This is an issue that is quite close to us because basically … we’ve been there and done that! We want to say that you’re likely to come across a bad or difficult customer in your first year or so of  business, but sadly if you’re not careful, this has the potential of happening again and again. Unless .. you identify how it is you’re going to avoid this.

Who is a Difficult Client?

A difficult customer is someone who will probably have some of the following traits:

• Isn’t aware of their own business goals and challenges

• They are not aware of their own pain points

• They start to negotiate down the price that you offer for your work, or are quite persistent with this

• They constantly change their mind about what they want or need from your services

• They are unclear about their requirements and are not very communicative

• They don’t provide a target date for completion of the work

However, in addition to the above, you need to go with your gut feel when it comes to the initial conversations with a prospective client. You know full well what it is that you need from a client (not just vice versa), so do trust your initial instincts.

Upfront Questions for Prospective Clients

A custom contact form on your website is one of the best ways of building the right set of questions for your prospective clients to answer. This means that even before you arrange an initial phone call with them, you can already get a feel for what it may be like working with them.

Our other blog post on designing the best custom contact form is linked here, and we list the best questions to include on the form.

Any initial conversation should involve questions which you feel is important in order for this client to be able to work with you effectively. The last thing you need is for a client to not understand the goal(s) of your work, so it's important to establish this upfront.  

Examples of Questions

The following will help you establish a picture of what they face in their own business:

• What are your business goals?

• What are the challenges you have, or are facing in business?

• What are your fears and pain points?

• What are you expecting as a result of our work together?

• When do you need the work completed by?

• How long have you been in business?

It may seem straightforward and simple enough (especially if you have never been exposed to a bad client) to avoid coming across a difficult customer. But trust us when we say, and it may seem unbelievable, but this is easily done.

There have been times when we have accepted work with a client, and perhaps a couple of weeks in, have realised that (and to put it politely) this was not such a great idea. The root cause? Perhaps we were too hasty to accept the work, and the client was very friendly outside of a business situation but just not in a collaboration setting.

The Fine Line

An Ideal Client (ICA) is someone that you obviously want to get along with, but there is a fine line between establishing that trusting friendship and doing business with this entrepreneur. 

If you have a think about some of your closest friends as an example, they are fantastic people who you have potentially known for months or years! But, you know that if you went into business with them, or accepted them as a client … it may not bode too well for both of you (but especially for your business).

Ideal Client

Of course one of the best things to do is list the traits of your ideal customer. Ask yourself the following questions about your perfect customer:

• What is their profession - full time job? Entrepreneur? Business owner?

• What is their age?

• Marital/family status demographic? - are they married, single, do they have children or not?

• Interests and hobbies? - what do they enjoy/hate/love, are they introverts/extroverts?

• Geography - where do they live?

• What are their business pain points? What are their fears?

By establishing the right ICA - you know the type of customers which you want to avoid!

The Takeaway

As a business we have learnt and grown from making many mistakes, but although it's been difficult, we are eternally grateful for those tough times. One of the biggest mistakes was the eagerness to accept work from clients after not asking for the right information upfront.

This is especially tempting when you’re new and looking to expand your portfolio or client base as much as possible. We know … we’ve been there.

This led to some despair, not only for us but also for the client we worked with. After all, if you’re not a good match, it’s nobody’s fault but it is something we both needed to move on from. And moving on we did ...

Points to remember to avoid despair:

• Learn who your ICA is - this way you know who you want to avoid.

• Ask the right questions upfront and during the initial conversations - this way you’re able to establish who they are.

• Design an effective contact form on your website - again, by asking the right questions you’ll have a much better chance of getting the answers you need.

• Go with your gut feel and what your initial instincts are telling you - back to human instincts, after all, this shouldn’t fail you.