I want you to first think of the primary form of contact you CURRENTLY have with your clients and then think of how you ACTUALLY WANT to communicate with clients.
Can I tell you a story? K, cool. Thanks.
One of my clients, (let’s call her Julia) is a baker and owns the cutest little bakery. She got 4 calls after midnight one night from a bride whose wedding cake she was making in 6 weeks. Julia called me in tears an anxious mess the next morning because the bride had left increasingly angry voicemails about the details of her cake. In the final voicemail the bride told Julia that she was incredibly unprofessional and if she hadn’t paid for 50% of the cake she would find someone else to make her wedding cake.
Okay… WTF is wrong with this woman I thought! I didn’t say that to Julia, I instead asked her if this was something that has happened with this bride in previous weeks. She explained to me that the bride had called a couple times really late at night but she was awake so naturally she answered the phone.
Ugh…
And THIS is why I stress boudaries + setting clear expectations with clients/customers BEFORE working with them. Now, don’t worry about Julia, the bride or their professional relationship – it was a misunderstanding that was cleared up quickly but that is beside the point.
So what would I have done differently if I were Julia? Great question!
I would have defined my office hours to the bride:
Hi Bride! I cannot wait to work with you, thank you so much for trusting me to be a part of your big day! I prefer to keep our conversations in this email thread so we can easily reference them in case there are any changes with cake structure, colors, etc. Here are my office hours, unless I am out of town or it’s a holiday weekend I return emails within 24 hours and calls/texts during my office hours of 9am-4:30pm.
I also like to have my office hours in the signature of my emails just as a safeguard! If the bride would have called multiple times after my office hours I would definitely not answer, even if it’s an emergency (venue change, date change, icing color change, etc) it can ALWAYS wait until the morning.
Do NOT set the precedent that you’ll answer at all hours of the night or you’ll end up with angry voicemails from an inrate bride who feels ignored (or whoever your customer/client is).
Your time is valueable, you are not on call 24/7 just because you are a small business owner.
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