Clients Who Press Their Advantage

Strategies for staying off the back foot

I got a lot of email in response to last week’s newsletter on bullying clients, which suggests that it’s a common problem for small-business owners and freelancers. And while it’s good to have policies or practices for avoiding these situations in the first place– clear contracts, estimates that spell out deliverables, timelines, the number of edits or modifications we agree to– most of us can still be blindsided by objections we never saw coming.

As noted, my thoughts about bullying clients were stirred by a multi-day conversation the previous weekend between my sister Cece and her architect friend Teresa in Barcelona. Both had recently been on the receiving end of aggressive negative pushback from clients they’d believed they were in sync with.

Cece says, “Teresa and I were both so taken aback by what we heard from our clients that we didn’t know how to respond. Of course, afterward we both came up with comebacks that would have been perfect. But that only made us more frustrated, with ourselves and our clients.” Not surprising, given that shoulda- coulda never helped anyone run a business.

So just as it’s wise to set clear expectations in advance, it’s also smart to be ready with a few well thought-out situational responses, in case things suddenly go south.

Here are four typical kinds of pushback we can benefit by being prepared for.

“That’s not what I meant.” One of Cece’s clients asked for help trademarking her brand, which she referred to it by its name. Cece offered to create a tutorial on all the steps the client would need to take. When she delivered it along with some other work, the client informed her that she only wanted to trademark her logo, not her brand. Even though brand was clearly stated in the estimate the client had signed.

“The logo requires a different process,” Cece pointed out, but the client shrugged as if it were not her problem. Then she declared that, because she she didn’t need a brand tutorial, she shouldn’t have to pay Cece for the extra work.

Some variation of “I can’t use this” is a go-to bully response. It can be quite effective at putting you off-guard. You may find yourself saying something along the lines of, “I’m sorry if I misunderstood.” This is not a good idea because, as your estimate or letter of agreement made clear, you did not misunderstand the nature of the work. Plus bullies are often skilled at using your apologies against you: “You admitted it was your fault!”

Cece redid the brand tutorial for trademarking the logo without charge, hoping to keep the client’s goodwill. But it generated none. Then the client dragged her feet on payment. Cece called a friend with long experience, who said that whenever a client balks at paying what they’ve agreed upon in writing, he tells them that a late fee will be charged and that the bill will be sent out for collection after 4 weeks. “This seemed like hardball,” said Cece, “But the way the client behaved made me feel she was untrustworthy. I didn’t want to work with her again, so I had nothing to lose.” After she mentioned the late fee and the collection, and the client promptly paid.

“This shouldn’t have taken so many hours!” One of Teresa’s clients raised this objection when she handed in drawings for a project for which she’d actually under-counted her hours. As with Cece, this gesture of goodwill went unappreciated.

In addition, the parameters in the building brief Teresa was given contained an error of nearly 8 inches. She notes that this type of mistake is fairly common, and that architects redo drawings all the time. “However, it’s standard practice that when the error is yours, you don't charge, but it’s the client’s, you do.” But Teresa didn’t point this out because the client was already complaining about the number of hours she was billing, and she wanted to please the client. She went ahead and redid the drawings at no charge.

But Teresa felt burned by the experience. She did a lot of extra work for which she was not paid, and the client treated her like a neophyte and an adversary. Teresa was blindsided because in her experience architectural firms usually take a collaborative approach. So she wasn’t expecting pushback and blame– especially since she hadn’t made the specification error.

Bullying clients often use the tactic of immediately objecting to the number of hours you’ve billed. They want to accept your work, but feel entitled to renegotiate the terms after you’ve delivered. Even in cases where you’ve sent a written cost estimate that the client has signed off on, a bully may push back as a way to keep you off balance and set themselves up to take further advantage.

This is what happened with Teresa, who to avoid further conflict ended up not even mentioning— much less billing for— the extra hours necessitated by the client’s error. If she’d had a ready-to-hand objection to the original complaint about the time she’d billed for the project– such as, “You might want to go back and check your figures,” or “I can itemize how long each step took me if need be”–?Teresa might have avoided a painful, and costly, lesson.

“Can we do this off the books?” This is a question a client may pose either before or after the work is completed. Cece and Teresa say it’s especially common for European clients seeking to avoid value-added taxes.

This is one of the easiest go-to responses, because your answer should always be no. The client in essence is asking you to collude in their attempts to lower their tax liability by agreeing to put yourself and your business at risk, while also reducing your own contribution to social security. It’s an unprofessional request that asks you to behave in an unprofessional way. “I understand this is a common practice for some freelancers, but that’s not how I run my business,” is all you need to say.

“I was hoping you could give me a friend price.” Cece and Teresa have run into this request both before and, less acceptably, after they’ve finished a job. Sometimes the person is a friend, but often they’re simply an acquaintance whom they’ve met at a professional or social event.

In my view, there’s no hard and fast rule on this. But you don’t want to be in the position of always trying to calculate just how good a friend someone is, or where they stand in your price-break hierarchy. That’s why it’s good to have a policy in place on whether you want to offer this kind of discount or not.

Let’s face it, a “friend price” can lock in indefinitely, robbing you not only of income but defining your friendship as a one-way street that works to your disadvantage. If you feel like making a friendly gesture, a good alternative is to offer a one-time introductory discount. The client gets something but it’s not forever, and your relationship will feel more professional.

I don’t offer discounts, primarily because I like to keep my pricing consistent and transparent. I’d rather charge nothing (and often do) than have a lot of different fee rates to keep track of, but that’s just me. I wouldn’t presume to advise someone else to follow my lead here.

However, at least some potential clients who surprise you by asking for a special rate are just looking for an advantage. Not all of them; some may not have the budget to meet your price. In that case, they should probably look for another solution unless you have a particular reason for taking them on, or want to negotiate with them because they’re a non-profit whose work you want to support.

But requests for special treatment can be a warning of trouble ahead. Saying yes because you’d feel uncomfortable saying no can send a signal that the value you place on your work does not align with your stated pricing. At the very least, such requests should be viewed as a red flag that there may be bullying ahead.

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