Client Relationships
7 articles about client relationships.
The Session That Turned Out to Be the Last One
A composite story about a client who left right when the work was getting good, and what a practitioner learned by sitting with the silence instead of solving it. On endings you do not get to choose, and the quiet grief of doing this work well.
The Client You Keep Meaning to Raise the Rate On
Almost every practice has one. A longtime client whose rate has quietly fallen behind the rest, and every year you decide to bring it up, and every year you don't. Here is why the conversation feels so heavy, and a short, kind way to finally have it.
What a Reliable Client Is Actually Worth
Most practitioners rank their clients by rate, and the highest payer sits quietly at the top of the list. But the true value of a client to a practice is not the size of the fee. It is the friction around collecting it. Here is a look at why the person who books the same slot and pays without being chased may be worth more than the one who pays double.
When You Run Into a Client in Public
Sooner or later, you round the aisle at the grocery store or turn from the coffee counter and see a face you know from the room. It happens to every practitioner, and it is rarely as smooth as we hope. Here is how to think about the encounter before it happens so it does not need much thought when it does.
When a Client Asks How You're Doing
The client walks in, sits down, and instead of the usual small talk they ask how you are, and mean it. It is one of the trickiest micro-moments in private practice. Share too much and the hour tilts. Deflect too fast and it lands cold. This is a practical look at what the question is really asking, and a few honest ways to answer it without losing the frame of the session.
When a Client Gives You a Gift
A small box, a card, a tin of cookies handed over at the end of a session. It is a real moment with real weight. Here is how to handle it well, in the second you have to respond and in the days after.
When a Client Mentions They're Seeing Another Practitioner Too
Mid-session, a client casually says they are also working with someone else for the same thing. Here is how to take that information in stride, ask the right questions, and decide whether to coordinate, continue, or step back.