How To Deal With Invasive Clients
Picture this: You got a contract, the pay is really good, but there is one major problem, your client is invasive, almost stalking you.
You know the type that calls you 8-10 times a day, sends you a truck load of e-mails and even shows up at your place unexpected. Even though you keep telling this client you will make those changes, you even tell him/her it’ll be done by [insert date here]… the phone keeps ringing.
Ok, that example may be a little extreme, but I’ve heard stories like that (even worse), sometimes it can get out of hands if you don’t know how to act/react. Something similar happened to me before, and I learned a lot from it. How can you deal with these folks that seem to never “get it“?
Make Things Clear Before You Start Working
The best way to avoid those situations is to simply tell your client you have other projects you need to work on (you’re a freelancer, you can have multiple clients at once). Tell your client right at the begining, make it real clear.
There is absolutely nothing wrong in saying something like:
Everything will be done by [date], I will keep you updated on how the project is going on a daily basis. If there’s anything, give me a call, if I can’t answer the phone, leave me a message, and I’ll call you back within a couple of hours (make sure you do call him back). If it ain’t top priority, simply send me an e-mail, I check my e-mails 2 times a day, once in the morning, and again around 4pm.
This should give your cell phone a rest. Simply check for new messages every 2 hours or so, if it is urgent, give your client a call. Remember: no one will die if you don’t answer your phone. You have work to do. Also, your client is well aware you won’t reply to his e-mail right away.
Ask For References
Your client will want to see your work, know who you’ve worked for in the past before hiring you. You can do the same. Being a freelancer, you have the right to decline a contract you know!
Maybe you would like to see previous projects, and know who your client has worked with before. Then, if you’re unsure, why not contact some people your potential client did business with in the past?
If you’re polite and you ask nice, I see no reason the person wouldn’t tell you how it was working for this client. I would tell you if it was a bad experience, if I have the right to. I love what I do, so if it went fine, I’ll also tell you, and tell you to go ahead and accept the gig! ;)
Get Paid In Advance
Why not ask for 50% in advance and 50% when you deliver the project? Make sure it’s in the contract and don’t start the project till both parties sign that contract (oh, and get a lawyer). In most cases everything will go well, but better be safe than sorry.
Some People Never Learn
If you did tell that particular client to stop calling 10 times a day, and you also told him you check your e-mails only twice a day, but the phone keeps ringing… and that client even ends up knocking at your door, expecting you’ll be there (you know, when it’s really urgent… right!!), but you’re right on schedule, what can be so urgent?
That, to me, is like the point of no return. You either make it really clear (clearer this time), and make sure your client understands, or you tell that client you’re not working for him anymore, and explain why. Remember: some people never learn.
Unfortunately, I had to deal with someone like that before, and honestly, the best decision I ever made was tell the guy to go hire someone else. What a relief! But don’t get me wrong, not all clients are like that, it happened to me only once, but once was enough, I learned. ;)
Jon
20 Rockin' Comments
September 27th, 2007 at 10:04 am
Hey Jon! That’s a relly good article very good tips on how to deal with those clients. Good work, Take a look at my blog, and let me know what you think about my latest post. Thanks!
September 27th, 2007 at 4:53 pm
you misspelled “on” as “one”
September 27th, 2007 at 5:00 pm
George, thanks! :) you’re selling bloggerlounge? you can get way more than $1,500, will send you an e-mail.
tyler, thanks for letting me know, I edited it
September 27th, 2007 at 5:03 pm
Maybe if you provided the service or support you originally promised, the customer wouldn’t be calling all day long.
Communication is a two-way street.
September 27th, 2007 at 5:06 pm
I usually take all the calls, finish the project and make them sign a document that states that my responsibility is over.
If I want to get rid of the customer I increase the price by 80% on the next projects.
So far I’ve only lost 2 out 8 customers like that.
WHAT A RELIEF believe me.
September 27th, 2007 at 5:08 pm
In cases like this, firing the client can be very liberating. Once I realized I could do it my business life improved greatly. It’s hard to walk away from money but it’s better than being driven nuts!
September 27th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
Good advice Jon. This applies even in general sales. We have all had clients who are never satisfied with “everything is on target and moving according to plan.”
I have found that having daily updates (overload them with details) helps to avoid this kind of constant badgering.
Very nice blog Jon. Keep up the good work!
Chris Birdwell
http://www.valuebasedsalesblog.com
September 27th, 2007 at 8:45 pm
1. NEVER give your cell phone # to a client
2. Give your client a land line # with voice mail.
3. Don’t answer the land line unless the ID indicates it’s a call you really want. Most of your high priority calls will come in on your cell #, since you only gave that out to trusted individuals.
4. Don’t use this strategy to ignore clients. If they leave an urgent message call them back asap, otherwise do it on your terms. They soon come to realize your busy, but responsive.
September 27th, 2007 at 9:40 pm
These clients are unavoidable. I tend to get Alpha on them and threaten to break the contract like I don’t care for their business if they don’t let me do my work. This tends to work because they respect it when you sent strong boundaries (it’s been my experience) Because I seriously will not stand for clients who treat me like this.
September 27th, 2007 at 11:15 pm
I try to teach my clients that the best way to contact me is via email, then phone. I don’t mind multiple emails, as I warn them that I only check every few hours. It generally works well.
If a client is really annoying, keep raising the rate you charge them. ;-)
September 28th, 2007 at 12:40 am
Don’t forget the payment games. These same types usually later dispute the amount. Not always, but generally.
Perhaps not the nicest technique, but I always heavily discount my rates. I have legaleze attached to my statements / terms of service that specifies that any dispute of the amount to be paid invalidates any discount.
My default rate is $95/hr. I let anyone that solicits me talk me down to about $75/hr. This is about two-thirds of the going rate here in the Midwest USA. As you might imagine, I have no sympathy for hagglers.
As stated, later on these people generally dispute something, either trying to get something for free or just being generally cheap. It only happens to me maybe once per year, but it will happen.
In one particular case, I spent 30 minutes on the phone with someone trying to get a $50 discount off of $2,475 in labor. Eventually I told them I’d discount the $50 and send them a new invoice. I then sent them an invoice for $3,060.
When they called back, I explained that they had invalidated their $660 worth of discounts per our agreement. I love to call it “our agreement”. I always offer to be reasonable and honor the original invoice.
It’s only ever lost me one customer. The others have generally respected me a lot more. The customer I lost later went out of business after being sued for…you guessed it…breach of contract.
September 28th, 2007 at 10:04 am
I think there are really some clients who think that once they paid you to do something for them it also necessarily means that all your time belongs to them.
Luckily, I haven’t experienced it yet..I just hope I won’t be able to in the future..^^
By the way, Thanks for all the tips..I’ll keep that handy..just in case..^^
September 28th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
@Jon Slamm, you’re probably one of those annoying customers, aren’t you?
October 6th, 2007 at 3:13 am
@Jigglebilly, that’s what I was thinking hehe :)
October 13th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
I use three methods to avoid this kind of abuse:
The first method is the use of a client management system I have built and deployed. My most important clients get a password that allows them to access the system, where they can see almost real-time updates about the state of the project, see Gantt charts, file bug reports, or even chat with me over a Web-based client. Clients seem to like it, and I actually plan to someday release parts of the system as free software as it has proven to be very useful and I think other people could benefit from it as well.
The system described above is reserved for select big clients for long-lasting (multi-month or multi-year) projects. This is because there would be no resources to support this system to work with all small clients, but I hope in the future to automate it more so that I can let more clients use it. The other two methods described below are for the rest of the normal clients.
The second method is that I proactively keep the client updated via email. I send emails daily informing them whether everything proceeds according to the plan. This saves a lot of unneeded phone calls.
There are, however, some clients who keep abusing the phone… so I have a third more drastic method for them: A special call-limiting contract, in which calls above a certain reasonable number per week are treated as support requests and are charged accordingly :) Thanks to my two methods above, and the facts that I finish most of the projects ahead of schedule and that 85-90% of my clients themselves prefer email and are Internet-literate, I have never had to actually use this provision.
December 4th, 2007 at 11:26 am
I had a client like this. On top of it all, he didn’t want to pay but do some sort of “profit sharing.” He got all crazy when I quit, leaving me messages and sending me emails. He was in a different time zone than me, and only wanted to do things over the phone, which meant late at night after I was normally asleep. He wasn’t worth the trouble.
December 30th, 2007 at 6:10 pm
I had a client, who after demanding that I produce his work in two weeks instead of our agreed six, showed up at my door with a base ball bat. Yeah… that was when I got tough on my clients and started enforcing the rules of my contract. Get everything in writing and hold to it. You have to teach your clients with tough love sometimes. Ultimately, it is a win win, they will benefit from learning how to be more professional in business and you keep you sanity (and possibly knee caps.) :D
January 29th, 2008 at 5:07 am
Awesome Article. I learned this lesson the hard way when mentoring entrepreneurs on how to build an online business. Since I have set the boundraries, it has helped with dealing with these type of clients. (do they still exist, yes) but it has made it less. In addition it helps the client. As long as you are following a time table and delivering on that they will respect your boundries.
Thanks for this , it as a great read
Megan Vaillancourt
http://www.PassportMentors.com
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