Buyers: The Good, The Bad, The Relationship

You’re a freelancer. The other guy or gal is the buyer. Just like you can be a good or bad freelancer, the buyer can be good or bad. So what makes a good buyer? How can a buyer be “bad”? How can I tell if a buyer is good or bad?

These questions and probably not a whole lot more will be discussed in this episode of The oDesk Insider Blog.

Once in a while (or maybe pretty often) you’ll run across a buyer who is asking unreasonable rates for doing the work. As Dave mentions in his post, it’s okay to lowball a little bit to build up some reputation. However, when the price gets too low, you’re just wasting your time and spending money to work. A bad buyer will not pay you what you’re worth.

Another sign that you’re about to contract with a bad client is if they have completely unreasonable requirements for time. If you know it will take you at least fifteen hours to complete a project, then don’t waste your time if they have a deadline of one day to get this done unless you can sit there for fifteen hours undisturbed and churn out work. All you’re going to do is end up getting a bad rating because you signed up for a project that you couldn’t finish in the time frame needed. The reason that the buyer is bad is because they should have had the foresight to see more than a day into the future to post the job listing. If they don’t have their stuff together, how can they expect you to?

One of the worst things you can encounter is a buyer who has no clue what you’re doing. Either the buyer wants something done, but they don’t know what exactly they want it to be, or the buyer is working for someone else and got in way over their head. In the first case, you can expect the buyer to not have complete, comprehensive knowledge of what you’re doing (that’s why they hired you). However, if they ask you to draw a picture for their website, but they have nothing in mind for what it should look like, you’re going to be spending a lot of time making drafts. If this job is hourly, then you’ll get paid more, but they might get mad that they spent several hundred dollars more than they planned for a graphic. If it’s a fixed price, you’ll be out of luck. You won’t get paid until you produce something that fits their fancy. If it’s the second case, then you’re doing someone else’s work and getting paid less for it. Also, you won’t really be able to ask many questions because the client won’t know exactly what the eventual end-buyer wants and won’t want you to give away their dirty secret.

Make sure you can communicate with the buyer effectively. If the client gets on your nerves to the point of making you not want to work with them, then you’re losing the best part of being a freelancer–picking jobs you enjoy. You might as well slap on a suit and do a 9-5 job. It’s best to work with people who are friendly and polite. If the buyer seems like a real pain in the beginning of the relationship, chances are they will be as bad or worse later on.

A good buyer will at least have some sort of clue as to what you’re supposed to be doing, offer reasonable rates, be polite, and is willing to answer questions. They’re interested in making sure you’re set up to do the best job you can do for them. That way, you save time that can be spent doing productive work and they save money. If you run across a good buyer and they’re giving you problems, then that means you need to change your habits as a freelancer. Treating your clients poorly will result in a good buyer acting badly towards you.

So how can you tell if a buyer is good or bad before you sign with them? It’s hard and you can’t be a hundred percent sure, but there are signs to read. If you look at the job listing and there are other people who have worked for them, then check out how long they worked with the buyer. If they have put out a lot of jobs and people usually don’t do much work before they leave, it’s a warning sign. It could also be a sign of their bad luck with running into flakes though, so keep that in mind. While you’re there, see how much they have paid to their providers. If the buyer usually hires people for extremely cheap, you don’t want to waste your time sending them your application. Another thing to check, of course, is the buyer rating. That one is obvious.

The job listing description is very important. If the buyer doesn’t take the time to tell you–in detail–what the job is, then how can you know if you can do the job or not? If they’re too lazy to give a decent delineation of the project, then they probably won’t be too communicative during the job itself. If you have to press the client for the information to do your job, then you’re just adding stress that is unnecessary.

Being a good freelancer and having a good buyer leads to a relationship. If you produce good content and are at ease with the buyer, then they will come back to you when they need work done. Repeat business is always good. It shows to other potential buyers that your work is so good that people will choose you without even looking at the slush pile of potential workers. Repeat business also means that you can make money without having to spend time searching out jobs, applying, and learning. Always go into a job with the mentality that you’re going to make a product so good that the buyer will want to use your skills for every project. When it’s appropriate (usually after you finish and they say you did a wonderful job), tell the buyer that you would be more than happy to handle any other work they have for your field. If you have, in fact, done well,  then the buyer will probably be more than happy to send more work your way. Having you around will save them the time and trouble of having to search for a new provider.

So always do your best to please your client, try to find clients who treat you well, and go out and make some money!