RE: Picking & choosing clients

Even though I don't advertise who I will not represent, I am fairly picky.
There are many reasons for that. I don't want to waste a bunch of upfront
time with someone who is not going to follow through or is disillusioned
about a Website can do for them. There are the Sites I want absolutely no
involvement with; spam operations, exploitative, sleazy franchises,
businesses or MLM's that take advantage of others. I really market to and
network with the types of clients I want to represent and that the type of
clients that will take me professionally where I want to go.

My first year in business, many of my clients were bad news. They were
people no other professionals wanted to deal with. There are clients
(usually those who can least afford the services) who will have you running
around in circles endlessly, some can't make a decision, some are so
demanding and unreasonable they will be never be satisfied. The common
thread is they will take up all of your time and you can bet they won't want
to pay for all of your time. These are the clients who destroy your
business. In the end, they are generally not pleased, it's not a reference
you feel good about using and you don't really want their repeat business.

After awhile you can spot potential problem clients in a heartbeat and avoid
them like the plague and learn how to effectively communicate, from the
start, about the extent and expectations of your service.


Kari





> From: owner-hwg-business(at)hwg.org [mailto:owner-hwg-business(at)hwg.org]On
> Behalf Of Noteworthy Web Designs
> Sent: Wednesday, January 05, 2000 6:38 PM
> To: Rachel Hartman; hwg-business(at)hwg.org
> Subject: Re: Picking & choosing clients
>
>
> I do. I feel the same way, and I've put a disclaimer on my
> web site outlining
> the content I will not work with. Unfortunately, sometimes
> it's not the
> content, but the customer personality, in which case you
> might be better off
> telling them that they might do better having another company
> do their site,
> then give them some recommendations (provided, of course,
> that the other
> companies can put up with them! Don't make enemies of your
> competitor/collegues!
>
> Rachel Hartman wrote:
>
> > First, sorry to anyone who was offended by any flames that
> were sparked by
> > my post about spammers and web hosting.  And thanks to all
> of you who
> > e-mailed your agreement on the importance of good customer service.
> >
> > Now, there's another question that's been sort of banging
> around in my head
> > lately, and hopefully it's a less inflammatory topic than
> spam.  Have any
> > of you set up any formal or informal guidelines regarding
> the kind of
> > clients you will work for?  Or do you judge on a case-by-case basis?
> >
> > I dealt with this problem myself a few months ago.  The
> first instance was
> > when someone asked me about doing an adult web site.  I'm
> not comfortable
> > doing adult web sites, and I didn't want the headache of
> trying to find a
> > web host that would agree to that kind of material being on
> their server,
> > so I politely declined, saying that this wasn't the sort of
> thing we did,
> > but thank you for e-mailing.  The second instance was a little less
> > obvious--the guy wanted a site geared at college students,
> but the sites he
> > listed as his models were places that either sold term
> papers or class
> > notes.  Some people obviously have less of a problem with
> this than with
> > adult sites, but I admit I'm the kind of snobby brainy kid
> who always did
> > her own homework.  So again, I told him, "Sorry, we don't
> do this kind of
> > site, and we recommend you go with someone who has
> experience in building
> > these."
> >
> > It started me thinking.  What kinds of sites would I never build?  I
> > wouldn't build sites that conflicted with my own political
> or religious
> > beliefs.  I wouldn't build sites that offended my personal
> ethics.  I'll
> > probably handle these decisions on a case-by-case basis,
> rather than draw
> > up a formal policy, but I'd be interested in hearing from others.
> >
> > Rachel Hartman
> > --------------------------------------------
> > Rachel R. Hartman, Co-Owner
> > Hartman WebWrights - http://www.hww.com (512) 989-7844
> > Affordable, hand-crafted web pages for your company's needs
>
> --
> Karen Stafford, Webmaster
> Noteworthy Web Designs
> http://www.noteworthydesigns.com
>
>

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