Comments on: Working With Difficult Clients: When Stay & Educate, When to Leave

By: It’s Weekend Link Love Time Again! : Freelance Writing Jobs

It’s Weekend Link Love Time Again! : Freelance Writing Jobs — Sat, 02 May 2009 14:50:47 +0000

[...] Working with Difficult Clients – When to Stay & Educate, When to Leave – The Copywriters Underground [...]

By: Tom Chandler

Tom Chandler — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 16:48:06 +0000

In the end, it is unfortunate that more of the game cannot be to further advance as a TEAM – not as individuals. Trust seems to always be somewhat of a factor, especially in freelance work – which is understandable, but as you mentioned there are ways to get around this to build credibility.

The “trust” issue has become a much larger problem in the last decade. It’s likely attributable to a lot of issues, but a few leap to mind:

Distance between clients and freelancers (in the Internet age)
Tendency of clients to shop multiple freelancers on a cost basis (it’s easier than it’s ever been)
Rapid turnover in client marketing ranks
Reluctance among many clients to measure marketing results (some fear it will reflect poorly on them)
Growing perception that digital content (words, pics, video, etc) is disposable and ages rapidly, so it should be cheap

Any to add?

By: Striking Content

Striking Content — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 20:21:17 +0000

Very true. I recently worked with a company extremely difficult to advance alongside. Disorganization, complete lack of direction, and very power-oriented. I believe the old saying goes: “Too many chiefs and not enough Indians”.

In the end, it is unfortunate that more of the game cannot be to further advance as a TEAM – not as individuals. Trust seems to always be somewhat of a factor, especially in freelance work – which is understandable, but as you mentioned there are ways to get around this to build credibility.

I try to always take a more collaborative approach to any business relationship. I strongly believe everyone can learn, benefit and even advance from others.

By: Tom Chandler

Tom Chandler — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 19:03:48 +0000

@Matthew: Your “Bozo factor” is more accurate than my “hassle factor” though woe to any freelancer whose clients discover they’re paying the premium…

@Denise: Yeah, that client didn’t exactly earn a place atop marketing’s pantheon of “best practices” adherents…

By: Denise

Denise — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 02:01:28 +0000

Excellent post. I’m in marketing and from my end it’s a good refresher to “see the other side” as well.

This line made me laugh: In another, a manager said copying the competition’s materials and message allowed us to “piggyback” our efforts atop their marketing budgets.

Yikes…

By: Matthew Stibbe

Matthew Stibbe — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 17:19:32 +0000

I’m sure every freelancer has experienced the client that second-guesses, cavills and tweaks too much. It’s very frustrating and sometimes intolerable.

In the past, I’ve dealt with this in two ways. First, for some clients, I just add a ‘bozo premium’ to the fee to account for the extra work I need to do. (I don’t call it a ‘bozo’ premium, but something ruder!) This helps me deal with the extra quibbling.

In other cases, I just stop working with the client. Usually, there has to be some failure of the relationship involved for this to happen. I think if people don’t trust you to do your job properly or won’t treat you with respect, then it’s time to question the relationship.

Ultimately, I guess, the client pays for my words and can do what they want with them. But if they don’t play nice, I’m going home and I’ll take my ball with me.

By: Tom Chandler

Tom Chandler — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 02:34:08 +0000

Roberta: Gotta love a client who’s excited about marketing, no matter how misguided.

Becca: The information in your link is sobering stuff. For years, certain writing categories have seen a lot of downward pressure on fees, and the dive in the hourly rate doesn’t bode well for those writing in those spaces.

Granted, it’s a single data point in a limited writing market – one that’s growing quickly in terms of writers – but it’s still not great news.

Thanks for the information. That could become a blog post.

By: Becca

Becca — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 22:00:59 +0000

I agree with your post, however I have to say that it's very difficult to make the decision to hit the road when it comes to difficult clients in this economy. If the current trends for freelance writing jobs are accurate, the work is staying somewhat steady but the pay is going down. It's just a sign of the times, but when you've got a client (even a difficult one) in this day and time, it might be wiser to stick it out. At least until the tide turns a bit.

By: Roberta Rosenberg

Roberta Rosenberg — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:09:05 +0000

Clients who ‘get it’ – what good marketing is and what it ain’t – are worth their weight in gold. And when they say yes to a retainer – that’s the cherry on my revenue generation sundae.

Loved the testing grid example. Like you said, at least he was engaged :)

By: Tom Chandler

Tom Chandler — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 15:34:29 +0000

@Matt: Good news! Ongoing/retainer gigs are always welcome when you can get them.