If there’s one thing I’ve learned that I’d like to share that’s taken me the better part of 15 years to learn, it would be identifying red flags with potential clients.
If the company, or person you’re interacting with does not believe in their company/product/service 100%, and downplays the quality, or benefits, politely decline the opportunity and make a run for it.
Of all the difficult clients, mediocre products, and snake oil salesman I’ve had to work for, every single one of them had one thing in common:
The person hiring for the project or position always downplayed their product or service, and didn’t stand by it 100% as being better than what’s currently out in the market. Surprisingly, this seems to span across just about every industry that I can think of from health care, to hospitality, and even a lot of tech companies.
So if you’re looking for that one big red flag with a potential client or company, it’s that they themselves do not believe in the product. It will only lead to your inevitable failure as a for-hire marketer, or potentially leave you as being the scape goat because you didn’t do your job–despite being setup for failure the entire time.
Always beware of working with someone who wants to put something to market that isn’t that much better or different than everything else that is already out there.
