5 Mistakes with Clients I’ll Never Make Again

We all make mistakes with clients. The important thing is that we learn from them. Here are 5 you should never make.

The thing about a mistake is: you don't know it's a mistake until after you've made it. Otherwise it's a decision.

The Cambridge Dictionary defines a mistake as:

"An action, decision, or judgement that produces an unwanted or unintentional result."

If that's the case, then I know a thing or two about mistakes. And I bet you do too. We make them at home. We make them at work. We make them with money, with friends, with health, with colleagues and with clients.

Making mistakes with clients is a part of doing business. I recently got to thinking about some of ones I've made most often (and promised to never make again, fate willing):

  • Stop giving it away. No more discounting my prices just because a client says I'm expensive.
  • Stop modifying my terms. Some things just aren't negotiable.
  • Stop messing around with invoicing. Cash flow is important.
  • Stop providing too much choice. I'm the expert. It's my job to make sense of what's available to my clients.
  • Stop letting my clients solve their own problems. See above.

For all the challenges they've caused, those mistakes have also taught me invaluable lessons.

What can you learn from the mistakes you've made with your clients?

About the author 

Warwick Brown

Warwick Brown has led business development and account management teams in Australia and Europe for more than 15 years and worked with some of the world's most prestigious firms, including Merck & Co, Deutsche Bank, McKinsey & Company and Vodafone. His mission is to help account managers everywhere who are short on time and big on ambition get results.