What is a difficult client? They ignore signing a contract, they don’t pay on time, refuse to pay a deposit, and have unreasonable demands.
I call these clients RED FLAGS. How do you see red flags prior to agreeing to work with them? How do you set boundaries? How do you fire them if you have to?
The best way to deal with difficult clients is to avoid them altogether!
You do this by pre-qualifying clients for your business. Not all clients are good for you. So you need to create a filtering system that weeds out the bad apples.
How do you pre-qualify clients?
First, know who your target client is.
Your second step in pre-qualification is your RFP form — or Project Planner questionnaire. Be very specific about what you’re asking them, their project details, their timeline, even budget. You should be able to see who’s good and who’s not based on the detail of their answers. If they fail to provide important information, they’re not for you. Let them know you’re not a good fit.
Third, book a consultation. It could be free, or a paid road mapping session. If they are willing to jump on a call, or even pay you a small fee to flesh out the project a bit first, then you’re on the right track.
Fourth, pricing. If your price is low, you’re going to attract lower quality clients. If you price high, you’ll filter out a lot of them. High price doesn’t necessarily mean good client — keep that in mind; there are still leeches with money.
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If you’d like to know more about dealing with difficult clients, and creating a system to book only the best clients for your business, download my free 7-Step Freelancing Roadmap…
