Fastest way to kill your business? Taking on the wrong clients.

Here are the first 2 of 15 client red flags you must learn to spot:


1 - The underestimater

When they use words like ‘quick,’ ‘easy,’ or ‘simple’ to describe their project.

Why?

They’re diminishing the value of the work before the work even begins.

It ain’t gonna get better from here.



2 - You’re the 3rd option

“We tried X and then we tried Y and now we’re here with you.”

1 false start? Okay.
2 or more?

That’s probably a sign of a larger problem.

You’re not keanu reeves. Don’t board a bus that’s on a collision course.


The above are the first couple off the list, well worth a read.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1534553016266653696.html


This kinda follows on from https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/keep-this-in-mind-when-you-are-hiring-some-professional.1420596/unread and also to a degree, https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/do-you-charge-clients-for-seo-audits.1419537/post-15405210too.

Exactly, most clients think they can ask everything just because they are paying, then ask for something "fast" and want it to be really good. If you want something fast don't expect it to be 100%.

I didn’t fully read from the link but the wrong type of clients outlined here will take your love away from whatever industry you’re in.

It’s like they siphon the joy out the industry little by little. So, don’t let them have that control.

MisterF said:

Here are the first 2 of 15 client red flags you must learn to spot:


1 - The underestimater

When they use words like ‘quick,’ ‘easy,’ or ‘simple’ to describe their project.

Why?

They’re diminishing the value of the work before the work even begins.

It ain’t gonna get better from here.



2 - You’re the 3rd option

“We tried X and then we tried Y and now we’re here with you.”

1 false start? Okay.
2 or more?

That’s probably a sign of a larger problem.

You’re not keanu reeves. Don’t board a bus that’s on a collision course.


The above are the first couple off the list, well worth a read.
Read the rest here


This kinda follows on from this thread and also to a degree, this thread too.

Click to expand...

Spot on.

To add to the fuel there are some sellers(mainly the ones on Fiverr or the ones who use dear/sir extensively) promise taking them to the moon but end up not even reaching the tree.

Which imo sometimes gives a bad rep to IM industry(esp the offshore ones) . Most of the people I speak to have either burnt their fingers buying on Fiveer, this sort of damages the reputation of all offshore agencies in general.

This my observation so far with IM.

The other industries have a very hard entry criteria(like exports of physical goods) that filters most of the bad chunk and hence the buyers don't have the same opinion on manufacturing offshore companies (2, 3rd world ones).

Valuable insights but sometimes i'm desperate for clients. haha

This (and the expanded site link) should be a pinned post in the haf section!

Didn't know about that platform.
Horrible design => good advice

Good content with clear explanation. Thanks for your valuable share.

Thanks for the valuable info.

PHPInjected said:

I didn’t fully read from the link but the wrong type of clients outlined here will take your love away from whatever industry you’re in.

It’s like they siphon the joy out the industry little by little. So, don’t let them have that control.

Click to expand...

Very true....my business makes me millions but sometimes I rather take a hammer to the balls than interact with some high paying clients....mostly women.

It is important to say no to some clients if you want to make it big.

MisterF said:

You’re not keanu reeves. Don’t board a bus that’s on a collision course.

Click to expand...

This is hilarious

laur.laurix said:

high paying clients....mostly women.

Click to expand...

Golden advice and wisdom

Please don't call me sexist

But i usually avoid dealing with female client who spend a lot of time on unnecessary things like issues with the
" logo " being 0.000001 cms away from where it should be.

On a side note I have also seen some seasoned woman who mean pure business and take quick decisions which i always admire when i see one.

I wonder how many real clients are not like this. I mean in %.
And how much extra work / money you need to get those few on the job board.
Probably you end up spending 50-100x more on content if you aim for this.

So true, thanks for the share

Problem is a lot of people don't get to choose their clients, especially the beginners.

digitalFR said:

Problem is a lot of people don't get to choose their clients, especially the beginners.

Click to expand...

Turning a service into a product doesn't take much. Once it becomes commoditized, clients don't have much to say.

mitrill said:

I wonder how many real clients are not like this. I mean in %.
And how much extra work / money you need to get those few on the job board.
Probably you end up spending 50-100x more on content if you aim for this.

Click to expand...

hard to say . but it's part of the process, as you gain more customer filter out, than got those good customer that keep buying and recommend to another.

digitalFR said:

Problem is a lot of people don't get to choose their clients, especially the beginners.

Click to expand...

They don't that is often the case, you are correct there, sadly that is part of life.

Decades ago I set up my own business selling office supplies, in the UK. Bought a vav, bought stock, catalogues etc < all before the interweb thing was popular > and I went door knocking to get customers. It was hard as you were competing with existing suppliers, known brands etc.

After a while you could spot the clients who were good, they paid invoices on time < in this industry there was a 30 day credit term as standard > but you then saw those who were slow at paying.
The same applies today, we get buyers who order 1 link, chase and chase daily for updates etc. We spend more time answering them than we do with clients spending $5k a month. I've walked away from possible buyers after a couple of conversations with them because you can see they are going to be too problematic.

Yes , You are right