Practical Sales Training™ > How To Keep Your Clients Happy > The Deadline Buffer
What is it?
The Deadline Buffer is all about adding some extra time to any real deadline, to give you and your buyer some breathing space.
Why does it work?
It works because it accommodates our human instinct to leave everything until the last minute. When the “real” deadline is Friday, communicating Wednesday to your client ensures that you have a response way ahead of time and you have time to deal with any issues that may arise. It’s common for people to miss deadlines and work to the last minute, so having a buffer simply helps to prevent that. If your buffer deadline is missed, all is not lost and in the eyes of the buyer if you make something happen even after they have missed the deadline, it can only be a good thing.
How can you use it?
Quite simply, add an extra day or two (or more as appropriate) to the deadlines that you communicate to your buyers. It will save potential future issues and make you look good if a client “misses the deadline” and you’re still able to make it happen.
Example
For instance, if you run a design agency and need a client’s feedback by Friday to meet a print deadline, you might tell them you need it by Wednesday instead. This gives you a built-in buffer in case they’re late. If the client gets back to you on Wednesday, everything proceeds as planned. But even if they respond on Thursday, you still have time to hit the real deadline. From the client’s perspective, it feels like you’ve gone above and beyond to make things work — when in reality, you simply gave yourself some breathing room. That’s the Deadline Buffer in action.
See also
