We’ve all been there; putting out your best work, adding extra hours in just to be nice, giving multiple revisions even though the scope only called for 2.
Then it happens; you realize your client couldn’t care less about anything you’ve been doing for them and is just a plain $@#*& every time you turn around. Natural human instinct is to pounce into action and fight right back; but is it the smart thing for freelancers? I want to cover 5 reasons why biting the bullet and not arguing with unruly clients will do you much more good then if you were to spend your days arguing right back.
Feel free to chime in after the article in the comments if you’ve had a client, or two (or 20) like this before.Time Away From Your Other Clients
Arguing with an unruly client does one thing very well; it takes time away from your other clients who are great and deserve your attention. By doing this, its causing a rift between you and your great clients which causes a back up of their work which causes them to get upset. Why let this domino effect take place when it’s so easily avoidable?
Breaks Up Your Concentration And Creativity
If you’ve got someone who’s getting on your LAST nerve, odds are you’re at a point where you can’t focus on your current jobs correctly, and anything creative needing done will surely fall short of your rock-star quality.
I’ve tried designing a website while I was upset about a few things and it never worked out well and I’m sure all of you can attest to this as well; from freelance writers trying to create a 1,000 article on a topic you know very little about for a client who you love, while thinking about the @$$hole you just got done arguing with, to the freelance php coder who’s trying to decipher 1,000 lines of code into something useful while all you can think about is the conversation you just had with that same @$$hole as the writer.
Anger Spills Into Your Family Life
If you’ve had a horrible day at work and you’ve been on the phone, IM, skype or email with an unruly client all day arguing, odds are you’re going to go home (or into the other room for those of us who work from a home office) with a horrible attitude. This affects not only you, but your entire family which is not something you will be very proud of once you calm down and realize that you’ve been stomping around the house slamming doors for the past 2 hours.
It Won’t Make You Any More Money
Time is money and wasting your time arguing with some jack@$$ who couldn’t tell what quality work and customer service was if it smacked him or her in the face is pointless. If you spend 20 minutes a day arguing with that client, and it spills over the course of a full week, you’ve spent 140 minutes arguing! For those of us who charge $50/hr, you just had a $100+ argument and didn’t see a dime of it.
The Client Gets A Kick Out Of Making You Mad
If you’re dealing with a client like this, the odds of this person actually laughing and liking the idea of you being upset is very high. With an attitude and ego as big as the sky, they don’t see anything wrong in how they’re acting, and if they do, they just don’t care. Why waste your time dealing with someone like this and ruining your day over someone who has so little respect for you, your business and themselves? It’s just not worth it.
What do you think? :)
Mike Smith
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