When you get clients that are difficult, you may find yourself in a whole heap of trouble, stress, and legal hot water. Here’s what to do.
When you are trying to get your business to perform better, you start to see the potential in diversifying your business. But the one direct issue in doing this relates to when you start to open up your doors to a lot of clients. On one level, this is very beneficial because there are more people interested in your business which improves your bottom line. But when you start to develop relationships with people that are on the more difficult side, you may find yourself in a whole heap of trouble, stress, and legal hot water. When there are difficult clients, what do you need to do?
Outsource Your Concerns
When in doubt, source it out! Difficult clients should not have to be your problem. The best thing you can do is to be as formal, and on the right side of the law as possible. If it has got to the point where they are not compliant at all and refusing to correspond, you can always outsource it to external parties. There are companies that provide invoice factoring, where they will pay you for your invoices (subject to a fee), and they will chase up the clients for you. You can see this in a wide variety of industries. In the cannabis industry, you can see the rise of cannabis debt collection agencies making life easier for businesses. Outsourcing non-payment issues can take the stress out of the equation.
Make a Contract
On a legal level, you have to make sure that there is a contract in place. You need to research the client efficiently before you sign them up, but you need to have your client sign a contract before starting any work. This is the perfect way to cover both sides. When you’re working with the client, you both know what is expected of you. It’s something that works wonders for freelancers, but when you are working with a difficult client, ensuring that you know how to word your contract effectively bypasses a lot of potential issues.
Stop Working If You Are Not Getting What You Deserve
Some people are too polite to stop working, despite not getting anything from the client. But when you are running a small business owner or being a freelancer, it’s your prerogative to charge late fees or get payment upfront for bigger projects. But if you are not getting anything from a client, and they are not paying, you shouldn’t do anything more. If you’re not getting what you deserve, you should stop working. If you’re not getting any response from them, one of the best things is to expect payment partway through the agreement to make sure the client will actually pay.
Take the Legal Route
It’s not something you might want to do, as legal action can be expensive and time-consuming. But if you are working with someone who is just plain difficult, it is worth your while to go down the legal route. If there is a good small business lawyer near you who charges good rates for sending letters to clients, the threat of legal action can be enough to spur people into paying back. It’s also a good idea to pass the message on to the client that you would be filing a claim in the small claims court. Usually, this is enough for them to change their ways.
Clients can be difficult but they can also not pay. And this is something that you should never have to experience as a business.
