One heart of client management is keeping their expectations realistic.
“Yes, genius, that sounds great in theory, but how does that play out in real life?”
The challenge is this, lots of expectations are unspoken, subtle, and built off of implications, and assumptions and understandings. I’ve previously documented in this series the importance of documenting these, but in real life, it’s hard because often you don’t even realize it yourself. Too often, realizing it only comes with the benefit of hindsight, that is, after the pain of not having realized it earlier and suffering for it.
Here’s one case to help make it clear: imagine you’re using a platform to find clients, such as Upwork, that charges you a 20% commission. You advertise that you’ll work for $10 an hour, and then someone hires you. Upwork then asks you how much you want to charge and you think something along the lines of, “Well, Upwork is going to charge me 20%, and the $10 I listed is how much I want to receive in my pocket after all the charges, so it makes sense to for me to now send the contract to the client, via Upwork, charging $12.50, to account for that.”
I’ve hired hundreds of people via platforms via Upwork, and this has happened in at least 30% of all cases. It’s natural, it makes sense: you state a price publicly, and that’s how much you actually want to get, after the expenses. Sounds perfectly fine, right?
Well, it is fine in a technical legal sense. But now, let’s rethink this situation from the client’s point of view. From the client’s eyes, he can only afford so much for someone with your skillset. If his budget is approximately $10 an hour, that’s one of the reasons why he hired you. He interviewed you, and you seemed great, “Ah, he seems like he’d be great to work with, and his price is just what I can afford, perfect.”
Then, you send your contract and it says $12.50. What does the client then think, “Wait, is this person just another a–hole who assumes I’m a Rich American and can just afford endless amounts? He publicly stated he would work for $10 but now when the private contract comes, he just secretly increases it by 25%? Why? Is he taking advantage of me? What an a–hole! What human being has so little respect for fellow human beings that he secretly increases his price from his publicly stated one like that? Did he not think I wouldn’t notice? How stupid does he think I am?”
There are a few lessons here. One is to always see it from the other person’s eyes. Another is to be twice as careful about amounts you tell people and publish online. A third is to be three times as careful on platforms with hidden fees like Upwork. A fourth lesson is to always make sure the expectations regarding every aspect of your work are consistent among the people you work with.
