The Underscore Archives

2009/12/11 Rick Edwards <rick.edwards at gmail.com>:
> 2009/12/10 Ray Brooks <ray.userinterface at googlemail.com>
>
>>
>> No way. Double it. You only have to turn down one job to be 100% out
>> of pocket. Turning down work is what they are asking you to do, after
>> all. If they reject that, they aren't being serious.
>>
>> R
>>
>>
>
> Surely all they are asking is for you to turn down potential work from their
> competitors, potential being the key word here. So it would be better to
> turn down actual work on the off chance that you might get work with one of
> their competitors at some unforeseen point in the future? I'd think you'd
> have to carefully analyse the potential market here and who their
> competitors are and what the chances are of you landing a contract with them
> in the future. And I'm not convinced that just because someone turns down
> your quote because you are 60% (!!) over your nearest competitor who is
> willing to sign an exclusivity agreement means the client isn't "serious".
> There are a lot of other issues here, what benefits are there for you to
> have an exclusive deal with your client, it might mean that actually in the
> long run you get a lot more business through them than you would trying to
> pitch for work with their competitors, one assumes exclusivity works both
> ways.
>
> rick (not Rick)
> --
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>

Not sure about that. The client's reason to request an exclusivity
agreement is to prevent you from taking your knowledge of their
business to a competitor. An exclusivity agreement is only a big
positive for their business model: they keep their secrets but lose
nothing.

You as producer, on the other hand, require many websites for your
business model to succeed. You will be looking to pick up work
wherever you can: it is a struggle and big websites (if that is what
this is) go for £100k upwards. That may well be a considerable
proportion of your annual turnover as a small producer. As you are now
an experienced producer for this market, you will be more likely to
score work from their competitors, viz. your potential for getting new
clients becomes higher the more you work in a certain field. The
client are asking you to sacrifice that increased earning potential,
which is much greater after completion of the job than before you
started. If you feel that they are unlikely to offer you money simply
to prevent you working for anyone else, at least fix an amount of work
they must agree to provide you with for the period of the agreement.
That way, you can guarantee at least some business.

Of course, there are no hard and fast rules. They say that a bird in
the hand is worth two in the bush, so if you think you will be better
off in the long run turning down future work to get this job, do it.

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