How to train your clients on working with you

Do you ever worry about how to keep your more difficult clients satisfied? I recommend you start by establishing boundaries and rules about working with you and putting them into a contract or agreement.

There are some people however, who tend not to read the contract or somehow forget these important details. This can be a real problem because you may end up working for free at the end of a project to make sure your clients remain happy when they finish up. Naturally happy clients are preferred because they refer other clients and spread good will.

Learning how to manage your clients is an important threshold to cross as your business grows. When I was working with private coaching clients, I had a two-page document on policies and procedures in my welcome packet that spelled everything out. All the rules were detailed which can make life so much easier for everyone.

In addition, I had a paragraph at the beginning, asking clients to read through all the way to the end, starting with a nicely phrased statement. Something like, “Just so there are no misunderstandings later.” The document ended with a simple question, “Is that fair?” Of course everything I included was fair and so clients signed up. Believe it or not, most people like to know the rules and will tend to follow them.

However, there are some people who will manage to forget what they signed. To address this, I suggest briefly going over the points with them up front so they know exactly what to expect, what’s included, what’s not and what’s going to cost extra. This helps clients hear that you are serious from the get-go, before you do any work with them. You are setting the standards and training your clients how to work with you.

This is a smart business practice and will save you time and trouble later. If your client asks for something not included, you can simply refer back to the point in the conversation where you explained how that piece works. It becomes an issue of personal responsibility for them.

Occasionally, when you have a client who just doesn’t pay attention or is extra demanding, you will want to stay in the role of “good cop”. That’s when you can have your virtual assistant address the problem and take on the role of “bad cop”. This way, the problem doesn’t touch you and if anything, the person will be upset with your VA and not you.

Your Client Attraction Assignment

If you have not already established your policies and procedures, it’s time! Training your clients on how to best work with you will make their life and yours so much easier.

Think about all the things that come up when working with clients:
1. Frequent questions
2. Specific needs you’ve had to address with others
3. Problems you’ve encountered

Write them all down and put them into some sort of order to prepare your policies and procedures document. Next, determine how you will consistently provide and/or discuss this document with clients to avoid problems later.