Great technical marketing is all about making compromises and finding the happy middle ground between two worlds (e.g., cutting-edge web design and search engine crawler behavior or SEO and branding). However, there are a few points that UpBuild is unable to compromise on. We offer these up publicly in the spirit of transparency and as a show of respect for your time (and ours).
We Don’t Compete on Price
It’s worth noting that UpBuild does not compete on price. However, there are a few levers that we commonly pull to work within limited budgets that we might otherwise exceed:
- Culture Alignment Discounts
- Non-Profit & B-Corp Discounts
- Scope Adjustments
- Discounts for Long-Term Commitments
No Performance-Based Compensation
This could (and probably will be) a blog post, but we do not enter into engagements with performance-based compensation for any reason. While it might seem like a great and safe way to approach working with a prospective consultant, moving forward with performance-based compensation starts a relationship from a place of distrust.
We realize that entering into a consulting relationship carries a lot of unknowns with it. That’s why UpBuild includes a 45-day Opt Out clause in all of our ongoing contracts. If working with the UpBuild team isn’t everything you’d hoped it would be, you can just let us know within the first 45 days and you’ll only be responsible for those 45 days of consulting.
Invoices Payable Net 15
Cash flow can be a make-or-break issue for agencies (especially small ones). For this and a host of other reasons, all of UpBuild’s monthly invoices* are payable with Net 15 terms. This allows us to manage our cash flow and ensure that your future team here at UpBuild is going to be taken care of throughout the life of our engagement together.
Is this written in stone? No. We will work with you as much as we can to reach a comfortable middle ground. A few hypothetical scenarios where we can be flexible with this rule:
- Past clients in good standing who are returning for another engagement
- When a client is able to offer a larger upfront payment in exchange for Net 30 terms on all subsequent invoices
No Tolerance for Abusive Behavior
As an UpBuild client, you can expect that all our interactions with you will come from a place of respect and empathy — even “tough love” can have these qualities. We will expect the same in return.
If a team member feels abused, threatened, belittled, or otherwise degraded while working on your account, UpBuild management will
- sit down with the involved team member(s) to review the situation,
- objectively review what data we have on the interaction (e.g., emails, chat interaction, call notes), and then
- get in touch with you to inform you of the situation and outline recommendations for both sides to promote mutual respect moving forward.
Repeated incidents will not be tolerated; we will exercise the “30-Day Mutual Opt Out” clause (included in all our contracts) to wind down the engagement.
