I have a system to weed out the clients who have bad expectations. But there are always a few that get through. So what do I do when that happens? Do I instantly fire them? Let’s talk about it.

What kind of expectations do they have?

There are different levels of bad expectations. There are those you can easily undo and those that are so toxic that you need to end the relationship immediately. Most fall somewhere between the two. And where they fall really depends on personal preference.

For example, I love a client who needs a lot of education on social media marketing. That’s frankly not for every consultant. So if a client presents as knowledgeable during the prospecting stage but actually is not knowledgeable, that works for me whereas it won’t work for other social media consultants.

It also is dependent on what they are willing to give to social media. If they want to do lots of organic content with little to no budget for paid social but expect you to go viral, that’s obviously a problem. This is especially true if they want it to happen next week after leaving their social accounts dormant for awhile. This is going to take a lot of time to unravel and figure out how to move forward with them. And frankly, most social media consultants will think this is toxic.

So know what expectations are considered bad to you and always keep an eye out for them.

What is their attitude?

I’ve had some new clients who have had the absolute worst expectations I have ever come across. But their attitude was absolute gold. So it was worth picking through what they brought to the project and get our goals aligned.

Before you decide to fire a new client over bad expectations, assess them as a person first. Are they willing to learn? Do you have similar working styles? Are there signs that their expectations can be changed?

Once again, this is purely personal. If you can picture working with this person despite what they’re bringing to the table at this one moment in time, give it a try. See what happens. You can always end the relationship if it doesn’t get any better.

Boundary-pushing expectations

Now let’s get into different types of bad expectations. The one that is most likely to get through for me is boundary-pushing. I talk about my schedule with clients prior to putting together a contract, and it is also in my contract. And yet… I will have non-emergency texts at night where the client expects an immediate response.

You can put all the boundaries in your contract that you want, and even if the client does read it when they sign it, they will push them. And the more they are successful, the more they will push those boundaries. The best thing you can do with a client who expects you to be responsive about all questions at all hours is to stop it early.

For the first offense, I’ll usually answer the question and then remind them about the working hours outlined in my contract. And then I will tell them it’s fine to text me at any hour with an emergency, but to please reserve texts for emergencies or when I tell them that’s the best way to reach me. It will be super gentle. I’ve found most clients have no idea they did something wrong and a quick reminder corrects the behavior.

And then there are the other clients…

A client who thinks you should be responsive to them at all hours and does not respond when you enforce the boundary is only going to get worse. It’s a huge sign of disrespect, and for me, that’s a dealbreaker. I have a great life outside of work and living it makes me better at work. So I will fight back at anything that gets in the way of me living my life. That may not be the same for you.

Going viral

How many times has a client come to me and tell me their goal is to go viral? Too many to count. For anyone not aware of what social media can do, it ends up being the ultimate goal.

For me, I treat it as an education moment. I show them how social media can move the needle on their business goals without going viral. I also show them are problematic going viral can be. This is just to reinforce that going viral is a bad expectation.

If they connect with this education, I make it a priority to keep this a part of working with them. It’s something I love to do, and because I constantly read social media news, it’s not extra work for me. So even though they’re technically getting something for free, they’re not getting at the expense of my time. And it speeds up content approvals, because I don’t have to explain everything. In the end, it’s saving me time.

That may be different for you. You might want to consider how much extra time education will take and whether it would be worth pitching adding education to your package. Once again, this is all about preferences and there is no correct answer here.

There is however a right answer to what to do with a client who is stubborn and still wants to go viral. They’re not listening on this, and they’re probably not listening about anything else. It’s going to be very hard to do work you are proud of in a situation like this. So keep that business development up and find a new client to replace them.

Other expectations

Honestly, these two are the only bad expectations that will get through my prospect process. So I don’t have as much hands-on experience with other issues. But like I keep saying, take it as it comes and decide if it might be something you don’t want to deal with. And then move forward with that decision as quickly as you can.

Dragging it out will only make it worse. Your work will suffer, and your mental health will suffer. Nothing is worth making your life less worth living.

How do you work with clients who have bad expectations?