Any of this sound familiar?
- Your contract indicates you charge late fees but you never do even when you should.
- You’re answering calls/texts/voxers at all hours of the day and night.
- You’re always waiting on your client to get you (insert what you need to accomplish your work).
- Clients show up for meetings late, reschedule last minute or go way over time.
If you answered yes to at least one of the questions than it’s likely that you’re not PROactively managing your clients but allowing them to put you in REactive mode. And reactive mode is no fun at all. Reactive mode means late nights, scope creep, and waiting (and waiting) on your clients.
Let’s switch gears. It’s time to go from being a REactive service provider to a PROactive service provider. In order to do that, we need to address a few lies business owners believe about their client relationships.
Lie: The customer is always right.
Except when they’re not. Many business owners (especially new ones) fear that if they give their clients “rules” then they’ll leave. They give their clients a lot of latitude to make sure they don’t piss them off.
Know that you are the person leading the business relationship. For some service based business owners it can take some time to feel comfortable calling the shots.
But, wanna know a little secret?
Your client WANTS you to call the shots!! Your clients are paying you because they don’t have the expertise, time or desire to do what they have hired you to do and they want to know it’s taken care of. In fact, there’s a huge sense of relief for your client when they feel like you are in charge and you are going to take of them.
And aren’t we all looking for one less thing to worry about?
Lie: Being available to my clients means excellent customer service.
Ok, this one is true BUT not to the extent that I see many business owners take it. Being available should have caveats a.k.a. during your business hours and via your preferred methods of communication. If you are managing your clients and projects well, then there really is no reason to receive multiple emails, messages, etc. from your clients with random requests, needs and tasks. The occasional phone call or voxer during your business hours should be more than enough to supplement your regularly scheduled calls.
The secret here?
Your clients will respect you more for it. Remember in high school the girl who was never available so of course every guy wanted to date her? She seemed confident, capable. Isn’t that how you want to be perceived as a business owner? Confident and capable?
Lie: They are the one paying so you should do what they ask.
Uh, nope! If you’re client is asking you do something you know isn’t in their best interest it’s your job to tell them. They want 14 different fonts on their website – say no. Have a great idea about an underwater FB live – um, no. Think they’ll get NASA to back them if they buy a spacesuit off Amazon – do I even need to say it?
Ok, I threw a couple of crazy examples in there but you get the point. If they are asking you to do less than your best work for them, you need to have a conversation with them about it. Find out the purpose of this request and work through the possible outcomes. Once you showcase your expertise, they’ll remember why they hired you and 9 times out of 10 will retract said brilliant idea.