The first thing I do with a potential client is ask them to tell me a bit about the project they have in mind. Their answer informs a lot of the questions that follow but the very first thing I am hoping to figure out is this – What are your video project expectations?
Unspoken expectations are a shortcut to miscommunication, disappointment and failure.
When seeking help with your video production needs, it is really important to realize where you are at with your project.
Projects come in all shapes and sizes. So do expectations.
It is really important to think about what kind of experience you expect.
Do you just need help with one specific aspect of production?
Will you need a small or large production crew?
Are you looking for creative input or do you have an idea and script ready for production?
All of these expectations need to be factored into any estimate or proposal. Without them, we are just shooting in the dark, hoping to magically meet unspoken expectations. There is really no point in that kind of guessing game.
Any expectations that don’t make it into an agreement before a project begins will cause friction, one way or another. Often these are new requests that come up after the project has begun. This is called “scope creep,” in which the scope of a project creeps outside of the original agreement.
Scope creep can be a blessing or a curse for vendors, depending on how they look at it.
Either the producer will feel pressured to meet these new expectations and reduce the profitability of the project OR will point out that this is not in the contract and the project will cost more.
Personally I look at scope creep as a blessing because it means more business inside of a project. When met with new requests, I am happy to say, “Yes, and it will cost this much.”
For example, let’s say we delivered a series of videos and you call me to ask, where are my closed captions? To which I would say, we haven’t discussed closed captions for this project but I am happy to tell you what that will cost. Would you like to start a new invoice?
From your side, you want to be explicit in your video project expectations about the entire project so there are no surprise costs and you are clear that new requests come with new invoices. The rest of this video series is about how to get you to that point.
In the next video we will talk about desired outcomes, our first metric for success.
If this was your first time watching, you should start with our introduction to video marketing success.
