How I Identify Clients From Hell
A three-step process to quickly see red flags and decide who is a good fit to work with.
Hey, it’s Marilyn
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In this edition, you’ll learn the 3 step process I used to identify who to work with in my graphic design business. If you are a copywriter, ghostwriter, marketer or any freelance service provider, this process will also work for you.
When I first began my design freelance career in 2005, I didn’t think if there was a right or wrong client to work with. I worked with anyone, both for a fee and for free, as and when someone needed graphic design services.
As my experience with clients grew, I started to choose my clients based on my gut feeling and how I felt about the potential client.
I didn’t use any quantifiable measure to certify we would work well together. So long the job requirements are within my capabilities, I’d go for it.
In the early days, my sales process worked this way:
Referred prospect
Call with prospect
Prepare proposal
Present proposal
Offer estimated pricing
Sign contract
We start work
Before starting the work itself, we would always jump on one or two calls to get to know the prospects better and for them to know who they’d be working with.
I would figure out what was required and openly share how I work. Like any freelance designer, I have my limitations and never hesitated to set those boundaries.
However, when work took off, things between myself and the clients became different from what I thought they would be. From the onboarding calls, I thought the clients knew what they wanted and understood the restrictions I’d set.
As we moved on deeper into the projects, some of them started to push the boundaries, such as asking for additional services for free and delaying payments for months.
It was more than just scope creep.
I was just surprised by how the working relationships have turned out.
Experiences like that made me wary of the next potential client who wished to render my services. I couldn’t help but wonder: “Do they come to me because they realise I’m easily bullied into helping people for a cheap price or even for free?”.
Whether or not I’m right does not matter, because I will never know until I work with them. I dreaded such scenarios of not knowing what to do.
Each time I placed judgment on my potential clients, I took a long time to decide if I should work with them or not.
Sometimes, I simply quote them a super high price just to relieve myself from such a situation. If they still insisted on working with me at a high price, I don’t feel like I’m at a disadvantage.
But what if they can’t afford and I’m left with no clients? No clients, no money.
This tug of war went on for a long time and I reviewed my process. I thought, what if I could come up with a way for me to tell if a client is the right fit way before we started working together?
Instead of acting based on my emotions, I should be using a system to make more objective decisions.
Ever since I productized my services, most clients simply purchased from my website like products and they go through the processes I’ve set up from there.
On rare occasions when I come across prospects who have additional requests from my usual service products, I’m prepared with another process to identify if we are a good fit.
Here’s my three-step process to help you identify a red flag and make the best decision to work with the right client once and for all.
1. People
Who do you love working with so that you will enjoy what you are doing?
Do these people have a personality that you can work with?
They don’t have to be the nicest people in the world, but I’m sure you’d like to work with someone respectful and willing to work with you like partners rather than boss you around.
If you do find clients who share the same values as you, all the better. Chances are, not all will align, but some may coincide.
In that case, the first thing to do is to list out what matters most to you. You will want to find clients who match some of those on your list.
I also love working with people who are spreading the message and creating a brand that I truly believe in.
When working on a client project, you will want to give your best not just to make your client feel satisfied. But you are excited to see them succeed when they are using your work for a purpose that you believe strongly about.
For example, my team believes in helping to improve the lives of those less fortunate than us. Hence, I enjoy working with thought leaders and coaches who show up regularly to help people.
One of my clients matches such a profile. He is a coach who helps athletes, entrepreneurs and corporate leaders train their mental toughness to thrive on adversity.
We may be doing different things, but when I am invested in what they advocate, it’s worth my time and energy to produce work for their cause.
2. Portfolio
My team can create many kinds of designs because of its wide skillsets and expertise. But we only choose to work with clients who are asking for work that leads them to find success, so that we can leverage their story to attract more work of a similar kind.
We will also choose work that we can put our best foot forward. If not, we will refer them to our partners who can help them better.
Yes, this is business, we have to be strategic about it.
Whether you run a copywriting or design business, your client work will form part of your portfolio. You put them together to show potential clients not just because they asked you for it.
People buy from you because you give them the trust that you can do something that they are asking for, and that you can do it well.
The work process has to be something you are confident to execute and the deliverable is something you can be proud of.
For example, my company is on a mission to create as many quality graphics as we can. Hence we tend to work with clients who need help to churn out regular graphics, rather than clients who only need to create one piece of artwork once a month.
In this way, we have the portfolio to show the next potential client that they have nothing to worry about because we have been producing tons of graphics week after week for many clients before them.
3. Price
I’ve offered all kinds of pricing options to my clients in my career. Some clients are willing to fork out thousands of dollars while others are only willing to pay a few hundred dollars for the same kind of work.
Based on what I’ve experienced, there are two ways to use this to decide who you should work with.
The first way is to have a fixed price by setting it based on the market rate. Since your price will compete with possibly many similar offers from other companies, you may have to find other ways to stand out.
For example, ensure better quality and customer service. Once you have decided on your price, your potential clients will have to agree on this to work with you. If they find it too high, there’s no way you will be changing this for some of them and not the others.
Hence, you will work with those who can afford and are willing to pay your fixed rate.
The other way is to bring your purpose and portfolio into the picture. Let’s say the potential clients negotiate for a lower price. Yet they share similar beliefs as you do and you figure that working with them will boost your portfolio.
If I were you, I would offer them a lower price. If they want a lower price but either doesn’t share similar beliefs or there’s no portfolio value out of the work, I would stick to my guns and be firm with my pricing.
That’s when I would politely refer them to other designers who are willing to produce the same work at a lower price.
With these steps, you don’t have to grapple with the emotional and subjective factors to decide who to work with.
So far this process has served me well not only as a system to quickly decide to work with a potential client or not but it also saved me time and sanity from working with those that are not of the right fit.
What would you add to this list?
This is a great analysis, the people you work with can make a project really rewarding or an absolute nightmare
Thank you for sharing this insightful article, Marilyn.
Your point about selecting the right people to work with is spot on. Just as it's easier for us to sustain effort towards our own goals when we're aligned with them, the same principle applies to our collaborators and customers. This alignment not only makes the work easier but also more fulfilling.