Service providers, this one’s for you 💪

If you haven’t overdone things and made yourself practically crazy as a service provider, ARE you even a service provider?

In other words: why is it so commonly accepted and normalized to overdeliver on our services and end results, while also overworking ourselves to oblivion? Why do we so easily accept the fate and mindset of, “well, if I want to be better than everyone else, I better try harder and give 110% of myself”? 

Why are we okay overworking ourselves, and giving every little bit and piece of us away?

If you’re a service provider, you know the pain of wanting to please your clients, to the point of obsession. You know what it’s like to want to deliver, deliver and then deliver some more… and then experiencing the feeling of finding yourself completely and utterly depleted.

We should stop that, right? For the sake of ourselves, our time, our families and our social lives? If nothing else, at least for the sake of our mental health?

So, I’m coming to you, service provider to service provider, to share some quick ways you can overdeliver on the services you offer, without overworking yourself. 

1. Not available? Have a list of trusted referrals.

I’ll say one profound sentence that I find myself whispering, all of the time. Seriously, like almost daily.

Are you ready?

Just because they’d like to work with you, doesn’t mean you need to move heaven and earth to make it happen (if your availability doesn’t allow it).

There will be times where you’ll receive inquiries you can absolutely schedule and work with, and times where you can’t. For the times that fall within the latter category, build out a list of trusted referrals for you to send that person’s way! 

Not only will this help the other person find another service provider like you, BUT you’ll have the peace of mind of knowing that you didn’t turn that person away, without helping them at all.

2. Underpromise, and overdeliver

Always, always, always overestimate your turnaround timeline. 

If it typically takes you one week to edit or finalize a project, tell them it takes two. The benefit to this strategy is:

1. They’re always happy that they’ve received what they expected, even earlier than promised.
2. You have wiggle room in case something comes up or happens that throws a wrench in your schedule.

See? This is probably the easiest way you can overdeliver, without overworking yourself. Try it out!

3. Overcommunicate

Tell your clients your process, before they even ask. Include any important need-to-knows and information for them up front.

Let them know how and when they can expect to hear from you at each stage of the process, and remind them (aka, repeat yourself) throughout the process. This is kind of a double whammy, because it’ll make your clients super happy to know they can trust you to take care of every detail, and it’ll allow you to not have to worry about the back and forth of answering questions and clarifying details on what comes next at every part of your process.

Truthfully, it’s pretty darn simple – much of the time, we place the most amount of pressure on ourselves to show up and overperform. You’ve got everything you need to create an incredible client experience, while wowing them in the process. Trust me – all it takes is a few simple systems, and you’ll be good to go 💁‍♀️

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