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Certainly, you can have a price list on your Avoid Board-Shaming!
site or available by email, but these can turn
away clients you wouldn’t even know were Sometimes a customer decides not to pay,
prospects. even if you’re giving them exactly what they
asked for. Maybe they realize what they had
Not posting a cut-and-dried price list will
originally ordered is just bad, and they turn
allow potential clients to contact you, and
around and blame you. While you should have
then permit a discussion and ultimately a
been paid a partial amount up front, and you
negotiation which otherwise wouldn’t happen.
can be comfortable dropping completion of the
Beginners especially should take the “fexible assigned task(s) to go on to other customers,
route” in order to insert themselves into the you have only two directions to take.
industry; however, in time, when there’s more
work to do than can be done in a day, more The frst would be to come straight out and
exacting pricing can provide a good flter on ask if what they’re saying is that they’re not
who you should and shouldn’t take on. paying. When you get a straight “Yes” on that
query, just turn around and walk away.
Be Clear!
The other is to perhaps be diplomatic and
And at worse, hedge your customer’s
suggest that all is not lost, and then proceed
expectations in your direction.
to describe how it can be made better, fxed,
straightened out, and fnished to what the
Many times a job can seem simple,
customer’s original intentions were, even if the
straightforward, and a breeze to complete
from a cursory overview, when in fact it turns project was badly executed.
out to be a doozy, with a level of intricacy and
behind-the-page cleverness which is what There are probably other ways of approaching
made it appear to be a simple job. the matter, but there is one way NOT to handle
it, and that’s to go to the Boards and Forums
A situation such as that can lead to you taking and start posting about how you have been
longer than you said it would take, which can
screwed and ripped off and had your time
lead you to trying to explain delays, and that
wasted and naming names...
will only sound like excuses from your original
self-confdence.
Though that might make people raise an
eyebrow at the customer who didn’t pay, it
That can (and mostly likely will) frustrate a
client to no end, especially if you come out will also make you seem like a sore loser or a
with the, “that’s just how it often is, working whiner, and the inevitable doubt or skepticism
with code,” line, as you don’t deliver when you behind your behavior just might work more
thought you could. against you than your criticism works against
your client.
Before finging out overly-optimistic
estimate, quote or assurance, it’s simpler to
How? Well before getting customers to pay
say, “I don’t know. Let me get back to you.”
you, they have to become customers in the
And then take the time to take a look and
frst place, and any doubt that arises from that
evaluate the potential work a little frst.
kind of board behavior may just prevent that
Maybe you would have been right the frst from happening.
time, but just let that give you a little boost of
self-confdence. At least it gives the client the Just avoid board-shaming, it’s a no-win
impression that you don’t rush to judgment situation.
but work in a careful, deliberate manner when
you next communicate an actual, realistic In the next installment: more detailed info,
appraisal of what they’re paying you for. rates, and how to charge them...

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