TWO THINGS YOU CAN DO INSTEAD OF CHARGING “CHANGE FEES”
If you’re anything like most of the planners out there, you likely have more than one couple postponing their wedding right now. Not only are you supporting your couples through a whirlwind of emotions, but you’re also navigating your own finances, which can be a bit scary if you’re seeing anticipated revenue from this quarter move to next or even worse, revenue planned for this year moving to 2021. While everyone is well within their right to implement whatever fees they’d like as a business owner, I’d like to encourage planners to consider alternatives to what are being delightfully referred to as “change fees”. As an industry that has been blasted in the past for taking advantage of couples during an emotional time, I personally hate to see anyone be wrongfully accused of trying to make additional profits off of such a detrimental time in our couples lives. Because I know the heart of every planner out there, even if we’ve never met, I know this would never be the case. But perception is often more important than reality and I think we want to tread very carefully right now. With that in mind, I want to suggest two alternatives to change fees depending on your concerns and motives for implementing them.
IMPLEMENT A RENEGOTIATED PLANNING CALENDAR
If your number one motive behind implementing change fees is you know moving a date further out means more work, I encourage you to explore the option of renegotiating your services and planning calendar. Rather than continuing to maintain the status quo for another six months, explain that once you’ve navigated all of the conversations related to the postponement, you will temporarily pause services and pick back up at a later date. You can decide for yourself what date that will be and can determine your boundaries on answering simple emails and questions between now and then. But rather than assuming the couple will demand more of your time, give them the option to put a hold on the planning until a later date. If your client is not amenable to this option, then you can easily explain that you need to charge more for your time and any related overhead. (i.e., your assistant’s time and so forth). But, whatever you do, do not call this a “change fee”, because that is not what it is. It is a reasonable request to be paid more because you are going to be investing more on your end.
CONSIDER PROGRESS PAYMENTS
If your bigger concern is delayed revenue or ensuring the couple is fully committed to their new date, I recommend requesting a progress payment in your contract addendum. This may look like asking for 50% of the anticipated remaining balance to be paid upon signing the addendum or it may look like something much smaller. You decide. But, ultimately it will allow you to retain some of your anticipated revenue in the same timeframe it was originally due. Again, this is not a “change fee”. It is simply asking the client to make a payment towards their existing contract closer to the original due date rather than delaying everything until the new date.
While we are all in uncharted territories, I think it’s important to observe how other industries are responding to this crisis. Mortgage companies are delaying payments. The IRS is postponing taxes and more closer to home, you’ll be hard pressed to find a hotel who is implementing a “change fee.” I really don’t think we want to go down in history as the one industry who didn’t follow suit. This should be treated the same way you would approach any other unforeseeable issue that may cause your couples to move their date. I can’t speak for you, but in 15 years, we have yet to charge a client for moving their date due to a terminal illness, death or any other tragedy. And I don’t see any reason why we would approach this crisis any differently.
If you want to learn more about what you can do right now as a business owner, download our “12 THINGS TO DO DURING TIMES OF UNCERTAINTY”. You’ll receive this and an accompanying worksheet to guide you through your own process. Good luck! I know we will all get through this together!