19 Hilariously Accurate Client Red Flags - Benji Carlson
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ก.ค. 2024
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Nothing in the world of contracting sucks the life out of you or your team like a miserable client. A sorry SOB whose apparent mission in life is to ruin yours. It almost seems they take pleasure in the process.
What I’m saying is I think we can all agree that avoiding the crazies is in your best interest. And the sooner the better.
After running my own painting company and talking to over 1000 contractors, I’ve noticed there are a few client patterns that have emerged in our collective experience.
I should mention, this list is by no means exhaustive and if you have your own red flags I’d love you to leave them in the comments below. I read all the comments you guys put in there.
Episode Highlights (6 Key Phrases That Should Raise A Red Flag):
- “Can I help out? And what kind of discount will I get if I do?”
- “We bought the materials already, just charge us for labor.”
- “I could do this myself, I’m just so busy”
- “I’m a realtor and I’ve flipped many houses so I know what things cost.”
- “I have a brother-in-law who does some flooring. Can he be involved?”
- “I’m super busy, do we have to meet?”
00:00 - Intro
03:12 - 1. The Helper
03:47 - 2. The "We've got materials already" Client
04:49 - 3. The "I could do this" Client
06:04 - 4. The Precisionist
06:46 - 5. The Real Estate Guru
07:24 - 6. The Contentious Couple
08:20 - 7. No Deposit Dude
09:23 - 8. New Homeowners
09:58 - 9. The Silent Partner
11:28 - 10. The "Contractors Are Idiots" Client
11:52 - 11. The "No Time" client
12:15 - The "My Brother's A Contractor" Client
12:51 - 13. The "ASAP" Client
13:41 - 14. The Neighbor Hater
14:24 - 15. The Slob
15:15 - 16. The Underestimator
15:58 - 17. The Piecemeal Quoter
16:59 - 18. The "No Questions" Client
18:14 - 19. The "Weird Dog" Client
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The "I love you" client. At the first meeting this person flirts with you. They express how much confidence they have in you: "I know you're going to do a great job!". Then, they call you frequently just to talk. They want YOU, not the Work. When you don't become their mate they get very angry! Run away at the first sign of this.
Hahaha. Norm, you must just be a heartthrob!!
Micromanager types can be difficult
Good list. Most of these types flee when I say “I use my own trades, for a reason, and it’ll take several weeks just for a proper rough estimate and when I begin you need to be covered by WCB and escorted by me to enter my site ”. The sticker shock of the first rough estimate weeds the rest out. The “I can do this myself” guy or “ASAP” guy are hard no’s.
Sounds like you don't waste time with tire kickers then! That's awesome. I think many frustrating hours of waste can be avoided with clear and firm client qualifying. You're not everyones contractor, and thats a good thing!
This was very triggering. LOL and pretty funny.....(I'm with you on the dog thing)
Hahaha. Thanks for the comment. Keep an eye out for those weird dogs.
absolute gold and in 33 years of business I have met them all even the crazy dog person.
Glad you liked it. Did we miss any other red flags from your 33 years?
Weird dogs got me hahaha
It's totally a thing, right?
This is absolute gold! I had client names and faces flashing through my mind the entire time!
Hopefully no memories that were TOO traumatic or painful lol 😬
@@BreakthroughAcademy I have a few that have left scars, but I’m still in the game 💪🏻
This is AWESOME!!!
I pulled out forms from an entire project after they changed the sizes 3 times, I told the guy he can explain to his wife why the work won't be getting done, he also had me quote 6 other houses the year prior which he had his guys do instead
One other way to decipher the "No Questions" client is that they may have already made up their mind and they are just getting a quote from you to compare other quotes to. This might be the time to ask the following to the client: 1.) "Have you got other quotes for the project? You don't need to tell me from whom or how much, but have you got other quotes?" 2.) If you know your competition, what they do and what the use for materials, it would be a good opportunity to ask, "What do you understand about (x - competitor's product) versus (y - your product)?" You can then go into the primary differences. In the end, you might be surprised. If your prices are higher, but your workmanship and product is superior, you might get the job!
excellent list that has broad application to many professions and life in general.
Glad you think so!
#20. The client that texts texts you 30x a day with questions before even starting the project.
Haha. We're going to need a part 2 for this list. Neuroticism is the WORST!
Realtors are the worst 90% of the time. And then there’s the piecemeal quote seekers. 😂
🤣
These are great! Really all of them (except the weird dog!) really boil down to people asking you to move outside your process. Don’t do it!
I've had a couple of weird dog situations, and they've turned out poorly.
If they are fluffy, small, and noisy there is a good chance things go south. Do you remember what happened in your case?
@@BreakthroughAcademy I had one Chihuahua chase up a stair case nipping at my heels when I was remodeling a few upstairs bathrooms. The dog chased me up the stairs every time I went up (which was frequent) and the owner didn’t seem to care or even try to retain him.
Then we had a job out in the boonies and my helper was petting their Australian Shepard and got nipped in the chin. In retrospect, he may have gotten a little too friendly with the dog! 😂
Thanks for doing this video … the I don’t want to do a deposit .. because XYZ co burned me is common one … my reply is we have to buy materials specific to your project , engineering , permitting etc … if it makes you more comfortable … I can have materials delivered to your garage … still had a few that would not do deposit … offered them 12 Mod 0% told them if they want to pay cash they can cancel financing still not try that option … that’s when I said no thank you!
Also the ….”I can do this myself but don’t have time “
Have one of those right now … she’s on back burner low priority to quote … lol I’m not wasting 2 hrs to do design and quote with someone like that …
The "we don't do deposits" one is really silly. And yes, definitely back burner the "I can do it myself" ones. What kind of business do you run?
Cleint is living in a pig pen. I turn around and leave.
How do you handle a client who asks you to break up material and labor?
Depends.... What type of contracting do you do primarily?
@@BreakthroughAcademy We do remodeling for apartment buildings. We do roofs, interior, and exterior.
If you take advice about your clients from some guy in a T-shirt, who looks like he just got out of bed, it is not going to go well for your business…