We certainly live in an era where Big Brother is lurking around the corner more than ever before. This is a fact of life and not likely to change. In fact, it will likely get worse. Everything you do as a person could become public as well as your company. Good or bad, it is all out on the table (most of it anyway). You and your ability as a service provider is under constant scrutiny. It should be in many ways. Clients pay good money and should be well taken care of.
But wait, why is it so hard for me to find out of a client is going to be a pain in the ass? Where is the Big Brother to the client?
(You can see where this is going and this is somewhat of a rant, but certainly something that is strictly a thought I had in the shower and figured I would share.)
It seems when us industry-folk get together there are always some good stories to pass around. We share a few laughs and one-up each other on our horror stories of a bad client. However, some of these stories are not funny and harm the reputation and pocket books of hard working professionals/agencies like us.
Here’s a thought:
We have the BBB (Better Business Bureau), Dunn & Bradstreet, Equifax, etc. How about the…
Are you ready?
B.C.B. The Better Client Bureau.
Nothing more than a way to help agencies select clients that support our efforts and help us do our job. Writing a check is not where the engagement stops. We need support, communication, feedback, etc. These are very obvious aspects of a good relationship yet often times missed all together. The byproduct of these shortcomings lead to a client who is unhappy and an agency who is tarnished in the eyes of someone who could have become an advocate.
I don’t subscribe to the notion of spreading bad vibes and destroying someone’s reputation. BUT, I would however love to prevent my colleagues from jumping into bed with a client who could destroy them.
You can have the best contracts and agreements in the world, but it won’t make a bad client any better.
How helpful would it be to you if you had a way to find out that a client doesn’t respond to calls for 90 days. A client who constantly brings too many chefs in the kitchen and buries your profit. A client who disappears for 6 months and wants to start right where they left off without and financial responsibility. Need I continue?
These tid bits could prevent a lot of heartache and headaches. Just a thought. Cheers.
Really? I think you guys are looking at the wrong root cause here. First off if you are unable to work with the client it doesn’t mean that another agency or group will have the same issues. There is a measurable impact of personalities that is completely unintentional but still powerful. Also, if your client doesn’t’ respond to calls or disappears for 6 months, or whatever else is a problem on YOUR END. If you aren’t managing your client and therefore your budget, that’s not their fault. And word will get out about people who stiff you or bend you over – but you are treading a dangerous line here by suggesting that you blacklist clients – someone will be ready to take their business.
This is why the company I work for follows a strict pay first, then work type of mentality.
I’d love to put clients on a blacklist, but…
In our history a lot of the worst client problems have come in tandem with difficult people, without doubt, but more often than not client headache/heartaches are directly related to setting poor expectation from the very beginning of the service relationship.
If expectations are clear, honest and enforced from the get-go even the most unruly client becomes manageable and remains profitable.
I’m leaning toward Conrey’s thoughts on this. By managing the relationship (i.e., either changing it or terminating it), there should never reach a time where you have a “bad” client.
I say that from the perspective of having radically overhauled our billing and relationship models over the past year. Last year we had a lot of “bad” clients. This year we’ve taken accountability for the relationships ourselves and put measures in place that make it almost impossible for a relationship to actually reach the lows that we’ve seen in years past.
There are no bad clients; just bad project management.
If they insist on a committee-driven process, explain to them the business reasons why it’s a bad decision on their part and encourage them to change it. If they don’t change it, acknowledge *their* constraints and find the best way to work around them.
If you have a lot of unpaid work, ask yourself why other people are getting paid and you’re not. Change your billing structure. Change your collection policies. We used to be really firm about collections — since we loosened up and approached it from a relationship perspective, we’ve been far *more* successful at collecting. We’ve had fewer payment issues this year (in the middle of an awful economy) than at any time in our company’s history.
If the client doesn’t respond to calls, figure out how to work around their communication preferences. Maybe e-mail is better. Maybe they’re traveling a lot. Let them know that the project is going to take six times as long.
Some of our best clients have been nightmares for other agencies. It was a compatibility issue more than any fundamental problem with the client themselves. We’ve been warned “watch out for that one,” only to have them turn into really solid, great clients for us. It’d be a shame to write them off based on another agency’s experience with them.
This is exactly the right type of dialogue I was hoping for with this post. I enjoy hearing various perspectives and solutions more than simple complaints over a california roll at happy hour.
Thanks for everyone’s input.
Thanks James for your input. It’s nice to see how the agency side changes that your company implemented helped to change the client dynamics.