How would you set boundaries with a client who consistently disrespects your time and availability?

I would listen more and observe more with the intent to empathize. Perhaps I am a morning person and they shift all of their work to the evenings. It’s important to be honest and have established a good relationship with the person prior to setting boundaries whenever possible. Based on that person‘s preferred method of communication, I would make it clear to them with kindness and sympathy that they can expect me to respond to most questions in the morning. Emergencies are rare and can be accommodated more quickly.

Setting boundaries with a client who disrespects your time is essential for maintaining a healthy professional relationship. Clearly communicate your working hours and preferred contact methods, reinforce these boundaries if ignored, and encourage scheduled appointments. If the behavior persists, consider implementing consequences or seeking support from a supervisor or mentor.

In reflecting on my professional journey, I’ve noticed a consistent trigger for setting boundaries: respect. Whether dealing with internal or external clients, respect has always been the foundation for engagement. It drives my willingness to help, motivates me to bring teams together, and ensures I respond to clients in need, regardless of the time or day. When respect is present, it fosters a strong commitment to addressing needs and maintaining positive interactions

Reinforcement of boundaries becomes necessary whenever one has to deal with such a client. Create a Written Policy: One can draft a communication policy outlining your working hours, preferred communication channels and response times. Additionally, using auto responses for e-mails and messages received outside of the working hours will help in reminding the client about your availability and non-availability.

QTIP: Quit Taking It Personally. Acknowledge, through empathy, compassion, and shared experience, that it can be difficult to manage time effectively for a variety of reasons. Acknowledge that you don't know everything about a person, their situation, or their motivations. Offer genuine appreciation for the client and establish mutual respect, which will allow you to set clear terms in a professional way. Ex: "I appreciate your enthusiasm for my services." "I know it can be tough to run a tight schedule and our availabilities don't always overlap." "I want to help, but I'm limited to my current availability." or "As much as I want to help, I need for you to [action to demonstrate respect for your time e.g. show up on time or communicate]."

Determine specific instances where the client has disrespected your time. This will help you provide concrete examples when addressing the issue. efine your working hours, response times, and availability in a written document, such as a contract or an email. Make sure the client understands these boundaries.

Not just conveying but clear and effective communication is required to tackle a heavy-headed client. Set clear expectations, define your working hours, response times, and availability in writing. Share this information in a professional and friendly manner to the client. This will keep them reminded of the terms of service and your availability with respect to time.

When respect was lacking, and clients disrespected my team or anyone from the company, I would typically end the call or meeting immediately. I’d then speak privately with the person involved, making it clear that such behavior was unacceptable. To ensure the situation didn’t repeat, I would join subsequent meetings or have a senior team member attend to monitor interactions. If the disrespect occurred again, I would escalate the matter to my C-Level counterpart, requesting that different representatives handle our interactions going forward.

I clearly mention the date and time of next communication, and tell them that if they call outside that time it would be charged extra as I would have to cancel someone else's appointment to give them a time slot. I meet with the question "even if I call for 10 mins I'll be charged for the whole hour"?, the answer is YES. Because I will be cancelling and refunding the whole amount of fee to the client/patient whose slot I will give you. So if you take only 10 mins, my whole hour is unproductive. Then I give them an option - Call me without an appointment only if it's urgent and extremely threatening. If it is not so, then drop me an email or message and I'll respond when I am free. I have successfully implemented this in my practice.

I guess nobody wants to get disrespected and this is a two-way communication. We need to see the frequency of behaviour, if this is happening all the time we need to have one-on-one and set clear expectations in terms of availability. One thing I have learnt in my career through one of my trainers is to be assertive in approach which leads to clear communication.

Sometimes, an alternative, either small or big, can save a huge chunk of resources. To the client, offer alternatives for urgent matters, such as setting specific times for emergency calls or designating a secondary contact for after-hours issues. For example, the client can text you with 'URGENT', mentioned at the beginning of the message.

To set boundaries with a client who disrespects your time: clearly define availability and response times, establish preferred communication channels, assertively address any disrespect, document instances for reference, suggest alternative solutions for urgent matters, and escalate if behavior persists despite efforts. Maintaining professionalism throughout ensures clear expectations and fosters a respectful working relationship.

Stop this before it happens with clear communication at the beginning of the relationship. Asking questions like, how best do you work, How will I know if you're under pressure. What things are important on a daily basis? And so on. Then, clearly outline your working style. Afterwards, hopefully, you can find a middle ground to work in.

Remember the value you bring to the transaction. By recognizing your expertise, skills, and the positive impact you provide, you can maintain confidence and assertiveness. And zoom out into the bigger picture: your value lies not only in your solutions or services, but also in fostering positive interactions and maintaining professional relationships. Even with the most difficult customers.