How to Qualify Clients to Protect Your Time

Freelance experts: “Be more selective with clients!” Freelancers: “Super. Thanks. And how, pray tell?” Use these 10 practices to identify bad-fit clients before you become entangled: 1. Institute a minimum engagement, meaning don’t accept projects below a certain value. This is the easiest way to minimize the time you’d otherwise spend on price-sensitive tire kickers. 2. Institute a minimum timeline, meaning don’t agree to turnarounds time of less than X days. This will protect you from clients whose urgent deadlines are a result of their own poor planning. 3. Don’t do spec work or free “test” projects. If a client needs to see “what you can do,” send the link to your portfolio. If you don’t have a portfolio, produce some work you’re proud of, on your own—no clients asking for free samples required. 4. Require a deposit before you start the project. The client doesn’t work for free, and you don’t either. Oh, they really must get started asap? Oh look, here’s the link for paying with a credit card! How convenient. 5. Don’t offer discounts in exchange for future referrals. In fact, don’t offer discounts at all. If a client doesn’t have a big enough budget for everything they originally wanted, dial back on the scope. 6. Don’t jump into big projects or retainer relationships until you’ve tested the relationship with a one-off planning project. A paid audit, project roadmapping engagement, or strategy session can give you significant insight into what the person will be like to work with and save you many unpaid hours of discovery and project scoping. 7. Use a solid agreement. A living, breathing attorney created mine. It’s long and dense and I hate it and I love it because it’s better than Advil for preventing headaches. Maybe you know the feeling. If you don’t have a good one, sign up for Moxie. Their contracts alone are worth the monthly subscription. 8. Tie installment payments to dates in the calendar not to project milestones. If the project value is less than $5,000, I charge 100% up front. If it’s more than that, I charge 50% up front, 25% at 30 days, and the final 25% at 60 days. I don’t want my money held hostage by client delays. 9. “When people show you who they are, believe them the first time.” Maya Angelou said that once to Oprah, but she might have been saying it to every freelancer ever. Keep your peepers peeled. Notice what clients do more than what they say. 10. Remember that people are remarkably consistent. The client who’s sloppy with communication early on will grind your gears throughout the project. The client who’s prompt, respectful, detail-oriented, and decisive early on will continue to continue to be easy to work with. You still “go positive and go first,” as Peter Kaufman recommends, but as you see yellow flags and notice a familiar pattern emerging, you discreetly protect yourself by sticking to these practices—project deposits, et al—or by finding the nearest door.

Early in my freelance career, I used to get excited anytime someone booked a discovery call. This could be a big client! I’d think. But half the time, the call would go like this: • “What’s your rate?” (before we even talked about their needs) • “Can you do this for exposure?” (…no.) • “We just need a few quick tweaks.” (but they wanted a full rewrite) I wasted so much time on low-value leads because I wasn’t qualifying them before the call. Great clients don’t haggle over pricing, ghost you for weeks, or expect luxury service for bargain-bin rates. They value expertise, respect your process, and understand that quality work is an investment. But here’s the thing: It’s your job to filter them out before you even get on a call. Before you schedule a discovery call, consider using these filters: 1. Make sure you are qualifying clients with pre-call questions. Ask about budget, goals, and timeline in your intake form. If they dodge or lowball? 🚩 2. Consider adding some pricing visibility. You don’t have to list your full rates on your website (I don't) or even give them if they ask in the first communication. But you can signal your pricing level (e.g., “Projects start at $X”). This filters out those looking for a bargain. 3. Look for communication clues. Are they professional in emails? Do they respect your process? If they’re already difficult before working with you, it won’t get better. 4. Prioritize referrals over random inquiries. Clients who come from referrals often have a better understanding of your value than cold leads. Your time is valuable. Spend it on clients who respect that. What’s your biggest red flag when it comes to spotting less-than-ideal clients? ____________________________________________________ We talk about topics like this and more on the Boss Responses podcast. Are you a subscriber?

Arcanum Ventures recently posted about the cost of almost being hired. Unpaid scoping. Free calls. Proposal decks that go unread. They called it what it is: a tax on your time. The data supports it: – 60–80% of consulting sales calls go nowhere – Only 25% of RFPs result in signed work – Independent professionals spend up to 40% of their time on unpaid pre-sale activity This is wasted time caused by flaky clients. But it’s not their job to become less flaky. It’s the seller’s job to simplify the buyer journey—and redirect discoverers away from closing calls to free educational content. I close 4 out of 5 sales calls. I make it hard to get on one. Here’s how I filter and protect my time: 1. Build authority before the call. People should contact you, knowing what you do and why it works. Public proof—case studies, content, client results—should do most of the selling before you speak. 2. Explain your process and qualification criteria openly. Most discovery calls happen because prospects don’t know what you offer or whether they’re a fit. Record a short video explaining how your service works, who it’s for, and what to expect. Place it on your landing page. How often have you left a site unsure if it was relevant? Your page should qualify people in or out in under a minute. 3. Stop offering open access. No one should get your time without a screening step. I use a short form to check for: – Budget readiness – Urgency – Decision-making authority If that’s unclear, the call doesn’t happen. 4. Set expectations in writing. Every prospect gets this message: “This call is for professionals ready to hire and able to invest.” Not rude—just clear. 5. Use a real qualification form. Before confirming a time, I ask: – What problem are you solving? – Why now? – What’s the cost of doing nothing? – Are you ready to fund help in 30 days? – Who else is involved? If they can’t answer, the call doesn’t happen. 6. Run the call with authority. I open with: “This is to assess fit. I’ll lead with a few direct questions.” Stay in control. You’re interviewing them, too. At the end, I ask: “Give me three reasons not to move forward today.” Let objections surface. Address them—or walk away. If you’ve built authority, set filters, clarified expectations, and still aren’t closing? Either the value doesn’t land during the call, or your service doesn’t solve a painful problem. No script can fix that.