There is nothing worse than feeling like you’ve got clients from hell. The clients that ask more from you than they would a personal butler. Where you feel like a tool or a commodity to them, not a partner. You’re not there to provide a service, you’re there as a personal underpaid punching bag. So, if you feel like you’re stuck with nightmare clients, here is how you can avoid them.
They Need You as Much as You Need Them, Right?
Whether we want to admit it or not, we need clients. They pay the bills, they refer your services and provide testimonial that your service is worth it’s salt. In return you provide that service and fills that void, solves that pain and fix the problems.
They need you to do that. But, was that ever communicated?
When you sell yourself as a service provider who does A and B, but never communicated why that was important, you’re presenting yourself as a commodity, not a partner.
The Best client relationships start from the first interaction.
New clients start from new leads and prospects coming through your door in some way or another. But, one thing is for sure they’ve seen or heard about your business online. How you’ve presented yourself will determine whether they value you or not. Nearly every sales comes through multiple touch points where prospects will see you, and draw their own conclusions.
If you’re saying “buy from me, I provide [Service A], and it’ll save you time and money”. All they will see is, Service A is being provided and blah blah blah.
They know a sales post when they see it. So they tune it out.
If they do want to do business with the first person they see it’s because they desperately believe they need that service. They don’t care who does it, they just want it done. But, what could happen in reality is they NEED something completely different, yet convinced themselves that this service is answer to their prayers.
They hire a design agency when they really needed marketing strategy.
They hire copywriters when all they needed was a consultant to help them with their messaging.
When the service doesn’t solve the problem, blame falls upon the service. You have miscommunication. You feel like you’ve got the client from hell, all because the client expected something different.
That’s not their fault either, they don’t have years of experience in your field like you do.
So, How do you Avoid those Clients from Hell?
Position your offering correctly in your marketing and sales. That’s it.
Sell solutions rather than services.
When you do this, you’ll be able to do three things: charge higher prices, choose the right clients for your business and make better use of your time with more productive meetings. Everyone gets what they want because it was communicated on step one.
When you fight for scraps at the bottom of the pile, shelling out your services as if they were retail products you’ll get people guessing what they need and coming to you to fill a void that your service doesn’t fill.
If you’ve skipped to the final statement this one is for you, it’s about communication.
Get it right and you’ll avoid unproductive meetings with disgruntled clients.
