Most business, and new businesses in particular, are eager to have as many clients as possible. New business owners are willing to make all kinds of concessions to build up their books. But—there are some clients or projects that are best avoided. And sometimes we miss the signals or simply take the risk in hopes that the business will be worth it. For whatever reason, at some point, every business will be faced with a difficult client that just isn’t worth it anymore. We’re going to talk about what makes a Bad Client and why you should walk away.
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It’s Not the Work You Want to be Doing for the Client.
It’s important for any business to identify their target niche within their market. This means the type of work you prefer to be doing or what you have identified as your most potentially profitable avenue. When starting a business, you might feel like you can’t afford to be picky and just take whatever you can get. The problems is it’s hard to focus on landing those prized clients when working on projects that are not the best for your skills or business plan. Try to hold out on projects that don’t fit and focus your energy on marketing to the clients you really want.
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You Are Over Accommodating the Client.
There’s nothing wrong with going out of your way to provide good service, even if this means stepping outside the scope of your function. But be wary of clients that have you constantly making exceptions and throwing in extras to keep them satisfied. These clients can be a drain by taking up time and resources, which impacts your profitability and could even take away from your service to other clients.
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The Client that Doesn’t Value your Work.
Whether you are working as a freelancer or running a small business, you only want to work with people who feel like they are getting a good deal. This means not only that they are happy with the price they are paying, but that they feel that you are well worth the price. Having a client who seems to resent your rates or is always trying to get a discount could mean trouble. it’s a sign that they don’t really value your work. Be confident in the value of the service you provide and move on from clients who don’t see it.
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The Client that Expects You to Reply Right Away
Everyone appreciates a timely response to a voicemail, email, or text. But the reality is, if you were responding right away to every client you’d be a frantic mess. Time management is key when running a small business. It would probably be best to set aside a certain time of day for responding to messages so that you can focus on other tasks. Clients that expects you will always be available for a phone call or to return an email right away. It’s a sign that they don’t respect your time. You should respond to messages in a timely manner, of course, but just because they are the client doesn’t mean you always have to bend to their schedule. Save yourself the stress and let these clients go.
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Clients that Doesn’t Take Your Professional Advice
Every freelancer and small business owner in the world has tales of the client who simply won’t take their professional expert advice. This seems crazy, because after all that’s what they hired you for! Still, you will find people who simply can’t let go and will insist on doing things their way against your advice. And as it happens, when things don’t go right, you’ll be the one they blame. Forget about trying to convince these people to just listen to you—leave them to their own devices.
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The Client that Asks You to Break Rules or Cut Corners.
Clients may sometimes suggest you ignore a rule or leave out a procedure for the sake of saving time or money. Leaving aside the ethics of doing this, you just don’t want to be working with clients who have that mindset. Remember the old adage—if they’ll cheat with you, they’ll cheat on you!
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The Client Uses Abusive or Insensitive Language
You know that it is important for you to be professional when talking to your clients. But it’s also very important that you steer clear of clients who use abusive or offensive language, even when they are just talking to you, but especially when talking to your employees. You should have a no a tolerance policy for racial slurs, misogyny, bigotry, or threatening language, as failure to do so risks creating a work environment where your employees are uncomfortable. Good business owners look after the well-being of their employees and create a positive work environment.
It may sting a little to drop a client, especially if your business is new and you are scrambling for whatever work you can get, but when you think in terms of the big picture and the long term, keeping bad clients is bad business.
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