When my two sons were in high school, I had a rule: Tell me where you’re going and when you’ll be back. Call me BEFORE you’re late.
In any business, clients can’t read the minds of those they hire. But they do judge behavior. If you’re friendly, easy to work with, knowledgeable, and reliable, then repeat business is in the cards.
So if you tell a client you’ll have a job done by a certain date and time, make sure you make the deadline. If you can’t, speak up before the deadline. The last thing you want to do is both miss the deadline and fail to communicate!
To do this well and in a variety of situations, you have to have empathy. You have to be able to put yourself in the other person’s shoes.
You also have to understand a particular client. Are they juggling 40 other projects? If so, your communication with them should be short, to the point, and not too often. Why be known as the person who clogged their inbox?
Find a balance. Realize you’re not the only thing going in a client’s life (and if you are, maybe that’s a red flag!). But don’t “run silent, run deep” like a submarine.