Soooo....What Have You Done For Me lately?

I tell clients that the shelf life of guilt is short.  A person who feels guilty will do the "right thing," or perhaps do even more than the right thing to assuage the guilt.   The shelf life of the gratitude of a client is like guilt - really short.  I've talked about this in prior posts.  When you help a client obtain a good result, whether by negotiation or litigation, they think you're great.  They will tell you how grateful they are, and what a great job you did.  They know you've gone months and months without payment but kept working.  They promise to pay you.  They tell you they will have the cash to pay your bill, maybe they even got attorney's fees in their settlement.  They tell you they don't have the money, but they can make substantial payments.  You say OK, after all, you're in a helping profession and you know their finances better than anyone.  Then......nothing.  They have other bills to pay, other goals in life, other uses for that money.  They ask you to accept payments that will take many years to pay off the bill.  You're done with the job for them, so they don't need you any more. You did a great job, they will remember that, but they won't pay you.  They get upset when you send them to collection.  How could you do this to me?  I was your client.  You're supposed to take care of me.  I can't believe you want me to delay my dream to pay you for your services.  Clients want to know why our retainers are so high, why we want so much of our fees up front.  Blame the shelf life of the gratitude of their predecessors.