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You know how it goes. You start a job and everything looks great. Then your customer starts changing their mind, asking for more, querying costs… and generally proving a real headache to deal with. We’ve all been there – more times than we’d like. So what can we do to avoid it?

Today we’re looking at avoiding those tricky customer pitfalls before you topple into them – so you can swap nightmare jobs for smooth-running, stress-free ones. Let’s take a look.

In the trades, we work with all sorts of people, all the time. We’re in their kitchens, their bathrooms, their gardens, their lives. When it goes well, it’s a pleasure. When it gets awkward, well, it really does get awkward. The good news is, there’s plenty you can do to steer the ship.

We wrote recently about grading potential customers before you dive in and take on a job. That’s saved me from more nightmares than I can count over the years. But sometimes your gut just doesn’t tell you someone’s going to be difficult until it’s too late. And when that happens you need a toolkit to get you through (and not just the one in your van).

The way you handle people with the potential to be tricky can make a surprising difference to the way they behave, the way a project runs, and the reputation you walk away with. So it pays (literally!) to practise a few people-handling skills. They’ll help to keep everyone – including you – a whole lot happier.

My top tips for handling tricky customers

Be crystal clear, from the word go

It’s always worth investing a bit of time in getting organised up front. It shows you’re a pro and it sets things up well for the rest of the job. For starters, make sure your quotes are really clear and easy to understand, with no room for misunderstanding. You could even try listing out the work in the order you’ll do it – I find it helps customers get their heads around the whole job better.

Once your quote’s accepted, put together a robust, realistic, fully costed plan and schedule for the job. Get it in writing – and get it agreed by your customer before you start.

So you’re ready for whatever comes your way, have a set of clear terms and conditions that cover every eventuality you can think of. Give your customer a copy with your initial quote, and any updated quotes you send later. Again, getting them to sign it can’t hurt, and gives you something solid to fall back on if it all goes belly up.

Lock down a payment plan 

This isn’t so much of an issue on small, quick jobs, but on longer-running projects it’s totally reasonable to put together a payment plan, get it agreed by your customer and ask them to pay you in instalments as the job goes on.

It gives you more security and gives them an easy way to spread the cost of the work (so there’s less chance you’ll get shortchanged). Even better, if you’ve got a team to pay or materials to buy, it’ll help keep your cashflow nice and healthy.

Keep your customer in the loop

You’re crazy busy. We know the feeling. But keeping those lines of communication open really puts customers at ease. So take five minutes and make sure they know what’s going on – being clear, honest and friendly goes a surprisingly long way.

Most customers just want certainty. So show up when you say you’re going to, and do what you’ve said you’ll do. It’s not rocket science. It’s just what you’d want if you were in their shoes.

If timings need to change, just let them know. These things happen, and if you’re clear, friendly and keep managing their expectations, they’ll understand. If you’re not there and they don’t know why – or they can’t see the progress they expected – that’s when tension sets in.

A conversation tracker can be a big help with this. We’ve got one in YourTradebase, but do it however works best for you, even if that’s just keeping texts and emails so you can quickly look back and see what’s been agreed.

Have regular catch ups

On longer jobs, try to arrange regular catch-ups with your customer. Once a week tends to work well for us, and ten minutes is probably all you need. It’s a good chance to make sure everyone knows what’s happening, what decisions need to be made and what needs choosing or buying.

You could also try sending weekly catch-up emails, especially if meeting in person isn’t practical. These can run through what you’ve been doing, what’s coming up next and what you need from them. We’ve got a handy email template you could try in YourTradebase, or you could come up with your own. Either way it’ll turn catch-ups into a quick two-minute job.

Confirm things in writing

Jobs have a habit of evolving over time – morphing from one thing into another while you’re racing towards the end. So, when you talk things through in person or agree to make a change, confirm it by email or text so it forms part of your tracked conversation. Don’t risk any debate about what’s been agreed – document it.

Keeping job notes can help with this too. We all forget things sometimes, so when you’re talking to your customer it’s a good idea to make notes right there on the spot, then send them confirmation later. It honestly helps save a tonne of headaches.

Ask for sign off

When a task’s done, get your customer to approve it so you can move on. Then, if they change their mind, you can be really clear that they’re asking for new work, with new costs. Getting signed approval at the end of the whole job is a good idea too – it means you can get that invoice in, knowing they won’t come right back with queries.

Check and double check

Finally, if you’re not sure where your customer wants something – a pipe, a socket, a sink – don’t assume or make the choice for them, even if it seems like a total no-brainer to you. They might have a really clear idea of what they want, and it might not be what you were expecting. 

So just ask. And, if you can, send a written message confirming the conversation. Yes it’ll take you a few minutes, but moving that sink will take you a whole lot longer.

Good luck out there. Here’s a quick roundup…

Your Tricky Customer Toolkit 

10 ways to avoid a disaster

1. Agree a realistic plan
2. Be clear on costs
3. Get Ts & Cs signed
4. Schedule payments
5. Keep things friendly
6. Manage expectations
7. Track conversations
8. Have catch-ups
9. Get it in writing
10. Don’t guess, check

Repeating yourself gets pretty boring, pretty fast. But how many times a week do you send almost identical emails – accompanying quotes and invoices, chasing up responses, confirming appointments? A lot, right?

So what if you stopped typing out the same few sentences again and again – and turned all your regular messages into good-to-go templates? Drop in the right customer’s details, add a few specifics and bam! Job done. It might just be a game changer…

Emails don’t take long to write, but when you’re sending dozens every day, they soon add up. And the bigger the stack you’ve got to reply to, the more likely you are to put it off… and off… and off. Before you know it, you’re taking too long to get back to people, you’re rushing what you write and you’re not looking like the pro you know you are. Templates are the perfect fix.

By taking the time to write and save a really great template email for things like ‘here’s my quote’, ‘here’s my invoice’ or ‘confirming our appointment’, you’ll have a really polished message you can drop the right details into and send in about a minute – rather than the ten it might normally take.

Yes, it’s a small time saving, but multiply it by all the messages you write every day, and you’ll soon have time to fit in that extra job – or even knock off on time for once. You’ll also find it much easier to send messages quickly, even when you’re on the go.

Mapping every message

If templates sound like a good idea, how about taking it a step further? You could map out every email you send during the typical journey of a job, and get them all set up, ready to roll. Then you’d have a bank of messages to pick and choose from, whenever you need them.

It’s an investment of time up front – a couple of hours or so – that’ll save you time, day in, day out, again and again. Even better, it’ll seriously up your customer-service game. Why? Because you’ll be sending strong, un-rushed messages that arrive in people’s inboxes sooner. Which makes you look super organised, professional and generally great at your job. Win.

Like the idea of lining up all your likely emails? Ok, let’s take a look at a typical job journey and the kind of messages you might want to template. We’ve suggested a few for each stage, but everyone works differently, so think of this as a starting point and adapt it to suit the way you do your thing…

Early doors

You might send emails to…

• Thank people for getting in touch.
• Confirm an initial appointment.
• Accompany a quote.
• Follow up with customer testimonials.
• Provide more information on your business (like specialisms, how long you’ve been going, accreditations etc).
• Chase up a quote.

In the bag

You’ve won the work! Now you might want emails to…

• Thank people for choosing you.
• Tell people what to expect next.
• Confirm timings or start dates.
• Accompany an updated quote if the customer changes their mind about what they need.

On the job

Just because you’re on site, doing their job, doesn’t mean you won’t need to email your customer. In fact, sending them regular written updates helps keep everything crystal clear, manages everyone’s expectations and makes you look really organised.

You could template emails that…

• Confirm any changes you’ve agreed in person.
• Update your customer on what’s happening week by week.
• Tell customers what you’ll be doing next.

Done and dusted

Once you’re done with one job, you’ll probably be straight onto the next, so templated emails can make it easier to get things wrapped up and paid.

You could use them to…

• Confirm the job’s all done.
• Ask for sign off.
• Accompany an invoice.
• Chase up payment.
• Thank people for paying and choosing to work with you.

Do it your way

That’s just one example of a typical job journey – and it might not sit exactly with the way you work. But taking the time to think your jobs through from first call to final payment is an investment worth making. So grab a cuppa, work it through and figure out what it is you need.

Once you’ve made a list, it’s time to start writing. Your template doesn’t need to be anything fancy or techy – a simple Word file that you copy and drop the specifics into will do the trick.

On the other hand, if you’d like a bit more help, you’ll find a whole stack of ready-written templates in YourTradebase, plus a handy tool for writing, saving and using your own. There’s even a blog here on how to use them, step by step.

Whatever tools work for you, templates have the power to turn haphazard messages into a streamlined process – and make a big difference to your business. Give them a go – we’d love to hear how you get on.

It’s no secret. Behind every busy tradesperson lurks a big old pile of paperwork. Whether it’s taking over the kitchen table or stacking up in the spare room, it’s not just physical clutter, it’s a whole heap of extra pressure that’s just not shifting.

So today we’re looking at one simple strategy for scaling that paperwork mountain. And this time, you’ll need your van…

Nobody wants to waste their evenings, weekends or hands-on trade time getting through admin. And you shouldn’t have to. But if you don’t get quotes done, work dries up, and if you don’t get invoices done, you won’t get paid. It’s time for a new strategy.

We’re calling it van time. Yep, van time. It’s a really simple hack that helps you break paperwork down into bitesized chunks and get it done as you go along. Here’s why it works…

Putting wasted time to work

Duck into the van for five minutes and it’s surprising what you can get done – while you’re having a cuppa, wolfing down lunch or waiting at the merchant’s.

As long as you’re not the one behind the wheel, you can work while you’re on the road too – heading to and from site, picking up supplies or going to meet clients.

In fact, in our recent Do Your Thing blog, Alison Coxhead from Earthstone Landscapes told us that’s exactly what she does:

“If we’re travelling somewhere and I’m not behind the wheel, I’ll often use YourTradebase on my phone to do quotes as we’re going along. I’ll do invoices on my phone as well, just sitting in the van in my lunch hour.”

It’s an idea that really works. When we’ve got a few spare minutes, we’re all guilty of faffing on our phones or flicking through the paper. But what if you put those wasted minutes to work? By knocking out a quote or emailing a customer, you’re getting something purposeful done, keeping people in the loop and clawing back valuable time in the evenings and at weekends.

If you’ve got a team, you could even grab a ten-minute admin catch up in the van once you’ve got everyone started on the day’s work. You’ll be back before they’ve missed you, and you’ll feel a whole lot better about the day ahead.

Sounds simple, right? Well, yeah. But even simple things can be hard to start – and harder to stick to. It’s about getting into good habits – and the easier they are, the more likely you are to keep going. Which is what’s so good about van time. Making it a success means fitting it into the way your business works, but to kick things off, give these steps a go…

1. What’s on your plate?

If you’re not clear what needs doing, you won’t get it done. So start this new strategy with a list. It might be a long one at first, but it’ll get shorter as you chip away at things you’ve been putting off.

Write down every single admin job that needs doing – estimates, quotes, invoices, customer calls, chasing payments, logging payments, sending receipts… the lot. Get it all down and you’ve got something to work with.

Like some help? Have a look at the what’s on your plate tool within YourTradebase. It updates automatically as you get things done, which is pretty darn handy.

2. How urgent is it?

Next, knock your list into priority order. Yes, it all needs doing, but what’s screaming at you? What’s keeping you awake at night? Who’s chasing you? Which potential jobs might just bring in the most cash? Bump those to the top of your list and you’ve made a great start.

Bear in mind most customers won’t want to wait more than a few days for a quote, and the earlier you send one, the better your chances of winning the job – if it’s one you want to win (and that’s an important if). Keep an eye on cashflow too. Even if they’re the one thing your clients aren’t chasing, you still need to make time every week to send out invoices.

3. How long will it take?

Once you’ve worked the lot into priority order, think about how long you need for each task. Some quotes can be written and sent really quickly – especially if they’re something you do regularly and you can tap into a template like the ones in YourTradebase.

You might get a couple done in one van break, and a handful across the day. More complicated jobs might need a more bespoke approach – and two or three van sessions to work through.

On the whole, invoices ought to be quicker. You know what the job is, and who it was for. As long as the price you quoted is the price you’re charging, it’s a quick switch over.

If costs increased once work started, provided you’ve tracked that, the extras should be easy to add on. And if it takes a bit of untangling this time, look for a simple way to log changes on the next job – something quick and easy like the project notes tool in YourTradebase.

4. What’s doable this week?

Think about what’s doable in a day’s worth of van breaks, and get those tasks down so you know what you need to get through. Use a reminders app, or our tasks tool (it even gives you a nudge if you fall behind). That way you’ll always have your list handy when you’re out on the job (or in the van with a brew / bacon butty / bag of Doritos you don’t want to share).

Get a list together for every day of the week ahead, and if there’s anything left over, start lists for the following week too. You can move things around if something gets more urgent, but more importantly, you can tick things off as you go, which always feels pretty good.

5. Got everything you need?

Whatever admin jobs you do regularly, invest the time upfront to find tools that make them faster. That way you’ll be able to jump in and out of your admin (and your van), getting things done quickly and making the best use of every minute you grab.

Even better, get all your your project notes, paperwork templates and customer details stored on the same device, whether it’s your phone or your iPad. No more rummaging through piles of papers and Post-its – just everything you need in one hand, ready to go.

Whatever tools you use, the big thing is to find something that works for you, and just get started. You’ll get faster as you go – and you might just sleep easier too.

If anyone’s looking for me, I’ll be in the van.

What does it take to make a great trade business? To run it, and run with it? To grow it into something strong? To navigate the rollercoaster, juggle the workload and keep your customers happy? It’s a tough nut to crack, but we’re taking it on…

Here’s the thing. We work with hundreds of hard-grafting tradespeople, from plumbers and painters to brickies and sparkies. And a lot more besides. But it’s not just mucky boots and murky tea they’ve got in common. It’s the frustrations they feel, day in, day out – the long hours, the quiet patches, the lost leads, the piles of paperwork.

So we got to thinking. What if some simple changes could make a big difference? What if there were things we could all do to make life easier? What if working in the trades didn’t have to be, well, quite so much hard work? And you know what? We think we’ve come up with something. It’s a set of five no-nonsense ideas with the power to help you (and us, and everyone) smash it.

We’ve even given it a name – Let’s trade better – and its own page on our website, where you can read those five simple ideas in full. They’re going to be the springboard for a truckload of practical, game-changing stuff. But for now, here are the headlines. They’re not rocket science, but give them a go and they might just rock your world…

1. Follow every lead.

You’ve earned every call you get, so make it work for you. It doesn’t take long. Get back to people. Get on with people. And get that diary full of jobs you really want to do.

2. Have a solid system.

Ok, ok, this one’s about getting organised. But let’s face it, most of us need to. A van full of Post-its isn’t a filing system, it’s a headache. It’s time to map out a better way.

3. Be fast, be friendly.

Keeping people in the loop counts for a whole lot. In fact, it’s the difference between winning work and missing out. Nail it and you’ll be their go-to team for years to come.

4. Do admin little and often.

Don’t lose days (or nights) to paperwork. Take a bitesized approach and get it done little by little, on the go. Load lightened, stress busted, everyone’s happy.

5. Be the pro it’s good to know.

Confidence is everything. So give people a barrow load, by backing up your quotes with clear cost breakdowns, customer testimonials and a whole lot more.

So that’s our big five. They might sound simple, but that’s the magic. They’re practical, doable things we’re all guilty of forgetting – and together they’re a way of working we really believe in.

Which is why we want to share them with you. Not just as headline ideas, but as areas we can dive right into, exploring the difference they can make – and why. So, over the next few months, that’s what we’ll be up to. We’ll be writing about tools you can try, tips we’ve picked up and tradespeople putting our ideas into action, out there on the job.

You’ll see new articles here on the blog, on Facebook, on Twitter and everywhere you usually find us. And to make things easier, you can sign up to get them straight to your inbox too. No spam – just good, solid ideas we think you’ll get a lot out of. We hope you’ll come along for the ride.

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