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Red Flags from Clients

Anything considered a "hustle" and not necessarily a CENTS-based Fastlane

MRMattyICE

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Jun 6, 2020
7
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Toronto
Hey Everyone,

I started a web design/SEO business a few months back and recently I have had two potential clients who I have had sales call with and both of them went very well. The problem is after the sales calls...for the 1st client I dealt with after the call he was unresponsive to emails and then replied two weeks later saying he wants the work done but not until august which he never mentioned in the call, The second client I am dealing with said during the call that he accepts my offer and price for a redesign of his website but wants to show my offer to his previous web designer before he accepts my deal, he even had his previous web designer call me and he went over all the technical aspects of the website with me and then I texted the client to move forward and he said he is still waiting to hear back from his old designer and will let me know in a few days of his decision. I feel like both these clients can lead to major headaches in the future and these signs are a red flag. Does anyone have any similar experience to clients like this?
 
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CoderSales

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Feb 3, 2020
33
58
Colorado
Hey Everyone,

I started a web design/SEO business a few months back and recently I have had two potential clients who I have had sales call with and both of them went very well. The problem is after the sales calls...for the 1st client I dealt with after the call he was unresponsive to emails and then replied two weeks later saying he wants the work done but not until august which he never mentioned in the call, The second client I am dealing with said during the call that he accepts my offer and price for a redesign of his website but wants to show my offer to his previous web designer before he accepts my deal, he even had his previous web designer call me and he went over all the technical aspects of the website with me and then I texted the client to move forward and he said he is still waiting to hear back from his old designer and will let me know in a few days of his decision. I feel like both these clients can lead to major headaches in the future and these signs are a red flag. Does anyone have any similar experience to clients like this?
Sounds like there is a bit of a disconnect in your sales process; from my experience when a client ghosts then they are price shopping and chatting to other agencies. That's both good and bad. Good because there's a level of interest and bad because they're a price shopper... only buy on price and not value. Usually low ball offers will snap their hands off and they turn into a pain in the a$$ low level client. If you want to close the first prospect (I've closed a few deals this way) right away tell them you have to guarantee the spot on your workbench at the best rate possible. In order to do so, they have to sign a contract stating you need a 50% down deposit now to secure the spot in Aug at the rate you discussed. The next 40% will be after the first revision session, so that could be the 3rd week in August. The final 10% payment is made right before migration from your staging area to production server. That protects you, guarantees you get $$ right away and when you bring up this structure of an agreement, you'll know right away if he's 100% committed or not. It's a litmus test. If he starts whining and turns into poopy pants, tell him 'NOPE'.

The second prospect sounds like an absolute nightmare.

How did you start discussions with these prospects?
 

MRMattyICE

New Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
43%
Jun 6, 2020
7
3
Toronto
Sounds like there is a bit of a disconnect in your sales process; from my experience when a client ghosts then they are price shopping and chatting to other agencies. That's both good and bad. Good because there's a level of interest and bad because they're a price shopper... only buy on price and not value. Usually low ball offers will snap their hands off and they turn into a pain in the a$$ low level client. If you want to close the first prospect (I've closed a few deals this way) right away tell them you have to guarantee the spot on your workbench at the best rate possible. In order to do so, they have to sign a contract stating you need a 50% down deposit now to secure the spot in Aug at the rate you discussed. The next 40% will be after the first revision session, so that could be the 3rd week in August. The final 10% payment is made right before migration from your staging area to production server. That protects you, guarantees you get $$ right away and when you bring up this structure of an agreement, you'll know right away if he's 100% committed or not. It's a litmus test. If he starts whining and turns into poopy pants, tell him 'NOPE'.

The second prospect sounds like an absolute nightmare.

How did you start discussions with these prospects?
Thanks for the feedback! I will definitely try that strategy on the first client to see if they are actually serious or not. I landed both sales call threw cold emailing.
 

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