PPB December 2019

compiled by Danielle Renda How Do You Handle Preoccupied Clients? My communication with some clients is inconsistent and often requires last-minute work, on my end, to meet deadlines. What can I do to improve this situation? Q A DISTRIBUTOR ASKS: I feel like we can all agree that having a paper trail is beneficial in our business. However, I’ve noticed that some of my clients tend to skim over emails, overlook details and sometimes procrastinate on decisions that need to be made. Communication is also stymied when the business owner delegates an order to an employee without giving this person all the necessary information. Then the employee makes decisions that are later changed by the business owner, which further slows the process. I’ve spent a lot of time repeating what I need to these clients and scrambling to help them at the last minute because of their procrastination and lack of attention to details that were previously provided, both in verbal and written form. For example, I might say, “I need to know XXX before I can process your order, and I will need it by XXX to deliver it on your timeline.” Then I receive a reply that says, “Yes, please go ahead,” without answering any of my questions or providing the information I’ve requested. Here are some things I’ve tried: listing items that need answers with bullet points; communicating processes, deadlines and needed information often and repeatedly during in-person conversations; and putting details of delivery dates, timelines and needed/ missing information in writing on quotes. How do you handle this? INNOVATE 12 | DECEMBER 2019 |