Cool in a Catastrophe: How to Tell Your Clients
I hate to be a pessimist, but sooner or later something is going to go wrong — and it’s going to affect your ability to complete a project. It’s happened to me more than once over the years: I’ve gotten sick, lost power and faced other situations that spelled disaster for whatever I was working on.
I still get a little worried when I think about how I’m going to have to tell a client something has gone wrong. I’ve done my best to make sure that I’m ahead on my work, that even a catastrophe can’t delay a project — but I’m also prepared to tell my clients when something goes wrong.
Full Disclosure Isn’t Necessary
When I have a family emergency that will affect my ability to complete a project on time, I tell my clients — but that’s all I tell them. The words ‘family emergency’ can cover everything from a funeral to taking a sick child to the doctor, along with anything in between. I’ve been known to use the phrase ‘personal emergency,’ as well.
Such an approach certainly limits the number of discussions that come from a client disagreeing with you on the severity of an emergency, but there’s more to limiting just what you disclose to a client. It’s unfortunate, but still true that some clients will assume that certain types of emergencies make you less reliable of a freelancer. Anything that leads a client to think that you don’t consider your work top priority can fall into that category. It’s unfair but even something as simple as sharing that you need to take your child to the doctor can be enough to get a less considerate client thinking about other freelancers he can call.
It’s always alright to simply say that you have a family emergency and that the matter is personal. Beyond that, it isn’t really anyone’s business but yours.
But Politeness Is
No matter what catastrophe a freelancer finds herself in the middle of, courtesy is crucial. I’m not talking about using ‘please’ or ‘thank you’ in your emails — I’m talking about the courtesy of sending an email about the situation, and then following up with a date when your client can expect a finished project. When a client doesn’t hear anything from the freelancer he’s working with beyond a hurried email indefinitely postponing a project, he’s likely to go looking for another freelancer. Even if the project isn’t particularly time-sensitive, clients like to know that you’re still around.
If the project is time-sensitive, you can take politeness a step further: rather than trying to get your client to extend his deadline, think about handing it over to another freelancer who can make the original deadline. It can hurt your bank account a bit, but most clients will still keep you in mind for the next project down the road.
I know some freelancers are willing to offer a discount or a break on future projects if they can’t make a deadline based on a personal issue. I don’t think it’s necessary in many situations, but if a client is being particularly difficult to work with about a delay, a discount may provide a simple solution. It depends on how you operate as a freelancer and how you want to handle your relationships with your clients.
Early Notification Is Best
There are some disasters that you can see a long way off. A couple of years ago, I was living in a city that was sitting right in the path of a wild fire. In the end, we lucked out and the fire was brought under control — but for several days we weren’t certain if we were going to need to evacuate. I was lucky enough to be able to work during that time, but the prospective evacuation would have thrown a wrench into my schedule.
I let my clients know my situation as soon as I could. I warned them that if I did have to evacuate, I would be unable to meet my deadlines. I also told them that I would try to inform them in the event I actually needed to evacuate, but I couldn’t promise everything. For the most part, my clients were very understanding. It didn’t hurt that a few of them were local and had similar worries of their own.
More than a few freelancers will try to convince themselves that they can still meet a deadline, as long as they can foresee a problem. It isn’t impossible to keep caught up, even if you do need to pick up and move out of the way of a natural disaster — but it is incredibly stressful and may not be worth it. If you can give a little warning, most clients are willing to be flexible.
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This is one of those things that is hardest at the beginning. If you get a good response the first couple of times, then it gets easier.
But if you have a bad experience with a client concerning a deadline early on in your career, you’ll probably fear giving the occasional bad news forever. And like you said, it does happen to everyone!
I agree that full disclosure isn’t necessary unless the catastrophe somehow impacts the final result (or time it takes to get there). A lot of the time I find that I’m able to fix problems before the client even knows about them, which is ideal for both parties.
I just had this happen to me. I dislocated my shoulder two weeks ago which put me mostly out of commission for the beginning of a week. I typed out one handed emails to client with deadlines I thought I would be late on. I did tell them the situation and that I would probably be able to get back at it in a few days. I only pushed one project back by one day. All of my clients were more concerned about my health (guess I have good clients) and were happy that even with an injury I managed to hit deadlines.
Being upfront is the way to go for sure.
Good article! Another I could have used a few weeks ago…
I’ve just encountered my first real family emergency last month, but didn’t say a word to my clients about it (yet). Unfortunately, it’s one of those things where we have to ‘wait and see’ so I’m doing just that. No sense in getting everyone worked up before all of the information is available.
Thankfully, I can pad deadlines well enough with my projects (at least most of them) and as long as I keep the clients in the loop, they’ll be okay with a slight delay.
I think that’s the key in any successful business relationship – constant communication.
I will keep this in mind, being a new freelancer. I did recently have an emergency with the current project I’m on. Due to a health issue that I have, I was suddenly out of commission for several days. Just as I was feeling better, I had to have dental surgery. I told my client the basic details (health problems and a recent dental surgery) to explain why I would be a little late in finishing the project. Fortunately he understood and told me to watch my health for the next couple days before finishing up.
Guess I got lucky!
One of my worse disasters is to face a software bug that makes an easy project impossible to achieve.
I spent a couple of months once, trying to workaround and get done a half-a-week project.
We live in time that’s seems to be governed by time limits, deadlines and the like. It can be frustrating for many if expectations for projects are not met, especially in the business world. I always adopt the policy of honesty if I need to be somewhere and it takes me away from my desk I will always make provision for any absence its important to me that I maintain good client relationships even when this is hard to do. When the the client is venting their frustrations, because of hold ups or whatever, there is always a way forward if we apply rationality and a well grounded response. I believe its always good to be polite and give a reason why things are happening or not happening, its called respect!
its always important to be upfront (to a degree) with the client, as this will allow him to have a good grasp on the project and also establish a good reputation with him.
nice article overall, thanks!
Great article. I kind of screwed my freelance reputation up here in Pittsburgh because I always told too much of my own business to basically everybody (clients, friends, everyone). So now I found to be too irresponsible from my old/current clients and its hard to get work unless its some straight new client that’s not connected in any way to my old/current clients.
I made the mistake to agree to a deadline on a logo design project, while totally forgetting that I was leaving on vacation for a couple of days. This stupid mistake resulted in me telling the client that I screwed up and forgot. I told him i needed a couple more days.
Being up front allowed me to not rush the design. As an apology for taking a couple extra days than was first mentioned, I threw in a free business card design. The client was never really in a big hurry. I think it upset me and not him. I just don’t like leaving the impression of being irresponsible. In the end, he liked the design; everyone was happy.
This is a great article thank you for putting it together! I find the comments have some great advise. Whenever I am faced with a big “uh oh…”, I always try to present both the issue at hand, but also my workaround to it.. I explain it to the client and go from there based on the discussion. Sometimes I reserve the possibility of offering a discount to the client, but usually the client is understanding and discount is not needed. I always keep that as an option as my main goal is to have a happy satisfied client. That’s the most that is important to me.
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Great Article and evenly great comments.
I would like to mention one thing emergencies may happen with anyone. It is better to have a longer duration than required. I usually, ask 25-30 days for a project which may required 20 days to complete.
But as a freelancer we should
“Hope for the best and prepare for the worst”
Thanks for this article. I always think it’s good to be upfront and polite with my clients no matter what the situation is. If I’ve got myself in a situation where I’m not going to be able to meet an agreed deadline, it’s nobody’s fault but myself. I must surely have agreed to the deadline in the first place, and can therefore place no blame on anybody else for not being able to meet it.
As long as your honest and don’t try to lie your way out of it, the client will be understanding 99% of the time.