This article was originally published in The Simplifier #62.

Article: Limp fishes, dog butts, and handshakes: Creating good client agreements

By Shawn Tuttle

What do screeching fax lines, dogs sniffing each others’ derrieres, and boxers tapping gloves have in common? They are all types of handshakes. We use the handshake as a way of conveying messages such as “hello”, “goodbye”, “we’ve reached an accord”, “I’m pleased to meet you”, and “let’s seal the deal”.

In the business world, the client agreement plays the role of truly “sealing the deal”.  While the handshake provides the satisfaction of ritual and symbology, the client agreement fills in the details and clarifies that you are, in fact, on the same page with your client. Trust in business is crucial! It’s like any relationship—you count on someone to do what they said they’d do, when they said they’d do it. By encouraging a culture of trust, communication, and respect, you’ll be in a much better position to deal with unexpected situations.

A brief survey of client “handshakes”
—The Iron Hand Bone-crusher. This is the heavy handed contract that allows zero wiggle room. It says, “I’m the boss, don’t mess with me.”
—The Limp Fish. This one doesn’t provide any substantial guidance for dealing with real or future situations. It says, “I don’t want to impose anything that might possibly potentially imply that I’m committing to anything.”
—The High-five Slap-down Hooked-fingers Thumb-curl Finger-wave. This is the incomprehensible, convoluted, legalese-esque document. What’s it mean? Who knows. It says, “Even if you read it, you probably won’t get it.”

Contrast these with the classic firm, comfortable shake complete with eye contact and a smile. Now that’s what I’m talking about! It says, “I’m happy to do business with you—let’s make it work.”

If you already have a client agreement in place or are in an industry that doesn’t use one, you can use this article to reconnect with the values of healthy relationships and celebrate how simple systems make things run smoothly.

Developing positive relationships with your client goes deeper than just providing services for them. To ensure repeat business and referrals, trust, communication, and mutual respect must also be present. Seeing that you are thorough in your process inspires respect for you and confidence in your abilities. On the negative side, you may lose some trust from people if you don’t present an agreement clarifying your method and expectations.

Creating your agreement
The easiest way to get to the first draft of your agreement is to base it on another’s template. 
— Trade organizations often have sample agreements available for members.
— Online searches for “client agreement” + “{your business type}” will likely turn up some good possibilities.
— Mentors or experienced colleagues in your industry will usually be happy to provide a copy of theirs.

“Why bother? It probably won’t stand up in court,” the lawyer in you demands to know. (It was this same suspicious nature of days past that made early handshakers grip the other’s forearm to feel for weapons up the sleeve.) Obviously, there are no guarantees there. So let’s ask a different question, should an attorney be involved in creating your agreement? To answer a question with a question: what type of business are you in?

As a simplification coach and professional organizer who is pre-paid or paid at the end of each session, my own client agreement is focused mainly on clarifying fee structure and sharing privacy policy. The goal of my agreement is to make it easy for us to stay on good terms and thereby, out of court. (The legal route is unlikely to make anyone better off!)

However, it’s a different story for service providers like contractors, marketing professionals, and web designers. Since they have a multitude of details and timelines to agree upon, higher dollar stakes, and multiple parties involved, there’s more room for controversy to grow. In these cases, working with an attorney would likely be a good idea. If you do use an attorney, I emphasize working along with your legal counsel in order to produce a document whose tone you feel good about, rather than delegating the entire document to them.

Nail the agreement at the outset
You want to have a signed agreement in your file before beginning work. This flows easily when you have a simple process in place. For example, the potential client calls to find out more about your business. Throughout the phone call, in addition to articulating how you can help them, you also cover the most relevant points in your agreement. At the end of your conversation, after you’ve set up an appointment and taken down their contact information, you conclude with, “I’ll email you my agreement; it lays out the stuff we just talked about so that we’re both starting out on the same page.” If there is time for them to send it back to you before your first appointment, ask them to do so. Otherwise, ask them to have it at your first appointment. These instructions can be reinforced in your email to them.

If you are picking up the agreement at your first appointment, be sure it is the first thing you do upon arriving on site. Have an extra copy in case they want a copy but don’t have a photocopier. This avoids your having to commit to sending them a copy once you are back at your own office. Be prepared and be done with it. Then keep your signed copy in their client file.

The goal is to create positive, long-term relationships with clients (or positive referral sources if the nature of your business is short-term projects). Clearly introducing your playing field and making your process transparent reflects a thoughtful business with solid systems in place.

The ritual used by greeting dogs hasn’t changed for eons, and faxes are slowly, slowly moving towards obsolescence. We creative entrepreneurs, however, get to morph with the times. No longer are we warriors greeting our opponents, reaching toward them with the right hand as a symbol of respect before the weapon in the left will soon attempt to destroy. As modern-day warriors, we have the opportunity to funnel that spirit of respect into creating ever-new ways of working together. Let your agreement pave the way in developing trust. Creating it is easy if you look to others for help, and working it into your intake or proposal spiel makes it relatively painless. You’ll find that the clarity gained by using your client agreement can only support your adventures as a successful entrepreneurial warrior!
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Shawn Tuttle is founder of Project Simplify.