How do you guys deal with clients from hell?

[Elin Dotsya]

Probably the same thing that I do when I encounter a requester on Amazon Turk who has unrealistic expectations:

 

[Cloutsy]

No disagreement here.

But keep in mind that this whole comment chain started with 'Keep them happy and the reward will increase', which I have not found to be true with any type of client. And the reality is that some clients cannot be made happy at all, in which case it's often necessary to fire them in order to keep an acceptable level of service for the remaining clients.

You don't believe that keeping your clients happy will increase your reward later? Hmm, I would think that would be the goal for most people, but not everyone I assume.

 

[ankurpatel360]

Why lol? Not everyone lives in a 1st world country. The average monthly wage in India is like $250 USD a month or less. In Bangladesh, less than $150 USD. Even if you do live in a 1st world country, $130 is like 6 hours of average employment wage. 30 minutes for consulting, 2 hours a week of casual work, why not? It's money. You are too rich to accept money? Nice live you live. For a guy named Ankur Patel, I would guess you are from East Asia, and you should be aware of the economic conditions of that region. I live in Canada, I will accept a client for $5 under the right conditions, because it's money. I spend 30 hours a week watching porno. I could easily do something more productive with my time.

You fight for the pennies and i'll be over here waiting for your clients to come to me because you can't provide any good SEO for $130.

I live in a 1st world country btw.

 

[BassTrackerBoats]

That's too much porno.

Then you need to cut back.

 

[Backlinked]

I refund, block, and delete them.

Actually, I try to reject anyone who seems like an asshole from the begining

Cheerios

 

[Stavro]

You don't believe that keeping your clients happy will increase your reward later?

I believe that EVERY client deserves EQUAL treatment regardless of wealth. I will not force a farmer to receive bad service just because an insurance broker is demanding that I handle their weekly grocery shopping.

Some clients simply cannot be made happy at all, and these are the ones who need to be let go.

 

[CreativeArts]

I smell them from 1 kilometer , you must have a lot of experience to know ho is trying to scam you!

 

[MR.Spuf]

Refund, shake hands and move on. Do not attach emotionally. Let it go. I've found out that when you drop a bad client there's another good one waiting to work with you.

 

[DanielOnYouTube]

She said she saw a Youtube video on Wix SEO and why should she pay me?

Lol, let this dumb broad walk and do everything herself if she thinks it's that easy.

 

[virtualpurity]

 

[nakamura]

Stay professional and walk away. Definitely not worth it. They are the same people who are going to McDonalds and expect a 5 star dish and then complain they "Only" got a Big Mac.

About the guy saying he would also work for pennies: Man, know your fucking value (if you got value to deliver). If a client would talk to me about money and tries to bargain right from the beginning I would simply send them a Fiverr link. At least now we know why there are so many idiots buying links on Fiverr, because they don't know anything, don't understand anything and they don't want to pay anything.

 

[rafark]

So I just had to terminate a contract with a client because she is too dumb to understand SEO.

I had an entire plan layout for her. It was mostly keyword research and on page SEO. When it came to content she didn't want to hire an SEO content writer so she decided to write the contents herself. I sent her the SEMRush content template and to my surprise (not really) she couldn't understand what the tags and meta descriptions are. I had to explain to her over and over again until I got tired and just told her to write the content and I'll worry about the tags. She still for some reason kept bugging about the tags. Why is it so hard to write the damn content!

Today she messages me telling me that she's doing all the work and why she even paying me for? She said she saw a Youtube video on Wix SEO and why should she pay me?

WHAT? THEN WHY DID YOU HIRE ME?

After explaining to her 3 more times on the phone what I was hired for she still couldn't comprehend something so simple. I spend so much time and energy on it and it was for only 130 dollars so I decided it was not worth it.

I don't bother, if I see things not going into the right direction I just let the client go for good. I've never been a begar, even when I had no money.

 

[philsfog]

Dont over complicate things. Just walk away and find a new client.

 

[patriotnews]

I prescreen clients, I don't currently disclose pricing so I can price myself out of the problem people's budget.
If they are trouble within contract, I stay exactly within contract until completed and let them walk away.

 

[Compazz]

does your client name by any chance start with Y?

 

[monicatan1985]

Stay away for such clients

They will burn you out. Learnt my lesson the hard way

 

[ravid32]

does your client name by any chance start with Y?

No.

 

[Bulk-SMS-Sender]

Unfortunately some clients have ZERO experience and knowledge about the task/service what they ordered. We are humans not robots and also each human different from another.
Before you takes any job, a "quick interview" with the client will help for you to assess his/her competence to make a decision you are take the task or not.
The SEO marketing is a difficult thing, while there is so much things based on another thing, which could be hidden on the first time.
My advice is: spend a bit more time for create your website with very detailed description about your service and options.

$130 is not too much, I thing better to forget this money included with the client. If a client feel bad after use your service isn't really good!!!

 

[Deleted member 1161191]

my post have vale for you,

Your post doesn't have 'vale' for me. Please stop asking for 'Thanks' in every post. It destroys "reputation" more than you gonna create with that "Thanks" number on internet in an anonymous forum.

 

[SocialManager]

About the guy saying he would also work for pennies: Man, know your fucking value (if you got value to deliver). If a client would talk to me about money and tries to bargain right from the beginning I would simply send them a Fiverr link. At least now we know why there are so many idiots buying links on Fiverr, because they don't know anything, don't understand anything and they don't want to pay anything.

This is an incorrect mindset, and frankly, it is illogical. The fact that I can earn $30+ per hour doing some jobs doesn't mean I should inherently expect $30+ per hour to do everything. Why would you dismiss a client so quickly just because they tried to bargain? The most successful and wealthiest people in the world will always try to bargain. More often than not, they use it as a test to see how your respond.

If the only thing you see from your client is a paycheck, then the client doesn't feel valued, and may just take their business elsewhere. If you have unlimited clients and don't care about any of your clients and don't look at the big picture, that's your life, not mine. I don't have unlimited clients, I don't have unlimited money, I always want more money, I always want more connections.

You never know when someone is going to refer you to a whale, or turn out to be a whale themselves, and invite you onto a huge project as a partner or offer a huge contract. But no, you are so ignorant that you just send them to Fiverr because you refuse to bargain, and you refuse to take jobs below $XXX because they are beneath you. OK buddy. Cool life you live. Must be nice having a garage full of lambos.