Do you inform the client of any resource or rate changes?
Last updated by Brady Stroud [SSW] 8 months ago.See historyAn important source of comfort for any client is a feeling that they are in control and they know the basics of what is going on. The fundamental part of this is who is working for them and how much it is costing.
Therefore, if you change the developers on a project or if one or more of their rates change, it is very important to inform the client, before sending them the next invoice, where they will find out and could think that you're being shifty.
We have standard templates for these situations in our intranet shared documents. You can see some examples here:
| To: | {{ CLIENT EMAIL }} |
| Subject: | Notice of change to Scott’s rates |
Hi {{ CLIENT NAME }},
As per our conversation, I wanted to let you know that Scott was promoted to Solution Architect earlier this year. We held back his rate change until the end of this phase of the project, but we will be implementing his new rate as of {{ DATE }}.
Please find his new standard rate attached below.
Scott Smith
- Profile: https://ssw.com.au/people/sample
- Standard Hourly Rate: ${{ STANDARD RATE }}+GST
- Prepaid Hourly Rate: ${{ PREPAID RATE }}+GST (minimum 40 hours per resource, subject to prepaid terms)
I trust you've been happy with Scott's contribution to your project so far.
Let me know if you have any questions; always happy to talk.
Figure: Good example - Email informing the client about an individual rate change
| To: | {{ CLIENT EMAIL }} |
| Subject: | {{ CLIENT NAME }} - Notice of change to SSW rates |
Hi {{ CLIENT NAME }},
As per our conversation, SSW will be increasing our rates across the board from {{ DATE }}
Our mission is to continue delivering the premier software solutions you've come to expect. Our key constraint is finding and keeping top-level software engineers who make it possible for us to consistently build superior enterprise software.
As you know, there is also inflation and resulting CPI increases that change the financial landscape over time and as such we must adjust our rates.
After careful consideration, we've decided to increase SSW’s rates by ${{ INCREASE }}+GST per hour for all our clients.
Thank you for all the work you’ve done with us, and we look forward to doing much more with you in the years to come.
Figure: Good example - Email informing the client about a company-wide rate change
