What’s your “rider”?

I was just browsing the website of Seth Godin, a great writer and speaker and I came across his “rider”.

For those of you who don’t know, a rider is a term I’ve only ever really heard used by those in the music profession before. It describes what they need to have the gig go off without a hitch (ie. white lilies in the dressing room, ample Evian water, a certain type of guitar amp, seven nubile virgins for the drummer, you get the drift.)

Seth, being a bit of a celeb, is well within his rights to call his technical specs his rider if you ask me. Have a read of Seth’s rider here.

It sets expectations and his requirements beautifully and succinctly. It’s clear and there’s no room for confusion, yet Seth doesn’t come off as spoilt or a diva.

Clearly Seth’s learnt from less than perfect experiences over the years and so now he’s had the forethought to set the expectations right up front to alleviate future frustrations.

If you could educate your clients with a rider prior to them signing up to do business with you, what would it say? And while you may not call it a rider, how could you put something in place that serves the same purpose today to stop your future frustrations?

Kirsty Dunphey is the youngest ever Australian Telstra Young Business Woman of the Year, author of two books (her latest release is Retired at 27, If I Can do it Anyone Can) and a passionate entrepreneur who started her first business at age 15 and opened her own real estate agency at 21. Now Kirsty does lots of fun things which you can read about here. Her favourite current projects are Elephant Property, a boutique property management agency, Baby Teresa, a baby clothing line that donates an outfit to a baby in need for each one they sell andReallySold, which helps real estate agents stop writing boring, uninteresting ads.