We’ve all had our fair share of difficult clients — ones who behave disrespectfully, make unreasonable demands, cause scope creep with indecisiveness, or are just plain rude. Every seasoned marketer has war stories of unreasonable client requests, demands, or behavior; here’s a favorite that comes from a colleague:

She and her team were on a client call. The client ended the call and said goodbye to the team, thinking he had hung up the phone. He then proceeded to talk disparagingly about the team in very personal terms to someone in the room with him. Everyone was shocked but my colleague, who did not miss a beat, simply said, “We’re still here on the call.” The client was, of course, mortified and apologized, but the trust was broken. 

No agency or consultant is perfect, but a good client gives feedback (even if it’s tough!) and is transparent about their expectations and if they are being met. A good consultant makes sure there are regular opportunities and invitations to give feedback throughout the engagement so issues can be addressed openly and quickly. 

That said, some people are just plain difficult, and no matter what you do they won’t be satisfied. How do you avoid working with one of them? While you can’t plan for every possible scenario, some strategic actions can head off most of the potential troublemaker clients: 

01:

Pay attention to your feelings.

How do you feel when interacting with a prospective client and their team? If you have concerns now, it will only worsen once you start working together. Trust that more business will come along and you don’t need to take a project out of desperation. When you do what’s right for you, most often you’re doing what’s right for them. Trust that if the client isn’t a fit for you, you’re freeing them up to find someone they are a fit for. If you want to be helpful and refer them to someone else, be careful that you don’t inadvertently damage another relationship in the process. (And consider checking with your network behind the scenes, sharing your concerns so that if your contact wants to pursue the project, you haven’t misled either party.)

02:

Consider revisiting your contract terms.

If you’ve had problems with clients not paying their bills or increasing the scope without honoring that it will incur additional costs, build that into the contract. Perhaps ask for a down payment upfront before the project begins, or request final payment before the campaign goes live or final assets are handed over so that you have some leverage. And it should go without saying that you should make sure your scopes of work are as detailed as possible, e.g., how many rounds of revisions, fees for work outside of the scope, etc.

03:

Always talk through the scope of work
in a live meeting.

Often clients won’t fully absorb the details of the scope of work so this gives you a chance to be transparent and verbalize all the details upfront, including key provisions from the contract. That way, the client will be fully informed and able to ask questions or negotiate before signing anything. Transparency goes a long way to establishing trust and confidence in the partnership from the outset. It also demonstrates your professionalism and attention to detail, and clients will likely be impressed to see you take the collaboration seriously.

04:

Enforce your boundaries.

If you’ve followed the recommendations above, then it should be easy to enforce your terms. This is best done with a weekly check-in with the client, or at a minimum, a weekly email recap of the work — what’s in progress, what’s completed, and what’s next in the queue, along with an update on the project schedule. If scope creep starts, you can simply capture the requested items and present them to the client as a change order. You can show you’re on board: “I love your ideas and agree these are great things to work on together. Attached is a rough scope of work for these additional items.” If you don’t want to take them on, you can simply say (if you mean it), “We haven’t scheduled the resources to take this work on but would love to do it as a phase 2 when we’re finished with our next project.” Remember that you have a team to take care of, too, even if it’s a confederation of freelancers.

05:

When declining a project, be honest
but don’t feel obligated to go into detail.

You want to act out of integrity, so try not to use crutches like lying (“Oh, I’m too busy to take this one”) or acting passive-aggressively (increasing the project cost so much that it’s an obvious barrier). You can say something that is true without getting into the specifics: “This project isn’t a fit for the work we’re set up to do right now.” If they press, repeat the same sentiment — that it’s not a fit for where your business is. No need to explain further or defend your decision.

You’ve worked hard to build your business, do good work, and create goodwill. And in doing so, you’ve taken on the risks inherent in running your own business. So why not take the rewards, too? You don’t have to work with anyone who doesn’t value you. That’s a major perk of being your own boss — and will make you happier, do better work, and value those relationships with the great roster of clients you have. 

You took preventative measures but still landed a difficult client — try my five tips for handling them here.