When clients keep asking for work alongside the service you sell, you have a choice to make. You can build some of that work into your offer, sell it separately or decide it is not work you want to take on.
The decision affects more than your next quote. It changes the work you need to make room for and the kind of business you are building.
Before changing the offer, look at what clients are actually asking.
Look for the result behind the request
Put a few recent requests next to each other. You are looking for patterns, but also for differences that would be hidden by giving every request the same name.
Take a hypothetical bookkeeper who helps small businesses keep their records up to date. Several clients ask for help preparing for a conversation with their accountant. One wants a tidy set of records. Another wants help gathering missing documents. A third wants advice on a tax decision that falls outside the bookkeeper’s expertise.
All three have asked for help before seeing an accountant. The first two requests may involve work the bookkeeper can define and offer. The third calls for a different professional. Treating them all as one new service would create an expectation the bookkeeper may not be able to meet.
Write down the result each client needs, the work involved and any information the client must provide. Check what was already included in the agreement. If a request is unclear, ask the client before deciding whether it is additional work. A substantial dispute about obligations may need advice based on the agreement and applicable law.
Decide what belongs in the core service
An addition may belong in the main offer when it helps deliver the outcome you already promise. If clients need to supply information before you can complete your work, for example, the way you ask for and organise that information may be part of delivering the service well.
For the hypothetical bookkeeper, checking which records are missing could become a defined part of the regular service. The quote would need to say what that check covers and what remains the client’s responsibility. Making a task part of the offer also means making time for it in every project where it is included.
Before adding it, ask yourself: if every client used this part of the service, could I still deliver the rest of the work when I said I would? If the answer is no, you may need to change the scope, the schedule or the number of clients you take on.
Decide what clients can choose separately
Some work is useful to particular clients without being needed by all of them. A separate option lets you describe it clearly and agree the price and timing with the people who want it.
In the example, chasing a large collection of missing documents might be a separate piece of work. Its scope could depend on how much is missing, who holds the documents and when they can provide them. The bookkeeper could agree that work after looking at those details, rather than promising an unlimited amount of chasing as part of the regular service.
A separate option still needs a place in your calendar. Agree when it can be done and whether it affects existing delivery dates. If the client needs it sooner, discuss what would have to move before making that promise.
Be clear about work outside your offer
A request can point to a genuine client need without becoming a service you should provide. You may not have the expertise, the time or the desire to make it part of your business. In the bookkeeper example, advice on a tax decision may be a question for the client’s accountant.
You can make that boundary clear while helping the client identify their next step. Avoid implying that a referral or another professional’s involvement guarantees an outcome. Your responsibility is to be clear about what you can and cannot take on.
Test the choice against the week you want to work
Once you have a proposed change, look at the practical effect. How much time did similar requests take? What other work had to wait? Which additions did you enjoy, and which repeatedly pushed work into time you wanted to keep for something else?
You don’t need perfect records to start. Use the projects you can describe, write down the assumptions in your next quote, and keep track of what happens when the work is delivered. If the addition takes more time or varies more than expected, revisit the scope before making it a standard promise to every new client.
The aim is to build an offer clients can understand and you are willing to deliver. That may mean a broader service. It may also mean a clearer boundary around the work you already do.
Jacob Top Møller works with business owners on decisions about clients, offers and the time their businesses require. His coaching is available online in English and Danish: https://topmoller.com/coaching/.