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In a perfect world, you\\u2019d only work with the clients that make you feel good, inspired, reassured and confident. Trouble is, that all those things are what friends do for you, not clients. Clients are a whole other beast.

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This is Clickstarter, the Australian digital marketing podcast. I\\u2019m Dante St James.

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When you start a business or start a new job, chances are that you\\u2019ll be facing customers or clients at some point. Unless you\\u2019re hiding in a giant corporation or government department, clients, customers, guests, whatever you call them in your world, are part of the game. And not every client is going to be in the business of making you feel good about yourself. In fact, no client is hanging around to do that. That doesn\\u2019t mean that every client is a nasty piece of work. But you\\u2019re going to come across a difficult one here and there.

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Probably the most common complaint that comes from clients is a lack of communication or poor communication from a business. Especially those that they contract to perform a service. And even more so with a service that the client doesn\\u2019t really understand very well.

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This has certainly been the case in my world. There have been times, even recently, that I was overwhelmed with work and didn\\u2019t keep in tight communication with my client. Which made them feel forgotten and a little ripped off. And rightly so.

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This client got quite aggressive. Which made me not want to communicate with her. Which exacerbated her aggression. Which caused the problem to deepen. And naturally, I lost that client. For all the clients I\\u2019ve worked with over the many years that I\\u2019ve done what I do, even I don\\u2019t get it quite right sometimes.

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In this case, I was the problem. The client amplified the problem. I amplified it even further. Then it became unsalvageable. Sometimes you need to be honest with yourself about what the problem was. An aggressive client, or an uncommunicative contractor.

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Having a tight quote, a well-written scope or work and a very strong brief from a client is worth its weight in gold. That\\u2019s because there\\u2019s always a client who can\\u2019t help but ask for more and more stuff that you never agreed to provide. \\u201cOh it\\u2019s just a quick thing to do isn\\u2019t it?\\u201d Those are the words of a client who has never worked on what you work on in their life and has no idea how one \\u201clittle change\\u201d can derail a whole project. And how much extra time is required to do those \\u201cteeny-tiny adjustments\\u201d to the scope.

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Once a scope is signed off and the quote accepted, that is the end of the changes. Unless the client is willing to sign off on a new scope and a new quote. That\\u2019s because you shouldn\\u2019t be delivering stuff for free to clients. You are not their family. You are not their friend. You are not a charity. You need to be able to plan your projects out so that you can deliver a service and make enough money to reach your goals. A client who continually makes changes to the scope or wants extra stuff outside of the agreed quote is a client who doesn\\u2019t respect you, your time or your business. Nip it in the bud early. Never give away free work even for a \\u201ctiny little change.\\u201d They never stay \\u201ctiny.\\u201d

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I\\u2019m Dante St James. You can learn more about digital marketing the Australian way at clickstarter.com.au, and give your business all the tools it needs to get known, get found and stay known.