I tell you now with years of experience. You have to know how to say no to a customer . They will ask you for budgets , they will ask you for a Social Media proposal , a Social Media Plan , Online Marketing strategy for your business.
You may be lucky, but not all clients are the best for you .
Experience will give you the clues to know how to differentiate a good client from a bad client .
It is better to choose the good client than to take home a bad one. It will only give you headaches (and I repeat, I speak from experience).
But how do you say no to a potential customer? How is it done?
We see it below 
Table of Contents
How to say no to a client in Social Media and Digital Marketing
As the months and years go by, you will see that there are compromised clients, normal clients, and toxic clients . Of these is this post.
From toxic customers in Online Marketing.
How to recognize a toxic customer in Online Marketing before committing yourself as a community manager , social media consultant or digital marketing consultant ?
Say no to a client in Digital Marketing
We are going to see what types of toxic clients you can find in our sector, and how to say no to them when you play (before taking them better, of course)
Types of clients that you can meet
Bad paying customer
So, especially early in your career you won’t see them coming.
They are clients who will pay you well at the beginning, but, little by little, they delay the payments and that can unhinge you, when you have done your work on time.
In my case, I already see them coming when they ask me for a Social Media Marketing budget .
And I have two types of answers: a first option is to say no directly, and a second, to raise prices so much that it drives them away.
You do not hear from them again, because they do not want to pay what the services you provide are worth at every moment of your professional life.
Leveraged customer
Okay, you start doing a client such and such a job. It is agreed.
But then he asks you for more. But of course, at the same price.
It is the exploited client, who asks for more than he gives, and that detracts from the time you dedicate to the client who pays what corresponds for each professional service to provide as a community manager, social media manager or consultant in social media or digital marketing.
Know-it-all customer
He is the smart-ass customer, he knows everything, but he gives you the honor of having you do the work for his brand due to lack of time, he says.
He knows everything, but you soon catch him in resignations, in not having a clue of what to do.
But be careful, he keeps giving you advice.
It is as if I, with two noses, told a plumber how to fix the toilet cistern
Customer generating false expectations
Thus, the client I am talking about now is one who promises a lot, has many resources, plans, equipment, etc, but, deep down, has none of that.
We are going to make a big brand, he says, but he does not put in the resources that his expectations need.
The best thing is to tell them no as soon as possible and get them off your back.
Trailer customer (you have to go behind him)
An online brand, carrying the digital identity, takes a long time.
If you commit yourself as a professional to make it possible, with the appropriate means, the other party, the client, has to do their part.
If we need photos, if we need videos, even if you edit them later as a professional, they have to give it to you raw.
Thus, if you want me to do it regularly, you have to pay it, or hire another specific professional depending on the resources and objectives you have.
Tell them no soon, because you will be involved in endless sessions that are of no use to you, and they waste your time .
Say NO soon to a bad customer
I know it can be tough when you start out, but think about this before saying yes to a client you are going to work with:
- If he asks you too many questions at first, he probably wants to get information out of you to use as he can later.
- A bad customer tells you to start with one place, and then move on to the rest, instead of leaving it to you to set the strategy that best serves your brand.
- The disrespectful client with another colleague who has just left and who tells you how bad he was, the bad job he did, etc. The next will be you. These clients want to sell in 2 months without a website, without means to publish, without anything at all.
- To the potential client who stumbles, and does not allow himself to be advised.
- Say no to the client who tells you to take the photos yourself, that then you will have to go more than two and three times to do little in each session.
- Give up the client who tells you money is not an issue before starting work. You are a bad paying customer .
- Don’t take a customer who tells you that the web is about to go out.
- You will recognize the exploited client because after the budget is approved, they want a discount because it does not arrive. But he wants the same. Better get them off of you ASAP. And in the meantime, lower the number of hours you dedicate according to the new budget.
Tips for choosing a client in Digital Marketing
- Choose the brands that see their online strategy as a whole, that know the effort it takes, and know how to recognize the work.
- Do not send any brand prospecting information, calendars, online strategy ideas, etc., before charging a part the first month. The scoundrel customer goes all out before charging anything.
- Be wary of those who promise you a lot in the beginning.
- Detail the services that your rate includes to each client. What does not come in is not done, unless it is paid for in a budget increase.
- Ask the potential client if he passes you the raw content (photos and videos), or if you do it yourself. Then you charge him what the sessions are worth.
- Say no correctly, with good words.
- Think that a no in time is a huge yes from another client in the future, much better than the previous one.
- All the clients that you carry at all times must have the same rates for the same services.
- Tell him how far you go, and how far he has to have another specific professional (SEO, web analytics, Adwords, etc.) so that the global strategy of the brand benefits.
- Study in advance the time necessary to work on the new brand, and prepare an adequate budget.
- If you are starting as a community manager or similar, do not despair. There are many clients, but not all of them are suitable for you.
The best customer is you
Thus, I always say that the best customer is you .
Your brand or brands are the most important, the ones you are going to monetize and to which you dedicate all the time in the world.
Think that social networks may disappear, but your website and your brand survive.
There are many ways to do Online Marketing, but only one suitable at any given time for a brand.
Therefore, save the time necessary to work on your brand .
Saying no to a toxic customer opens more doors in the future than it closes . I tell you from experience.
And other fellow professionals will tell you similar experiences.
And stay with the brands that trust your work, pay on time and want to grow with you
