My stints as designer and event planner provided opportunities to work with various people. I have the pleasure to work with excellent clients who are timely paymaster, organized, reasonable, give clear instructions and appreciative. I have also seen clueless, inconsiderate clients who would delay the confirmation of project till last minute. Last minute work might lead to additional cost, unnecessary stress and errors due to lack of time for preparation. Thus, I came up with this list of red flags which we should be aware of.
1. Clients who has no respect to timeline. They do not consider the time people need to get work done. They expect things to be done immediately for them but they procrastinate when the ball is on their court. Almost all of their deadlines are "yesterday".
2. Clients who refuse to commit. They do not pay deposit and/or sign contract. They delay payment for months or refuse to pay at all.
3. Clients who will cause you to make losses. They only pay for 1 thing but expect 2 other items to be given free to them.
4. Clients who will burn your relationship with your good staffs and vendors. Some clients are bullies or liars who cause your valuable people to quit.
5. Clients who has no integrity, they flip words and do not honor what they promise.
6. Clients who are fickle-minded; they keep adjusting the project requirements, but refuse to pay for time and effort for the changes made.
7. Clients who have very tough projects but refuse to pay higher for the risks involved, they just want to push their own accountabilities away and point the blames to vendors.
While it is hard to find perfect customers, we have to safeguard our interest. Consider the costs, risks and frustrations of dealing with potential bad clients seriously before we agree to work with them.
