You can't avoid all conflicts with clients, but clear and constant communication that feels at first like over communication is key to prevent this kind of misunderstanding.
Here's what I've seen work with regards to client communication around scope - especially scope overruns:
1) If the scope creep is minimal (like a 15 minute task that wasn't in a bulleted list in the contract), don't even mention it. Just part of being a good business partner
2) If the scope increase will be expensive IMMEDIATELY communicate to the client that the ask is out of scope. Do this with an email, and call the client and discuss the email with them - ideally before they read it (maybe even call before sending it). It's important to have what's going on in writing, but it's easy to misunderstand email and it's also important that the client understands you are just making sure everyone is on the same page about scope. Sometimes (often) the client may disagree about what is in or out of scope, or push you to include more in the scope as a way of getting additional work for free. Regardless of how this ends up , it's better to have the conversation and understand where both parties stand before you actually perform the work.
3) If you do agree to do the work you view as beyond scope for the original price, it can be helpful to explicitly show this as a discount. In the attached article, this would look on an invoice something like:
Professional Fees : 294 hours X $103/hour = $30,413
Investment: $(18,413)
Fees Due: $12,000
Pitched as an investment in the relationship and discussed frequently as it happens, this is harder (but not impossible) to be angry about.
That said, this is one of the easiest things to screw up and hardest to get right. Communication with clients is hard. Some people will never be happy.
Here's what I've seen work with regards to client communication around scope - especially scope overruns:
1) If the scope creep is minimal (like a 15 minute task that wasn't in a bulleted list in the contract), don't even mention it. Just part of being a good business partner
2) If the scope increase will be expensive IMMEDIATELY communicate to the client that the ask is out of scope. Do this with an email, and call the client and discuss the email with them - ideally before they read it (maybe even call before sending it). It's important to have what's going on in writing, but it's easy to misunderstand email and it's also important that the client understands you are just making sure everyone is on the same page about scope. Sometimes (often) the client may disagree about what is in or out of scope, or push you to include more in the scope as a way of getting additional work for free. Regardless of how this ends up , it's better to have the conversation and understand where both parties stand before you actually perform the work.
3) If you do agree to do the work you view as beyond scope for the original price, it can be helpful to explicitly show this as a discount. In the attached article, this would look on an invoice something like:
Professional Fees : 294 hours X $103/hour = $30,413 Investment: $(18,413) Fees Due: $12,000
Pitched as an investment in the relationship and discussed frequently as it happens, this is harder (but not impossible) to be angry about.
That said, this is one of the easiest things to screw up and hardest to get right. Communication with clients is hard. Some people will never be happy.