When to say NO to a Perspective Client

[nathanresick]

"I can't pay you much but I work for a big company or have so and so connections and can get you a lot of business"

Translates to:

"I'm broke and hoping you will see past that." These people may very well find you clients, but they will be the same kind of people. People who pay badly and ask special favors. If they were the sort of people with GOOD connections they wouldn't be broke. Avoid at all costs.

Beware of People Promising Future Work in Exchange for a Good Deal

They are almost always lying. You would think that every now and then somebody would be on the level and just wanting to bargain, but in my experience these people rarely follow through with future work.

The people who follow through with more work are:

a.) fairly well to do, or at least solidly middle class
b.) don't make any promises about hiring you again until they see your work and love it

B right there is the key. What kind of person would agree to hire somebody for a ton of projects without seeing what the first project looks like? Fishy.

Beware of People who Bring up Money Right Away

If somebody calls me up and ask me about the cost in the very FIRST sentence I always quote then a figure $300 more than I would charge anyone else. The reason I do this is because I know from experience that the person will want to haggle, and probably won't be able to swing a figure that would be worth my time. Also since they brought up money so quickly I know that they will be 100 times as critical of everything I do for them as the money was so hard for them personally to come by and thus they will value it higher and be overprotective of their investment. So, if I quote them a larger figure and they go for it - then that is about what would have made the project worth my time knowing they will be a hassle to work with. If they immediately get off the phone when hearing my large figure then so much the better.

"My last web designer didn't know what he was doing."

This one is tricky, because I do get a lot of clients coming from outright bad designers. When I hear this I know one thing for sure: that they are 10 times as likely to be a bad client. That doesn't mean however that you should just write them off entirely. The key is to get into the specifics of why they didn't like their last web designer and decide if they were being taken advantage of or whether your client is to blame. If they went through TWO previous web designers then they are 100% for sure going to waste a ton of your time and be a nightmare to deal with.

"I know how to design websites and would do it myself if I had the time"

Translates to:

"I am a control freak to the extent that I can't admit a professional web designer might do a better job, and will be picky to the extreme throughout the entire process."

In general:

avoid perspective clients who go out of their way to make it sound like they are above you, or that they are smarter than you - this is a clear warning signal.

Avoid clients who try to bargain with you. Some is to be expected occasionally, but if they do it more than once you need to make it clear you are professional and not a guy selling used records.

Last but not least... trust your gut. If your gut tells you a situation won' work out well you are better off saving that time for a better client who you have a good feeling about and will probably work out better.

[guidemesingapore]

Very well written. I have come across potential clients with the exact same words you mentioned and it never worked out well.

[Marco Santori]

Sounds like the words of a man who's been around the block! Attorneys say no to clients all the time. Personally, I do everything in my power to make the fee arrangement work, and I rarely take the position that I shouldn't be working for $X because $X is too cheap. I also take pro-bono cases. But if taking the work would be to the exclusion of other, better work, attorneys are like any other entrepreneur. Sometimes we just can't do it!