If your attempts to educate your client or your investors on the dramatic improvement in their condition, and measures of progress and success, are largely left until after terms are agreed and/or you fold at the first sign of resistance (desperate not to lose the business), don’t be surprised if they struggle with an ROI calculation or worse, they impose their metrics on you. When your fee or their invested capital is the only clear metric, you have lost control of the discussion.

Three metrics need to be established at the pre-proposal and negotiation stage: short-term measures (sales reports etc), long-term measures (changes in buyer behaviour, market repute etc) and client or investor-specific measures (in wealth, assets under management or for an investor, ebitda or margin growth over the annualised period).