Types of Difficult Clients & How to Deal with Them
Being a freelancer means to manage every aspect of your business. Your entire business depends on the clients you have. And when it comes to clients, they can be as rude as your office boss. In both cases, you lose your business. Therefore, the question remains how to connect & deal with clients efficiently? If I say the answer is hidden under the question, don’t laugh, please 😀
Connecting & dealing are the two major factors that help you deal with clients effectively. You need to approach them, listen to them, ask questions, and then deliver your best work. Sounds Easy? But It’s not a cup of tea for everyone. The freelancing world is just like a twisted thread; you can make it out only if your strategies are right. But don’t worry, if you seek help, you won’t be lost.
Being a freelancer for many years now, I know how you feel when you interact with complex or difficult clients. For many of us, dealing or managing clients becomes so irritating that we often need to hire an expert VA. However, by reading this article, you may never require VA or never lose clients because of minor mistakes. Let’s stop assuming and give your 100% focus on the strategies mentioned below.
Understand The Freelance Business Clients
The first step towards connecting & dealing with clients is to know your business & client’s needs. This is a brilliant strategy to be prepared before you start. Remember, your expertise in what you are selling matters a lot. For instance, if you are an SEO specialist, you just need to have a firm grasp of SEO related subjects to engage clients.
The next part of understanding the freelance business is the client’s mindset. Remember, you need to know which type of clients will usually come to your account. A bit of research can help you understand the exact target audience that ultimately enables you to deal with difficult clients.
To understand your freelance business target audience/clients, you need to follow the tips discussed below.
- Strong Competitor Research: Go to the top-sellers freelance accounts and view their content, displays, images, and client reviews. This will enable you to understand the competition and how they are getting additional values.
- Know Your Strengths: Apart from weaknesses, it’s essential to emphasize your strengths. Most of us try to cover everything to overcome our weaknesses. But remember that no one is perfect, and you don’t need to be, especially in freelancing.
- Prepare Drafts: Your clients don’t have time to read a long message; therefore, try to make it as short as possible. Work on your conversational skills and prepare a draft of the common questions.
Type of Freelancing Clients
If you are starting your freelance journey, then it is necessary for you to know the types of freelancing clients you are going to deal with. The freelancer-to-client relationship is the backbone of your business. They can make or break your freelancing career. Therefore, based on the various characteristics, I categorized the difficult clients into the following types
- Curious Ones: These clients make you feel the joy of a relationship, but soon gives you frustration similar to any typical relationship, so watch out before you get excited 🙂 they soon turn out to be curious about what you are doing & how you do it.
- Unsure Ones: These are the old or typical minded people, which never fit into what they require. They lack in knowing your business and often cause much trouble.
- The Cheapskate: Many clients fall into this category as they are tight on a budget. Your efforts can get ruined if you try to upsell. Therefore, don’t waste your upselling skills here.
After knowing these types of clients, you may be curious to know what strategies we can apply to them. Don’t worry; the one-stop solution in managing and dealing with clients is as follows.
Prior Strategies of Dealing Freelancing Difficult Clients
Once you identify the types of difficult freelancing clients, it is now time to deal with them effectively. Remember, just like customers are never wrong, and wives are always right. Similarly, clients are still correct 🙂 , so never blame them for their own mistakes.
The top methods that I discover and experience throughout my journey are as follows.
1. Show, Don’t Tell
The first strategy towards dealing with clients is to show what you deliver instead of claiming you are no.1. In the diverse freelance market, everyone is claiming to provide quality services, but many few actually show instead of telling.
Therefore, you can show your samples, your published work, and other materials that reflect why they need to choose you for anyone else.
2. Connect Emotionally
Remember, people buy emotions, not the product. For instance, if you want an attractive house, it is because of the luxury you want to experience. The products or service connects emotionally to the people. Therefore, apply this formula by highlighting the issues and enabling clients to give an image he craves for.
For instance, you can show your workspace via video that bounds clients to get services from you. Also, never exaggerate your benefits, knowing that you can’t provide the quality you show.
3. Offer at The Right Time
Most curious clients will eat your mind with so many questions that you may need to buy a new mind 🙂, so see this as an opportunity and straight go with a consultancy offer. In this way, you will earn more while explaining everything. While when it comes to cheap clients, ensure that you never exceed the quality and stays on the mark.
You can also learn about How to Master Art of up-selling in Freelancing. Find out more about me on Twitter or LinkedIn.
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