I’ve been witness to some funny (weird, not haha!) situations lately that I wanted to share with you.
Lately I’ve been noticing that more and more things are making me go ‘huh?’
I sat back to reflect on several of those things – I’ll share some with you below – and I think what it boils down to is the sense of entitlement that people feel when they are spending money on something.
Let me explain.
When I spend money on a service provider or a training program or whatever, I have clear expectations of what I am getting for my money. You probably do too.
But lately what I am seeing is a trend of people that expect to push the boundaries of these purchases they are making, and I think it comes from a place of fear.
Here’s an example. I recently got sent a referral for a new client. I know this person and was excited to be able to have a conversation to see if I could help support her in her business. We had a great consult and she asked me how we proceeded. I laid it all out – and let her know I would send the contract and the retainer request and we could get started. Perfect, she said. She needed help right away. Then things got weird. She sent me the payment, but she didn’t sign and send back my contract. I asked for it but she still didn’t send it. When I explained that I couldn’t start the work without the signed contract, she got offended. She said she thought it was unfair to ask her to sign a contract before we knew how we worked together. In all of my years of running my small business, I have never heard that one. My contract does not lock you into a length of time to work together, it simply states that we will start to work together now, and I will do x and y and the client will pay z. Long story short, signing the contract was a deal breaker and I ended up returning her refund, and didn’t do the work.
My boundary is strong. No contract .. no work. I didn’t get the client, but I am very happy with my decision!
Here’s another one. My coach clients run group programs fairly often. These programs have a set time frame – they run for 3 or 6 months or whatever. Often times they include private support either during the program or at the end. I structure my own programs the same way. I am seeing a new trend of people who are not taking the boundaries of the programs seriously – they are getting behind in their work, for various reasons, and then they are asking for extensions for their input and connection to the coach. It’s one thing if you enrol late and you are playing catch up, but I am seeing many, many people just not step up to do the work, and then expecting the coach to help them out a month or more after the program ends. One of my clients actually offers to have a coaching session within one year of purchase, and a fellow emailed to request a refund of the product price 13 months after he purchased, because he did not redeem his coaching session. Just weird, people!
I never have had to set a boundary like this before, but this is a good lesson to anyone setting up something like this – that access should be specified from this date to this date. I have seen it happen more than once recently, to several clients.
I guess the message here is clear – if you purchase something, be aware of the terms that you are agreeing to. If you are selling something, put boundaries and policies in place to be sure that the people who are purchasing from you have clear expectations.
There will always be strange situations take place like the ones I have described above, but the frequency with which I have seen these strange situations increase means to me that more detail needs to be added to conversations and contracts everywhere.
My guess is that most people are holding on to their money pretty tightly these days (and that’s their right!) but be sure not to let some of the ones who don’t read the fine print to step on your boundaries … because I guarantee if you let them, they will!
Do you have any strange client stories like these? I’d love to hear them – email me to share! tracey@yourvamentor.com