Our recent posts on keeping good clients happy and dealing with bad ones has really been striking some chords with you - so here’s out latest installment on spotting good clients from bad ones.
- Bad clients talk about the future, good ones talk about the now
- Ever had one of those clients who calls you up promising you their next big job, but in the meantime asking you do a small one either for no profit or very little? Avoid them. Good clients are happy to talk about the job they have now and make no promises about future ones.
- Bad clients are always in a rush, good clients know good work takes time.
- If you get a call from someone who needs something yesterday as a favour then think twice before you take it on, especially if the person who is asking is also evasive about agreeing budget and payment terms. If it’s that important then they will understand this has be part of the discussion before you start work. In my experience every ‘favour’ or ‘rush job’ has ended up costing me both money and time. Good clients know that good work takes time.
- Bad clients are vague, good clients care about the details.
- How many times have you had the conversation that has no details such as deadline, deliverables, budget, expectation? Again, avoid these kind of jobs like the plague, if you don’t, then how will you know when you have done what he client wanted, on time and on budget?
- Bad clients want to blame someone, good clients are looking to find a solution.
- When a job has issues there are two approaches - blame or solution. The most immediate thing in a crises is a plan of action on how to fix it, not a shouting match about who said what to who and when. Even worse if you have got embroiled with a bad client then the chance of most of that being agreed and written down, is about as likely as finding a Unicorn tape splicing an original radio recording of the sermon on the mount.
- Bad clients seldom pay, good ones do.
- There’s even more to that than you would think. How come some clients think you should start a new job even though they haven’t paid you for the last three. Good clients know that the people who look after them should be rewarded promptly and will pay you for each job on time and without quibbling.
What I have listed here may sound like every client you have, but the good news is that if you are smart and clear in your communication, then you can build a great client base that cares as much about you as you do about them.
So there are 5 more tips, how about your own?