Yellow Dog Consulting

Sales & Marketing Consulting for solo-preneurs.

5 Things to Tell Your Clients at the End of the Year

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imagesThe end of the year is a good time to make sure that you have expectations set for the following year for your business and with your clients. For the past month, amongst other things, I’ve been thinking about what my clients need to know for 2015. Here’s a few things you may want to make sure your clients know the next time the contract is up, or if the end of the year is a natural time for changes…

1. Rate changes. It’s good to review your rates each year. I bill at an hourly rate, and that rate went up this year. Not a ton, $5 an hour, it won’t kill my clients, or so they’ve said.

2. Changing your fee structure. I had been billing in 15 minute increments and after some suggestions from friends, I decided to switch to bill in 6 min increments. I think it’ll save my clients some money because I’m pretty efficient. But that’s taken care of (see #1)

3. Holidays and vacations – make sure your clients know what’s going on in your schedule. I try to communicate about a week prior at the LEAST to let my clients know of vacations.

4. Billing– my invoices come out on the first of the month. So for December, I always ask my clients if they’d like to pay early (if they have excess in the budget) or wait till January. It doesn’t make a difference to me, and they’re happy.

5. Major Life Changes- okay, maybe not major, but if you know there’s some big things happening for you in 2015 that you can share, do that. “We’re moving,” “We’re going on a 3 week road trip,” “I’m taking up under water basket weaving,” “I’m prepping for the Zombie Apocalypse, and you should too!” Whatever it is, if it makes sense and will effect your clients, let them know so you can plan around it.

Preparing Your Clients for Your Move

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imagesAs you hopefully read in my newsletter yesterday, we’re moving to Portland! And while I don’t usually recommend moving and house hunting during the holiday season, in working with my clients it was a natural time to discuss next year’s work and contracts.

One of the things I was LEAST concerned about with this move was my business. I built Yellow Dog Consulting to be mobile, to move wherever I move. I meet with 1/3 of my clients in person each month. I meet with another 1/3 of clients once or twice a year in person. And 1/3 we’re all via email or phone. So, the hardest part was telling clients what this means and how it should not effect our business and working together.

My plan for the first year is to be up in Seattle every other month to meet with clients. As I told my clients this past week, it won’t be a big change, we will schedule a phone call or Skype in the off months and we’ll keep working just fine. One client had a look of panic, the rest barely flinched. A couple even started talking about coming down to visit and do a beer or wine tour of the region. I have the best clients. 

Will there be bumps along the way? Yes. But it’s time to hone and refine my practices to become the new best practices as I make changes. Telling my clients early was key to this success. I don’t move for another 6 weeks. For the clients I need to see in person, that’ll be no problem to get scheduled in January.

I often over communicate with my clients, and often apologize for their full inbox. But they also always know what’s going on so that there’s no fires. During this past week when I met with clients they also knew that I’d be taking time off for the holiday’s so we need to get things planned around our vacations. Setting expectations and communication will save me during this transition period, and I’m not worried.

3 Lessons in Proper Business Email Exchanges

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imagesI had three meetings today with clients. In two of those meetings proper email etiquette was discussed. The first was about how my client is often introduced to a potential lead. In this situation there’s a couple of referral sources who send really over the top “best client ever” “he’s AMAZING and the GREATEST” kind of emails when introducing someone. It makes my client uncomfortable and he was thinking of telling them about it. As he read me the emails though, he sounds fine, and as long as he’s not writing the same kinds of things in an email intro or back to them, then he’s Ok.

Lesson #1: Be professional in your introductions. you aren’t introducing your BFF’s to each other, it’s a business connection. Stop sucking up, everyone can see it and you look bad.

The second meeting with a client we discussed an email from a service provider that we use that he pays for and I get to work with. The service provider (a woman) says things like “hi friend” and “xoxo.” She’s VERY sweet but wow is this business unprofessional! I have met this person once or twice, and we get along great, but it’s hard to forward an email to my client for approval with xo’s in it, sorry, but this isn’t Gossip Girl.

Lesson #2: you never know who ELSE is reading the email, so better safe than sorry, let’s be a bit more professional in our correspondence so the client can also read it.

And finally- yesterday my client sent me a competitors (of theirs) holiday card. It started with happy holidays and then immediately was 5 things they had for sale. SERIOUSLY.

Lesson #3: A Holiday Card is a holiday card. Not a sales card. It’s a touch that may eventually lead to a sale, but let your holiday greeting be a greeting. NOTHING MORE.