How To Set Client Boundaries That Actually Work (CFO Guide)

Hey there. My name is Michael King, and welcome back to the CFO Report, where I talk about starting, scaling, and optimizing fractional CFO services. Today, I'm talking about what's probably one of the most frustrating, if not the most frustrating thing in the entire world of running a fractional CFO firm. And that's clients that show up late for your CFO calls. Or maybe they just completely no show for your CFO calls as well. Now, not only is this frustrating because it's disrespectful to you and it really devalues your time, but it can also serve as an early warning indicator that your client might be on the verge of canceling their services. In today's episode, I'm going to share with you two very implementable, very realistic things that you can put in place in your firm today to minimize the likelihood that a client no shows or shows up late for your calls. And I'm also going to share one thing that my firm is testing out right now to take this even to the next level. So without further ado, let's dive into today's episode.

So my question, I'll say it again, a little back story. I have grown really, really fast because I realized that when I quit my job back in May, I had to recreate income that I thought was going to be there from another opportunity. So I was taking on clients, promising them the world. I do bookkeeping and CFO kind of trying to get out of the bookkeeping and do more of the cfo. And so I am to the point right now where I am feeling so, so overwhelmed with clients and who have no boundaries. And I 100% know that it's my fault for not setting those my plan because I can't go and like, set all these hard boundaries right now and lose a bunch of clients because obviously I need income. So my plan is to going forward, have policies set for my new clients and then go back and start, like, resetting policies and boundaries with the old clients. And then at that point, if they leave, I'm fine financially. So I guess my question was, what are some boundaries that I need to set? You know, I think I said earlier, one of the things was I had a call today, five minutes after it was supposed to start. She texted me and was like, I'm running a couple minutes late. And then it's like 20 minutes later, she's not there. It ended up being 30 minutes before she texted me and said, oh, I'm done with my call now. And then we Rescheduled, but I sat there for 30 minutes waiting to do a call with her.

Yeah.

And I feel like I should have a hard. If you're 10 minutes late to an appointment, it's automatically rescheduled. And. And if I can't reschedule you for two weeks, then you don't get rescheduled for two weeks kind of thing. So just, I guess some things that I can do going forward with policies of how to set better boundaries, but still giving people that customer service, because I've been on. I do some consulting on the side and was on a call with a big fractional CFO company, and they were just not as personable as I want to be with my clients. And so I know I don't want to be that way, but I also can't let my clients walk all over me. So I literally can't do anything and hate what I'm doing in the moment.

Good question. Before I answer it, can I just take a moment to compliment you?

Yes.

I love the fact that you owned that it's your fault that this is a problem and not pointing fingers at the clients and all these. I just love it that you took ownership of that, and I think that speaks highly of you as an executive and as a leader. So thank you for being that person. That's one of our core values, is extreme ownership. And you said it. I'm like, she's our people. Gets it.

That's great.

I'll tell you a story, something I did years ago. We had a client that was. This was problematic for. In fact, we have a client today. We were actually just talking about this on the break. We got a client that this is problematic for right now. So you're not alone. It's one of those things that it will rear its head from time to time. It's up to you to self correct it. You probably never have a day where you never have this problem ever. It's just, how do you manage it? Okay. But years ago, we had an. An attorney that right after we started with him, he started showing up late for calls. And so I went back and amended our agreement. And I told him, I amended. I was like, you're gonna have to resign. But it says if you are more than 15 minutes late for a call, you will be charged a fee of $150, and you get one reschedule. If you don't show up for that one, then you're just out money because we charged at the front of the month. You're just out. And I Was like, that's the deal. And so you're either gonna pay or we just won't work with you. And he groaned about it, but he signed it. And guess what? He was never, ever, ever, ever, ever late again. That was like four years ago. And so we just hit him up front. And I left that in with all of our clients. I just put it in there. It's not in the small print. It's just right there. It says, if you're 15 minutes or more late is $150. And you get like, that's your one chance at this. And we just. We really haven't had much of a problem with it anymore. Now, that said, you gave some example. Like, you've just got to set the boundaries and move with it. But two things come to mind that I want you. One is that metaphor of the plant earlier. You know, sometimes you gotta have a bigger pot to be able to grow the plant bigger. Sometimes instead of getting the bigger pot, it's taking some of the out of the pot plant, right? Get rid of some of those things that just aren't growing in a way that serves you well. Something you said before that I think is applicable now is you grew because you had to, right? You're like, I lost this income stream. Oh, my gosh, I gotta get new clients. And I think as long as you continue to screw around with these customers that aren't treating you well and aren't doing it right, you probably aren't going to have the room and the bandwidth to get more of the clients in that will serve you well, that you can serve well. And so you're like, oh, I can't because I need the income. And I'm like, you've already proven to yourself that you can go get clients. And you said, like, the only problem here is you didn't set the boundaries and maintain the boundaries. You know how to go and get them. You've proven you can. So I'm like, you really telling me you can't do it again? Was that just luck? And if the answer is no, and by the way, the answer is no, it wasn't just luck, Then I'm like, get rid of them and use that as your motivation to go replace them and make sure that in the sales call and during onboarding, you do a better job of setting those boundaries. And then along the way, you do a good job of maintaining those boundaries. I'll give you one more. One more pro tip on this that I think will help. This is something we're going to start doing soon. When we're scheduling client calls, whether it's onboarding calls, your first CFO call, a check in call, or your 50th CFO call in the invite, tell them why that call is important. Hey, can't wait to talk to you on the 12. I want to remind you this call is really important because we're going to talk about this and it's like, oh, I don't want to miss that call. We're going to talk about how your cash reserves are dipping down a little bit and what we need to do about it. We're going to talk about the progress you've made on your margins and I've got some ideas for some other things you could. I don't know what that is, but remind them why it's so important to come. And I think that'll help again, because we, we've had a couple clients lately and I'm like, if I were them, where would my head be? And I'm looking at the way we communicate and I'm like, oh, it's easy to lose track sometimes of why it's so important to be there. And so let's just remind them. That also gives us focus for the call and make sure that we're really intentional about adding value, which we already are. So it's just like now it's just a matter of communicating that before the call. This is what we're going to do. Is that helpful?

It is. It is helpful. And I have found that when I have said no to certain things, better things do come because I open myself up to the better things and I have the time for the better things. So I do know of two clients that I need to raise rates on set hard boundaries. And if they go, they go. And I just need to do it and I keep putting it off. And so I am going to do it before the end of the month because I don't want to charge them for February until I set all those boundaries.

End of the month.

Well, like now, this, this week.

I was thinking end of the week.

Yes, end of the week.

It's not going to serve you or them well by you putting it off more. What a lot of people do with these is like, I'm going to put it off because I got to think about what I want to say. And you spend all this time trying to craft the perfect message that's, hey, you've had shitty boundaries and you're not paying me enough. And I'm like, there's not a way you're going to package that where they're like, yes, you're right, I have done a poor job at violating boundaries. And you're right, I am underpaying you. I'm so glad you sent me this email. Here's more money. And in fact, here's a little bonus on top of it. And I promise to be five minutes early next time. You're not going to write an email that results in that, but we put that amount of time and effort into it and I'm like, look, be assertive, bold, confident and direct. Write the email, get it done, move on.

I am. I'm going to do that.

If you're anything like me and you're passionate about learning how to scale your fractional CFO firm and maximize your impact, then I'd like to invite you to join me May 15th through 17th right here in Dallas, Texas for the 2024 CFO Accelerator Live. At the 2024 CFO Accelerator Live, I'm going to do a deep dive on everything I know about building and scoping scaling a 7 figure fractional CFO firm. If you'd like to learn more information, go to the cfoacceleratorlive.com or click the link in the description below. In the meantime, I can't wait to see you back here next week, my friends.

I'll see you then.