How do you reward your clients for good behaviour?

Question

To me, good behavior from a client includes things like:

• Paying their invoices on time (probably the no. 1 thing that makes me happy).
• Taking the advice you give them on technical matters (e.g. you are better off with a online product catalog rather than an online shop).
• Not arguing with you when you flag a 'bad technology idea' (e.g. they want a scrolling red javascript ticker at the top of their website).
• They give you immediate feedback on the work you do and make decisions quickly when you ask (e.g. what fields would you like on your online contact form?).
• They don't get upset when a bug is found in their project.
• They understand feature additions after the project commences do cost money (i.e. they are happy to pay for feature additions).
• Accepting proactive adjustments you've made to their project without consulting them rather then asking you to put it back to how it was meant to be (you renamed the 'go' button to 'search' and removed the 'search' label in front of the search textbox).

I find when I get a 'good client' things go so much smoother on a project (there even seems to be less bugs - weird?). I have a habit of rewarding good behavior from anyone (even if its just a simple thank you).

These are the sort of things I do to reward good behaviour from clients:

• I will generally do their work first, before other client's work.
• I often dont charge them as much for feature additions (probably about 20% less than normal).
• I am far more inclined to just do rudimentary feature additions rather then ask them to pay for them (e.g. 15 minutes to add a new field and validation to their online contact form).
• I tend not to charge them as much on future projects - this isn't just because I'm a nice guy, their projects genuinely cost less to do (e.g. you spent less time arguing about features for one).
• I am more responsive in future for support calls, I'd probably fix their bug the same day they report it rather than the next day.
• I am likely to charge them less for post-launch support contracts (maybe 10% less than normal).

These are just some of the ways I reward good client behavior.

I am interested to know what sort of things you guys do, and even how you feel about good client behavior.

Answer 1

I know from experience that you work harder for good clients. Its a trade-off with a win for both.

But things you can do:

• put them on the early information list.
• make them beta testers if they want that.
• give discounts to products or courses.

Answer 2

You mention that paying invoices on time is probably the number one thing for you, which is totally understandable.

What's probably number one for the client is access and turnaround time. You've already addressed that in a couple of points about giving that client priority, being proactive in maintaining their software/website (and adding fixes and minor enhancements to it) and handling support calls quickly and effectively.

And as always you can control client behaviour through cost: charge less for the things you want to do and the clients you want to keep. Charge more for the things you don't want to do or the clients you won't miss. But this is more about you than them.

Answer 3

Giving them a gift is also an option. Almost everyone likes a box of chocolate or a bottle of wine.

Answer 4

It would be nice if "good clients" were simply "normal clients," and bad clients were those you avoid working for.

If you want to give them a more explicit and material reward, you could give them a "good customer" discount on the next project. My invoices specify a penalty for late payment, so I suppose you could also offer a small discount (2%) for extra-prompt payment.

Probably the best reward is to give them your best value for their dollar, and continue doing business with them. Work with them with equal respect, communication, and commitment to quality and value. Plus occasional free support, or advice on projects you're not actually working on for them, etc.

It goes both ways. They know when they've got a good contractor who delivers quality work on time and charges fairly. They want to continue the relationship when they get good results. So a good customer won't quibble about nickel-and-dime line items on invoices, pester you about delivery dates, or question your technology choices. They'll accept your rates as economical if you actually give them good work, instead of skipping to another consultant who charges less but does poor work. They'll also refer other clients your way (and probably not the ones they know will be annoying for you).

Really bad clients will get a bit more of a cold shoulder:

• "I'd really like to bid on your new project but I'm swamped with other work this quarter."
• "That'll be a rush order so I'm going to have to charge you a premium."
• "Sorry, I was traveling for a few days and didn't get your RFP."

Unfortunately, bad clients are probably least able to read between the lines when they get this sort of message. It's much easier for them to believe that all contractors are difficult to work with, than to accept that it's they who are difficult.

Answer 5

Just as important as a Good Client is a Good Advocate - the person in the client organization who covers your back and champions your cause. Often there is more than one. I try to keep constantly on the lookout for ways I can help this person achieve a career goal (often a promotion) or help with a project or mentoring.

Funny how Good Clients seem to coincide with Good Advocates.

The general principle is that winning is contagious. If you and the Advocate(s) are intent on making each other winners in the relationship, the third parties also get the benefit. And it's a lot easier to focus in on a winning strategy for individuals.

Gifts or financial concessions are too quickly dissipated. In some cultures they can be misinterpreted. There can be questions about who exactly is giving (you? your company?). But personal time and friendship are seldom an issue.

Answer 6

Pick something small that they ask you to do (like a minor change request) and do it for free. Make sure you send them a note along the lines of:

Listen, I really appreciate the way you worked with me on the last project. This is my way of saying Thanks!

This is much better than giving them a reduction, because they might confuse that with the work being easier than they thought.

Answer 7

I don't like the idea of "rewarding behaviour to much" it's like buying business when it's maybe not required. It also leads to their disappointment when they get number one client status but a new number one arrives.

Having said that, gifts, thanks, socialising is all nice. Reward their support with commitment to them and take every request seriously. Invest a little extra in them.

But to me business is this simple ... you get what you tolerate.

You need good communication that lets your client know what you offer, and what you need from them. Not arrogant, just clear. Same thing with children, if you ignore bad behaviour you get bad behaviour, encourage good behaviour you get good behaviour.

Calibrate your clients to you.

Next make sure you get clients that fit, if you fill your available resources with "less than perfect" clients just because you "need the money" you leave no space for good clients.

Be clear, who you are, what you want and what you have to offer and look for people that fit. Interview clients as much as they interview you. Your instincts should tell you how the client will work out long before you start work.

Finally ... if word of mouth is great for business ... Rich clients have rich friends, poor clients have poor friends ... well as a general rule.

Answer 8

Birthday (and holiday) cards!

Answer 9

A gift, a card, a message or communication of some kind to let them know that you value them as a client and moreover as a client that is easy to work with.

Everybody wants to be liked, if you can make them feel needed then all the better but I can't see how you'd achieve that in this context.

As for the gift, try to make it specific to the client. Boxes of chocolate are good but you can do better. Find out what your client likes to do (via blogs etc) and then send them something related to that (as long as it won't come across stalkerish).

Answer 10

Invite them (and relevant staff) to your own in-house celebrations, training and demo events. When they're there, keep the sales people away from them and treat them like royalty. Do a couple of change requests for free (or cheap if they are fairly arduous tasks) and only put your best people on their projects - don't send them a new hire or someone with an iffy track record. Offer a standard 2-3% discount on all invoices (unless they are late).

Codify all that, give it a snappy name like "Preferred Client Club" and advertise it them.

Answer 11

Introduce them to each other!

The synergy that all your good clients can have when you bring them together could be really interesting, and could definitely help them in unforeseen ways as well as bring you more business. Hold a breakfast or invite them to a game, or if they are really spread out geographically you may want to do some kind of retreat, depending on your budget.

Answer 12

I'm surprised this hasn't been closed for being "non-programming related." Anyone else think it is because of the bounty?

Answer 13

I would offer them a good massage each time they come and leave the firm. They would definetelly come back.

Answer 14

Praise them in front of their bosses. Unless they are the boss.

Answer 15

Small extra features from time to time.

Anything they don't notice won't feel like a premium, so you might want to make extra effort obvious by making things appear on your invoice.

Answer 16

with continued stellar service

Answer 17

What do you do? Not a thing. By giving clients prefferential treatment is how good clients become bad clients. Next time when they need something in a hurry, they will the expect to be treated before other people. Managing a client is about respect on both sides.

The moment that you start trying to show a client that they are worth more to you than others, is when they realize that they can ask for more and you'll agree to it. You want them to stay, because you are good at what you do, not because you'll bend over backwards for them. Does this mean that sometimes you'll lose contracts, sure, but I bet in the end those are the ones that you don't want to keep. I used to work for a large financial organization, and I can tell you that's how we got most of our stuff we wanted done for cheap. We routinely played the, "We're giving you a lot of money and we really like your work."

There are people in all major organizations who trained and prepped specifically to schmoozing vendors and making them feel like they are on top of the world, so they can become "preferred" clients. Really do you think SVPs become SVPs because they know everything? It's because they know how to get things done, and that often times means knowing how to get vendors to do what they want. Is everyone like this? No, but if you want to keep yourself from dealing with "bad" clients, then you have to keep all clients at a professional distance. I know sometimes you have to bend the rules a little, but it is always a slipperly slope.

Here's the other thing too, if you start placing prefferential clients ahead of others, then what will stop them from thinking that there is someone else who you are actually putting in front of them?

Answer 18

You reward the client with the work you do. It is as simple as that. Just do great work.

If you find that your business is doing well, and a client is becoming more of a pain than it's worth, fire your client, stop working for them, move on.

Simple