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Topic: Need a publicist client contract agreement
| Author | Message |
| alisterspr | Posted – 6/16/2009 11:28:25 AM | show profile | flag this post Can anyone help me in obtaining a publicist client contract or give advise on how to word the area regarding ***the clients income increasing ***due to the efforts of the publicist and what percentage publicist should get?? I have a basic contract but it doesn't include this information. Any help is appreciated. I want to be fair to client but also to myself with adding this to the contract....Thanks |
| maphop | Posted – 6/17/2009 9:57:12 AM | show profile | flag this post This is a pertty unusual clause and one that's usually reserved for working with professionals - cosmetic surgeons, Wedding Planners, CPAs, Personal Injury Attorneys, etc. - who are looking at PR to not only raise their visibility in a given region but are trying to base their PR retainer fees on specific criteria, in this case sales that can be directly attributed to your efforts. This could be tricky in this economy (hard to say whether even maintaining their income level as opposed to losing total revenues is based on your work) and frankly, it sounds like they are looking for a sales manager motivated by commissions as much as a public relations firm -- I've seen bonuses built into contracts based on clicks and web page viewing based on social media efforts but I suspect that only a few people on this board have this kind of clause built into their standard agreements. While I definitely have clients who look at things like webpage views, event attendance, membership additions, requests for celebrity attendance at events and similar criteria as one success measurement of our campaigns on their behalf, I don't have a bonus or commission-like clause in any of our contracts. Cyrus? |
| Cyrus | Posted – 6/17/2009 5:10:01 PM | show profile | flag this post I don't do anything of this sort whatsoever. And I have lawyers and other people ask all the time about it. I had one professional acquaintance who's a trust & estates attorney arrange a meeting with a colleague interested in PR. After the meeting, I mentioned his colleague basically indicated he had no formal marketing budget and didn't know how he would fund it. My professional acquaintance said something to the effect of "he needs to get a good idea of what his return will be before engaging" I didn't say anything to him at the time, but I wanted to ask him if he could guarantee me that my estate wouldn't be dragged into probate court by crazy relatives (believe me, it happens) or that there wouldn't be some other kind of challenge. The reason I didn't ask him is obviously he'd say he couldn't guarantee it. Likewise, there's no way I can show his colleague anything before we work together that would answer any specific revenue question he had. I personally would stay away from this kind of arrangement unless there's a base fee first. If there is, then you can include language that would give you a portion of receipts. ------ Cyrus Afzali Astoria Communications www.astoriacomm.com |
| marianna | Posted – 6/21/2009 9:24:50 PM | show profile | flag this post I've heard of these sorts of agreements, but I, too, would never agree to work this way. Mainly because its unfair to the PR person, as they usually can't close a deal and will be punished if the client screws up. For example, I had a Chinese law firm as a client and got them lots of good press. This resulted in many meetings with potential clients, but because of some unusual factors (having nothing to do with me) they didnt end up getting any new work. So, if I had a commission-based agreement with them, I would have gotten NOTHING out of the deal, even though the press coverage was great. So unless you have power to close a deal, I definitely wouldnt work this way. |
| info55 | Posted – 7/2/2009 6:21:04 PM | show profile | flag this post I wouldn't include these clauses either I worked on a project for two years for a client. There was a ton of negotiating back and forth and, in the end, the client opted not to move forward. This had nothing to do with all the work I'd put into the project, but extenuating circumstances on their end. If they had a clause that I'd have gotten payment based on everything working out as they'd originally planned, then I'd be out of two year's worth of payment. Besides, we have to be careful about the standards we're setting for our profession. It devolves quickly into "If you can't get me this and this with a cherry on top, then you don't get paid." We're professionals who should be paid for our time and expertise, just like anyone else. |
