Handling difficult customers

[soudaniet]

Hi Fiverrs. I have been on this site for many years and have been handling all kinds of clients and I can say in my experience there are few rules to follow as a service provider
1- remain professional at ALL TIMES. Put emotions to the side
2- do your best doing your work
3- go the extra mile
4- never act desperate or needy. Just do your work, thank the buyer and move on

Also there are a few red flags to look for
Is the client rude? Sharp? Disrespectful?
That is a deal breaker to me and I rather cancel and refund than to continue such experience
Also there is this type that like to check every two minutes "how is it going… any updates… hello… are you there"
That too is too difficult to handle and although I tend to ignore the excessive messaging and answer once after a while to politely let the client know everything is okay and also to put in his mind that not all these update questions will be answered
Which turns the experience rather negative anyhow. The client can keep asking the same question all so frequently but with a harsh tone now. Or the customer can refrain from asking but deep within they’re upset and pouting
You can almost guarantee it won’t end well no matter what

I just had a client who I decided to pass on. He seemed to have had a negative experience and brought the shaking trust to me. Also he was a frequent checker. Are you there… hello…
You know what I mean. By all means it seemed it would be a failing expercience so I thanked him for his interest in my service and passed

Few days later he came back to tell me he consulted his colleagues and made up their minds on hiring me for the job

I figured the money was good. There seems to be an initiative of trust. So let’s give it a go
The first couple of days preparing the first drafts I got about 10 messages asking for updates which I answered once. Then sent the first draft
And the response each time was “we told you this and that” (which they didn’t) but no need to make a big argument. I kept trying different approaches and each time the response is negative and emotional to state he’s disappointed… mind you this is the initial stage of prototyping. It’s not the final end product and it’s no more than the starting point to build on. There are many types and he can like one more than the other and dislike others. It’s a matter of choice. There’s nothing to be disappointed at here
I could have explained this to him but not only his response wasn’t friendly to keep the communication but I also gathered that in his head this is “another” failing and disappointing experience so I didn’t want to bother and I requested cancellation and refund
Something Fiverr doesn’t prefer and neither do I. I just returned $250 like that but my idea is. Remove the negative to make room for the positive. I’d much rather work on a project twice as hard. Half the price but the comunication is positive and the overal ferling is of hops and excitment than to bang my head against the wall trying to please a customer who isn’t seeing this succeeding and sending back negative feedback to poisen the mood
I remain professional like I said but I’m a human. I swear sometimes I get a provoking message that leaves me not feeling like touching a single thing on the related project which if it goes on for long could make things worse and cause delays… and it has already

But this got me thinking… what about top rated buyers who have hundreds of orders a day…are they dealing with clients from heaven or still have negative ones like we deal with often?
I’m guessing the latter… so my question is… how do you guys handle difficult clients? Are there better ways than to refund, cancel and let go?

Thank you.
Abdel