Soropa Blog

At 2pm last Wednesday, I got a call from one of my clients.
Before I could barely utter my “hello,” she launched headlong
into her story - “I am so frustrated! I have this client who has
been dragging her feet at every stage of our project. I’m
working on a branding campaign for her company and expected to
be finished nine months ago, but every time we get to a stage in
the project where the ball is in her court, I have to follow-up
umpteen times and push and prod just to get her to move forward.
In almost every case, it takes her about two months to do
something that could have been done in a week. Then, two months
later when she’s finally finished with her part, she cheerily
announces that she’s ready for me to start the next phase and
wonders how quickly I can do it. Every time this happens I have
to completely reacquaint myself with her project. All in all,
I’ve spent almost twice as many hours as I budgeted. How can I
get her to wrap up this project so I can move on?,” she finished.

I cannot think of one service business owner that hasn’t faced
this issue at one time or another. We all started our businesses
concerned about providing great customer service and a quality
service delivered on time. We thought that was the key to having
happy clients. But, at some point, we find out that great
customer service means that we’re not allowing one client’s
delays to impact another client’s project, the profitability of
our business, or our own personal satisfaction. This is when we
have to recognize that we are responsible for this situation. If
you’ve allowed a client to run amuck dragging a project on
forever, changing project parameters numerous times, delaying
payment of the final bill, why shouldn’t they continue to behave
this way? It’s up to you to put into place policies and
procedures that communicate this to your clients and prospects
from the very beginning.

One format I’ve seen used very effectively is a one-pager called
“How We Work Together.” It’s a very basic document that outlines
the responsibilities of both you and the client. It makes clear
who is responsible for what and when so there are no questions
later. It also outlines the consequences if either of you misses
the target. Not only does this put the client on the
straight-and-narrow, it shows them that you are willing to be
held to high standards as well.

By using the How We Work Together document, you can begin
setting the stage for productive client relationships from your
very first contact with a new prospect. During your first
meeting, give them a copy of the document and go through it with
them. When I ran my web development company, mine included a
rough timeline for each stage of the project and described how
the responsibility shifted from me to them and back again
throughout the process. It also included a description of
consequences should particular stages of the project go beyond
the timeline by a specified amount of time. This applied to me
as well as them. People like to know what to expect. It left
them feeling that I had a system I followed and could be relied
upon to do what I was proposing to do. I feel confident that
this is one of the reasons I got 90% of the projects I pitched.

I used the How We Work Together document again once I had
received the signed contract and deposit payment. At that point,
I would consult my project calendar and assign specific dates to
each stage of the project included on the document and mail it
out to the client. They had already seen the document once, so
it wasn’t new to them. Now, they just reviewed the dates and
used it as a follow-up tool.

If you are currently in a similar situation, handle it as best
you can in order to preserve the client relationship and
introduce the How We Work Together document at the beginning of
the next project with this client. To begin to set boundaries
with all of your clients and prospects, create your own How We
Work Together document and utilize it in every new project for
new and existing clients. You can see an example of one I helped
a client write at:
http://www.askthebizcoach.com/freebiesignupform.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kimberly Stevens is a business coach who works with business
owners who want it all - a joyful personal life and a meaningful
and profitable business. Her web site
http://www.askthebizcoach.com offers weekly TeleTalks on
business topics, a discussion board, business assessments tools,
and an ezine addressing business challenges from a more personal
angle.