This way, you are managing them and not letting them manage you and drag you into a complex back-and-forth nightmare.

We look at it as good leadership to let them know what the rules are, as they can’t be expected to know.

Clients just ask questions as thoughts come into their heads and if we allow them to keep taking advantage of us, then they will. In this situation, the response is usually “Well, he should have said something. He should have managed my expectations”. Bottom line: they were waiting for you to lead.

Everyone in your firm who are involved with “sales activities” (in our firm we call them Client Managers who have interpersonal and sales/communication skills) should follow this procedure. Nothing should be worked on without the client having been provided with a cost proposal first. Only after the cost proposal is accepted should any work begin.

In other words, discover exactly what the client wants first and a cost proposal is like a cooling-off period in case the client was not serious. This will save you from committing your time and not getting paid for it later. You will then be able to separate those who will cost you money, and the genuine clients who are willing to pay.

And what about the 5-minute free procedure? This is a gesture of goodwill. Extending some help, because they are a client after all. But at the end of the day, time is money and it needs to be paid for, and that’s what you are saying to them subliminally when you offer 5 minutes free.

After that, get your cost proposal signed so there are no surprises. There is a cooling-off period and you can confidently go ahead with doing the work knowing for sure there won’t be any arguments later and you will get paid.

Once the cost proposal has been signed off, it goes to the production division where the accountants produce the work. Their productivity should be 95%, as they are purely production and they do no sales activities. So these team members should just be 95% production with no distraction of “sales tasks”.

The sales task should only be performed by your Client Managers.

Now is the best time to do some training. It doesn’t need to take lots of training. It’s the persistence, frequency, and consistency that will change habits and make it permanent.