Let’s face it. Manipulations have been around since time immemorial and it is practiced by almost everyone. If you are new to the world of offshore staffing, there are some clients who would take advantage of your ‘newness’. In this post, i will talk about how they usually do it so that you can be prepared for them before they strike.

• First in my list is the technique where business owners use their authority over their outsourced employees to convince them to do something that is beyond the contract.

• A very common manipulation tactic is to demand something from your when you are focused on your work. The person who does this knows very well that your attention is towards what you are doing. They do it on purpose and take advantage of your consent. For instance, getting you to do something beyond your project scope – getting a tag-line written by you when actually, the contract is just one logo design.

• A client can sometimes also divert the topic you have been talking about in order to bring in something distantly related to the issue at hand so as to distract you. They can do it quite fast. Be careful when you talk to them, especially if you are a fresher because then you are highly likely to fall for the trick.

• If your client has repeatedly requested something that is beyond your ability to provide or is completely irrelevant to the project you have been entrusted with, he/she is manipulating you with the hope that at one point of time you will say ‘yes’.

• The last and probably commonest is the tactic of creating fear. Your clients present a scenario before you that is not real or can never be real and then they themselves provide a solution to the scenario to make you question your abilities and feel scared.

So, now you know how most business owners who outsource their projects can manipulate their offshore staff. However, not all clients do this and there are professionals who can dodge this kind of tricks. As your experiences grow, you will automatically be able to understand if, when and how you are being manipulated. Till then, use this guide and look out for what may come.