In yesterday’s post, I talked about the importance of setting boundaries for your business and stated that the best thing I did for my business was to establish a boundary letter. Here are the top 10 areas to consider when developing your own boundary letter:

1. Hours of Business – Just as any business states what the hours of business are, so too should you establish hours that you will be available to your clients. They should be stated clearly and should never change without written notification. Remember you are your own boss and whichever hours you establish are fine provided your potential clients know from the very beginning.
2. Phone Answering – Let your client’s know how and when they can reach you by telephone. If you do not wish them to have your cellular telephone do not provide it to them, however if the opposite is true let them know that you are available by cellular phone when you are not in the office. Make sure to tell your clients how long they should expect you to take to return their phone call when they leave a message. If you do not have an answering service on your telephone be sure to advise your clients as to how they can reach you
3. Email Availability – Be upfront with your clients as to your email availability. If this is your preferred method of communication be sure that they are aware of this. Let them know how long they should expect an email to be answered. Also, if you have limits on the numbers of emails you want to receive from them in any given day be sure they know this. Also, let your client’s know how often you check your email and when that is.
4. Turnaround Time – Most businesses have a usual amount of time it takes to complete projects or order products for their clients. Be sure that your clients know exactly what this usual turnaround time frame is. Also, if there are any surcharges, be sure that they are aware of how these surcharges work and when they are applicable.
5. Pricing/Invoicing Policies – Be sure that your client is very clear on what your pricing policies are. How do you track your time and calculate their invoice each month and how quickly is this required to be paid? Do you require a deposit? What constitutes an overdue invoice and what are the consequences of an overdue invoice? Be concise yet thorough in your descriptions so that you can avoid problems at a later date.
6. Referral or Other Bonuses – The best way to grow your business is to get your client’s working for you. Do you offer any referral bonuses or customer loyalty programs and how would your client qualify? What expectations do you have of your client or is this an appreciation? Be sure that they know exactly what is expected from being able to work with you.
7. Vacations and Closures – If you close each year at Christmas, be sure that your clients are aware of this up front. For some this might mean the difference between doing business with you or not. If you have a “back up” plan in place for when you are closed let them know about that as well.
8. Subcontractors/Employees – If you are in a service business and you are selling yourself to a potential client even though others will be assisting you with the work, be upfront with your client and let them know how this works in your business. Make them aware of the credentials of each of your staff and why this system is in place. Let them know that you are still involved and how.
9. Tools or Software Utilized – In particular in my business it is very important to let my clients know in advance which software programs I will be utilizing so that we can ensure that we are compatible. For many programs such as Microsoft Word and Excel just knowing the version someone is using is important when saving documents. For other programs (accounting software in particular) it is important that both parties are using the same version to be compatible. If you are aware of a potential problem and how it is solved be sure to include that in your outline.
10. Termination of Relationship – The final thing to include in your boundary letter is a brief description of what would “push” you to terminate the relationship. Let them know what rules when broken would mean you would sever your relationship. Also, let them know how quickly you will utilize this. For example, if one of your areas to terminate is failure to pay an invoice let them know that all work will cease immediately. If, on the other hand, it is for not respecting your boundaries they will be given one warning/reminder after which time a second occurrence will mean 30 days notice for termination.

I am sure that once you begin to establish your boundaries and are clear with your clients, they will learn to respect you more easily. Remember the most important rule of boundary setting is to stick to your boundaries no matter what. This is perhaps the hardest lesson and one we can talk about another time!!