Recently I was asked by a good friend to run a L.E.T. group as they were having some issues in their leadership group. I was so excited by the prospect however the program was cancelled as they found industry-free training. Here are some of my reflections and learnings I’d like to share about keeping it professional especially when working for a friend.
- Keep the friendship and professional relationship separate. It makes it easier to talk about money, makes me appear more professional and gives confidence in the program.
- Discuss $ upfront and with confidence. LET is a comprehensive program and well worth the $.
- Get a clear understanding of the numbers attending and the total cost to the client. I charged per client based on the numbers, and then the numbers were reduced.
- Consider having a cancellation fee. If possible, get a deposit before you start preparing (I was surprised at how much was involved with preparing the program for the first time).
- If for some reason the program doesn’t go ahead, be professional and take the cancellation fee or compensation offer. I felt a bit blindsided when I got the call from my friend saying LET wasn’t going ahead and they had found free training. I immediately switched to being a friend and said no to being paid even though I had spent days on preparing. It left me feeling incomplete and used, which would have affected our friendship.
- I then had a clean-up conversation with my friend, taking responsibility to rectify this where I excepted the offered compensation. We both felt relieved and complete that our friendship remained intact and actually feels strengthened as a result of having this difficult yet necessary conversation.
- Should I get a call like this again I would take some time to consider my response.
Hope you will find my learnings helpful when negotiating your groups.
