Welcome back to another episode of the podcast. I’m so glad you’re here. In today’s episode, we’ll be covering what to do when a client oversteps a boundary.
Unfortunately, sometimes we can run into clients who take advantage of us and our good nature so it’s important to have a plan in place in case this occurs so that we can stop it in its tracks and make sure that we are able to note the red flags going forward.
- Take a deep breath before responding back to your client – I want to encourage you not to respond to your client in the heat of the moment because you may say something you end up regretting. If they’re crossing a boundary that you’ve never let them know even existed in the first place, you can’t be too upset that they’re doing it because it wasn’t communicated to them that it wasn’t okay. I like to believe that most clients have good intentions and aren’t intentionally trying to cross boundaries, they likely just don’t know any better.
- When you do let them know that your boundary has been crossed, be kind but also firm – Depending on if this is something that has happened before or if it’s the first time, your correspondence with your client will vary. However, I definitely think you should still be cordial in your response regardless if it’s the first or third time that the client has crossed a boundary.
- If it is the first time something happens, I usually gently remind them of our turnaround time, my working hours, etc. so that they are aware for the future.
If they’re submitting their episode late and it’s the first time, we are usually able to make it happen in a shorter timeframe but I let the client know that it’s a one-time thing so that submitting their episodes to us after the deadline we outlined doesn’t become the norm.
If this isn’t a boundary that you’ve outlined in your contract or welcome packet, consider adding it going forward – If it’s something like not getting you the recorded episode within a certain amount of days, expecting immediate responses (even outside of working hours), or something of that nature, it is important to have these outlined in both your contract and welcome packet so that you can set those expectations from the get-go. When you lay everything out beforehand, you’re less likely to run into people overstepping those boundaries.
I’d love to know, have you ever dealt with a client who overstepped your boundaries? How did you end up handling it? Feel free to shoot me a DM over to jenny.suneson on Instagram. I’d love to hear from you.
