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 »

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” — Confucius

The bottom line for every business owner is this. If you can’t keep customers and clients, your business will fail.

Ironically, we tend to forget this fact by getting caught up in the “busy-ness” of running a business. We have to-do lists that are a mile long and, for a lot of us, don’t include real steps to move us any closer to securing new business on a regular basis. Read the rest of this entry »

At the start of their careers, most freelancers take on every new client that comes along. But as we mature and gain more experience, we become more discerning when we’re choosing who we work with. This usually happens because we’re starting to specialize, we want to avoid dead-end projects, or we become more specific about the work we prefer to do.

As we become more involved in selecting clients, what criteria can we set? 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 »

Whenever I feel like I’m battling to get writing done, and losing, I can hear my mom saying, “You’re human, not a machine.” She’s right. We’re all going to have days when we hit the wall and can’t muster up energy to do our main jobs. And that’s OK!

Instead of feeling guilty, I do other tasks that matter to my business but aren’t my main job, tasks that don’t require the same energy or “mood” as writing does. Whenever the writing muse decides to take a break without my permission, I can work on editing or reviewing tasks instead.

But even if I don’t have any reviewing or editing lined up, there are some tasks that almost everyone can do, guilt-free, regardless of your career. Try one of these next time you hit the wall. Read the rest of this entry »

Working on the web is great, but you miss out on some great business-building opportunities if you’re far removed from the majority of your clients. Business lunches and dinners are a fantastic tool for greasing the wheels of profitable partnerships, but if you’re in Taipei and your client is in Reno, it can be a little hard to coordinate. What web workers should not do, and what we too often do, is just shrug our shoulders and leave it at that.

Even across great distances, we can still schmooze and butter up with the best of ‘em. The key is good CRM, which applies regardless of distance. Here are some examples of how you might go about bridging that geographic gap to form a solid client-contractor bond. 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

Much as we wish it wasn’t true, on occasion we take on a contract that gets us in over our heads. Especially when we’re just starting, out or are unfamiliar with the field or industry in which we’re working. Obviously realizing that you can’t deliver what the client is expecting, and what you originally agreed to produce, can be a very stressful experience. It may even seem like it’s the end of your professional life.

It most likely isn’t, so don’t panic. There are steps you can take to mitigate the damage and come out as clean as possible on the other side.

I’ve run into this situation on two previous occasions. Once, I brought it on myself; the other time, the firm I was working for passed me a project due to staff transitions that had already been handed off so many times there was no clear record of who began it. The following tips come from what I learned from both experiences. Read the rest of this entry »