Succeeding in Your Business: My 25 rules for making better, happier clients
It’s hard to believe, but I have been practicing law now for 40 years. For 25 of those years, I have been working out of my home without partners, assistants, junior lawyers, paralegals or other staff. It’s been just me and my personal computer. Heck, I don’t even have a dog.
A lot has changed during those 40 years, but a number of rules are still as important to remember now as they were when I was first starting out.
The most important of these rules relate to how you should communicate with — or otherwise handle — your clients.
Here are four inconvenient truths when it comes to clients:
• You can’t run a service business without them.
• They are your bosses; you do what they want you to do, not what you want to do.
• Every client is a potential plaintiff in a lawsuit.
• If you are too nice to your clients, they will walk all over you.
Here are 25 rules I have kept in mind when dealing with my clients over the past 40 years. Whether you are a consultant, a lawyer or another type of professional, or if you just run a service business, print out this column, post it in a place where you can see it and re-read it at least once a week.
No. 1: Trust your gut when it comes to new clients. If someone behaves like a potential problem, they are almost certain to become one. There’s plenty of business out there, and you don’t have to take on everyone who calls or emails you.
No. 2: “Good contracts make good clients.” If your client agreement is crystal clear about how much and when you get paid, you are much less likely to have payment problems.
No. 3: Be clear about your services. Your client agreement should clearly state the services you are performing, some services you are NOT performing and (most importantly) what is and isn’t included in your fee.
No. 4: Guarantee workmanship but never results. Your client agreement should clearly state that you are not responsible for the outcome of any project or the results your client tells you he or she wants to achieve. No one can predict the future.
No. 5: Require the client to cooperate. You should have the right to terminate your client agreement and keep your upfront advance if the client fails to respond in timely fashion to email messages and phone calls, drops off the face of the Earth or otherwise turns into a jerk.
No. 6: Get some money upfront. Always.
No. 7: Always charge interest on overdue bills.
No. 8: When a client refuses to follow your advice, GET IT IN WRITING, print out the email exchange and keep it in a paper folder or file so you can remind the client when he or she conveniently forgets they made a bad decision and tries to blame you.
No. 9: If you’re not sure what a client wants, give him or her a range of options and let them select the one they want.
No. 10: Always get your client to “buy in” to difficult advice.
No. 11: Return phone calls and emails as promptly as possible.
No. 12: When you cannot get back to a client promptly, tell them they “are not being ignored, only prioritized.” Most clients will get the humor and back off, at least for a while.
No. 13: If you tell a client you will get back to them by a certain date or time, make sure you do so. As with college term papers, it’s easy to get one extension of the deadline, but there’s seldom a second chance.
No. 14: NEVER, EVER SEND A CLIENT AN INVOICE THEY ARE NOT EXPECTING.
No. 15: If you exceed your estimate, tell the client before you do additional work and give him or her a revised estimate.
No. 16: If you spent too much time on a project, include it in your invoice, but then write it off as a “client courtesy” before the client demands you do so.
No. 17: Bill early and often. Clients are more likely to pay frequent small bills than a single massive one.
No. 18: Always send detailed bills showing the client how much hard work you did for them and when you did it.
No. 19: Bill the most amount of time on the activities clients find most distasteful or boring. They will be much less likely to question the bill.
No. 20: Stop working the MINUTE a bill becomes overdue. Big receivables problems almost always start out as small ones that get out of hand.
No. 21: Never let a client become too friendly; friends can take advantage of each other and make unreasonable demands on each other.
No. 22: Never argue with a client. You always lose.
No. 23: If a client complains, don’t cower and hide. Address the situation quickly and honestly and offer to make things right.
No. 24: But never admit in writing that you have done something wrong; your lawyer and insurance company will not like that.
No. 25: If a client is impossible to deal with, terminate your client agreement, refund your fee advance and guide them to other service providers who may be able to deal with them better. Preferably your competitors.
Cliff Ennico (crennico@gmail.com) is a syndicated columnist, author and former host of the PBS television series “Money Hunt.”
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