That’s us respecting them, not them respecting us…
I posted a tweet this morning that got a bit of reaction from my followers, so I thought I’d write it up here.
Sites like Clients From Hell are all quite light-hearted, and some are very funny, but it’s still a public forum in which our industry is calling out and mocking those that fund it.
The thing that actually triggered my tweet this morning was this comic strip from Freelance Switch. This, and many others like it (note; random sample) in the Freelance Freedom series, is the design industry blatantly bitching about our clients, and it makes us look like twats.
Think about it like this; if you wouldn’t say it to your client’s face, should you say it at all? Word travels, and I could think of nothing worse than a client finding out that I’d been ridiculing them behind their backs… I don’t have the first idea about plumbing, but I’d be pretty annoyed to find out that my plumber was bitching about me to his peers.
The web is still a relatively new industry. Just think at what rate you’re still learning; how can you expect a client to have even a shred of the same knowledge?
We’re all guilty of it to some extent, myself included, but if you think about it’s a bit harsh. We’ve all had clients request silly, impossible or just outright disgusting things, but we’re professionals. This is where we educate, explain, justify and reason to the best of our abilities, using our knowledge as a tool and not a weapon.
If the client is still adamant they want x when you think they want y—and you have done all you can to convince them otherwise—just comply. They’re paying you after all, and would you rather have them remember and recommend you as ‘the agency who went that extra mile for me and did everything I asked’
, or as ‘the agency who wouldn’t do what I wanted’
?
Not all clients understand design or the web, and that’s good, because if they did we’d all be out of jobs.
Now, these opinions are entirely my own and you might not agree, but I’d like to hear some thoughts…
By Harry Roberts on Tuesday, January 18th, 2011 in Industry. Tags: Clients | 12 Comments »
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meteoracle said on 18 January, 2011 at 4:52 pm
Who wouldn’t want to be remembered as “the agency who went that extra mile for me and did everything I asked”, I think that’s what we all need to aim for. Word of mouth is a very powerful marketing tool.
And, for example and without the bitching, we have a client who is constantly tweaking their site design, taking it more into the 1990’s with every update. But we do it, even though they’ve gone against most of our advice almost from day nought, because they pay us to do it.
Matt Berridge said on 18 January, 2011 at 4:57 pm
I agree 100%. Bitching on twitter about clients is bad form, regardless of whether they will find out or not.
You’ve gotta ask the question — if the client still wants x — are you doing your job and communicating the issue properly? Otherwise, why are they making such silly demands?
Wes Mason said on 18 January, 2011 at 4:58 pm
To play devils advocate I’d just like to point out that your plumber most likely *does* bitch about you to his peers and that in fact there are most likely public forums full of plumbers bitching about “idiot customers”. For other examples see retail, which probably produces 2000% more bile regards those that end up paying the abuser than any of us could ever hope to achieve. ;-)
Harry Roberts said on 18 January, 2011 at 5:05 pm
@Wes: Fair point, and whilst I agree, I don’t think it excuses anything.
As cliché as it sounds, an eye for an eye makes us both blind (or however it goes). I’d prefer to remain professional and not base my actions on those of others.
Plus luckily I’ve never actually needed plumber ;)
Joseph McCullough said on 18 January, 2011 at 6:10 pm
I’ll be your plumber, Harry ;)
I think the way the web industries antagonize clients is just a byproduct of all the negative aspects of the internet itself: Band-wagonism, Internet-bullying, etc.
Now of course there might be some people who “deserve” a good bashing. But we’ve all “deserved” a good bashing at one point. Some CEO might want to be involved in the process “just cause he’s CEO”, and he might say some dumb things. But in the end, those dumb you put up with put food on your table.
There are always extremes, and you might need to fire a client. But no matter what, you’re always have the choice of acting professionally. You can either
It boils down to this: You can
A) Be a douche and get the giggles of some strangers on the internet.
B) Be professional (even when it’s hard) and possibly get a profitable reference.
Dustin said on 18 January, 2011 at 6:16 pm
I’ve always thought this about those comics and websites. Bitching about clients and their ignorance isn’t going to do anything but make things worse. Chances are, they’re ignorant because nobody will actually teach them otherwise. Clients obviously have no drive to learn how the web works and what is/isn’t possible… Thats why they’re coming to you after all.
However, on the other hand. There are always those few clients that just treat you like dirt because you don’t have a six figure salary (or they falsely believe you do). They don’t care about you and they’ll move on to new freelancers until they find one that will allow them to prance all over their face. It’s just a very diverse field, and I say if you’re getting walked on in your work by your clients… Then it’s nobodies fault but your own in the end :).
benjamin said on 19 January, 2011 at 1:18 am
Complaining comes with the territory (on both ends). I agree that the best place for it might not be in a public forum, but sometimes complaining helps you purge the frustration.
Being a designer comes with moonlighting as a crisis therapist. The project is constantly in jeopardy, threatened by the full gamut of ideas and knowledge levels. There’s nothing wrong with egos, brains or bravado battling. But there is something wrong with not finding a productive way to communicate with your clients.
The difference is with being prepared and knowing how to turn lemons into lemonade. Or to use them sh*ts to make a banging margarita at the end of a rough day.
Also if it’s only about the money for some designers, I hope that they are cursed with nightmare clients only. It should always be about doing an excellent job.
Arno said on 19 January, 2011 at 9:29 am
On the other hand,
I don’t know anything about plumbing and when I need a plumber, I trust him. I know he has a knowledge I haven’t. And if he tells me that “this is not a good idea” or that “it won’t work”, I believe him
In the field of communication however, clients, even those without any sense of aesthetics, design, marketing (especially those actually) have a deeply annoying tendency to get involved at each little step of the project, ending ruining it. These clients seem totally ignore your knowledge and the complain when they realize after a time that their site is unusable, or that their ad is unappealing etc. You have tried hard to educate them, show better options but they wouldn’t listen, you have then done everything the way they wanted, and it sucks. From my experience these clients don’t refer you as “the agency who went that extra mile for me and did everything I asked” , they just go on saying you did a bad job.
All clients aren’t like this luckily, but I’ve met my fair share of them, and for these, I’m sorry, they definitely deserve the bashing
(PS : sorry if my English is bad, this is not my native language)
Gabor said on 19 January, 2011 at 11:54 am
I would say complaining about idiot customers as webcomics is the industry’s way of letting off steam. Just as this site about marketing and big companies. It just is. And customers are idiots most of the time.
I agree with Arno on this matter. Client comes to me, and he tells me he wants his site to be able to do X (signup people, purchase their goods, call them on freephone, send them an inquiry, whatever). Then he tells me to do it like this and this, which basically disables what he actually wants.
So which one do I do?
1) I do exactly what he tells me to do down to background color, font, font color, etc, and he ends up with an unusable site (money thrown out of the window)
2) I do not do what he wants exactly, I give him a a usable site, that will not be up to his specs, but achieves his business goals.
Either way, unless I get my point across, which states that the client doesn’t know squat about webdesign, so he should just shup up and let me work (which rarely happens), I will be the bad guy.
agree_with_arno said on 19 January, 2011 at 5:05 pm
I’m another one who believes that it’s okay to let off some steam; even with our friends, so many of us give each other ‘ribbing’ over each others’ foibles. Do we mean it? Perhaps sometimes. But do we like them less for it? No. Yes, it can all go too far and no it’s not the BEST way to behave, but WE are all human, just as our clients are.
The issue of communicating with each other is a tough one through and through. It’s easy enough to know what we ourselves want, but the moment we try to tell someone else our message is open to miscommunication at several points. Miscommunication invariably leads to exasperation (at least) and letting off steam is a good short-term goal.
As long as we remain aware of each others’ humanity, don’t take any of it too seriously and ultimately strive to understand each other better then there’s no real harm in gentle ribbing.
Neil said on 21 January, 2011 at 11:15 am
I sympathise with the sentiment of this article and I think one should always strive to remain professional. However, having a good bitch session with a friend, colleague, or even on a public forum can be cathartic. The important thing is to be discrete in doing so and maintain your professional integrity by always treating the client with respect.
As a general rule of thumb I can handle people who are rude, and I can handle people who are stupid, but when they are both rude and stupid I usually draw the line.
Part of being professional is also recognising that if a client is not reasonable they are probably not profitable. Thankfully most clients are reasonable if shown patience and respect and given sufficient education. Clients that persist in being unreasonable I get rid of as a matter of business prudence.
Ruana said on 21 January, 2011 at 11:55 pm
I agree. Of course, clients can be a bit, well, complicated (?), some even may stress the hell out of you but that doesn’t mean you should stab those that pay your rent in their backs.
Not only can and will such an attitude backfire one day it also is unprofessional. It’s just like in any job where you have to deal with real people – if can’t handle it you have the wrong job!
Great article.