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For the past year, I have written about five tips in dealing with clients. These tips were created through a combination of experience, discussions with other professionals, and discussions with a few lawyers. A lot of the discussions took place in FlashKit's Boardroom.
Upon writing these articles, I have attempted to live by them religiously. Now, after a year of starting this journey towards better client relations, I am ready to chronicle my new discoveries.
 | | "(My sample contract) is truly a product of the community. And the word has obviously gotten out. The most search for terms on my website are 'contract' and 'sample contract'." | | |
Client Tip #1: Always have a contract
Writing this article came out of several experiences of not having contracts. These situations always led towards a vague project plan, a vague timeline, a vague payment schedule, and me becoming overwhelmingly frustrated. After reading countless stories like mine and speaking with a lawyer, I came to the realization that it is ludicrous not to have a contract when doing any kind of work.
The results have been nothing but positive. I've received plenty of feedback on the article and the sample contract I provided. The contract has become a living document that continues to grow as others bring up more pieces that should be included in it.
It is truly a product of the community. And the word has obviously gotten out. The most search for terms on my website are "contract" and "sample" contract.
Client Tip #2: Always get a down payment
As hard-line as this may sound, I still believe in sticking with this plan when it comes to small businesses. Too many companies pump out weeks of work for the hopes of potential revenue only to come out of the deal empty handed. Clients go bust, turn crooked, die, or simply disappear. You never know what could happen.
With a contract, you're able to take someone to court, but if they disappear or die, you're going to have a much harder time collecting your money.
The most asked question I have received on this tip is, "How much of a down payment should I get?" The ideal down payment could be measured like this: If you received no other money for the project, you'll at least break even with the down payment. Although it is "ideal" and not always possible, more and more businesses are realizing the value of this practice.
Client Tip #3: Save ALL correspondence
I've been practicing this tip for a few years now and I can't count the number of times it has saved my butt. It's protected me from scope creep or from people saying I didn't make them aware of a situation. I've even got all my Sent Items filed away.
I've been working for my current employer for over a year and a half now. I have approximately 400 megabytes of filed emails. What's worse, everyone has come to know me as the guy who saves everything. The boss calls me the "garbage collector". But when it comes time to remember what decision we made on something a year ago, I am usually able to pull out an email.
In the past three months, we hired three new guys in our department. I talked with all of them and explained the importance of saving their correspondence. Hopefully, there will be more "garbage collectors" out there and we'll never lose track of anything.
Client Tip #4: Stay in Touch
The only thing I have to add to this tip is to be proactive about communicating with a client. Contact a client telling him the status on a project before he contacts you asking about it. Having to react to a call or email from a client wanting to know what's going on can become frustrating and waste time as you try to throw together an email.
I have found that setting up a schedule of when updates will be given works great.
| "...be proactive about communicating with a client. Contact a client telling him the status on a project before he contacts you asking about it." | | | |
Client Tip #5: Assign a Single Point of Contact
The department at my work is responsible for gathering requirements from clients and then producing detailed documents that clearly spell out to developers what needs to be built. We also have a QA department that will use the same documents to test whatever is built by the developers.
Sometimes there will be something that was missed in one of the documents. It happens. A developer or someone from QA will then come to discuss the issue with someone on my team. From there, one of several things will happen including changing the document or just giving some more explanation to the person asking the question.
There was an incident a few weeks ago where two developers came to discuss an issue with me concerning one of our documents. Our conclusion was that I would look into the issue some more. I went to lunch.
Upon thinking some more, the two developers came up with some more problems concerning the same issue. When they came to find me, I was out enjoying some KFC. So they decided to talk to someone else on the team. Not telling my team member that they already talked with me, conclusions were made.
I came back and was eventually approached by the two developers. They began telling the conclusions they made with the other person on my team. The only problem is that they left out the part about talking to someone on my team. Through all the confusion, it took a while before I figured out what was going on.
I then set up a rule that if a developer talks to someone on my team, they cannot talk with someone else on the team concerning the same issue unless the issue was either resolved or becomes an emergency.
So far, it's worked out for the best.
The next five tips
This series of client tips will not stop at five. In fact, it may go on until I retire from the industry altogether. There can never be enough tips when dealing with clients.
Next week, I will be presenting these five tips along with five more that I've been working on at this year's FlashKit Conference and Expo in San Jose.
Hope to see you there.
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