Even when you get the client’s approval at every stage of the project…
You still end up eating the cost of their changes at the 11th hour just so you can finish the damn project and keep the client happy.
When there’s no consequences to asking for changes later, clients see their approval as a courtesy.
You need to make them commit →
The problem:
You’re letting the client treat approvals as a courtesy when what you really need is a commitment.
The benefit of solving it:
The client makes decisions that have consequences, and you can charge when they want to change that.
Why what you've tried has failed:
The client hasn't been forced into making a costly decision yet.
Here's how to solve it:
Don't start planning until 3 numbers are locked in writing:
total length or quantity
a complexity ceiling
the number of revision rounds
Frame it to the client this way:
"Before we get into the [storyboards / wireframes / whatever the planning deliverable is], I want to lock a few things down while changes are still free. Once we're into production, adding scope costs real money. Right now, it costs nothing. So let's agree on exactly what we're building before we start building it and iterate on the cheap side of this project."
This gets the client’s attention because you just told them this protects their budget.
Once those 3 numbers are in writing, anything brought up later down the line is automatic scope expansion with a price attached.
You don't have to negotiate it, argue for it, or apologize for it…
The client already committed.
Now, this doesn’t mean you won’t have to remind them of that and show them the Scope of Work doc, what they committed to, and how this is outside those terms…
Clients forget, they have other projects going on and freelancers they’re working with at the same time.
So don’t shy away from a polite, clear reminder of the project’s scope and what they agreed to.
Most clients have simply forgotten and didn’t understand the implications of their request.
By manufacturing this structure from the beginning, you are protecting your time and margins, as well as the success of the client’s project.
Every project where the client treats approval as a courtesy is a project where you absorb the cost of their indecision.
That keeps happening until you have a system that stops it →
Best,
Jamie
P.S. Save the written confirmation of those 3 numbers somewhere both you and the client can find it (not buried in a months-long email thread) so you can find it quickly.
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