Write a Scope of Work that Saves Your Business, Not Hinders It! Learn How.

We’ve all heard of that client relationship that didn’t go quite as planned. Maybe there was a misunderstanding, or expectations were different on both sides. Or maybe there was confusion within your business that caused the project to crumble. Today, we are going to discuss why a scope of work (SOW) and/or contract is a necessity in today’s business landscape, and how your business can set itself up for success by implementing one!

Why It’s Important

You may be thinking that as the organized business owner you are, you don’t need format contracts or scopes; but let me tell you a little secret - you do. When you work with clients, whether it’s business to business (B2B) or business to consumer (B2C), you need to consider your goals and objectives, and how you will get there. The easiest and most efficient way to accomplish those goals is to create a roadmap, including specific deadlines. If you don’t do this, you are leaving the client (or even yourself) open to suggesting tasks along the way that may be outside of what you budgeted for or if you’re in the biz “outside of your scope”. You want to make sure you have the SIGNED paperwork to back you up when you have to say no. Otherwise, you can quickly go above and beyond your budget which will make your project not profitable. A good scope or SOW, outlines the deliverables, how much and WHEN you will be paid, any timelines/key dates that you know you can stick to, and has both party’s signatures. Aside from being clear with your clients (and yourself - if you’re a people pleaser like me), you are also showing your team what is involved (and what isn’t) in terms of what the project will cover. Let’s get into some specifics…

Scope of Work

The Scope of Work (SOW) is the agreement between your business and a client which covers what will be included in the project. It should contain big objectives, and how you will carry those out as a team, and if you know the detailed tasks and know you can stick to them exactly as written, then you can include those as well. Outlining the document in a clear and well-formatted way makes it easy for your business and the client to follow along and understand. Here are some important steps to creating a scope of work:

1. Create a project overview (a few sentences)

2. Add a problem statement or challenge that your client is facing (could be one line)

3. Goals and objectives for solving the problem or challenge (should be bulleted out)

4. How the objectives will be met (deliverables) (these are bullets also)

5. Any assumptions you have (for example, that the client will be providing imagery or that you are not implementing the social strategy, or that video is not included, etc)

6. Time frame (reference key dates, not every minor approval)

7. Project fees (how much you are charging for the project and when each payment is due)

8. Signatures (included at the bottom)

Why Your Business Needs One

So, where does an SOW fit in with you and your particular business?! Well, let’s start by going through some important questions that will help you create your scope of work.

Firstly, who is going to be involved in the project, and what roles do they each have? By determining who is going to be working on the project and what roles they will be holding, you are setting your team up for success!

Another important question you must ask yourself is, when would our team be able to complete this project? In many cases, you’d want to slightly overestimate when a project could be completed so you give yourself plenty of wiggle room.

Quick Tip: if you fail to complete a project on time or only provide some of the deliverables on time, it could damage the client relationship and your future reputation. Make sure you always communicate with the client about updated timelines or expectations!

Another thing to determine are goals and objectives. Are they reasonable given the strengths of your team members? Are there any anticipated hurdles with how the project will be completed?

Determine project deliverables, and determine how often you will be checking in with each team member/aspect of the project. Another important consideration for your business is what type of project management software you and your team might use to communicate progress efficiently. Some great project management tools include Monday, Trello, Asana and others. So there you have it! Set yourself up for success (and avoid the pitfalls of so many others) by truly understanding why a scope of work is important, what it includes, and how you can implement one for your business projects.

Setting up your own marketing agency or freelance consultancy? Keep following along as we post more articles with ways to help run your business successfully. Learn from our successes and missteps, like how to make your website convert faster!