In Business Ya Got To Have Friends, Right?
You Got To Have Friends!!!
I have personal friends and I have clients. Some of these clients are also my friends but I make it a point to distinguish between the two for I have seen first-hand just how ugly it can be when friendship gets in the way of good business…and vice versa.
So your client is a close personal friend. Seems pretty groovy, yes? But consider this….you always want to be available for your friends and help them in any way possible. Can you really afford to do that at work? Is it possible that you could devote TOO much time to this friend/client and thereby ignore your other clients (and not provide them with all that is their due)? And what if you have to deliver bad news? It’s much more difficult to do when there is friendship (emotion) in the equation.
Mixing personal and business relations is disastrous for your price structure. Your business can survive with only so many “specials” and back scratches. Friendship should not determine the cost of your services. It is immoral—and in some cases illegal—to alter your rates based on who knows whom. You’ll lose a lot of “other” clients if they learn (or think) that there are two sets of prices.
Of course your clients can be friends…and they should be. The definition of friends is a “bond of mutual affection but you have to be careful to not cross the boundary between business friend and personal. It’s a rare person that can maintain both relationships effectively when they are one and the same.