Promises, Promises - A Guide to Missed Deadlines

Time takes everybody out. Time’s undefeated.

Rocky Balboa – Creed

 

It’s Saturday lunchtime. Leeds are on Sky yet again. The landlord in my local has (unusually for Salford) agreed to put the game on. And I’m in the office, hammering away at a draft for a new client. Why?

Because there’s something looming on Tuesday. Something that strikes fear deep into the heart of every copywriter. It’s a deadline, and the thought of missing one will chill your very blood.

But eventually, inevitably, at some point in your freelance career you’re going to hear Douglas Adam’s favourite sound as a deadline whooshes by.

How you handle this missed deadline might just be the most important decision you make.

How to Handle Missed Deadlines

Nobody wants to miss a deadline. I’ve not missed a deadline as a freelancer, but at some point it’ll happen. Illness, emergency or poor planning will strike and you’ll find yourself frantically wondering how to cram three days of work into six hours.

That’s why it’s important to have a plan. Ever since the time I was forced to set a company record for the most first drafts submitted in a single day as a junior copywriter (followed by a second record for ‘most amends required per 100 words‘) I’ve had a plan to handle any such deadline disasters.

Here’s my advice.

Keep Tabs on Your Calendar

Prevention is better than the cure, so make sure you keep a close eye on your calendar. Some freelancers swear by project management software such as Basecamp or Trello, while more laid-back planners like yours truly make do with an Evernote list, a handful of post-its and Google Calendar.

However you choose to organise your calendar, make sure you only book in work you have time for. Set realistic deadlines and stick to them. If you can’t meet a deadline, say so.

That last part isn’t good to hear. Turning down work seems like sending potential money straight to the competition. As the wife pointed out to me last week, “Just Eat’s been down ten minutes and now everyone I know has a Hungry House app.” If she’s pointed out that a failure to deliver can hamstring a business with a million-pound marketing budget, what’s it going to do to your more modest margins?

But think of it this way. What’s going to work better for your reputation in the long run? Being known as someone honest who can recommend another good copywriter when they’re you’re fully booked, or being that lying so-and-so who can’t keep her promises?

Be Honest

That leads us nicely into our next point. Honesty. It’s always the best policy. That means telling your clients the truth about deadlines. It’s easy to promise a rapid turnaround just to close that sale, but it’s much harder to actually deliver high quality work to a near impossible timeframe. Being honest up front will make sure you don’t miss your deadline by making sure you can fit your project into your schedule.

But what if you forgot that part, and now you know you’re not going to be able to write 12 more pages of high quality copy in six hours?

Again, honesty.

As soon as you know you’re going to miss the deadline, pick up that phone and tell your client. Don’t wait until the last minute because you’re lying to yourself about the speed at which you work. Just take a deep breath and dial.

The sooner your client knows, the more chance they have to push back that deadline. Finding out ten minutes before the end of the day that the web designer they’ve paid to work on their site tomorrow won’t have anything to do isn’t going to make them any less irritated.

Be Humble

Now isn’t the time to explain to a client that you missed their deadline because you had to work on a big marquee project for a blue chip company, or that you lost track or time polishing your awards. Be humble. It doesn’t matter how large or small the customer’s business is, they were relying on you and you let them down.

Be humble. Be contrite. Be apologetic, and be genuine.

You don’t get anywhere in business without a finely-tuned bullshit detector, so cut the crap and offer an honest apology. Then it’s time to work out how to make things right.

Offer Compensation

The best way to get things right is to do the opposite of every other business action you take. Give the client money back.

It might stick in the craw, but let’s face it. You’ve let someone down, you’re possibly in breach of contract, and you’ve probably got an irate customer on your hands. So it’s time to look at compensating the client.

Offer them a discount on the work that you’re currently working on, refund part of their deposit, or (if you’re confident of keeping the client), promise a discount on the next piece they commission you for.

Just remember – unhappy people spread bad news further and faster than happy people spread good news. So take the loss, learn from your mistakes, and do what it takes to make that client happy.

And then get your head down and get back to work. After all, the next deadline could only be a day away…

If you’ve faced any deadline doomsdays, share your scars and your coping mechanisms in the comments section below.