Good Clients Vs. Bad Clients
  • Pet+Sitter+BiblePet Sitter Bible
    Some of you might have read my recent post: Is The Pet Service Client Always Right? No! where I discussed how you should not always bend to your clients demands. I want to continue this discussion and take it a little further to discuss the idea of good pet service clients vs bad clients. As we all know clients are not always easy to deal with, but what makes a bad client?

    For me a bad pet service client is someone who:

    * does not value the strengths of your company, the things that make you special and unique compared to your competition

    * is always trying to push you away from your core strengths into ways of doing business you're not comfortable with

    * doesn't follow your policies

    * doesn't spend much with you but expects 5 x more attention than other clients

    * will never trust you, and will often accuse you/your employees of doing something wrong, no matter how long they work with you

    * is condescending, snarky and often confrontational with you and/or your employees

    For me a good pet service client is someone who:

    * is with you specifically because of what you offer and how you offer it

    * feels lucky to be working with you and they celebrate your strengths

    * gives you feedback that they think might help all the clients in your company, not just them, and in turn make your business much more successful

    * treats you like a peer and with respect

    * shows respect for your policies whether they love them or not

    * makes you feel better about your company and gives you inspiration to work harder and do better

    I hope you take these lists to heart. Bad clients weigh you down and make you doubt yourself and your company when you shouldn't. Limit the amount of bad clients you work with. Learn the signs of a bad client and try and weed them out before you even start working together. Too many bad clients will make you uninspired, unhappy and less profitable over time.

    *** What are some of your experiences with good and bad clients? And how would you advise others to deal with bad clients?

  • aahpetsaahpets

    I've learned that listening to my "gut feeling" is my best protection against bad clients.  There have been a few clients that I've taken on and later regretted it.  Some were bad about paying for service, one wrote a bad check, and the worst ones are the owners who flat out lie to you about their pets.  If I do a meet & greet and get any kind of a bad feeling, I don't take the job, even if I really need the money.  It has always turned out bad when I've not listened to that little voice telling me not to do this thing.


    On the other hand, I've taken on a lot of clients who have turned out to be wonderful.  Some of them are now close friends!  They are the ones who are considerate of my time, don't quibble about price and keep me going with bookings. 


    I don't deal with bad clients-after the first time of getting fooled by them, I just don't provide any more service to them. I don't go into details about why, I just simply tell them politely that I'm fully booked for the time they want.  They know what they did so they don't bother to ask why I'm too busy for them.  There's no confrotation so they can't get all uppity with me and blame me then go out and bad mouth me because I refused them.If I think they're going to get upset, I  even act apologetic and tell them "I'm really sorry, I'm just totally booked at that time and because it's only me I just can't be in more than one place at a time"....etc.   This might seem like a cop-out but if you can make them think you really are truly upset that you can't help them out it seems to deflate their anger and leave them with nothing to hold against you. 

  • deafdogwalkerdeafdogwalker
    I almost left my business because of bad clients. These are the ones who have badgered me and abused me beyond belief with last minute bookings, cancellations, odd requests, and even going as far as writing me bad checks. I got most of my payments under control with the exception of a few here or there that forget to pay but usually pay me later in the evening or the next day. It's the ones who spring up on you at 8PM on a Friday night and ask for a walk right away. I've gotten so much better at saying no. 

    I just recently lost some clients who insisted that my back up walker was amazing, so amazing that their dog aggressive dogs were no longer acting out and that they were happily living in peace and harmony. This walker covered me for about two months while I handled another part of town. When I took my route back, this walker had gotten a day job. Within a few weeks they lost their new job. I had already let that walker go and the clients contacted me to let me know that since this walker lost their full time job, they would be going with them until they find work and will contact me when that happens. This was after I spent nights and weekends trying to work with their dogs. The problem was that the dogs behaved very well for me and I socialized them with about 10 other dogs over the almost 2 years I had been walking them. The owners have no control over their dogs when they get home to walk them. I somehow doubt these dogs are pooping ice cream cones and kissing other dogs because of a particular walker. I'm sure you can imagine the big no they will get when they try to contact me to resume services. I do understand that dogs behave differently for different people, but when a dog is being walked at 12PM and the owners come home at 7PM, I highly doubt the dog is going to say "We were walked by this person today, so we can act bad when our owners get home, but we'll be good when the other walker walks us."

    Over the hoildays I get a lot of last minute "we only need you to come in mornings and nights to feed and let the dog out" kind of calls. I used to take these, but after I got bit by a large dog, almost mauled by a rottweiler (after he peed all over my shoes and cornered me,) and came into about 4 homes where dog owners "forgot to leave the pre-payment" but expected me to leave the keys behind me on the last day, I decided that was enough and I don't even answer those emails or voice mails anymore. When I go on vacation, I have 4 people cover my daily routes that I handle by myself. I also plan it for 3-4 months in advance so I can also have a sitter either come in 3x a day to walk my dog and feed him or have someone stay in my apartment while I'm gone. It's one thing to have a really good client have an emergency or need to fly out of town on a whim and ask me to take their dog home with me, but to have people you don't even know, dogs you don't know, and also not getting paid up front is most disappointing and disheartening experience. It takes it's toll on the services you provide to your good clients and that is not something I want in my business.
  • Pet+Sitter+BiblePet Sitter Bible
    re.: I've gotten so much better at saying no.

    Oh yes, that took me a LONG TIME to learn, good for you and so important for all of us to understand that being service professionals doesn't mean we never say no.

    re.: This was after I spent nights and weekends trying to work with their dogs.

    I'm really sorry about that, it's happened to me too and it just makes you feel sick at first. Some clients are looking for a friend more than a pet professional. Some client's also don't show appreciation for the dynamics in running our business. Some think it's a pyramid where we simply get more clients and then pick somebody off the street to visit their pets (if only it were that simple.)

    re.: Over the hoildays I get a lot of last minute "we only need you to come
    in mornings and nights to feed and let the dog out" kind of calls. I
    used to take these, but after I got bit by a large dog, almost mauled by
    a rottweiler

    Wow so true! Short notice clients, who have never worked with you can bring so much chaos and the liability risk involved working with them is so great. A funny thing I think we all notice too is that the less a client works with us/the smaller a client is, often means the more they expect from us????? What a strange truth.
  • aahpetsaahpets
    I've also noticed that last minute clients aren't likely to use you again in the future!  Sometimes I take them on if I don't have anything else scheduled, but usually you never hear from them again.
  • Pet+Sitter+BiblePet Sitter Bible
    Wow so true @aahpets many people think they might become long-term clients at some point but often don't. We should say okay, well we have a membership fee of $250 etc. you'd still need to pay now if you don't come on later...
  • smilekirasmilekira
    Wow so true! Short notice clients, who have never worked with you can
    bring so much chaos and the liability risk involved working with them is
    so great. A funny thing I think we all notice too is that the less a
    client works with us/the smaller a client is, often means the more they
    expect from us????? What a strange truth.
    - I noticed that clients who think that our service is expensive tend to be so difficult with us. They get one short walk a day but expect that you do a,b,c....x,y,z and beyond for the dog. I treat all clients equally but this is my observation :)
  • deafdogwalkerdeafdogwalker
    I had one of these clients drag me on for an entire year...I gave them a lower than normal rate which was supposed to be temporary and I thought for a few weeks, what's the harm? They never paid my standard rates and always wanted more and more time on a walk, earlier time frames, additional walks, never once paid a dime extra. So glad they fired me.
  • Pet+Sitter+BiblePet Sitter Bible
    Oyy do I hear you. I've grown to only give discounts to someone who I can't give what they want (example: they want 1 x 30 minute walks a day between 12-2 and we can't do that time frame so I get them to do 1 x 15 minutes between 10-12 and 3-5, so 2 x 15 minutes a day but I charge them the 1 x 30 rate, so they pay less.) I let them know I'll give them this discount for 3 months and try to get them in their sweet spot, 12-2 1 x 30 min etc., but if I can't after 3 months I'll need to start charging them the normal rate. It's worked well actually, no one has left yet but either way I get them into the company and with an understanding.
  • smilekirasmilekira
    I think it would make sense to charge them extra $ for those 2-3 walks and "see ya". I never count on those clients but at the end of the month its a good extra income
  • Pet+Sitter+BiblePet Sitter Bible
    @smilekira

    Absolutely, I say take it while you need it unless it pushes you far away from your business strategy.
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