How do you stop a client constantly phoning you?

Hi all,

I've got a client who I've worked with for a number of years on a custom piece of software, as part of the agreement I was given full rights to the software, and am now selling it to other companies. This is all going fine.

However, the original client tends to spring changes, additional work and such on me with no notice at all just a 'we want this - add it'. I dont mind this so much as I just bill them extra for not providing advance notice. However what I do find is that leading up to this, I'll get daily phone calls for about a week, asking questions that could have been put into an email.

The issue is, that said client is an absolute nightmare to talk to on the phone (think 10 second pause between every single word he's saying). To top it off, they aren't very 'tech savvy' so it makes it very hard to explain things.

What I now want to do, is essentially force them into emailing me instead of phoning all the time. My thinking is that I could start charging for 'non-emergency' calls. However how would you go about explaining this to the client? Every way I play it through my head, ends in them being pissed off.

Has anyone been in a similar situation, and have any tips on dealing with this? I dont want to (and cant) drop the client, so thats out of the question.

Many thanks

 

Set up answering machine on your phone and say that you are currently busy or out of office but if you could contact me via email hdgflds@hfdshfds.co.uk i will get back to you as soon as possible

hope this helps

 

tell them

 

Simply tell them that you are currently tied up in a number of other projects and that emailing you is usually the best way to reach you and get a swift response.

Tell them that email is your preferred way of answering client questions because it gives you a little more time to think things over.

This has worked great for me so far :laugh2

 

Hmm it seems to me that you need to tell the client but make it seems like it will be in his favour somehow, however you want to go about it.
At the end of one of your phone calls just say something along the lines of 'oh and if you have any more queries would you mind emailing them to me so i have them all stored in one referable place...' or something like that.
Hope I could help

 

Saying it directly might be a good idea

In case you feel that you will be able to say it directly but politely, just go for it. In case you see that it might cause difficulties with the following communication, find an indirect way to make it clear that the constant calls distract you. The phone answering machine and a corresponding status in the messengers might help. Whenever I see that status "X is busy, you might be distracting him/her", I think twice before writign something.