What is an Ideal Client in the Knowledge Industries? – Failsafe Green Flags

What is an ideal client? For me, it a client that give you all the green flags – those that you can’t wait to work with.

Green flags help you figure out whether a client is one you’ll want to add to your portfolio under the heading: fit, budget, pricing, press, documentation, payment options, systems, and attitude.

In this blog post, I explore a few basic ways in which you can qualify clients by doing due diligence, then some green flags to look for that may be less obvious.

Basic Due Diligence

Make sure you do ‘due diligence’ before you even agree to commit your time to a discovery call. Yes, but what does this mean?

1. Does your potential client fit in among your previous good clients?

Does your client fit in among your other clients – for the same reasons? Your criteria might be based on industry, size, or even personal compatibility.

This is just a cursory estimation of whether they fit into the usual categories for you. It is someone that first into your usual Buyer Persona? If you don’t have buyer personas, download the template at the link and fill it out for each of your main types or categories of clients.

2. Can they afford to pay the invoices?

If the answer to this question is “No”, you are wasting everyone’s time proceeding.

An ideal client will be turning over a certain amount (you get to decide how much). Check the turnover of clients who fit into the same persona. You’ll soon get an answer. If you’re completely stumped on this one, do a simple calculation to bring you back down to earth with a bump. Take the client’s potential annual value to you and divide it by their turnover. If the amount is more than 0.01 (i.e. 1%), stop and think. Is this client likely to spend more than 1% of their entire turnover (never mind profit) on this service? And how many times per year are they going to do that?

• In the UK, you can look them up in Companies House (as long as they’re a Limited company) and see a summary of their most recently filed tax return.
• In the US, Canada and Mexico you can look them up in the Better Business Bureau.
• In California, you can look them up in the Business Programmes Division.

Check the equivalents in your country.

3. Did they ask for the price first?

It’s obvious to anyone who goes shopping. You’ll likely check the price of something before trying it on or taking it out for a test drive. But, my experience of clients that ask for the price first in the context of the knowledge industries, is that they’re not your client. It’s a predictable indicator of a tyre-kicker who’s shopping around (No Tyre-Kickers!). If we get clients who ask for the price first, we don’t even bother to write a proposal any more (we’ve never had a single positive response to our proposals from this type of person). We simply quote our usual price and wait for the tumbleweed. It’s a waste of everyone’s time.

Our best partnerships were clients who were not shopping around, but who were referred directly to us, or who saw our website, portfolio, previous client work, or social channels and something compelled them to get in touch. (If you’re unsure about this, skip down to ‘Clients Who Value the Service You Are Offering’.)

4. Is there any negative press on their company?

Depending on what it is, it may not put you off working with them. But, if it is in relation to finance, how they treat their staff, customers or users; their reputation on good practice or industry standards (theirs or yours); or compliance and other laws, it may give you pause.

Once you’ve done some basic qualifying around fit, budget and reputation, there are a few green flags that will arise as you continue to discuss your client’s aims and potential projects during the initial discovery calls.

Let’s jump right in and answer: What is an ideal client?!

Conscientious Clients Sign and Return the T&Cs Quickly

Clients may query something on your T&Cs. The most responsible among them are likely to have questions.

Green flag clients are experienced.

Grow some confidence and don’t take this personally. Answer the question factually. Remember that you’re asking them to sign a legal document, make a commitment, and pay an up-front fee or at least a deposit.

This is also a great indicator that you have a new client who takes documentation seriously. The signed T&Cs are likely to be followed up by all that collateral you asked for: their marketing strategy if they have one, the Style Guide, the Branding Guide or Tone of Voice document, the links to a few useful YouTube videos to help you get quickly up to speed on who they are and what they’re about.

Bad Fit or Red Flag Clients Will Do This

A client who does not want to follow your Terms and Conditions or wants to treat you as the hired help will:

• Not sign them despite multiple reminders
• Send you their T&Cs with no discussion or option for amendments
• Return the T&Cs with their edits without asking

Remember that you are the service provider. They sign your T&Cs, not the other way around. I know many people work with a client’s T&Cs. If you do, just remember that (unless you discuss and implement amendments under the advice of a legal expert), you may have not have the correct protections in law in the event of a dispute. This can include fees, payments, payment schedules and methods; intellectual property; liability; non-compete clauses; cancellation clauses; IR35 investigations (UK only), and other disputes.

What is an Ideal Client in This Scenario?

• One who signs your T&Cs without drama
• One who is comfortable with negotiating the terms so that everyone is happy (making sure your legal expert signs off on any amended wording before work begins)

Clients Who Value the Service You Are Offering Do Not Query Your Price

It’s a bold claim. But, it is a predictable one based on observations gleaned over 10+ years in business.

Green flag clients are knowledgeable.

They know a good quality service provider is likely to cost more than they imagined, and are willing to pay for it. The best will have already done some research and know approximately how much to expect.

And remember, clients may see the value but still not be able to afford you. A client who sees value in the service you are offering will do one of these two things:

• If they can afford it, they will simply:
  • Follow your on-boarding process without even mentioning the price
  • Ask a question or two about items on your proposal that could have been clearer (particularly for those on a stricter budget)
• If they cannot afford it, they will tell you so. Or, they will do something else that saves face:
  • Tell you they have “taken it in-house”
  • Tell you they have gone with another copywriter

Bad Fit or Red Flag Clients Will Do This

A client who does not see the value in the service you are offering will tell you that:

• You are too expensive
• You should reduce your prices
• You should offer discounts for long-term work
• You should offer this service for free (since you love it and/or are good/quick at it)
• You shouldn’t be charging at all
• They have “gone with another supplier who quoted 1/10th of the price”

Stop and ask yourself something before taking any direct action because of some random person’s opinion:

• Are they qualified and experienced in your field?
• Have they run a business in your field?
• Does their statement match what you have been regularly told by others who are similarly qualified or experienced, and running a business, in your field?

Let’s be clear. This is not a call to charge extortionate, unfair or ridiculous fees. It’s related to the phenomenon observed by Dunning-Kruger – that those with limited experience in a particular area tend to overstate that experience. It’s often used to explain how those who know most about a topic will tend to pontificate on it less; whereas those who know least pontificate more (because they think what they know about it is all there is to know).

What is an Ideal Client in This Scenario?

If you have not qualified your client using the due diligence criteria I outlined above, you’ll end up wasting your time in fruitless conversations with these types of (potential) clients over and over.

• Stop keeling over when a client tells you that you are too expensive. You can simply add “… for them” in your head and move on. You can tell them (briefly) that the price reflects your experience and expertise. The best clients will not say things like this.
• Stop offering discounts – unless you want to do so. You can tell them that you do not offer discounts. There is no need to explain why. If I was your customer and you agreed to a discount, I’d wonder why you were planning to overcharge me in the first place! If I was already an existing customer and heard someone else had purchased the exact same service at a vastly lowered price, I’d not be happy. (That’s not to say you must charge everyone the same. No two projects are the same.) The best clients won’t ask for discounts.
• Stop reducing your prices just because sometime tells you to do so. The best clients won’t ask for a price reduction.

Clients Who are Used to Paying for Professional Services Ask About Payment Options

Green flag clients are confident.

Many of us use online software to help manage our invoices. Clients will ask: How will I receive the invoice?

• If you’re just starting out, you can simply find a nice Google Docs or Microsoft Word or Canva invoice template, customise it, and email that to your client.
• If you’ve been running two or more years, I’d expect you to be using professional invoicing software. It another signal that a client can rely on to help demonstrate that you’re organised and professional.

Remember, potential clients are looking for green flags too.

Bad Fit or Red Flag Clients Will Do This

Assuming you are offering some flexibility and choice in payment options, a client who delays the beginning of a projects due to small quibbles over the payment details may not be a good fit.

What is an Ideal Client in This Scenario?

Be aware that some larger organisations, particularly government, may have very set ways of doing things (how they pay, for example). It’s up to you whether you can modify your payment options to suit. The best clients will try to find a middle way.

Be as clear as you can how and when you expect clients to pay. The best clients will respond well to this and stick with the schedule.

Clients Who Have a System for Procuring and Paying for Professional Services Pay the Invoice Quickly

Taken on its own, paying the invoice quickly may seem like all the green flags you need. It’s not.

I need more assurance than merely someone who has the budget to pay me.

Me

But, taken together with some of the other green flags, this is one of the clearest signs of a green flag client.

Bad Fit or Red Flag Clients Will Do This

Do not be surprised if you encounter any of the following – even though the client has signed up to your T&Cs, including payment schedule:

• “No, I didn’t receive the invoice/notification/email/voicemail”
• “The invoice is in the system”
• “I sent the invoice to Accounts”
• “It’ll get paid on the next Accounts run”
• “Accounts pays on a 30-to-eternity day cycle”
• “No, I didn’t agree to this fee”
• “The standard of this work is worrying”

With red flag clients, many of these ridiculous statements happen:

• after they agree to the proposal of works
• after the work is done
• after they’ve sent feedback stating how ecstatic they are
• after they’ve received a final invoice – and not one moment before

It’s true that it’s hard to foresee these truly disingenuous incidents in advance. But, if you’ve ignored some of the red flags, you can almost guarantee that one of these is coming next (see What Does a Red Flag Mean When it Comes to Clients)?

What is an Ideal Client in This Scenario?

Simply put, the best clients will pay on time.

For further information, see Prompt Payment Act – How to Get Paid on Time and Late Payment and Non-Payment of Invoices – What to Do.

Clients Who See the Impact of Your Work Express Gratitude

This one was prompted by a couple of clients who (in addition to items listed above) expressed gratefulness to us for:

• Taking them on as a client and making the pricing and our work process clear
• Getting started quickly and being responsive during production
• Doing good quality work; and making their lives easier
• Expected and exceeded outcomes
• Checking in on them weeks and months later to see how they were getting on

You can expect similar with such clients.

Bad Fit or Red Flag Clients Will Do This

• They will deliver little to no feedback. This is a sign, early on in the relationship, that things will not be easy. Without feedback, it’s impossible to tell whether a client is satisfied with your work or outcomes.
• They will deliver negative feedback that contains no detail on how they’d like things changed. Sweeping statements are useless (e.g. ‘This is incorrect’). But, sometimes clients are not used to working with external suppliers. Teach them what you need in reviews for example. Ask for details. What exactly is wrong? How does this differ from the brief? What would you like us to change? Then set about fixing it. If you get no detail, you can only expect more of the same.

What is an Ideal Client in This Scenario?

We don’t need fawned over, OK? But, we do need to know whether the client is happy with their side of the bargain. And, we’re committed to working to make it right.

• The best clients will respond with lots of information when you ask open questions:
  • So, how do you feel about the finished product?
  • Has the team had a chance to look at this yet? Thoughts?
  • Can we do a debrief on the process?
• The best clients will respond clearly when you ask closed questions:
  • Does the landing page meet your expectations and match the CTA?
  • Did the support page answer all the users’ questions?
  • Do you have anything else you’d like us to add?

Just before a project ends (when everyone is in productive mode and things are on target), request a review, testimonial, or recommendation.

What is an Ideal Client?

I hope that my long list of criteria has given you something to chew on. Your criteria may be different. I’d love to hear about them. Pop into the comments and let me know how you identify an ideal client.

Alternatively, if you also want to be able to identify warning signs of bad clients, read What Does a Red Flag Mean in Relation to Clients?.

If you’re a content developer, copywriter or technical writer, sign up for tips on how to find and qualify better clients; design winning pitches; scope and price projects; handle personalities and road bumps; earn more; and have the business you want.

Photo by Jen Theodore on Unsplash