This post is brought to you by BQE Core

If you want your clients to respect and treat you like the expert you are, instead of as an employee or subordinate, then you need to set clear and consistent boundaries with them.

Far too often, we don’t take the time to think through the consequences of not having set boundaries until we’re overwhelmed and stressed out. In part 1 of this series, we covered the foundational concepts of successfully setting boundaries with clients, fending off scope creep, and gaining clients’ respect.

In this post, we’ll explain how to set billing standards, how to collect your money without ever being the “bad guy”, and how to clearly demonstrate the value you bring to your clients. 

Plus, we'll show you the single most important factor to make your boundaries work for both you and your clients.

Establish standards & gain oversight

In our last post, we discussed the importance of creating a detailed project proposal that explicitly states the scope of your project, including not just what you will do but also what you won’t do. 

After establishing your deliverables and beginning the project, you should also establish billing standards to make sure there’s no confusion at the invoicing stage.

Instead of waiting for an issue to arise with your clients, consider using software to help establish these standards both internally and for your clients.

How to discuss billing standards with your clients

When it comes to billing, clients typically only interact with statements and invoices. It may sound like it’s not a big deal, or like it’s common sense, but teaching or coaching clients on how to read your invoice will make a huge difference in their experience, reduce friction, maintain an amicable relationship, and speed up your cash flow.

The first thing you should do is explain the invoicing statement to your clients. Show them how to read their bill, how your system works from start to finish, and what the different aspects of their bill mean. 

Steve Burns, FAIA, Chief Creative Officer at BQE Software said his architecture firm always sent a detailed explanation outlining the billing process and terminology to new clients.

"Since our invoices often have a mixture of hourly services, fixed fee services, expenses and additional services, it is important for the client to understand how our invoice is organized so there is no confusion. The last thing you ever want is for a client to have to do their own calculations to make sure that they are being billed appropriately. Our invoices would always explain the total fee structure, where we were previously, where we are as of the current invoice and what they can expect in the future.”

“By sending along a simple cover letter with our first invoice which explained the organization of our invoicing template the client never had to call us up to question our charges. The upside to this small change was that clients paid their invoices earlier and improved our cash flow." Burns said. "Clients always appreciated the gesture and it was mutually beneficial." 

When your invoices don't display the details that matter to your clients, your clients get confused and your cash flow suffers.  But no two clients are the same, so it only makes sense that you would need to customize invoices to match the unique needs of each client and project. Billing and invoicing software like BQE Core makes it easy to customize invoices and match the needs of any client, project, or contract.

The next thing you should do as a firm owner is to make sure you separate yourself from accounts receivable. Hire a bulldog to run AR, so that when it comes time to discuss payment and deal with collections, you don’t have to worry about ever being seen as the bad guy. This also lets you avoid uncomfortable and stressful follow-ups with clients.

How to set internal billing standards for ease and consistency

Billing software can also make it easier for your team to handle invoicing and collections. Half the battle with late or missing payments is knowing that you need to collect money in the first place. 

Setting up processes to automate collections makes the payment experience easier for you and your clients. 

With billing and invoicing software, such as BQE Core, you can set up widgets on your dashboard that show you money owed by clients. This dashboard could include accounts receivable and the age of the invoice, so you know where your cash flow stands at all times. 

Another advantage of Core’s billing software is the ability to create automatic markups to expenses. It costs you money and time to track everything down, and by automating this task, you save time, speed up cash flow, and capture more revenue. 

You can also automate late fees on follow-up invoices. We recommend being transparent with clients by disclosing fees when discussing payment terms at the beginning of your contract. The goal with late fees isn’t to nickel-and-dime clients but rather provide an incentive for them to pay on time.

This all sounds good from your firm’s perspective, but how does this improve the client experience? By keeping clients on track with their payments through timely and friendly reminders, you’re actually doing them a favor. They’re just as busy as you are, and remembering to pay bills just adds another task for them to deal with.

In addition to sending them reminders, you could email them payable invoices with Core’s ePayments, which allows them to instantly and securely pay you online with their credit cards. This improves their experience even more while speeding up your cash flow.

Highlight added value & use it to your advantage

But what about that extra work you do that isn’t part of the project scope, but you agreed to do anyway? Well, all is not lost. You can actually turn that to your advantage.

We discussed avoiding scope creep in part 1 of this series and suggested avoiding it whenever possible. While it’s important to get paid for the work you complete, it’s also okay to do free work for your clients every now and then. There are benefits in giving clients a gesture of goodwill. And sometimes it’s easier to do the extra work than it is to negotiate additional payment. However, it’s vital that you need to let clients know about any extra work you do for them to clearly show the added value they get by working with you.

With Core, you can create non-chargeable entries on your invoices and highlight them as “no charge items.” This lets customers know about the additional work you’ve done without charging them, which helps you with contract renegotiations and additional services.

The key to making this all work – consistency

Boundaries rely on habits, and the best way to create a habit is with consistency. If you let something slide once, you’ll have to work twice as hard to maintain those ground rules next time.

If some of these tips seem like a big challenge to implement, just pick a few to begin with. Perhaps on your next proposal, you add a clause about late payments, or you spend a little extra time detailing the specifics of the project scope with a clear explanation about additional fees for extra work.

Or perhaps you invest in BQE Core’s project management and billing software to set up automations that make it easy to track billable work, send invoices, and collect payment. 

Click here to see Core in action and understand why thousands of architects use it to streamline their workflows, improve their profits, and help them better serve their clients.

Thousands of architects use BQE Core to provide better client service while capturing all the revenue they deserve. Click here to see Core in action.