Sticky Money Situations in Business

You just signed up your first "platinum" client and you're both excited to get to work. The first month is a breeze and you're thinking, "Why don't I have more clients just like this one?!" when your assistant notifies you that your super-star client's credit card just bounced.

"Uh-oh." you think. "Was it just me who thought we were doing so well?" You're uncomfortable, you begin to doubt yourself or your abilities and on top of all the emotional upheaval, you're now wondering how you're going to handle this sticky money situation.

Sticky money situations in business include bounced payments, late payments, requests for refunds, program cancellations, requests to postpone a start date, changes in a client's circumstances (such as "my husband/wife just found out he/she has to travel a lot over the next few months), even disappearing clients.

How you handle situations like these can impact more than just your cash flow for the month. Depending on the choices you make, how you handle the situation can strengthen your connection to your soul's values, increase your integrity, raise your confidence and yes, even salvage your client relationship plus get you paid.

Here are 6 quick tips to gracefully and authentically handle sticky business money situations.

Tip #1 Understand
Understand that your feelings of anger, betrayal, resentment or self-doubt are simply a smoke-screen for what's really going on below the surface. Your client's actions aren't personal and have nothing to do with you. They are a reflection of their self-worth, organization or integrity, not yours. Once you stop taking it personally you'll see you have several options available to you in how you handle the situation.

Tip #2 Compassion
Put yourself in the other person's shoes just for a moment. If you were them, how would you be feeling? You don't have to accept or condone their behavior but if you can momentarily see the situation from their eyes you'll gain the upper hand in how you choose to negotiate a solution.

Tip #3 Perspective
Ask yourself, "what is the worst that can happen?". Often, just asking yourself this question will help you put the situation into perspective. Sure, not being paid is a drag but in the grand scheme of things, it's unlikely to make a difference for you long term.

Tip #4 Truth
When you speak to your client about the situation don't mince words, try and make it better for them or defend yourself. Simply state the facts, then pause and let them respond.

For example, earlier this year I had a problem with a client's credit card bouncing more than one month in a row. I simply said to her, "This is the second month your payment has bounced, what's going on?" That opening gave her the opportunity to explain some of the problems she was having in her personal life and the chance for she and I to make alternative arrangements.

Tip #5 Boundaries
When it comes to sticky money situations people often side-step making direct requests or setting clear boundaries. You have every right to make a straight-forward request such as, "I need you to honor our agreement and make sure I receive payment in full by Friday. How do you plan to make that happen?". And for goodness sakes, do not continue to deliver service on a promise when what you are owed is a payment!

Tip #6 Forgive
Forgive yourself! Consider that every time you encounter a sticky money situation in business as an opportunity to clean up some of your money values and boundaries. Learning isn't always free and my experience has been that the expensive lessons are the ones that stick with us!

While no one relishes sticky money situations, at least you now have a simple system for addressing them quickly and confidently. A "money and soul" based business means you respond first to the integrity of your own soul, then respond with integrity to the situation at hand. Remember this and you can't go wrong, no matter how sticky the situation is!!