Managing Client Expectations

In business, there's a huge difference between price and value. If a client starts the conversation by focusing solely on price, chances are they're not going to buy—or worse, they may not be the right client for your business at all. When a customer is only interested in negotiating the lowest price, they often don't appreciate the value you bring to the table. We realized that as soon as we increased our prices, everything changed. Not only did our revenue grow, but more importantly, our client profile shifted dramatically. We began attracting clients who truly valued the quality and expertise we offer. These clients understood the investment they were making and trusted us to deliver results that justified the price. By raising our prices, we set a new standard, and the clients who recognized that were the ones we wanted to work with all along. Remember, when you charge what you’re worth, you attract clients who value what you offer. It’s not just about making a sale—it’s about building relationships with clients who understand the value behind your work.

"I’m a Lawyer. Not a Recovery Agent.” But last week, I felt like one. A client came to me in urgent need of a legal document. I cleared my schedule. Worked late. Reviewed briefs, documents, back-and-forth emails. Drafted, revised, finalised, all in one day. He had already paid 65% upfront. But the remaining 35%? We had to chase. Message after message. Email after email. Professional. Patient. Polite. And still, nothing. Isn’t it strange? The faster you deliver, the more some clients take you for granted. The more professional you are, the more you’re expected to tolerate being ignored. And here’s the truth no one talks about: - Every lawyer, whether in New York, Mumbai, or Dubai has faced this. -Every paralegal, associate, freelancer has had to follow up for money. -We’re expected to handle complex, high-stakes matters… but not expected to be paid without a reminder (or five). Why? Because clients believe that "it’s just a letter." "Just a draft." "Just some formatting." Because the actual work, the reading, research, revisions, legal judgment is invisible to them. But let me say it clearly: Drafting a contract isn’t Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V. Filing an affidavit isn’t just paperwork. Legal work is layered, detailed, and mentally exhausting. Yet our invoices are questioned, our hours are doubted, and our follow-ups are ignored. We’re not chasing money because we love doing it. We’re doing it because we’re tired of being devalued for delivering value. Let’s stop normalising this. Let’s talk about it. Because lawyers aren’t expensive. Our silence has been.

Everyone assumes “VIP care” is better. Physicians know it’s sometimes worse. As an intern, I rounded on the hospital’s VIP floor for big donors and well-connected patients. The rooms were elegant. The nurses were attentive. Each afternoon, a cart of teas and pastries appeared. It seemed flawless—until one afternoon when an elderly woman developed crushing chest pain. This VIP floor had no EKG machine! Its Pyxis held no aspirin! We sprinted to a ‘regular’ floor, and twenty minutes passed before she received the most basic treatment for a heart attack. Recently, a friend went to a marble-floored, cash-only Park Avenue office for a colonoscopy. After a nurse repeatedly failed to place an IV, he walked out. And “executive physicals”? They offer more face time (good) but often pile on low-value tests that add risk without benefit (bad). Of course, these are select examples. (I'm sure clinicians here can share many more). Privileged people often receive better healthcare. But not always. Sometimes it’s better not to be too over-privileged.

I had an interesting coaching call this morning. With a client who's building his first retainer. In 30 minutes, we walked through the pieces 🧩🧩 Anytime you're building out a retainer offer for a new - or existing client - it's important you include these elements in a proposal: 1. Payment terms - I would always push for 'Net 0' - payment is due at the first of the month for the upcoming month (upon invoice receipt) - and not go anything past Net 30 at the most. Net 60 and Net 90(!) are absolute insanity. You run the risk of never being paid at all in those scenarios. 2. Preferred communication methods - Outline how you'd prefer to communicate - email, Slack, etc. - so that it's crystal clear. Be willing to negotiate here so you get aligned with your client. If you don't set this expectation, you'll have to conform to what your client wants, which can lead to frustration from both parties. 3. Review cycles - To ensure there aren't 'too many cooks in the kitchen,' it's essential to establish the number of review cycles you'd prefer and who the reviewers will be for each content piece you develop. 3. 'Out of Scope' rate- You should clearly outline the scope of the retainer—whether that's a set number of hours per month or a specific package of deliverables—and also what's out of scope, not only in terms of the work but also what you charge per hour to do work outside of scope. 4. A 'wind down' clause - This one has bit me in the past, so I recommend that everyone include it. The wind-down clause outlines what you expect should the client choose to end your working relationship. Typically, that would be something like 30 days written notice and a final month's payment, so you have plenty of time to replace the lost income, turn over any remaining items due, etc. Most importantly, provide three pricing options in your proposal: 1. Entry - an entry package at a low price point 2. Standard - the one your client is most likely to pick - your typical service level for the money you'd like to earn on the retainer 3. Premium - a high-end option that secures more of your time and offers more deliverables, more available hours, etc. Ok, there you go. Now go write some retainer proposals and get your long-time transactional clients OFF THE TREADMILL. What else do y'all add to your retainer proposals? Tell me about it in the comments below. --- 👋 Hi y'all, I'm Kris. 🎒 A former startup guy who now runs a successful content studio. 🖋 Building my business has been hard. I want it to be easier for you. 🤝 To learn how I work more closely with clients, check out the links I share in the comments of these posts and the Featured Section of my profile.

I was working with a client this week and they really wanted to introduce client managers to take work from them but they had also been burnt in the past and wanted to make sure that if they were going to do it again that it had every possible chance of success 🥇 On the session we came up with the following plan… 1. Set the vision with the team on what the plan is and how they form part of that as well as the opportunities it creates 2. Set out what good looks like in terms of how often they should communicate proactively with their portfolio, template emails, and a tone of voice guide 3. Give training to the team on how to conduct client meetings, set skeleton agendas and get call recordings to help with training 4. Set team KPI’s and give everyone an individual employee scorecard so that they can self assess at their monthly 1-1 5. Have monthly portfolio reviews where each client manager assesses their portfolio in advance and then comes to the meeting prepared to explain what’s going well, what needs to change, where there are profit issues and how to improve those as well as which clients are being overserviced/underserviced. This is a meeting by exception so talking about more than +/- 10% on targets rather than every single client 6. Set up client NPS tracking using something like Customer Thermometer to assess the underlying sentiment on service 7. Have an A grade client contact plan where the directors still plan to contact/visit these clients at intervals that suit 8. Have a recurring point in the diary each quarter where client management as a whole is assessed and actions to improve are set It’s not an overnight fix but it’s a lot more robust than changing someone’s job title on Monday then wondering why they don’t hit the ground running and meet your expectations Now that we have a clear plan it comes down to execution with the actions being broken down into bite sized chunks I really love my role 🦩🦩 #BrightFlamingo #Consultant #Mentor #Accountants

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐀𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞. 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐬 𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞. Arjun, a seasoned Senior Director in financial services, thought he was doing everything right. He answered client emails promptly. Delivered every report on time. Checked every compliance box. Yet his clients were walking away. Quietly. Consistently. His inbox? Cold. His meetings? Short. His follow-ups? Ignored. Behind closed doors, the leadership team was asking the hard questions. “𝑊ℎ𝑦 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑘𝑒𝑦 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑠?” “𝑊ℎ𝑦 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝐴𝑟𝑗𝑢𝑛’𝑠 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑠𝑒, 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑑?” The answer was uncomfortable. 𝐀𝐫𝐣𝐮𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐫. Not a trusted advisor. And in today’s market, 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐝. 𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐲. No matter how sharp your technical skills are, if you're not engaging at a strategic level, offering insights, asking better questions, building trust, you’re expendable. When I stepped in to coach Arjun, we had to rewire his mindset fast: From "What do you need?" to "What’s your bigger vision?" From transaction handler to strategic partner From generic presence to memorable executive presence Within months, his clients stopped shopping around. They saw Arjun differently because he started showing up differently. 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡: If your clients don’t see you as a strategic asset, they’re already looking for someone who is. 📌 Reflect: Are you unknowingly training your clients to ignore you? #ClientRelationships #TrustedAdvisor #ExecutivePresence #StrategicLeadership #CXOEngagement

🚩 (Client) Red Flags I No Longer Choose to Ignore 🚩 As an entrepreneur (and an optimist), it’s easy to ignore the warning signs in the hopes that things will work out. But letting things slide in the name of ‘not being difficult’ or getting ahead can just as easily drain your time, energy, and bank account. Here’s what I’ve learned (the hard way): 1️⃣ “Can you just do this one thing for free?” If they don’t value your work now, they never will. “Just this once” turns into “just one more thing”, way too quickly. 2️⃣ Unclear goals and shifting expectations If a client can’t articulate what they want upfront or constantly changes the project scope, it’s chaos waiting to happen –and you’re left to deal with the stress. 3️⃣ Late payments or “We’ll pay you once we see results” Nope. I’m not a bank or an unpaid intern. Payment terms are non-negotiable, and everything goes in writing. 4️⃣ Overstepping boundaries “Can we have a quick call tonight?” or “I know it’s the weekend, but…” 🚪 If they don’t respect your time, they won’t respect your expertise either. 5️⃣ Vague promises of “more work down the line” “Do this now, and we’ll hire you for bigger projects later.” If they’re not investing now, chances are they never will. 6️⃣ Difficult or rude behaviour Whether it’s dismissive emails, constant complaints, or making you feel like you’re walking on eggshells – your mental health is worth more than the bag. Mutual respect is non-negotiable, and working with clients you’re in sync with will always generate a better outcome. The bottom line: The best clients respect your boundaries, pay on time, and value your expertise. Those are the partnerships worth nurturing. What client red flags are you no longer ignoring? Share in the comments and let’s level up together👇

When I was at Salesforce, I stopped trying to win every client. It felt risky at first—like I was walking away from money. Instead, my results skyrocketed. Why? Because the fastest way to kill your sales career is to take on the wrong clients. Most sellers think picking your clients is a luxury. It’s not. It’s survival. The wrong clients drain your time, burn your energy, and hurt your reputation. They churn faster. They complain more. And they’ll keep you from working with the clients who actually move the needle. When I made the shift from needy seller to selective seller, my close rate went up, my revenue grew, and my stress dropped. Here’s the 5-part filter I use to pick clients—and when to walk away. 1. ICP first, always. Your Ideal Customer Profile is not a suggestion—it’s your guardrail. If they’re outside your ICP, you’re in “maybe we can make it work” territory. And “maybe” clients almost always cost you more than they pay. 2. They have a problem you can solve (or a goal you can deliver). People buy for two reasons: to escape pain or to reach a goal. If their pain isn’t in your wheelhouse, or their goal isn’t aligned with what you do best—pass. 3. Your service is a fit. Not every client problem is your problem to solve. If you have to build a custom solution that’s totally outside your offer, you’re signing up for resentment and scope creep. 4. They’re good humans. Life’s too short to work with jerks. If they’re disrespectful during the sales process, it will only get worse after the contract is signed. 5. They’re engaged. If you’re chasing them for replies before they’re a client, you’ll be chasing them for payments after they are. The less you need a deal, the more attractive you become to the right clients. The more you cling to every opportunity, the more you repel the clients you actually want. It’s counterintuitive, but when you put your time, energy, and attention on the right people… You close bigger deals, faster, and with less drama. Remember: You don’t get paid for the number of clients you close. You get paid for the quality of clients you keep. Raise your standards. Pick your clients. Protect your time. Your pipeline will thank you.

I was 19 when I landed my first big-shot client. The kind that gets you into Forbes, Financial Express, and Zee India. I thought I made it. → Plot twist: He was toxic. • Paid me peanuts. • Said I couldn’t work with others: “You won’t get these big brands without me.” • Flirted, despite being married. • Told me to never charge more, or I’d lose all clients. I stayed. Two months. Ignored the red flags, hoping I’d finally “make it.” Then I left. And all his big warnings? Lies. Clients came. Opportunities came. My worth didn’t need his permission. But the audacity didn’t stop. When he got his quote featured in Zee, he messaged me: "All thanks to your words." Then added: "But never tell anyone you wrote for these platforms. NDA, remember?" — Man, I know what NDA means. — I’m not naming you or sharing the content. — But you bet I’ll market my credibility. — Because that’s my value. Here's the toxic client checklist: 1. Pays less, makes you feel guilty for asking more. 2. Controls who you work with. 3. Gaslights you into thinking “You won’t find better.” 4. Crosses professional boundaries. 5. Wants full credit but won’t let you market your work. If you see these signs, run. No opportunity is worth your peace. ________________________________________________________ Hi, I’m Sneha, an Executive PR Expert & Writing Coach. I help with: Personal Branding / Ghostwriting 1:1 LinkedIn Coaching #personalbranding #marketing #business

I've reviewed hundreds of freelancer proposals and discovered why most get ignored... And it's not what most "experts" claim. It's not your experience. It's not your portfolio. It's not even your rates. The brutal truth? Your proposals sound exactly like everyone else's because you don't understand copywriting principles. Let me show you what I mean: PROPOSAL #1 (What Everyone Sends): "I'm a skilled web developer with 5 years of experience. I've worked with many clients and can deliver your project on time and within budget. I'm proficient in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and WordPress. Please check my portfolio to see my previous work." PROPOSAL #2 (What Gets Responses): "I noticed your current site takes 7.2 seconds to load on mobile – which means you're losing about 32% of visitors before they even see your products. I've helped 3 other e-commerce stores cut their load times by 65%, resulting in conversion increases of 27-41%. Would you be open to me sharing a quick plan for how we could do the same for you?" See the difference? ✅ One is about the freelancer. The other is about the CLIENT'S PROBLEM. ✅ One lists generic qualifications. The other demonstrates specific understanding. ✅ One blends in with 50 other proposals. The other stands out immediately. This is copywriting in action – the art of using words to drive action. The unfortunate reality is that most Pakistani freelancers are learning technical skills but completely overlooking the ONE skill that gets clients to actually hire you – persuasive communication.  Here's how to apply copywriting principles to your proposals: 👉 Lead with their problem or a solution, not your skills 👉 Use specific numbers, not vague claims 👉 Create a mini "before and after" story 👉 Always add a unique 'hook' to your proposals 👉 Never forget to add an easy call to action Learning copywriting principles could be the difference between sending proposals that get ignored and ones that have clients fighting to work with you.