- No, you can't call me at midnight. Listen to this episode for a listener suggestion. Hi, it's Alan Berg. Welcome to another episode of the Wedding Business Solutions Podcast. This is another listener suggestion. This actually came from at least two people. Erin and Valerie are the ones that I can think of that had set me something similar to this which is setting these boundaries on when it's okay for your clients to contact you.

So a lot of this could start with when you are responding to their inquiry. If you respond to an inquiry at 10 o'clock at night or at midnight, you're kind of setting the tone that you are available at that time of day. And I know it's kind of tricky because we know that according to The Knot and WeddingWire, about half of couples say that they choose the first one who responds. So of course, you want to be the first one to respond. But I always say respond as quickly as you can. Doesn't mean that you're physically able to respond at 10 o'clock at night. You should because if you are spending time with your partner, if it's seven o'clock at night and you're reading your kid a bedtime story, or you are in the afternoon, you're watching your kid's soccer game or watching them do dance or taekwondo or whatever, you know, pay attention to those things that are in front of you because life is about the people, right?

But let's talk about setting these boundaries. I think part of this is just doing exactly that, and that's when you're onboarding somebody, just letting them know, "Listen, there are things that are emergencies, there are things that are not. If it's not the day of your wedding or the day before your wedding, it's not an emergency 'cause it can get taken care of." And let them know that. Let them know that you want to be available to them. But you'll also have other clients and you have a family and you have other obligations and you have volunteering and you have worship and things that take your time.

So I think it's really about having that conversation with them and letting them know, "I want to be available to you and just know that I won't always be able to respond right away." Now, let's talk about the communication channels. If you've been texting with someone, you've made it clear that it's okay for them to text you. Whether you respond right away or not is up to you. Can your texting platform have an out of office the way that email does? I'm sure that some of them do. That you can set an order reply that is basically an out of office to say that I won't be available during this time because I am doing somebody else's wedding, I am on vacation, I am whatever. And then if there's someone else they can contact, great. And if there isn't, 'cause you're a solopreneur, kind of like me, if I'm not available, I'm not available.

And that's what my out of office says. My texting through my website does have that availability. I don't know that I always use it, but I travel a lot and I always try to be responsive. Now, if your business is like mine and it's international or across as many time zones, that sets a little bit different complexity to this because I get on my computer, let's say at eight o'clock in the morning, or maybe nine o'clock in the morning, five hours later, right, is what time it is in the UK, is what time it is in Ireland. So it's nine o'clock in the morning for me, but it's two o'clock in the afternoon over there.

So if I wait until noon to respond, it could be the end of the day for somebody in that country. If it's Australia or New Zealand, where it could be 12 or 14 or 15 hours time difference, well, I don't have a sense of urgency to respond because if it's nine in the morning and it's nine at night somewhere else or 11 o'clock at night, I'll say, "You know what? I can respond later." They'll get it first thing tomorrow morning when they look at their computer. It doesn't matter if it's midnight or if it's two in the morning for them or five in the morning, they're going to get it when they first log on. So paying attention to the time zones also matters.

So for me, that sets a sense of urgency. When I log on, if I see somebody that was in California that messaged me and if it's eight or nine in the morning for me and it's five or six in the morning there, don't have to respond yet. I can wait, I can let that wait and do other ones. But really it comes down to setting that expectation. I know there are some people, I have this one friend that tends to call me Friday evenings at seven o'clock or eight o'clock in the evening my time. And I almost always just ignore that call. I just send it right to voicemail because I'm spending time with my wife or with my family if I have more around than that. And to me, that is my priority at that time and there aren't any emergencies. Now, it's different if I'm traveling and I'm headed to a conference or at a conference and somebody from that conference contacts me,

So a promoter or producer, whatever, there could be an emergency, there could be something they need from me or need of me at that time, different story. I'm going to answer that call at night. I'm going to answer that call early in the morning because there could be a sense of urgency. So I think it's setting those boundaries is really what it comes down to and have a conversation. Don't just let it be out there that, you know, maybe they will, maybe they won't. And then the other thing, which is something that I've done, I've talked about this on the podcast, I know I'm going to do another one about this at some point, which is don't punish the masses for the ills of a few. If there's a couple of people that are crossing a line or getting close to crossing a line on abusing the accessibility to you, just have a conversation with them and don't punish everybody else who isn't doing that.

Don't bring up a negative that isn't the negative for most of your clients when it really comes down to just a few of them, or sometimes just one of them. That's just really annoying you on that one. So again, have that conversation. Use your judgment on this. But, you know, communication is really the best thing. And having that conversation upfront and saying, "You know, listen, I love being available for you guys. This is what would be, you know, acceptable times, unless it's an emergency. And really, unless it's the day of your wedding or the day before your wedding, there really are no emergencies that can't get taken care of later that day or in the morning.

So I hope that helps and thanks to Erin and Valerie for that suggestion.

I'm Alan Berg. Thanks for listening. If you have any questions about this or if you'd like to suggest other topics for "The Wedding Business Solutions Podcast" please let me know. My email is Alan@WeddingBusinessSolutions.com. Look forward to seeing you on the next episode. Thanks.

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