How to Set Better Boundaries With Clients
Three pros offer tips on striking a balance between keeping clients informed and keeping communication professional
Designing, building or remodeling someone’s home is by nature a personal project. Professionals are entering clients’ private family spaces and working closely with them to make decisions based on their lifestyles. So it’s not surprising that separating the personal and the professional in home projects can sometimes be tricky, especially in today’s constantly connected world. To help pros better set up systems that keep clients in the loop but out of their after-hours text in-boxes, we sought advice from three professionals who have figured out ways to make balanced communication work for their businesses.
Ways to Keep Clients Informed
Avoiding a correspondence overload can be as straightforward as responding to messages only during work hours or gently reminding a client that the best way to contact you on the weekends is by email. To get in front of the issue, Turan and others recommend building structures into your process that align expectations for you, your team and your clients.
Avoiding a correspondence overload can be as straightforward as responding to messages only during work hours or gently reminding a client that the best way to contact you on the weekends is by email. To get in front of the issue, Turan and others recommend building structures into your process that align expectations for you, your team and your clients.
Details upfront. The more you share with your client about what to expect and the way you like to operate from the beginning, the less chance there is of confusion or miscommunication further along in the project. That might mean making the language in contracts more specific, distributing a document that breaks down your availability and each step of your process, or walking through any policies during initial meetings.
“Being proactive with information leads you to needing less communication because they’ve already got the answers,” Turan says.
“Being proactive with information leads you to needing less communication because they’ve already got the answers,” Turan says.
Project management software. Having a central location where team members can post project updates and clients can check in or ask questions has made a big difference for his landscape design firm, Micah Dennis says. Paradise Restored Landscaping & Exterior Design of Oregon incorporated project management software into its work about four years ago. Dennis says it took some training to get his team to adapt, but now the change allows clients to stay up to date with daily logs, photos and videos.
“The big horror stories that you hear on construction where people can’t find their contractor, they don’t know what’s happening with the calendar, when people are coming and going, I just didn’t want my clients to feel like that, to feel like they’ve given me money and now they’re just hoping, holding their breath that things are going to go well,” Dennis says. “So, if anything, the technology just gives them peace of mind to know that their project’s being managed, that things are happening behind the scenes. They don’t necessarily see it or know it, they can just go [online] and see, ‘Oh, looks like they’ve reached out to the electricians or the city is being delayed with the permits or with the inspections.’ It just lets them know what’s happening without having to call and panic.”
Platforms like Houzz ideabooks or product libraries on Ivy let pros and their clients exchange comments, ideas and questions through a similarly noninvasive format.
New Ivy App Gives Designers Tracking and Measuring Tools and More
“The big horror stories that you hear on construction where people can’t find their contractor, they don’t know what’s happening with the calendar, when people are coming and going, I just didn’t want my clients to feel like that, to feel like they’ve given me money and now they’re just hoping, holding their breath that things are going to go well,” Dennis says. “So, if anything, the technology just gives them peace of mind to know that their project’s being managed, that things are happening behind the scenes. They don’t necessarily see it or know it, they can just go [online] and see, ‘Oh, looks like they’ve reached out to the electricians or the city is being delayed with the permits or with the inspections.’ It just lets them know what’s happening without having to call and panic.”
Platforms like Houzz ideabooks or product libraries on Ivy let pros and their clients exchange comments, ideas and questions through a similarly noninvasive format.
New Ivy App Gives Designers Tracking and Measuring Tools and More
Check-ins. Sending regular updates or setting standing weekly calls or meetings with clients to fill them in on the latest project developments can go a long way toward ensuring they feel comfortable and debriefed on what’s happening with their projects.
Clients who are less tech-savvy may appreciate the option of an old-fashioned phone call or face-to-face meeting, while others may prefer that all communication be delivered through text. Whatever the medium, setting limits and building in intentional processes tailored to your business style can make the experience smoother for you, your team and your clients.
Clients who are less tech-savvy may appreciate the option of an old-fashioned phone call or face-to-face meeting, while others may prefer that all communication be delivered through text. Whatever the medium, setting limits and building in intentional processes tailored to your business style can make the experience smoother for you, your team and your clients.
“This really comes down to how each individual likes to operate,” Ryan Hemingson of R|House Design Build in Minnesota says. “My project manager would rather use text message or phone call versus email. I personally would rather do email or phone call. Everyone’s schedules are crazy, and the way they approach work is different from person to person. [You] really need to figure out what works for you.”
Tell us: How do you keep your clients in the loop without going overboard? Share your strategies in the Comments.
More on Houzz
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Tell us: How do you keep your clients in the loop without going overboard? Share your strategies in the Comments.
More on Houzz
4 Essential Phone Tips for Effective Client Conversations
What to Do When Clients Take Over
How to Play Relationship Referee with Client Couples
As technology has made nearly everyone more reachable, a lot of client-professional communication has been streamlined. Instead of setting up a meeting to go over new fabric swatches, a designer can email photos of each option. Planning documents can be signed electronically. Budget questions can be resolved instantly via text. In many ways, pros say, the shift has allowed clients to feel more up to speed and involved in the process. Often these quick updates also put less strain on the pro’s time.
“I’m more likely to have a quick minute to answer a question in a text than I am to set aside time away from face-to-face appointments,” kitchen and bath designer Teri Turan of Turan Designs in Georgia says. “Being out in the field on sales calls, it’s really difficult to work in a return call to a client, but I can answer so much quicker [with texting]. The plus is much quicker response on my part and usually the client’s part. The downside is they’ll text me all hours of the day and night.”