Setting Timescale Expectations with Clients

As a freelancer or small business, your clients will generally have several things in common. They’ll want work of an extremely high standard; they’ll want great value, and they’ll want projects done quickly or at least in line with their schedule. This is fine, as long as you can align your time management with the requirements of your clients. What throws this out is when you have a client that messages you at the last possible minute, expecting you to deliver within a timeframe that’s simply not possible. What do you do? Do you turn them down and risk not working with them in the future? Or do you sacrifice your own free time in order to meet unreasonable deadline requests? Arch Collective looks at ways to satisfy demanding clients and respect your time and boundaries.

Create Expectations and Stick to Them

The best way to avoid this is to have a pre-set list of expectations on your website or marketing literature. If you’re a freelance accountant and you know it takes at least a month to pull a business’s books together, then quote that timeframe on your initial conversation with clients. A simple framework that shows both costs and how long each type of job or project will take could save you from having difficult conversations in the long run.

If you offer the type of services that are only ever on a bespoke basis, ensure that timescales are discussed with every quote. If your conversation is verbal, follow that up with an email that confirms the service level agreement (SLA) so that if there is a concern, your client can pick it up immediately. If later down the line, your client says they should have had the work sooner, you have a digital paper trail to protect you.

Explain Time Constraints to Difficult Clients

Some clients may simply not understand that in order to provide quality work, you need to spend a good amount of time focusing and concentrating on the project at hand. This video illustrates this beautifully. The 10-minute sketch is great. The 1-minute doodle is just about recognizable. The 10-second scribble is basically nonsense. It’s the same in any industry and with any skill set. Copywriters who spend an hour on a research-heavy blog won’t produce the same quality as those who dedicate a day to the same topic. Software engineers won’t create stable apps if they’re rushing. Website designers may miss links or have pages with no content.

Clients who understand what you do and why you do it may respect your time constraints better. Educating your clients and potential clients has other benefits, too, as it presents you as an expert in your field, which can improve your brand presence within your market.

Create a Pay-Scale to Incorporate One-Off Emergencies

If you decide that some clients are worth going above and beyond for, make sure you’re appropriately compensated. Create a pay scale that includes increases for situations where the client requires the work completed within a boosted timeframe. You could also note that these are accepted on a case-by-case basis, and that you can only produce one boosted piece of work per month or per week, depending upon your own limitations.

You also get to choose who you work with and who you partner with. If a client is demanding faster work but unwilling to pay the premiums required to compensate you correctly, it may be time to politely sever those ties. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking, “all work is good work”. If you are constantly working to the wire and feeling miserable, then you aren’t gaining the freedoms associated with being your own boss.

Final Word

When you have the creative freedom to produce work at your own pace, you’ll inevitably produce work of the highest quality, whether that’s company logos or accurate accounts, or an app that empowers companies to solve problems in new ways. Creating higher quality products and services means you’ll improve your brand reputation and recognition, and increase the opportunities for more clients and partners.

Book a 15-minute introductory call with Arch Collective and find out more about building your brand and creating a messaging framework that ensures consistent growth.

Discover more about branding and building relationships with the right kind of clients with the Arch Collective Brand Messaging 101 course.