Today’s Strategic Alignment Journal post in two sentences:
Fear of losing a client can make us give away work, take on more than we agreed to and gradually shift the boundaries of an engagement without even realising it. In trying to hold on to the client, we may inadvertently teach them to expect more from us without recognising or paying for the additional value we provide.
Fear of losing a client can affect a consulting relationship in ways that are not always immediately obvious. We may think we are simply being responsive, flexible or generous, particularly when we value the relationship and genuinely want to help.
It can start with something small. A question comes up that sits just outside the scope of the work, and we answer it. Another issue surfaces and we help with that too. The client needs something quickly, so we make room for it, or a meeting leads to additional work that was never part of the original engagement and we simply get it done.
There is nothing inherently wrong with doing more for a client.
The problem is when we stop making a conscious decision about when and why we are doing it, and fear begins making that decision for us.
Somewhere along the way, being helpful can become giving away work because we are afraid that saying no, charging for it or drawing attention to the scope might somehow put the relationship at risk.
The cost is not only the additional work we have done without being paid for it.
Each time we add something without acknowledging that it is additional, we are also changing the client’s understanding of what is included in the work and, perhaps more importantly, what our work is worth. What began as an exception can very easily become an expectation, and once that expectation has been created, it becomes much harder to change.
Something we initially offered because we wanted to be helpful can eventually feel like something we are taking away when we stop doing it.
We may then find ourselves continuing to provide it, not because it is the right thing to do, but because we have become uncomfortable with what might happen if we don’t.
This is where the fear of losing a client becomes particularly expensive.
It begins to influence decisions that should really be based on the work itself. Instead of asking what the client needs, what we agreed to provide and what additional work is worth doing, we can find ourselves asking a very different question: What do I need to do to keep this client? Those kinds of questions can lead us in very different directions.
Sometimes doing something outside the scope makes sense.
There will be occasions when an additional piece of work takes very little from us and adds considerable value for the client, or when the relationship itself makes the gesture worthwhile. But that is different from repeatedly absorbing additional work because we are worried about what saying no might mean.
Perhaps the more useful distinction is not between being generous and having boundaries. It is between generosity that we consciously choose and generosity driven by fear.
A client does not need to receive everything from us for the relationship to be valuable.
In fact, part of doing good consulting work is being clear about what we are there to do, recognizing when the problem has moved beyond that, and being willing to have a conversation about what happens next.
The aim should not be to make ourselves so useful that the client cannot imagine functioning without us. It should be to do work that creates enough value that, when another challenge arises that requires what we bring, they choose to work with us again.
Strategic Reflection Prompt
Where might fear of losing a client be influencing what you give away, take on or tolerate, and what would you do differently if your decisions were based on the value of the work rather than the need to remain needed?
About Giselle
Most costly decisions begin with a wrong read of the situation.
I’m Giselle Hudson — The Pre-Fixer. I help leaders see the real problem before they act, in my writing and in my work. I don’t fix; I pre-fix. Most advisers jump to solutions before they’ve found the real problem. I find it first — the part that isn’t fully visible yet. Once we see that clearly, everything else falls into place, and confident, right action can follow.
Through my daily Strategic Alignment Journal, I explore leadership, decision-making, and the patterns that shape organizations — helping leaders make sense of complexity before they commit significant time and money to the wrong thing.
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