Before you lock yourself into a long-term contract with any agency or professional, start with a trial month or period. Trust me, you'll thank me later.

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In this episode, we'll cover:

• Horror Stories from the Industry

  • In the past 15+ years, I've witnessed many horror stories resulting from overlooking trial periods.
  • As a business owner, it can be a nightmare to continue paying an agency or vendor that fails to deliver the promised value, simply because you signed a contract.

• The Manipulative Nature of Contracts

  • At the core, such contracts can be manipulative, holding you accountable for payments while not ensuring they meet their deliverables.

• The Real Costs: Time, Money, and Energy

  • Beyond the financial burden of paying for unfulfilled work, you also have to worry about getting that work done.
  • This might mean doing it yourself—adding to your already overwhelming workload—or finding, vetting, and paying someone else to do it.

• Trial Periods: A Solution

  • Many talented and competent professionals and agencies are happy to offer a trial period or month.
  • Even with the best intentions and efforts, sometimes it just doesn’t work out between the brand and the agency/professional. When this happens, it's best for both parties to move on to a better fit.

• Malpractices in Today's Market

  • Forcing clients to continue paying for a service they no longer find valuable is a malpractice in today’s market.

• Advice for Business Owners

  • I strongly advise extreme caution when entering long-term contracts with new agencies or professionals.

• When to Lock-In with Long-Term Contracts

  • If you’ve already evaluated them with a trial run or have solid evidence that they deliver far more value than they cost, don’t hesitate to lock them in with a long-term contract.
  • If a competent professional or agency (especially a smaller one) dedicates most, if not all, of their time and resources to growing your brand, and you're seeing reasonable progress with a clear, promising roadmap ahead, don't lose them.
  • Especially those who go the extra mile to do impactful things for your brand that few others in the market dare to do—they are the rare gems.
  • Value them and incentivize them to stay focused on your brand for a long period. Otherwise, you risk losing this talent to another brand, or worse, your competitors.

• Application Beyond Agencies

  • Though we’re focusing on individuals and agencies here, this advice applies to other vendors as well, such as SaaS products for your DTC brand.
  • Start with a monthly plan, evaluate not just the potential of the tool but how much value you and your team can actually derive from it before committing long-term.

• Financial Prudence

  • Be overprotective of the money you spend on your business.
  • Every dollar wasted on something that doesn’t add value is a missed opportunity to invest in something that could.

Tune in to learn how to safeguard your business from the pitfalls of long-term contracts and make smarter, more strategic decisions.