How Not to Be a Freelancing Diva
Posted November 29, 2010 in Getting Clients, Marketing
Are you too quick to turn down a potential client?
While it’s vitally important for freelancers to charge what they are worth, many freelancers move from being too timid to charge a fair rate to being too eager to dismiss a potential client because the work isn’t enjoyable enough or the pay isn’t high enough. In fact, a few freelancers are downright rude about the way that they dismiss inquiries that don’t their standards.
As you can imagine, this diva-like behavior can leave a pretty bad taste in a potential’s client’s mouth.
Of course, some clients really are tire kickers with no real interest at all in doing business with you. So, it does pay to be careful sometimes. (We’ve already provided a lot of information on how to screen clients, so this post deals with the other side of the problem–the freelancer who is just too picky for his or her own good.)
In this post, I’ll distinguish between being a careful business person and being a freelancing diva. I’ll also explain how not to be a freelancing diva when it comes to examining new client prospects.
Six Marks of a Diva
Do you treat your clients in a diva-like fashion?
Some of us may do this without even realizing it. (Note: even guy freelancers can be freelancing divas too.)
Here some marks of a freelancing diva:
- Refuses to even answer inquiries from solo professionals or small companies. You just know that these smaller organizations would never be able to afford you.
- Fails to market self. Instead, loiters haphazardly about social media waiting to be discovered by a big name company with just the right creative gig.
- Never ever refers potential clients to another freelancer when turning down work. Why bother, when no one else could possibly be as good as you are?
- Always puts the client’s wallet ahead of the client’s problem. Big bucks talk, especially if you’re living the freelancing diva lifestyle.
- Name drops incessantly. You had one semi-famous client three years ago, but you’re still talking about them in the present (and talking and talking and talking).
- Only provides best work to high paying clients. Everyone else who hires you will have to put up with just good enough performance.
3 Reasons Why Divas Are Wrong
You know what? Being a diva is not the best way to do business. Some diva behaviors may seem smart, but they’re not. Here’s why:
- The client is NOT the expert. Contrary to the popular saying, “the client is always right,” the client is often wrong. They may approach you with a low budget and big expectations because they really don’t know any better. It’s up to you, the freelancing professional, to determine what the client’s needs really are. You may find that you can propose a smaller, but more fitting, solution that is well within the client’s budget.
- Freelancing is really about helping. If you’re a freelancing professional, odds are that you are providing a service that helps businesses. You may be helping them by providing a professional web design, an effective logo, or web copy that works (or through providing another service). Regardless of the service you offer, your clients and prospective clients should be better off for having contacted you. Every client deserves your best effort. If you aren’t available, then refer the work to a colleague.
- Circumstances change. That little tiny business may one day grow into a big corporation. Every organization started somewhere, and some of today’s best known companies began in their founder’s garage. It’s not good business to treat any prospective client poorly. Besides, believe me, a prospect remembers when they aren’t treated with professional courtesy. Your diva-like could come back to haunt you in a big way.
Is It Time for a Change?
Did the description of a freelancing diva fit you?
Ouch! I’m really sorry.
The good news is, you can change your ways. It’s not too late. There’s hope for you yet. ;) As they say, being aware of the problem is the first step on you road to recovery.
Ask yourself this–have I treated every prospect who has contacted me in a courteous and professional fashion, regardless of whether they eventually became my client?
If you can honestly say “yes” to the above question, then you probably don’t have anything to worry about. However, if you saw yourself in the diva description above and you know that your behavior has been less than professional to some prospects, it’s time to change.
What About You?
Do you treat all prospects with the utmost courtesy, or are you engaging in some freelancing practices that may come back to haunt you.
Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Image by monkeywing’s
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About the author: Laura Spencer is a freelance writer from North Central Texas with over 20 years of professional business writing experience. If you liked this post, then you may also enjoy Laura’s blog about her freelance writing experiences, WritingThoughts. Laura is also on Google+.
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28 Comments
Chris
November 29th, 2010 at 9:17 amGreat post Laura! I’ve run across many “divas” over the years and I do not like working with them. Sure, a lot of leads aren’t worth being your client, but you should never let them know that. Even if you don’t want to work with them, you should always leave them with something positive. Either offering to help them out in the future or referring another freelancer/company/service to them. They will remember that you helped them out instead of throwing them out in the cold, even if you couldn’t help them directly.
If you are getting a lot of leads for a particular service or price range, it might be worth looking into to see if it is something that you could work out. For example, throughout my freelancing career I’ve always gotten some really low ball leads. You know the type, they want everything under the sun, plus more for $500. Obviously it doesn’t even make sense to talk to these people, but I always wrote them back and offered some positive alternatives and additional information about the amount of work that it takes to do something like that. A lot of people just don’t know how much work some things take. I think educating people is the best way to help them out. Over the past 2 years with the economy being bad I have gotten even more of these leads. So instead of “throwing them out”, we created something that can help them out without hurting us. Earlier this year we created http://www.CheetahBuilder.com which is a SaaS website builder. Once this was made, it is very minimal work on our part to get a new site up and running and the client get’s exactly what they want with a very minimal price tag. So far it has done pretty well. Sorry for the self-promoting plug, but I thought it was a good fit for the article. Thanks!
Rachel Small
November 29th, 2010 at 10:40 amVery entertaining post – great advice!
Susan Hamilton
November 29th, 2010 at 11:32 amHow true! We don’t have to be tacky, do we?
I agree with your assessment that the client is NOT the expert, and we have a responsibility to give them good advice when they’re on the wrong track. Ultimately, we want our clients to be successful and come back for even more great service, advice and strategy when they can afford to increase their marketing budgets. We’re under no obligation to take low-paying work, but in this day and age, we can share pointers that will get them up to speed or forward their work to a colleague who can use the work and do a good job.
Every client – large or small – deserves my absolute best performance, that way I can sleep at night while their business grows as a result of my efforts. Thanks for the post : )
Anne
November 29th, 2010 at 12:13 pmFar too many diva’s in the design industry in my opinion – it’s not about pleasing other designers, or pleasing yourself, it’s all about the client and the end-product you’re creating FOR the client – that is the mark of a true professional. I highly recommend this excellent article:
http://www.processedidentity.com/article/do-you-really-want-to-be-a-design-rock-star/
Anne
November 29th, 2010 at 12:21 pmOn clients not being experts: “Bad design research conducts a beauty parade, asks consumer opinion on detail they simply can’t have a productive opinion on or pays to much attention to minor aesthetics niggles.” — Sabine Stork
The problem is not with the client not being an ‘expert’ – it’s with the freelancer not asking the right questions and/or conducting the right research to begin with.
I’m tired of hearing that the client is not the “expert” and thus should not be a valuable part of the creative process – hogwash! Of course the client is not an expert in your field! That is precisely why they contracted you – however – the onus is on you to conduct yourself as a professional and learn how to communicate effectively with your clients in order to extract the information you need. It’s about learning how to assert yourself without being a ‘diva’ and to conduct yourself as the professional or ‘expert’ that you proclaim yourself to be.
Melissa
November 29th, 2010 at 12:35 pmSo true, so true. And unfortunately, I’ve found myself at least thinking some of these things (ie – “small name = small budget”), but luckily not acting on them. I think part of that comes from freelancing for so long that you get a little hardened about clients….
Another great article!
Lucian
November 29th, 2010 at 12:55 pmAs my time allows, I still take smaller clients / jobs, trying not be the “diva”, but sometimes we freelancers, have to run a business which needs to generate profit. Selecting clients by budget, so we can generate higher quality, I think is more important.
Christina Wilkinson
November 29th, 2010 at 1:04 pmThe only thing we do is name drop. And we do that for 2 very good reasons.
1. We meet another designer who starts talking about how much better they are with no decent client resume. Our famous clientele list who happen to be regular clients on contract have been an amazing resource for new clients.
2. We periodically market ourselves to gain new clients so we always tell our prospective clients that just because we have celebrity clients, that doesn’t put our design services out of their price range. This ensures that we’ll get quality paying clients. And since we are normally a ‘by referral only’ firm, we always ask who referred the client to us.
I’m not sure if that makes us a Diva or not. But we do consider small clients and projects periodically if we’re approached.
Laura Townshend
November 29th, 2010 at 2:10 pmI think we’re talking about freelancers who aren’t living in the moment, and certainly aren’t taking care of their business. ;-)
Last year’s client was wonderful, but who are you working with now? The economy is difficult, and everyone’s taking a hit. Will you roll with it and sustain your business?
Client education is good marketing and can lead to a sale. I think our best prospects are those who don’t know they need us. ;-)
Christina’s right on with how her business deals with referrals and clients. Some people demand that a freelancer have a proven track record with a certain type of client or a particular industry.
This is great advice for those who might be holding back from marketing and prospecting. Also, small jobs can be extremely rewarding! However, we should always receive fair pay for our talent. (It’s your bottom line.)
Thanks for the insight and Happy Monday!
Laura Spencer
November 29th, 2010 at 2:18 pmGreat discussion here!
Where to start…
First of all, the main point of the post is to get freelancers to think about how they do business, and specifically how they treat customers and prospects. It’s not a hard and fast rule for determining if you are a freelancing diva, because (of course) there are degrees of that and all of us fall into it from time to time.
Chris, I think you have a great perspective on how to handle prospects. Your comment suggests some really practical tips.
Susan Hamilton–I like your attitude–every client deserves our best. :)
Anne, Great points. I’m sure that all freelancing fields have their share of divas.
Christina Wilkinson–Good comment. I think it’s acceptable to use references in your marketing strategy, but the focus should be on the value you provide and not the fame of the referrer…
Laura Townshend, I think every freelancer falls into these traps from time to time, unless we make a deliberate effort not to…
Ben Plopper
November 29th, 2010 at 3:11 pmFascinating article. As a just-getting-started freelancer, the thought that anyone in this type of industry – where networking and word-of-mouth surely generates business – would treat a client in a diva-ish manner is wild. I’m sure I’ll turn down more than a few potential clients for some of the reasons listed above, but I can’t imagine being anything but tactful about it.
Interesting stuff I’ll have to keep in mind as I progress in this career. Thanks for posting this.
Stephanie
November 29th, 2010 at 7:05 pmNow this is an interesting post. I must admit that I do choose my clients, but only because those that I decline usually ask for a lot but are only willing to pay me less than my professional rates. I still work with small and big clients and I make sure to give them my best with every project they award me.
Bastian Heist
November 30th, 2010 at 2:52 amMorning Laura,
Interesting thoughts. However I can’t even imagine how someone who behaves like this can succeed in the long run. Granted, I haven’t been in the freelancing field for that long, but I can’t wrap my head around it.
Ben Plopper is right – when I decline work, I try to be as polite as possible! The client might still come back to me with another project…
Ben Plopper
November 30th, 2010 at 8:25 amTo add to what Bastian said, you never know who a spurned client talks to, either. The last thing any of us want would be the have a reputation we can’t live down. In my current full-time gig (copyeditor for online learning material), we use outside authors and contract technical editors all the time. One of our authors is well-known throughout this industry as being extraordinarily difficult to work with, and this has cost him work at several places (not our company because the universe hates me and wants to force me to work for a diva author). Word gets around more, I think, than most people suspect.
It’s because of his attitude that I know just how hard it is on the other side of the freelancer/client relationship when a writer is a prima donna. I refuse to put any clients through what this fella has put us through over the years.
Issa @ Ajeva
November 30th, 2010 at 8:38 amI think, every now and then, a freelancer can be guilty of any points you’ve posted here and you can’t blame them. Maybe, they’ve been burned once and don’t want to get burned twice. You’re right about one thing though: Many clients are clueless. As a freelance expert, it is your duty to inform them without sounding like you know better and they’re dumber. I guess, here’s where I write that ‘Karma is digital these days’ so you better be sending off good karma to start with.
Caitlin Kelly
November 30th, 2010 at 8:49 amGood points.
I’ve been lucky enough to have people refer extra work to me, and I’ve done it as well — but you do have to be somewhat cautious because they might be a diva, unbenownst to you. How well do we really know one another’s work habits or workstyle, not just their end product?
As for turning down small clients, I agree that some people really have no idea how rude it is to ask for serious skill for pennies. Yes, we can educate them or simply, very nicely say, “Your budget won’t work for me” or something of the sort. In these days when so many people lowball just because they can, it gets old.
I admit, I was not at all polite when this week I was asked to be part of a documentary (i.e. spend most of a day) without any compensation, for a drug company project. A lot of clients now are trying the “you’ll get exposure” line and it’s offensive to many of us. Exposure doesn’t pay the bills.
angelee
December 2nd, 2010 at 12:12 amHey Laura, another great article! I’ll take note of the symptoms and avoid the diva game. Perhaps a freelancer diva and a freelancer heartthrob is a great but not a good love team..
Jenn Mattern
December 5th, 2010 at 8:12 pmIf someone can’t afford you, they’re simply not in your target market. But there’s no reason you can’t refer them to a colleague if the gig is reasonable (not asking for illegal rewrites, not too low for those in your network, etc.). But it’s definitely a mistake to make assumptions about budgets and dismiss smaller clients. I’ve found they’re often far more willing than large companies to pay professionals what they’re worth. They have more limited budgets, but they also understand that means they have to treat the money as an investment in quality work as opposed to being able to throw little bits here and there to try every strategy under the sun. I’ve also found they’re delightful to work with, especially in that you’re not expected to answer to a handful of different people with different ideas.
Back to referrals, I can’t imagine why any freelancer wouldn’t give them. It builds good will with colleagues. If you refer gigs you’re more likely to get referrals of your own. Not only that, but I’ve found that if I’m honest with clients about their budget constraints and I send them to qualified writers who can work within that budget, they’ll often come back to me for other work later. They just appreciate the honesty, and the minute or two of effort you put into putting them first (and sending them to someone who can help) goes a long way towards making them remember you when they really are in your target market.
John
October 22nd, 2011 at 5:00 pmSometimes it’s good to turn down clients when you have a bad feeling about it.
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