Bad customers. How to live with them, how to fight.

    I do not want to write this article in the style of "10 rules" for working with harmful customers. I want to describe possible situations when working with “abnormal” clients and how to deal with them correctly (in my opinion). Also in the comments I will be glad to hear your additional suggestions on a strategy for behavior in such situations.

    In the article, the performer is us freelancers. The client is, in general, the customer is clear.
    And so, in my practice, every 5 clients - are not adequate, and often write off their mistakes - to the performer. Also very often, customers want to “break through” the performer, show who the boss is in the house, with all their appearance they show that the performer is nobody. That is, simply put, it’s not partnership-friendly relations that are built, but the attitude in the style of the “Russian Army,” a soldier is nobody, the commander is our everything. In this article, I want to consider only harmful customers. Do not think that all customers are there are actually no more than 20 percent of them, and many manage not to encounter them at

    all.I will start with a few examples, I want to show who I think is a “harmful client”, based on these examples, I will talk about possible behaviors Also it seems to me without examples that it’s rather difficult to cover the topic.

    The first example. Dates.
    There is a project, the stage has come to create a small area of ​​a project. To create this site you need extra. information from the client that we request from him. The client sends us the information we need on Friday, late in the evening. On Monday morning, he calls and loudly resents why he’s not ready yet, that we are breaking deadlines and trying to level the performer with the ground.

    What is the client wrong in this situation:
    - There was no work on the weekend agreement. On the contrary, there was a warning when we work (like everyone from 10 to 20) on weekdays. And at this time we are ready to do and discuss the project.
    - We do not mind, sometimes make an exception and work on the weekend. However, the client did not warn that this stage of work needed to be completed by Monday, and from the threshold he began to pluck the dogs on the performer.

    An example of the second. You did the work without initiative, without thinking, on T3, and didn’t come up with the best / most convenient / and so on. I do not like the production version, because you yourself had to guess that there should be something else, a set, and that should have been realized. Redo everything within budget.

    What is the client wrong in this situation:
    - The work was built purely on the terms of reference. Which was compiled by the client (by the way, quite competent). The client refused the offer to carry out a functional analysis, analysis of competitive products and make corrections to the statement of work (of course, we asked for financial rewards for this service, as this requires a rather large amount of time).
    - We initially decided that we were working within the framework of the ToR and did not make corrections in the course of work (the project was programmatic and quite large-scale). The client was warned about this and it was clearly stated in the contract. It was also stated in the contract that all additional functions are introduced after the closure of the development of the project in accordance with the ToR. To all these arguments, the client replied that the developer was not initiative, that he had not read the contract, and so on ...

    Example number 3.Show immediately who is the host in the domain.

    A potential client sends a statement of work and says an indicative budget. The contractor analyzes it and sends a list of questions. To which the potential client sends the following answers “Well, what is incomprehensible”, “Everything is standard and clear here,” “Yes, you should know all this,” “Let's start the project, then discuss it,” and so on. To which the contractor replies that without answering these questions, we can’t calculate the budget and give our consent.The client throws a few phrases in his own way "yes, what can I say, I already wrote the budget, it suits you", "this project is no longer worth it" ...

    Example four. We do not like everything, return the prepayment to us.
    All work is done on time, according to T3 and customer requests. When the time comes to pay for the work, the client says that the contractor did not work well, he does not like the result. Requests to return an advance payment.

    Previously, I "broke" under clients. He believed that the client is always right (in almost all manuals for freelancers they write it), he can say his “fi” even if he is wrong and I should take this into account.

    For example, if we consider the first example, I have repeatedly said “oceans, litter, we’ll do it now” (and because of it I had to postpone other projects, work at night ...), in the second situation, I even somehow did a lot of extra work (not planned) within the previously agreed budget. In the third situation, I could easily say, well, let's start and discuss all these issues later. As for the fourth, I really returned the money a couple of times, arguing for myself with the phrase "well, figs with him, he doesn’t give money - I won’t give the project to him."
    As practice has shown, this did not bring anything good. There was not enough money in his pocket, nerves were naughty. All of the following projects from a mischievous client - only worsened material and spiritual well-being. And because of them there were schools with projects of normal and adequate clients.

    After several such clients, I began to think that something was wrong. I began to keep accounting records and the amount of time actually spent on a particular project. He took into account everything from telephone conversations and meetings to the work itself. After several months of maintaining such records, I conducted an analysis and it became clear. That such clients, real evil, they pay the least (per hour spent), because of them the schedule of work of other projects flies to hell.

    Based on this, I conclude and prescribe the rules of work for myself:
    - all this is business and you should not give the client freedom,
    - you should not load yourself with work in the load,
    - you need to stop being embarrassed to join the palette on the project and not embarrassed in asking for additional work (although in some cases, I do it for free, but more on that later).
    - you just need to do your job well and on time (and preferably ahead of schedule). The term I mean, not only agreed upon before the start of the project. If the deadline is postponed - due to the fault of the client, then in this case - I am right, the deadline is on my part.

    Now the work is built according to the following scheme:
    Firstly, I do the work without delay (I always insure against deadlines), I always put unforeseen expenses into the budget (just in case), I do the job well (I’m not too lazy to do things that can be omitted in principle, sometimes they are called trifles). If the work suddenly stops due to client delays - I immediately write a letter asking for information (in order to prove my case in case of conflict, I can’t show a phone call in case of conflict).
    How I work in the situations described above.
    If you take the first example, now I calmly explain to the client that this is his cant. And that this work will take N time, for all its baseless arguments - I repeat once again whose delay. On provocation is no longer conducted.

    In the second example, everything is simple here. We refused the analysis services, so we are doing purely technical work on T3. Additional work - only for a fee and only after the completion of the project (deed of delivery + payment). Yes, and even if I did not offer an analysis, there is T3 - you need to do it, the initiative is punishable. Obvious things - naturally suggest.
    As for the third example - when I see that the client is harmful, I usually immediately refuse. Although no, sometimes I take it (when I want to practice negotiation tactics). And here I am acting on the basis of the principles described above.

    Well, about the refund. Now absolutely not. I did the work according to T3 efficiently and on time. If I give the money back, yes, the client will not receive the project. However, this will not give me anything, a lot of the time that I spent on developing the project was lost in vain (in material terms). I am at a loss, simply because the client no longer needs the project and wants to write off his stupidity as an executor. And it turns out not a business - but a casino. If the client begins to threaten, I always go forward, giving my details and addresses, so that the client can fulfill his threat: send guys, sue and so on (no one has done this yet). And I'm not afraid of that. Everything is documented with me (it is not in vain that I insure myself and duplicate all oral agreements by mail, and sometimes I draw up an additional agreement to the agreement), the work was done efficiently and on time.

    What I wanted to tell my freelancers colleagues with this great post:
    Do your work efficiently and on time, always document everything and insure possible risks, both material and time-related. And you can always keep the defense. You can’t get away from harmful customers; they are not always able to be recognized before starting work.
    If you see that the client is harmful - do not take on the project, even if you urgently need money. In fact, you will only lose them. If you took up such a project and after soberly analyzing it, you will understand that if this client weren’t available, then you would have earned more money on other projects, from other clients. You would not have jambs with other orders.

    After I began to act according to the ideas described above, I began to earn much more money, and my soul somehow became calmer.

    PS I am really very grateful to the harmful customers that I described above. They taught me a lot, starting from the fact that you need to work qualitatively and ending with simply invaluable experience related to project management, negotiation tactics, and much more ;-) I have not received such knowledge in any book. Sometimes miracles happen, and harmful customers, after several heated debates - become quite normal, regular and beloved customers.

    PSS If such material is interesting, and its presentation is satisfactory, then write, I have an idea to write some more articles on the topic of freelancing, not just write, but also discuss the following topics: “Bad freelancers and how to work with them (I’m a freelancer myself + I order a lot from freelancers, there are a lot of thoughts and questions on this subject) "," My personal schools, how to recognize them, how to deal with them, and most importantly why to fight them "," Hide and seek. A look on both sides of the barricade ”and others.

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