Getting mired in a contentious client relationship is like being stuck in a tar pit: No matter how you struggle, you keep sinking. Whether a hefty ego, poor communication, or a bad business plan is to blame, ridding yourself of a nightmare client can be a delicate operation.
If you're not careful, you could make enemies, lose business, or invite legal problems. Yet if you don't end the relationship, you're wasting precious resources and prolonging your agony.
We asked two IT pros -- Judith Kallos and Dave Hecker -- how they extricated themselves from awful contracts and how to avoid falling into this type of situation. Kallos owns her own company where she offers e-business and marketing coaching and Web development services. Hecker is a software technology consultant.
Screen out potentially annoying clients
Kallos said that due to the get-rich-quick mentality prevalent in the early days of the dot-com boom, many of her earliest clients had poor business plans, no business savvy, and too much ego. The trend continues even now, because most of her clients are in the beginning stages of launching a new e-business. Many don't have a full picture of the information they'll have to bring to the Web development table, so an essential part of Kallos' screening process is a project review request form on her Web site. The form asks potential clients questions like these:
Kallos said she'll "speak to anyone who completes this form" and hopes that the process of filling it out will help potential clients form a more complete picture of what she offers, as well as what she expects of her clients. Clients who understand their level of responsibility in the development of their Web site tend to be more receptive to her expert advice, she's found.
Early warnings of a difficult client
Kallos said that one of the biggest red flags she sees is a client who has an inflated ego and a lack of respect for her expertise. Also, if a client starts using lots of Web development lingo or seems uncomfortable when she asks questions that force them to admit their lack of knowledge, she knows their insecurity will cause problems in the consultant-client relationship.
For example, she had one client who thought of her as "one of his girls" and expected her to follow his directions instead of using her expertise to efficiently develop his site, which cost him more money. After failing to read some documentation she had provided, he became angry and called her to complain. When she tried to carefully explain that he had some "incorrect perceptions," he fired her. She said that she had felt "in her gut" that he wasn't going to be an easy client to deal with, but she was hungry for business at the time.
"Your gut is never wrong," she said. "Whenever I've ended up with a nightmare client, it's because I didn't listen to my instinct and I went for the zeroes."
Likewise, Hecker said his worst client relationships have been directly related to the client's lack of trust in his skills.
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