Delighting your clients isn’t that difficult to achieve if all the conditions are right. Just pay attention, do what you’re supposed to do and voila—you’re a star in your client’s eyes.

The problem is that conditions never remain right. They change—mostly because of your clients. They will promise to get you the information you need by X date and then miss the deadline…by days or even weeks. Or what they give you has to be refined, corrected or redone before you can even use it. Or they delay a decision to the last minute. Isn’t it ironic that they are the ones who sabotage the level of service they expect from you? It’s just crazy. So you better take charge.

Take charge in the initial engagement meeting and discuss how their delays or insufficient information will affect the deadlines they require. They need to understand clearly how their action or inaction will adversely affect the project. Then, when it does happen, take charge by reminding them of the initial discussion and renegotiate timelines and expectations. Otherwise, they will assume everything remains the same.

Notice a theme here? All of this requires that you take charge. If you just go along and say nothing or let the client drive the engagement, you deserve to be taken advantage of. Just don’t complain or blame the client for your compressed timelines or having to work nights and weekends unnecessarily. If you won’t do it for yourself, at least do it for your staff. They, more than anyone, will appreciate you taking charge…unless you plan on working alone.

In preparing for your next initial engagement meeting, add this to the list. You and your staff will be glad you did. And you will have opportunities to delight your client.