We’ve featured a lot of stuff recently about bad clients and dealing with them, but is there a way to get good, or even better clients? Well there are no guarantees that your next client isn’t going to be a nightmare, but here are 5 ways you might want to consider to attract great clients.

1. Get Trusted Partners
   Good clients don’t appear by accident, it is down to us to find them. So get trusted partners who can recommend clients to you; yes you read that right - make it your job to find the good clients.
2. Get References
   So often we think references only apply when we are hiring, but they also apply when we are seeking new clients. The music production community is so small so it doesn’t take long to find out if a potential client is going to be good or bad for your business. If you are lending money (any line of credit is a loan) then make sure you also get references, especially if it’s a big sum of money.
3. Put Some Obstacles Up To Test Their Intent
   If a new client comes to me, then the first thing I require before doing any work is 50% up front and the rest on delivery; seldom are there exceptions. I explain that this is my way of credit checking a company and once we’ve completed a project to everyone’s satisfaction, then we can talk about possibly relaxing the credit terms.
4. Put Up Your Prices
   Often we can be our own worst enemy, we sell our studios or our production talent for virtually free and then wonder why we attract jokers. Often serious clients won’t take you seriously becuase you are too cheap. The second reason to put up your prices is to ensure you work less time for more money. If you are working twice as hard as you should for half as much money as you should, then simply put up your rates. Ask people I work with, one client of mine has asked me several times if they should drop their prices, my answer is not if you have to work twice as hard for the same amount of profit.
5. Be The Best
   Don’t expect to get great clients if you offer a substandard product or service - would you pay top dollar for average quality? Being the best will start to attract the best, you look after your clients and on the whole, they will look after you.

You might be reading that list and thinking ‘Russ has lost his mind, is he joking?’ No I’m not, I challenge you to try just one of the five on this list and then see what happens. I can’t guarantee you a future free of problem clients - but I can guarantee if you ignore this list that you’ll have a future of bad clients.