Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Good Client Vs Bad Client

Everyone of us has experienced the Hell of working with a Bad Client. My company has been around for 3+ years and we had our share of bad clients. We have been lucky to have faced more good clients than bad ones. But one bad one washes away the happiness which 100 good clients give you.

Many successful business heads say that "Don't hire Bad Clients!" . However, being a small company, we need to embrace everyone who comes our way. Hence, we end up having bad clients on the go most of the time so we can hit targets and pay salaries. Not to mention that the knock on effect makes it harder to meet the targets for the next few months as you deal with the nightmare... and the vicious cycle continues.

Secondly, even if I decide to not hire bad clients, how do you know its one? Almost all the times everything adds up in the beginning, but then somewhere along the line, suddenly and drastically everything changes?

Here I am putting together from my experience identifiers of a bad client and good client.

GOOD CLIENT - A good client is one who ---
  • Knows what he wants.Is focused on the big picture
  • Fills the web project questionnaire in clear and detailed manner
  • Provides an RFP, or clear outline of the scopeof project
  • Understands the Web development process
  • Gives final sign-off and approvalIs in agreement on deliverables,schedule and budget
  • Is responsive to email and phone callsProvides content on time
  • Provides feedback and approval promptly.

BAD CLIENT - To be aware of has ---

  • "Need it right now" attitude, unrealistic project delivery requests
  • Has no clue of what the content of the website should be, but wants it to“look awesome”
  • Cannot give final approval on anything.Doesn’t have time to fill out the website questionnaire
  • Has Small budget but needs faster turnaround time
  • Non-responsive, cannot make decisions, does not email or call back in a timely manner
  • Indecisive, changes mind frequently
  • You provide the client with the 10th website mockup, and they still feel its not what they are looking for.
  • Four weeks ago you were working with James who quit, last week you were working with Andre who was fired, and now you’re working with Jeremy who doesn’t know what the hell is going on, but gives feedback that we have done a bad job.
  • Always threatening to sue you for some reason or another.

Please feel free to add-on to this list.

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