How to tell if your next client will be problematic
And how to handle him.
You decided to make a move and start a design agency; you put out the ads; you fixed the first meeting; you are in a panic.
How do you prepare for such meeting? What are they going to ask you? Will you know how to respond? Will the responses be good enough to land a job?
Don’t worry, we are here to help.
Types of clients
They come in all different shapes and sizes, but generally, you can fit them into the following categories:
- High expectation clients
- The newcomer clients
- Unrealistic clients
- Know-what-they-want clients
- Unprofessional clients
High expectation clients think everything is simple and easy to accomplish. They have no grasp on how much time you need to achieve specific design ideas. They believe a click here and a switch there will do the job.
The newcomer clients need your guidance every step of the way. They are hiring designers and developers for the first time, and they are not sure what they really want.
Unrealistic clients may also fit in the previous category, but they deserve a separate mention. They are newbies with big, big dreams that make the newcomer clients look like grounded realists.
Know-what-they-want clients are a blessing from the sky. They’ve done it before, and need someone to do it again. They have sketches, logo, branding and website ideas which they can deliver immediately if required.
Unprofessional clients can be a part of any category above. They tend to initialise the process normally, but after a while, their email responses take more and more time, or they even stop responding. You get stuck in the “waiting for feedback” loop.
Can you prepare for them?
There would be no point writing this article if you couldn’t, right?
High expectation clients
It is crucial that you give them a detailed breakdown of every step of the project, with all the timings included. As a tip, you might consider performing certain design actions or modifications in front of them, so they willingly or unwillingly see how much time such actions take.
The newcomer clients
You need to be firm, but fair with them. Lay out your actions and your plan precisely. It will prevent them from getting lost and teach them how to move forward.
Unrealistic clients
When you know something is unrealistic or unachievable for a given budget, make your clients agree to place their idea in “stage 2” of the design, and be firm about it! Often with the project progressing, they will understand your idea was good enough, and they won’t want to spend extra to progress on to “stage 2”.
Know-what-they-want clients
If you landed this one, you don’t have to prepare much. Just be sure to give them confirmation, that you understood their goals, and give them the deadlines.
Unprofessional clients
Here also you must be firm! Set all the deadlines when they stop responding. Be sure to let them know the consequences of missed deadlines. If they continue to be silent, just let the project stagnate and notify them that you are moving your time and resources to another project. Also tell them that if they want to return, there will have to wait in line.
For each type of the client, be direct and transparent about the costs.
You can discuss the costs and even agree on a discount, but you certainly don’t want a big fight at the end of the project, when prices weren’t adequately defined.
My digital unicorns would like to bring you some emails. 🦄
You love unicorns, don’t you?
