Not all Customers are Good Customers

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Permalink Reply by Linda Scott on May 12, 2009 at 10:48pm

Thanks for this article David.

I have to say,I agree with your comments.Working with clients who don't fit with my values,vision or needs can be a nightmare.After 20 years as an illustrator,I have learned that it is less painful to let clients go if they are trying to get away with paying me a pittance for my hard earned skills,asking me to change my style of work to fit an ill - matched brief or- in the worse case scenario,bullying and being disrespectful to me.


Thankfully,out of hundreds of clients,there have been only a handful of these undesirables.

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Permalink Reply by David Parrish on May 12, 2009 at 10:49pm

Hi Linda

Thanks for your comments!

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Permalink Reply by Gina Smith on May 14, 2009 at 3:53pm

I argree so far I have come across a few time wasters.

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Permalink Reply by Ellen O'Hara on May 15, 2009 at 4:14pm

Absolutely, getting a match between what motivates you and what motivates your customers is the key to a successful business (or is that a happy marriage?!). At the core of our business planning process is supporting clients to understand and measure which ideas or activities offer the best value for time and money, and this includes identifying 'good' customers from 'bad'.

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Permalink Reply by dare to know on May 26, 2009 at 12:57pm

During my time in business I have come across a wide variety of clients and they have most definitely not all been 'good'. I would describe these people as 'difficult' and this can manifest itself in so many different ways. Once you learn that the way they are is nothing personal it makes dealing with them a lot easier.

I generally find the biggest problem with clients is that they have no concept of how long work can take to do, nor are they interested. People don't want to pay by the hour but will send you a 100 emails to explain one a few simple corrections.

I don't know, i think it's a communication thing. People don't seem to know how to communicate, nor how to listen. Then they invariably make you change what you have made for them into something not quite so good.

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Permalink Reply by Michelle Peters on August 1, 2009 at 7:21am

My experience is with certain official groups and the money issue, I have a price if their not prepared to pay it that's their loss. Bullying emails do not work.

A good customer keeps to their side of the contract, in a good natured way.
A bad customer is the opposite.

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Permalink Reply by Lionel on October 5, 2009 at 12:08pm

All customers seem to be good and bad. even good customers can become bad customers it depends on a huge range of circumstances and condition at any one time. I've had some shocking customers over the years and pleased to say that I no longer work with these, despite money being money there is a line where it becomes untenable and not worth the value of their spend. My current custom base is great and I like them all. We have good working relationships but even so from time to time there can be hitches along the way.

Selecting the best customers, surely thats the holy grail for creative businesses? im sure though a little research and preparation if done can help in selecting the better customers but Im a strong believer of personal judgment too and this combination has stood me well in recent times.

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