Let me set the scene. It’s 7PM. Your husband just walked in the door looking tired and hungry. Your youngest is sitting on the floor amidst a pile of spilled Cheerios screaming their head off. And your oldest just told you she wants her ears pierced. You have potatoes near boil on the stove, and the timer for the roast is going off.
And your phone rings.
Your instinct is to let it ring, but then you suddenly remember that you have a client who left you hanging earlier. Your mind quickly flashes back to the moment. I’m so sorry, I can’t track that information down. Mind if I give you a call in just a bit?
No problem, you hear yourself saying before you can think better of it. You recite your number and quickly move on to your next small fire.
You never in a million years thought they’d call you after you’d switched gears from Bad Ass Business Woman to Mommy. But one glimpse at the phone told you how very wrong you were.
You step over your screaming child while gesturing to your husband to grab the roast out of the oven and answer the call in the most chipper voice you can muster. You are 100% depleted and distracted. They’re quick to deliver the overdue information, but you’re standing in the coat closet trying to muffle the noise of your life just outside the door. No pen. No pad.
Great, great, you say then thank them. Would you mind shooting that over in an email? It seems I’ve just stepped out. You’re internally cursing yourself for not just instructing them to email the information over to begin with.
There are countless ways the lack of communication guidelines can threaten your business. Maybe it’s wasted time trying to hunt down information (did they email it to me? Slack message? G-Chat? Was it a comment on an Asana project?) or an untimely, distracting phone call while you’re working to meet a huge deadline. Whatever it is, it’s a problem.
Implementing communication guidelines helps you and your clients work more efficiently together. They know how and when to reach you. You can honor your working hours, and you’ll always know where to find important information.
Here are a few questions to ask yourself as you get started with your communication guidelines:
- How do you prefer to communicate? This is your business after all. If you hate email, maybe don’t have that be your primary point of contact. Some people are phone people. (Confession: I. am. not.) Other people prefer chat apps like Slack. You’re allowed to decide what suits you best.
- Is a paper trail important to you?
- Do your clients ever get the sometimes much-needed reminder that you’re human? JHW and my former business operate 100% virtually. Sometimes things can get a little misunderstood or heated from behind a computer screen. Maybe introduce video conferences so they can see your smiling face and remember that they like you! (And that you like them ;))
Setting yourself and your business up for success takes some strategic forethought. If you need a little (or a lot) of help, consider my Boundary Boss Coaching Program!
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