Today, on "The Journey", we're gonna talk about
how to manage client expectations and set boundaries.
Have you ever found yourself in one of these situations?
Let's say you're at the dinner table for a family gathering,
and you have to go excuse yourself
to respond to a client via email.
Or, you missed your son's soccer game
because you're responding to a client or their needs.
- But yeah, you may feel like these
are just really bad clients, right?
You may have thought these are bad clients,
but really, it comes down
to the expectations and boundaries
that you've set with your clients,
or forgot to set with them.
So, as a freelancer,
you really want your clients to like you,
so that means you're probably gonna end up
jumping when they say jump and how high
and doing things you don't wanna be doing.
- Totally, plus to get that testimonial!
So you might cave to your clients' request
and not stand your ground,
just because you want that end result:
a good testimonial, a good client referral.
- That's social proof, we all want it, right?
And you might be finding yourself doing things
that you never agreed upon doing
because they're like, "Cool, also, I need this
"and I need this, and I need this."
And then, if this goes on too long,
you begin to resent your client and your future clients,
and then you start getting mad
and placing blame and blah, blah, blah
and you think they are just a terrible, terrible clients.
- Yeah, so if you don't set these clear expectations
and these boundaries with your clients,
you're teaching your clients to just keep on asking,
keep on requesting more, keep on pushing back!
And then what happens to you?
You just keep saying yes, keep saying yes.
So, I gotta know, what are some best practices
to really set the clear expectations with your client?
- All right, so let's start off
with just general response times.
You really wanna set the expectation
of how long you're going to respond to a client,
whether that's 24 to 72 hours between eight and five,
Monday through Friday, whatever that looks like.
Otherwise, they're going to send you that e-mail
and expect an immediate reply,
doesn't matter if you're eating dinner,
doesn't matter if you're at your kid's soccer game.
It doesn't matter what you're doing,
'cause if you don't set that expectation,
they expect you to be at their beck and call.
- Yeah, and then here comes the next day, rise and shine,
and you have a client that's dissatisfied
and unhappy with you.
- Yeah, and I would probably get in the habit
of not responding right away to client emails,
even if you have the capacity to,
'cause then, they're just going to expect you
to reply to that quick every time.
Set a timeframe on it;
give yourself that bit of breathing room
so it really helps, basically, train your clients
to know when you respond.
- Or you could even respond,
maybe in the moment that it's fresh,
but have the email actually send
at a scheduled time, a later date.
Okay, so what about when clients decide
they wanna change the scope of things?
Like, "Hey, that video that we were gonna do?
"Originally five minutes?"
Now the client comes to you, says,
"It needs to be 10 minutes long in duration."
- Plus, "We needed these cool graphics
"and we need all these special effects."
- Sounds like something we would do (laughing).
- "We're not gonna change the budget."
That's called scope creep.
So it happens a lot when you don't set expectations
of what you'll actually doing
and the parameters within that.
Clients can expect the world.
So when you're talking to your clients,
and when you're setting expectations,
you really want to lay out the services that you offer
and what extra services are.
So if they do want extra things,
whether it's that extra five minutes,
or graphics, or all these cool things,
set an hourly rate or whatever that quote would look like,
so they know if this project goes beyond the deadline,
or the features, whatever it is,
they know up front that it's gonna cost them extra
and the deadline might stretch.
- I like that too, 'cause then it does
give you that chance to branch out, be more creative.
I hate to put a leash on creativity.
- Yeah, that way they know, "If we need to grow, we can,
"and we absolutely have that option."
- But here are the options,
and this is how we will go about it
and have that clearly stated.
So it sounds like communication is pretty key, right Nealey?
- What?
Oh, communication, yes, we're talking about that.
So communication is key and it goes both ways.
There are deadlines that you have to hit
as the small business owner, or freelancer,
or side hustle, so whatever you are.
The same goes for the client.
So they may have to give you
content for their website by one week
and then images for the next one,
whatever that looks like,
that you have to be upfront with those expectations
and clearly communicate, don't pull a Nealey.
- So something I mentioned with the email example,
where yeah, you might respond right away,
but don't actually send the response until later,
it kinda ties into the tip of: respect your time.
Think about what expectations you wanna set
with your client and one thing I like to do,
is when it comes to meetings, always be on time,
and that sets the right example for your client as well
and to respect your time that you're giving them.
- Show your client that your time is valuable,
but also, their time is valuable too.
- Both. - Set it both ways.
It goes back and forth,
so set some ground rules and some boundaries,
when it's appropriate to contact each other,
the response times, all these things,
that way, there's a cohesive, just--
- Clear communication.
- That's the word.
I can't communicate, I'm working on it.
Now going forward with setting those expectations
and those boundaries, you wanna let your customer know,
or your client know, that you're going to be
consulting along the way, along this journey.
Now, you don't expect them to do
everything you tell them to,
but you should set the expectation
that they should have an open mind,
or at least engage in the conversation,
'cause at the end of the day,
you are the expert and you have experience to share,
and they should at least hear what you're saying
and then go from there.
- Totally, I know at GoDaddy Social,
one thing, when we onboard a customer,
we let them know, like, "Hey, you're gonna have a call
"with your dedicated account manager, who you can consult."
So as we're managing your Facebook
and Twitter and Instagram,
responding to your Yelp reviews, Google reviews,
yeah, we do all that,
you have an actual account manager
that you can check in with and review, like,
"What are the results of all the work
"you guys are doing for me?"
So you as a customer can see and have those conversations.
I love that, especially 'cause you know,
social media, the ROI can get a little blurry
for a local business owner, like, "How do you measure this?"
So I love the ongoing consultation
that you can have throughout.
Now this one might be a little tough to do,
but you have to let your customer or your client know that
you like to deal with nice people
and you're not gonna tolerate if they're gonna be rude,
offensive, vulgar, or anything that's just not okay.
And if they do, you're gonna tell on them.
(both laughing)
But no, seriously, you wanna set some ground rules,
that you're gonna respect them
and you expect for them to respect you.
- Yeah, and also embrace different communication types.
Like, what are their expectations there?
Are you going to be communicating
with your client predominately via email,
or on the phone, or video call?
We do a lot of video calls.
Or are you gonna meet in person?
People still do that, ironically enough.
- Yeah, and you don't want someone showing up at your house
at like 10 o'clock, saying,
"Hey, I have a problem, I need you to solve it."
That's a boundary you have to set like right now.
Emma, stop coming to my house at--
- Yeah, that's the wrong communication type.
It's also the wrong time of day.
- With setting boundaries with your client,
you wanna make sure that you relay
the work required for them to do
and in the medium that you requested.
Like me, when I was a freelancer,
when I was trying to get content from my clients,
I would have them upload all their images,
and their brand assets to a local OneDrive folder.
That way I can access it,
they can update stuff, and go from there.
So I would request that.
Now if they just sent it to me via email,
I would direct 'em back to the drive folder
that I have shared with them and saying,
"Hey, to keep everything super organized
"and make sure nothing gets lost,
"please, to the left, that's right,
"to the left, to the drive folder."
- So also, you need to be clear
about the participation required from your client,
you need feedback from them, right?
Input, revisions, you need to have that communication
in order to grow with that client.
It sounds a lot like a marriage (laughs).
- A little bit.
- So the benefits of all of this:
setting the right expectations,
and the right boundaries for you and your client,
really sets you up for longevity
and success in that relationship.
- Yeah, and you're gonna start to feel
like you have less and less bad clients
because you're setting the right expectations,
setting the right boundaries.
Most of the time, they're gonna respect you
and follow those expectations and boundaries.
Then those bad clients are just gone.
- All right, that's a wrap.
You just learned how to manage client expectations
and set boundaries.
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This is "The Journey".
We'll see you next time.