I had a telephone consultation with a prospective client last week. As I was working from home, I conducted the consultation on my cell phone.

As we were hanging up, I said my usual send-off, “If you have any further questions, feel free to contact me.” At 8:00 am the next morning my cell phone rang from a number that was not in my contacts. First, I generally do not answer phone numbers I do not know. Second, and much more essentially, I generally am not ready to conduct business at 8:00 am, unless it’s a Gotham meeting, of course.  I let it go to voicemail.

The voicemail revealed that it was the prospective client who had a “few more general questions.”   I pondered when and how to call him back and most importantly, how to let him know that, for me, 8:00 am phone calls for general questions are not appreciated.

I am finding this to be an issue at an increasing rate. More clients are requesting my cell phone number and, using it at their convenience, with no regard as to whether 7:30 pm, when I want to be home with my family, is a convenient time for me. As such, I am wondering more and more about how to set boundaries on my time with my clients.

With respect to the prospective client, I called him back later in the day from my office. I made sure that, during our telephone conversation, to make a self-deprecating comment about me just not being a morning person and working much more efficiently in my office. I thought that would get the message across, without embarrassing him, that he needs to contact me in the office during office hours for non-emergency issues.

This is becoming more and more of an issue. How do you set boundaries with clients?