Actions Speak Louder than Words: Client Edition

You know the saying, “Actions speak louder than words?” It’s a good one to follow when working with clients.

It doesn’t matter what anyone says they’re going to do. It matters if they do it.

Caution: Client’s Words and Actions Don’t Align

If you’ve got a publisher client who says they pay within thirty days of receipt of your invoice, that’s promising. But it’s only actually true if they do pay within thirty days. If you submit your invoice on July 1, have they paid by August 1? No? Then that’s not thirty days.

Oh, but they meant thirty business days?

Oh, but they forgot to submit your invoice?

Oh, but . . . .

See this for the red flag it is. They did NOT pay within thirty days. The words say “thirty days” but the actions don’t. You have to go by the actions.

That doesn’t mean you should scrap them as a client. We all make mistakes. We all miscommunicate from time to time. Fair enough.

But if it happens again? Now you know. Again, this doesn’t necessarily mean you dump them. It does mean that you have to realize they don’t pay in thirty days. They take forty-five.

Maybe that’s acceptable to you. But don’t be surprised when that forty-five days starts slipping to sixty days. They didn’t abide by their words in the first place. You can’t say they didn’t warn you.

What Now?

Unless the client is proactive—“I’m so sorry, I forgot to submit your invoice before I left for vacation; I’m going to ask them to prioritize payment”—the first time actions don’t align with words, I say something. I don’t make threats, I just say, “Hey, I noticed that today is August first and I was expecting payment on Invoice XYZ by now. Can you look into this for me?”

Depending on their answer, you’ll know whether you need to take next steps. For example, I have a client who still pays by paper check. Before I left for Spain, I did some work for them but didn’t receive payment within the usual thirty days. I asked about it on day thirty-one and was told the check had been sent two weeks before. We worked it out that they would cancel the check and pay by PayPal (notice how a good client tries to be accommodating?).

The check finally showed up sixty days later. (Of course I shredded it since I’d already been paid.)

If the answer had been something else, I would have considered past experience with the client before deciding next steps. If they’ve been a good client, I’ll be patient and see what develops. If they’re a new client, I assume a red flag has been waved.

For a new client who doesn’t pay as agreed, I will typically pause any ongoing work until they clear up the arrears. I know it feels like that can jeopardize a relationship, but a good client pays their bills. Freelancers get stiffed all the time by clients who keep promising to pay. Don’t let the arrears pile up. A good client will understand your boundary and work with you to fix the problem.

But a bad client? They’re not going to fix anything. They’re going to see how long they can exploit you and how much you’ll put up with. In fact, particularly manipulative clients will test to see how much you’ll put up with. That’s why it’s important to set boundaries firmly from the beginning. You may lose that client but that’s good! You don’t want bad clients. You want good ones—and the good ones take actions that align with their words.