3 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Be So Flexible With Your Clients
I consider myself a pretty laid-back person. So when I began freelancing I was super flexible with my clients. I'd let them decide if they wanted an hourly or flat fee. I'd let them decide how they wanted to pay me. I'd have them take their time and get back to me with any revisions at their convenience. I didn't have defined deadlines in place. I'd design anything and everything, even if I hated it. If a client wanted me to design a funeral program... no problem! Basically, I would let the customers decide everything. I had a "whatever is easiest for you!" approach.
I finally realized three things:
1. Creating many options for clients actually, makes things more difficult for them!
People hate having to make a lot of decisions. It's stressful and time-consuming. Tell your clients exactly what to do and, chances are, things will get done quickly and efficiently. For example, instead of saying "Feel free to pay the initial deposit anytime by check, Paypal, Venmo, Credit Card or whatever is easiest", try something like this: "Please pay the deposit by [date] via credit card."
2. It looks unprofessional if you don't have a defined process in place.
Your clients won't take you as seriously and you won't seem like an expert. Take some time and define your process, especially your client onboarding process. This will simplify things for your client, and for you!
3. Being flexible wastes time.
You may not realize it at first, but being flexible and not having a defined process wastes so much time! Once I nailed down my system, I was surprised to see how quickly I was able to get the ball rolling with clients. I used to let my clients take their time in getting their feedback back to me. A lot of times clients were good about this, but there was always the occasional busy client who would take weeks just to get back to me. I started creating a timeline for my clients, which includes the dates I would delivery my concepts and the dates I needed their feedback. This helps both my clients and myself stay on task.
You can still be laid-back while being a successful entrepreneur. It's just important to have a structured business plan and streamline your client process!