Personal Trainer?
Part of our job as writers is often knowing when to put the brakes on client emergencies. Tell me – can one have a true client emergency? What does that consist of – death by comma? Severely dangling modifier? A participle that fights back? I say this as I come off the heels of one of these so-called emergencies. The client sent me an urgent email begging for instant help. Sadly for him, I was out of the office on an interview at the time. I would feel bad, but this is the third emergency in two weeks that this particular client has hit me with. It’s as though he runs his business as an afterthought – you know what you need, yet you wait until your own deadline to tell me? Oh, and I got a few of these emergencies piecemeal – he told me of one, I responded that I could handle it, then he says, “oh, and this one, too.” I respond again that it’s not a problem – you guessed it. He replied, “Here’s another.” Uh, at what point were you going to tell me about these? Mind you, our notes were exchanged in exactly a 16-minute window of time. It’s unfathomable to me that this person had no idea what he needed from the start. If this is a test, I passed. Unfortunately, he failed big time.
I’m actually rather glad I wasn’t able to catch that last emergency. I feel that in this case, the client should learn that his emergency doesn’t necessarily start a fire in other parts of the world. His poor planning affects one person – himself. Not me. Not any other writer who has to drop everything (and honey, there’s a rush fee for that) in order to appease his scattered work ethic. One of the folks I had to talk to regarding these assignments told me – totally unsolicited – this guy’s getting a reputation for being unprepared. In the business world, that’s professional suicide if your customers think that. If they speak of it, seal the coffin.
It may lose me this particular gig, but I’d much rather maintain my sanity and my work rhythm. It’s very disruptive to me when I’m finishing up a technical article, which makes my brain hurt anyway, and the phone rings or the emails keep coming about Oh! I need this! Oh! I also need that! Oh! Here’s another! Oh! Oh! Help! Maybe this guy learned. I doubt it, but I hope he understands that a little pre-planning (like say, actually knowing how much copy he needs each month) would go a long way in helping others to work with him.
I hope you charged him the appropriate aggravation — I mean rush — fees.
I love the aggravation fee. :)) No, he set the price because, as he put it, he’s a publication. I’m filling in for a friend until she’s able to take the job back. But I’ve advised her to give him a talking to. ;))
I think this sums it all up: “It may lose me this particular gig, but I’d much rather maintain my sanity and my work rhythm.” I don’t mind accommodating a real emergency every now and then, but there’s no way I’d allow it to turn into a frequent thing. Good riddance to this client who cries wolf!
I’m all in favor of rush fees! Planning is critical to any successful business.
BTW, thanks for linking to me.
Good job, Lori! I recently did a post on a prospect (and now client) who was driving me nuts. I finally gave him an ultimatum – either select me to work with him or find someone else (better known as the “__ or get off the pot” ultimatum).
I used to have a plaque on my desk at work (ahh, I love saying I “used” to work for someone else) that said “Poor planning your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.” I had to buy it after someone lost the DEED to a property our company owned, failed to check to see if he had the deed before the closing, and then panicked when he went in the file 30 minutes before the closing and found out the deed was missing. He had me hopping that day – fax machines were shooting flames, phones were bleeping…
Then there was the time an entire company file went missing – utility bills, tax forms, deeds, inspection forms all missing. I searched and searched and searched and found out 3 weeks later that it had been in a colleague’s briefcase the entire time – while he was on his honeymoon. I don’t know if I should have been more worried that he took the file home without telling anyone or that he took his briefcase on his honeymoon!
I don’t miss those days at all!