Be Wise in Your Generosity

Of course we are all in business to make money, but we aren’t soulless. Sometimes there are situations that arise that lead to you being generous to a client. You have probably helped them out in special ways or giving them extra services. Unfortunately, the client doesn’t always appreciate your generosity. Whether they are upset about the work you did or claim you didn’t do enough, either way your generosity came back to hurt you. 

Of course you should be generous to clients, especially when they are faithful to your company. But, be generous to clients in a way that is wise. You need to cover your own back when helping a client out because in the end, your company is the one at stake.

The Nature of the Beast

There are many reasons one might be generous in a business setting. Sometimes as a business owner you may feel bad for your client. Maybe it is a little old lady who can barely get to the door to pay you and you want to pay it forward by mowing her lawn at half the price of her neighbors. Or, maybe your regular clients that you mow for every week really want to add in bush trimming in, but later reject because of finances so you do it anyways. These are both generous actions but sometimes it doesn’t work out for the best.

Be wise in your generosity. People are unwisely generous with clients for several reasons. First, is that they feel sorry for their clients, or they want to “give them a break.” Other reasons are feeling the need to “fix” people, wanting to generate referrals, and not having an outlet for their natural impulse to generosity.

Looking at the Problem

There are many variations of how generosity can go wrong. A client could take advantage and ask for more generosity, or the generous person has unconsciously not done their best work because they didn’t charge the fees they deserve.

The problem with unwise generosity is that the generous person usually loses money on the project, doesn’t get the gratitude they expected, and has the extra annoyance and frustration of trying to resolve a dispute with an unhappy client. In extreme cases, one or both parties will sue. The following are six signs that you are being unwisely generous.

1. You lower your rates significantly.
2. You do work for free that you normally charge for.
3. You provide extra services that you don’t normally provide.
4. You feel sorry for the person.
5. You want to give the person a break.
6. You know the person “really” needs your services.

You might find yourself exhibiting these signs when you’re negotiating a contract, or while in the middle of working on a contract. The key is, the more signs you notice you’re exhibiting, the greater the chance the contract will end badly. So, watch for these signs during the entire time you’re in a contract.

Providing Wise Generosity

Most owners like to be generous in their business. It is human to want to give back, especially when you are doing well. If you want to be generous with clients, enforce a standard policy for yourself. Determine before hand, who you’ll be generous towards and how you’ll be generous.

There has to be a give and take to the generosity that is clearly stated to the client. For instance, if you want to give the old lady a price cut on her mowing service, tell her you will mow for half the price each time, but it may not be on her time schedule. Your larger paying customers will have to take priority but you are still helping her out. If she agrees to those terms than you have given wisely.

The next time you find yourself wanting to be extra especially generous to a client, take a moment to see whether you’re exhibiting any of these six signs of being unwisely generous. If you are, stop yourself. Remind yourself of your policy.

Avoid losing money, being taken for granted, wasting time in disputes with clients, and having to go to court. With a wise generosity policy, you give yourself an outlet for your natural generosity. Be generous wisely.