There is a whole fear, ambiguity, red tape, doubts and formality. The service provider and a client have a working relationship that is built on service agreements and contracts. The promise that is agreed upon depends on what is written in the document. The clients will only benefits when they get maximum value with the partnership with the service provider. These service providers can be a vendor, tech partners, consultants, etc.
The clients are not asking for efforts, deliverables, skills, time taken etc. They are not asking for How many features you’ll build for them? How many internal meetings you’ll conduct? Which process of software development you are using? How many team members have you included to develop the feature? What is the education of your team member? How many years of experience do you have? They need the benefits.
They need your expertise however if you find any new insights. It’s your responsibility to share the insights with your client. It may not be something they would be happy to hear. They must know the possible options they have and they can make a decision on it. It’s not our job to think on their behalf. We offer them solutions when the scenario changes due to any changes. We should offer alternative solutions or extended time. It’s their call on what they choose to do. This is an exercise you do to build trust and also get an idea of the kind of client you have. Not every situation will be perfect and you don’t want to bear all the costs at all times. Especially in the case of software, creative work and consulting your profit margin should sit nicely at 40-50% otherwise it is an expensive business to run.
Once you reach that comfort your job is to train your team to communicate similar messages on time to time and keep if as friendly and honest as possible.
Vikram Shetty 