Client texting is now normal in trades, consulting, real estate, design, coaching and most small firms. It is faster than email and clients like it. It also removes every guardrail email gave you: no subject line, no thread, no record, no boundary, and no colleague copied in.
These twelve rules restore the guardrails without giving up the speed.
1. Let them open the channel
Wait for the client to text first, or ask. "Is it easier if I send updates by text?" takes one line, and it turns an intrusion into a preference they chose.
2. Say who you are, once
The first message to a new client should identify you even though your name is in your signature everywhere else.
Hi, confirming Tuesday at 10.
Hi Rachel, it is Marco from Aldridge Design. Confirming Tuesday at 10 at your office.
Your number is unknown to them. Unknown numbers with instructions in them get ignored or reported.
3. One subject per message
Email trained everyone to bundle. Texting punishes it. A message with three questions gets one answer, usually to the last one. Send three messages, or number them and ask for numbered answers.
4. Put the decision at the top
Clients read texts in queues and lifts. The ask goes in line one. Context goes underneath, for the ones who need it.
So we went to the site this morning and the surveyor had a look at the north wall and it turns out the render is in worse shape than expected, and there is also the question of the gutter, so anyway, do you want us to proceed with the extra work?
We need a yes or no on 400 dollars of extra render work before Thursday. Detail below. The surveyor found the north wall render in worse condition than the quote assumed.
5. Never negotiate money in a text you would not screenshot
Prices, scope changes and discounts belong in writing you control. Confirm the number by text if you like, then send the same number by email or in the system that generates the invoice. Assume every message you send will be read back to you at the worst possible moment, because sometimes it is.
6. Set the response window out loud
Clients invent your availability if you do not state it. Tell them once, then behave consistently.
Quick note on how I work: I answer texts between 8 and 6 on weekdays, usually within a couple of hours. If something is urgent outside that, call rather than text and I will pick up.
7. Answer late messages in the morning
Replying at 11pm feels responsive and sets a rule you cannot keep. It also teaches the client that 11pm is a reasonable hour to expect you. If you write it at night, schedule it or hold it.
8. Bad news gets a call, then a text
Anything involving a delay, a cost increase or a mistake goes voice first. The text after is the record.
Following up on our call: the delivery has moved to the 14th because of the supplier, and I have adjusted the schedule so the install still finishes that week. No change to the price. I will confirm the new slot on Friday.
Delivering bad news in a text alone reads as avoidance, because usually it is.
9. Never text about a third party
Not the other contractor, not their previous supplier, not their colleague. Screenshots travel. If it should not be forwarded, it should not be typed.
10. Confirm, do not assume
Any date, amount or address that came out of a phone call gets repeated back in a text. It costs you fifteen seconds and it heads off the argument that starts with two people remembering the same call differently.
Great, see you then.
Great, confirming Thursday 11 September, 9am, at the Grove Road unit. I will bring the samples.
11. Match their formality, one notch up
If they write in lower case with no greeting, you can be brief, but stay one notch more careful than they are. Clients are allowed to be casual with you. The reverse takes longer to earn.
12. Move it back to email when it grows
The moment a thread has more than about six exchanges, or produces something that needs approving, move it.
This is getting big for text. I am putting the last three decisions in an email so we both have them in one place, and we can keep texting for the quick things.
The one minute check
- Does the first line contain the ask or the decision?
- Is there exactly one subject in this message?
- Are the date, time, address and amount written out in full?
- Would I be comfortable if this were screenshotted and forwarded?
- Is it inside the hours I told them I work?
- Does anything financial in here also exist in writing somewhere permanent?
- Is this bad news that should be a call instead?
Client texting works when it is fast for small things and disciplined about big ones. Keep the speed, keep the record, and keep your evenings.