Comments on: 12 Signs of a Problem Client

By: oleo

oleo — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 23:13:08 +0000

I had a client that recently told me to take off the limits from the estimate I gave them for SEO. He said he wants unlimited exposure. I laughed and said nothing on Earth is unlimited especially not my time. But if he would give unlimited service in his limousine company then I would give unlimited SEO. He gave in, paid me for my defined limits, and said to please make it a success. Amazing!

By: solas

solas — Thu, 28 May 2009 12:09:36 +0000

I had a really bad client recently and they must have qualified for 80% of these warning signs…. Fantastic warnings, great advice to heed!

By: _mark

_mark — Wed, 27 May 2009 19:30:11 +0000

Win. Thanks for sharing what we’ve all experienced or will possibly experience and now hopefully avoid!

By: beenthere2

beenthere2 — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:51:51 +0000

My favorite client is the one who says (more or less): “I desperately need a website, but I don’t know what I want it to do, or who it’s meant to reach. How much will it cost me?”

I have been asked, by people who wouldn’t hire me because they want a free web site, to look over their site and give them advice on how to make it better. One girl wanted me to advise her in making her own site, and when I refused, she complained that all the developers “out there” were too selfish to help a beginner, and what ever happened to mentoring? I told her mentoring is fine if someone is paying you (like when you work for a company and you get a salary while you train the next generation). But basically, you want me to train you to compete with me, and you aren’t willing to pay me for the training. That’s not mentoring, that’s shooting myself in the foot.

By: colcol

colcol — Tue, 26 May 2009 22:58:33 +0000

l really have to laugh at this, l ran a garden service business years ago, lt involved quoting and delivering the service, about as far away from IT as you can get,—-and l have met all your problem customers!! the “how much” the “l have a mate” and the ” good god l can do this in fifteen minutes” guy , these customers obviously move around.

By: RenaissanceNOW

RenaissanceNOW — Tue, 26 May 2009 19:13:00 +0000

Uh-oh… I have a meeting tomorrow with a long-term client who tested positive for 8-1/2 of the signs. The one-half is for the time she didn’t believe that browsers interpret CSS differently, but she changed her mind after talking to other business owners. So I give her 1/2 point credit for being open-minded.

Thanks so much for this timely list. I will make sure everything we agree to is well-documented, that she signs the agreement before I begin any new work, AND that I get half the estimate in advance. Thanks also to bluedreamer for item number 13 and to ricksure for the websiteplanning link.

By: AntOnaf

AntOnaf — Mon, 25 May 2009 14:10:32 +0000

How about the client who says they are seeking an “Expert Intern” (non-paid)? This is the worse, first there is no such thing as an expert who is an intern, secondly you are trying to get expert qualified work done for free. Well, I am a firm believer of ‘you get what you pay for’ so more power to them if they seek free professional services.

By: Angelo

Angelo — Mon, 25 May 2009 12:19:44 +0000

I do SEO and the most frequent question customers ask me is: How much it cost being first on Google? I don’t go into details such as “first for which key-phrase” or “nobody can guarantee anything”. I usually answer this stupid question this way: I cannot give a quote not even knowing your needs. It is like asking a surgeon how much costs a surgery (including hospital fees) not knowing what is the surgery about (it can be anything in between gallbladder removal and lung cancer). Needless to say that they don’t bother to answer; maybe this is my way to fire a customer.

By: andrew-bkk

andrew-bkk — Sat, 23 May 2009 15:34:41 +0000

How about the client who initially admits to knowing nothing but bit by bit becomes an expert who knows more than you do.

I recently had a client in Texas who said it was okay to use Javascript but not okay to use AJAX.

I eventually told her that she would would probably be a lot happier working with someone else. And I never heard from her again.

By: ETbyrne

ETbyrne — Sat, 23 May 2009 15:24:17 +0000

I have a client that falls right into most of these descriptions. She’s a fat electrician who thinks she knows it all. Top that off with being a total hick that doesn’t want to pay and you got a class A customer!