Web Worker Daily

We’ve all heard the horror stories of difficult clients. Anyone offering client services has been there.

No company can function effectively when confronted with clients who operate from a place of fear — which is often at the root of most difficult clients you encounter. You can’t do your job well or be recognized for a job well done when your client contact is inadvertently — or deliberately — standing in your way. Read the rest of this entry »

Most of us don’t just work on the web, we kind of live on it too. And our virtual neighbors are people who speak our language. But you must not forget that people like us are still the minority, even in places that have universal Internet access like the U.S. and Europe.

We’re often called on to be more than service providers. Sometimes we also have to educate our clients, and even be ambassadors of the worlds of technology and the Internet. Read the rest of this entry »

Every time I apply for a new job, I’m always excited to start working. Despite this, some prospects don’t always seem to share my enthusiasm. They might seem uninterested and may stall negotiations or contract signing. How can you tell if a prospect isn’t serious about working with you, and what should you do about it?

It’s been a week since their last email. After seeing your web site, some leads will contact you asking for more information, a project quote, or links to your portfolio. But after you give them what they need, you might not hear from them for a few days. Then, before you know it, more than a week has gone by and they still haven’t contacted you. Read the rest of this entry »

Many freelancers, especially at the beginning of their careers, find themselves working with very difficult clients. When this has happened to me, either I helped change the client’s working behavior or stopped working with them altogether. While I always aim for the former approach, sometimes the better option is to end the working relationship. Whenever this happens I hope that if I do work with the client again in the future, they’ll be more cooperative — but that’s not guaranteed.

When one of your more difficult clients contacts you for a new project, how do you work with them again, without repeating the problems you previously had?

Points to Consider

Before you sign up to work with a previously difficult client, there are some issues you need to address.

Refer to the paperwork. If your client is contacting you for support on a previous project, it helps to go over your signed contracts and documents to see whether the new request is within your area of responsibility.

Understand their position. Oftentimes, I’m the only go-to person that these difficult clients have worked with. This is usually because they’re not that tech-savvy or they have a hard time convincing other professionals to take on their projects. With their situation, they just want to get things done as fast as possible. Keep this in mind if they sound frustrated or in a rush when they’re contacting you.

If you’re going to help them out, know why. In my experience, guilt is never a good reason to stay with difficult clients. This is especially true if they are verbally abusive, need 24/7 hand-holding, and don’t value your work. If they’re immature enough, they might try to appeal to your guilt. Just remember not to give in.

Help out your difficult clients only if you believe in the project and if you’re confident that you can learn to foster a better, mutually beneficial working relationship.

Rebuild Your Relationship

Once you decide to work with a difficult client again, make sure that you’ve learned from your previous mistakes and won’t be likely to repeat them. Use the insights you’ve gained from your experience to make the relationship work this time around.

Improve your contract terms to forge a more balanced relationship. Go over the last contract you signed with this particular client. Are the terms clear and easy to understand? Are there any clauses you need to add or modify to protect yourself from being exploited?

Discuss the things that didn’t work out last time and propose solutions for them. If you had to “fire” a client before, they’re probably aware that your working relationship wasn’t smooth to begin with. It’s best to express your concerns and propose ways on how problems can be avoided this time around — without blaming each other for previous mistakes, of course.

Train your client to be more self-sufficient. I used to provide solutions to my clients’ simplest needs even if they were outside the project scope. While there’s nothing wrong with going the extra mile from time to time, constant support for even the most irrelevant tech issues can be a drain on your time and energy. Instead of providing solutions yourself, point them towards the resources that can best empower them to help themselves.

As freelancers, we see ourselves improving and becoming more professional as we gain more experience. Our difficult clients are the same way. It’s reasonable to expect that they, too, can become easier to work over time.

Have you ever had a difficult client go back to you for more projects? If so, did you avoid working with them again or were you able to establish a healthier working relationship?

Image by danzo08 from sxc.hu

Recently, I was subcontracting for an ad agency when things went unexpectedly wrong. There had been points in the process when I felt things weren’t quite right, but I couldn’t put my finger on why. In retrospect, I can see that those moments were actually blatant warning signs that the project was going awry.

Now I keep these warning signs in mind. They’re indicators that I need to take immediate action to keep my project on track. If you’re working remotely, that can be much harder to do than if you have daily face-to-face contact with your colleagues, but hopefully these tips will help you avoid the trap I fell into.

The project had started in the normal way. I took the brief, produced the work, and sent it off in draft form for review with the words, “I look forward to your amendments.” But there were no amendments. My contact at the agency asked for my invoice the same day. I wound up having to chase payment, my contact was avoiding me, and in the end, I only got paid for half the job.

Here are the five warning signs that should have alerted me to the danger.

Read the rest of this entry »

“Just do your work and then I’ll pay you.” I couldn’t believe what I was reading. My client had told me to just do (my) work, yet he didn’t want to discuss any of the things that I needed to know to get the work done in the first place. He wanted to do away with the needs analysis stage and just get me to write a 50-page e-book based on a vague, one-paragraph description. If there’s a web app for telepathy I haven’t seen it, so he shouldn’t expect me to know how to finish a project after the first two emails.

To avoid this problem in the future, I’m reevaluating the way I work with clients. How do I include them in my work process? Can I improve on my current methodology?

So far, here are some points I’ve come up with:

Include your process on your web site. The first thing I noticed was that I failed to set expectations at the earliest stage possible — on my web site. There was nothing on my site about how I performed a needs analysis, did research and reworked drafts based on client comments. I’m going to create a page about my work process as soon as possible. Some good examples include one from Mount Evans Designs and another from Recopy Studio. Read the rest of this entry »

When I started freelancing, I worked with every potential client who contacted me.  This is normal for someone who is starting out.  After all, you want to get all the experience you can get your hands on.  But after a while, you’ll realize, like I did, that your clientele should be more targeted than just “whatever comes along”.  You need to qualify your potential clients.

One important benefit of qualifying your clients is that you don’t waste your time.  You get the clients that you want to work with, you’re paid the rate you want, and both parties have realistic expectations.  You don’t spend hours working on a proposal that your client eventually rejects because they realize that you weren’t on the same page after all.  If that scenario sounds familiar, then it’s time to start qualifying.

What criteria can you use to qualify clients?

Read the rest of this entry »