Stand your ground with arrogant 'clients'

[silkroute]

Everyone has their definition of what is acceptable/tolerable behavior, but I believe it’s unprofessional to play the ‘I have others waiting to do it for a lower price’ card. It’s just a cheapshot. It’s not an open bidding process where sellers can see what the other bids are, nor should sellers be concerned about other offers. We quote what we feel is commensurate with the amount of time we are going to put in to deliver the project. There might not be any competitive offers, for all I know, it just comes across as trying to devalue the seller’s professional acumen. I can understand if someone says ‘could you offer a lower bid’ but ‘offer a lower bid or I buy from someone else’ leaves no space for redemption, it’s just open ended blackmail. The only avenue that is left is to say ‘please do’. That’s the most professional and neutral one can be without getting personal with the buyer. If indeed better offers are available to them, respectfully request them to opt for those but stay firm on your bid.

Take a look at this conversation I just had (attached). It’s a major red flag, because if the buyer doesn’t appreciate the work that is going into the gig right from the start, they will try to shortchange you at every step, and still leave a bad review in the end. Looking at the personal attack that I received, I think I just dodged a landmine. This buyer has “I will give a 1 star rating, claim a refund and I need to see a manager right now!” written all over it.

For those who might be curious as to what my bid was, I had quoted 3.5$/hr X 20 hours of programming work (basically ~80$ for 3 whole working days). Which was apparently higher than other bids, as per the buyer. I don’t know anyone who would do it for lesser, it wouldn’t even cover the electricity charges I incur by keeping my computer on for 20 hours. This is just pungent behavior and personal attacks are totally uncalled for. If the buyer and seller are unable to arrive at a consensus, why not simply leave gracefully instead of attacking the seller?

[january2015]

Hi, I am in agreement with what eoinfinnegan said, I also saw no arrogance in what the buyer said. I have been in sales for over 25 years, and have dealt with all types of people from all walks of life. Some of us buyers are old school, in our thinking and follow the “Golden rule of sales” “The buyer is always right”. Once I figured that out, I had a loyal following. Here is the golden rule:
"A buyer is the most important person to any business. They are not dependent on the seller. The sellers are dependent on the buyer. The buyer is not an interruption to your work.The buyer is the purpose of it. The buyer should not be treated like an outsider to any business. They should be made to feel a part of it. The seller is not doing the buyer a special favor by serving them. The buyer is doing the seller a favor by giving them an opportunity to do so. I do telephone sells and telemarketing and I have to deal with lots of rude people, but guess what, I am the top sales person. I also train people in sales,and what I have found is that many people try to over sell their product,or themselves. Then when they fall short of delivering the buyer gets upset. Rejection is just a part of sales and you really should not take things so personally when you have to deal with rude people.

[writer99025]

Good on you for standing your ground. But it would certainly help to get some reviews to get started with.

[silkroute]

I had the exact same thought before I turned down the offer, in fact, it is this same thing which weighed in heavily on me because if I get my first review and if it turns out to be negative (which seemed most likely, given the salty attitude of the buyer), it would be worse than not having a sale.

[writer99025]

Good point.

[domsndev]

I think nobody wants to work with this kind of clients. Even if they pay good, the job will be not fun at all. Especially if you are in the design genre it can affect your creativity in a negativ way.

[eoinfinnegan]

I don’t subscribe to the concept of the customer is always right.
The buyer is not the most important person in the business either. Buyers, as a group, are indeed important however this does not mean every single buyer is important. There will be buyers who over demand, time waste and don’t value your work. I dont need those buyers, in fact I will be better off without them.
My point above was that this buyer did not seem like one of those, he seemed to communicate clearly - far more important than one who says “hello” and “your dogs are lovely, what are their names” etc.

[eoinfinnegan]

Yes, clear communication is important and if you ask me, the buyer was very clear in his communication -much more than those buyers who want a half hour “getting-to-know-you” conversation for a $5 order!
Sure, friendly is nice but given the choice I would prefer clear over friendly.

[psychicbunny]

I have a tip for dealing with arrogant buyers… It’s called cancelling the order and telling them to peace out.

[marioland]

I treat all clients the same. I take a look at a big business like a supermarket or a service mechanic. Why are they successful? What do they do? How do they treat their clients? How do they deal with the difficult clients? If you want to be successful here on Fiverr, you have to copy the formula big business employ in their model.

[rmncompany]

hey y’all-- coming in from the buyer side of this equation,
I seems possible to me your jumping to conclusions to say someone is arrogant because they are trying to be detailed and clear… it seems like a lot of aggression towards the buyer.

I recently had an experience when I got a rush order (the seller offered a rush order) and the seller was quite late so I asked when it would be done, he replied ‘don’t worry’ and so I said, ‘could you just tell me when?’ It was already 4 or 5 hours past when he said he could do it… and his response was to cancel the order. Because, ‘I was pressuring him’… it felt really bad since I didn’t feel i was pressuring him, I simply had a reason for ordering rush-- I was in a rush 🙂 I am not just getting this design for no reason, eh?

Now, I had taken time with him, explained in detail what i needed, and waited for him-- and suddenly it’s over. Yuck. Creates a really bad taste for working with anyone else, you know what i mean? As a buyer, it really doesn’t feel good. Maybe you don’t really care about that… as a seller you avoid any negative feedback by just canceling order, but it feels super yuck, and probably affects overall buisness. A lot of us buyers are just as artistic and cool as the sellers-- maybe its better to communicate than just cut someone off?

I don’t know, just wanted to put that out there to you all…
peace,
A buyer

[silkroute]

“Creates a really bad taste for working with anyone else, you know what i mean? As a buyer, it really doesn’t feel good. Maybe you don’t really care about that… as a seller you avoid any negative feedback by just canceling order, but it feels super yuck, and probably affects overall buisness.”

Good observation. Perhaps if Fiverr could take away the very real stigma their algorithm attaches to people who get less than 5 stars, then people could be people and not machines who work for stars. Pressurizing sellers to maintain 5 start rating and linking it to their fate on Fiverr makes all sellers trigger happy with cancellations. It hurts overall sales, I reckon.

[dadoc93]

I agree with artworkking’s assessment in general but I am more for using an impertinent message for deciphering the buyer rather than being rude to them. If I were in the TS’s shoes, I would have politely declined to work with the buyer instead of giving them a lesson in basic manners. I would have gleaned enough information from the tone/content of the message that this is a buyer that I shouldn’t be working with. And ultimately, this is something a seller should learn - gauge different buyers, because the Fiverr system is heavily skewed in favor of the buyer.

[fastcopywriter]

He doesn’t have to say hello, this isn’t a dating website, he doesn’t need manners.

“3) He is arrogant enough to think he should be waited on hand and foot by asking for a 10 hour response time.”

Well, time is money, he wants to work with serious sellers that will eventually answer questions.

As long as the buyer doesn’t demand revisions and gives me 5-stars in the end, I’m happy. Six revisions? Buyers are lucky when I make one revision, usually I make none.