Paying for PR Services
This week, something odd happened. A business tried to go around our business model and pay us AFTER we completed services. In the world of public relations, services are prepaid. This is because in any service-based intangible business, you won’t get paid unless people pay you upfront.
When we started The Rub PR 16 years ago, we didn’t require a deposit. That resulted in some people not paying us and having to send people to collections. Now that we require a deposit for all clients, we don’t have this problem. Most things in life are prepaid. When you buy car insurance, it’s prepaid, as is cell phone service, health insurance, rent, and many other things. All tangible things you pay for up front, like groceries, clothing, etc.
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The funny thing about this business is that they claimed to be reputable. They might be, but we don’t know them. The former owner was — I knew him personally, before he sold it. But he has since passed, and I can’t get a referral from him. And the type of business he’s in requires a deposit, as well, which is an irony. He wanted me to complete the work first, and then he would pay me the first week of the month. I was sad to turn away business, but that’s not “smart” business. We had already made a concession, allowing him to pay half the deposit that would typically be required.
I did explain to him that I don’t know any adult PR company that doesn’t ask for a deposit or any public relations company, period. I did a little online research, and some firms are performance-based, which seems a bit sketchy. It also seems like a way to avoid getting paid and to have clients argue about the bill.
Having a deposit makes things simple, but obviously not for this guy. He wasn’t budging, so I walked away. It was a nice chunk of change, but at what cost? Sometimes, it’s just not worth it when people don’t respect your policies and the way you do business. When there are issues at the beginning, they never seem to get better in time.
We have a waiting list, and more business will come. But no matter how pressed you feel for business as a publicist, you should never take a client who doesn’t respect your business practices. It always bites you on the ass in the end.
