What do I need to consider regarding the deadline?

The agreed deadlines with customers regarding a task are obligatory and extremely important for working together. Besides customer satisfaction, there is still another reason. If you don’t meet the deadline, the customer can ask for a full refund. By accepting the task, the deadline becomes a contract. In case you still cannot meet a deadline, proceed as follows:

• Address the customer at an early stage in the task chat and briefly describe your situation in a way that is comprehensible to everyone.
• If you have little time left, a phone call is strongly recommended:

1. If you don’t reach your customer, record in the task chat: “Dear Mr./Ms. xx, unfortunately I couldn’t reach you. I would like to talk to you about the agreed deadline. Unfortunately, I cannot meet it because …..” Advantage for you: the customer can see that you have tried to reach him.
2. When you reach your customer, briefly record in the task chat: “As agreed by phone, I am changing the deadline to xx.xx.xxxx”. Advantage for you: for both sides it is clearly evident what was agreed.
3. If you have handed over an intermediate result to the customer or have questions about the task and are waiting for feedback from the customer, hand over the task to him. Then the customer can react and return the task to you for further processing with a new deadline.

Generally applies:

• Only with the customer’s approval can the deadline be postponed.
• Always start tasks early so that you don’t have to tell the customer just before the deadline is up that the task won’t be finished in time.