the authority, budget, or desire to continue to do change requests at no charge.

Let’s say it's now the 5th CR. The client wants “just one more thing.” You push back (lightly) that you cannot do this at no charge. The client, as they are want to do, keeps pushing on you. “It’s not that much work!”

You can now pull out those four $0 CRs that you previously executed and state calmly, “I recognize it may not be a lot of work, but it does add up. As you can see with these four CRs, I’ve accommodated a number of requests. We can do this work you are asking for, but this time, it will need to be paid.”

So, rather than it just being a discussion about additional work, it transitions to a discussion about equity and balance of trade.

Asaph Advisors are a business consulting firm who help professional services organizations identify and execute performance and profitability improvements, such as services revenue, billable utilization, and project execution. Find more resources from them here.