You know what’s worse than having no clients?

Having clients who make you question why you started the business in the first place.

The ones who treat your timeline like a suggestion. 

Who involve 47 people in every decision. 

Who compare you to their cousin’s nephew who “does websites for $200.”

Most agencies think client problems are just part of the game. Something you have to endure to keep the lights on.

That’s complete garbage.

And every hour you spend dealing with nightmare clients is an hour you can’t spend growing your business or working with people who actually respect what you do.

Time to fix that.

The Client Qualification Process

Stop selling yourself to every prospect. 

Start interviewing them to see if they deserve your time.

Do Your Discovery Calls Better!!!

Here’s exactly what to ask during your discovery calls to spot red flags before they become expensive problems:

“Walk me through how you’ve handled creative projects like this before.”

Good clients will describe clear processes, reasonable timelines, and lessons learned from past projects.

Red flag clients will either say “we’ve never done this before” (no experience managing creative work). That’s okay though. 

Everybody has their first time. If they fall under this bucket, just make sure you qualify them more. 

or launch into horror stories about previous agencies that “didn’t understand our vision.”, yeah that’s a red flag.

It’s like that guy who brags about how many lawsuits he started and won. He’s very likely to pull something off on you and you’re better off staying away and finding a better client. 

“Who will be the single point of contact for feedback and approvals?”

If they can’t name one person, you’re looking at decision-by-committee hell.

If they say “well, marketing will review it, then leadership, then we’ll probably want to show the board,” 

that’s your cue to either charge 3x your normal rate or politely decline.

“What’s driving this timeline? Is there a specific launch date or event?”

Good clients have logical reasons for their timeline. “We’re launching at the trade show in March” makes sense.

Red flag clients have artificial urgency. “My boss wants to see progress” or “we just want to get this done” means they’ll change the timeline whenever something else becomes more important.

“Tell me about a time when a creative project didn’t go as planned. How did you handle it?”

This reveals how they handle problems. 

Good clients will talk about working through challenges collaboratively.

Red flag clients will blame everything on the agency, describe unreasonable demands they made, or show zero self-awareness about their role in project failures.

The Pricing Strategy That Protects Your Profit

Once you’ve identified risk factors, price accordingly:

For Committee Decision-Making Clients: 

Add 40-60% to your base quote, or charge every hour you do revision work. 

Every additional person in the approval process means exponentially more revision rounds.

Tell them upfront. Something like “Based on the number of stakeholders involved, this project includes 6 revision rounds instead of our standard 3. This accounts for the additional coordination and feedback cycles required.”

That’s corporate jargon written with AI but you can adjust the message based on what you want it like. 

For Tight Timeline Clients: 

Double your “surge fee”. It’s like how Uber does it. Want it URGENT? Well you pay more. 

If they want 2 weeks for a project that takes 4 weeks, charge them for the overtime, weekend work, and other projects you’ll have to delay.

Something like  “To meet this timeline, we’ll need to prioritize your project over others and likely work extended hours. Our surge fee covers this additional resource allocation.”

For Vague Scope Clients: 

Build in 50% contingency time and budget. If they can’t clearly define success, they’ll keep asking for changes until they randomly decide to stop.

Say it plainly: “Since the project scope may evolve as we work through it, this quote includes additional time for scope refinement and adjustments.”

If you can’t do either of these, make sure you know when to walk away. 

When to Walk Away (And How)

Sometimes you have to give up the fight and walk away, and move on to something that’s more productive.

Walk away when:

• They want to negotiate your boundaries instead of accepting them
• They compare you to “other agencies” that charge less or work faster
• They can’t commit to a single decision-maker
• The timeline is impossible and they won’t budge on it
• They describe every previous agency relationship as a disaster

This protects your reputation while getting you out of a losing situation, and opens up more room to get more PROFITABLE clients.

One of our agency users did this exercise and improved their margins by a WHOPPING 300%. And we’re not kidding at all. In fact, this article is based on their and our other agency users’ case studies. 

Stop Being Everyone’s Last Resort

You didn’t start your agency to be a discount service provider for clients who don’t respect your expertise.

You started it to do great work with great people who value what you bring to the table.

But that only happens when you stop selling yourself to every prospect and start interviewing them to see if they deserve your time.

Use these questions. Price according to risk. Walk away from the disasters.

And watch what happens when you fill your client list with people who WANT to work with you, not just find the cheapest option.

If you’re ready to start working with clients who actually respect deadlines and budgets, 

You need to check Astravue out. 

It helps you track project timelines, spot delay patterns, and build realistic schedules around what clients actually do (not what they promise they’ll do).