I feel badly for freelancers that are either self-taught or come out of design school with no training on how to deal with clients. For me, I am a self-taught designer with a degree in Marketing, but that really didn't prepare me much for dealing with clients either. On more than one occasion in my life I got the raw end of the deal when working with client - something I am not overly proud of.
I know that it's far more fun to check out the newest tutorials on Photoshop or go searching for free fonts, but if you don't know how to deal with clients and invest all of your time gathering goodies, you're going to end up a well-equipped but miserable freelance designer.
Being able to cope with the daily madness that clients throw at you is a tremendous challenge for all freelancers (a look on blogs, message boards and twitter and you'll see it). That's why I wrote Verbal Kung Fu for Freelancers. I got tired of getting run over by client day after day.
But to be honest with you, clients still try to run over me, they still try to get away with whatever they can (just because I'd written a book about it didn't change that) - they just don't get away with things anymore, I know how to put them in their place.
Just so you get a taste for what type of client interactions I, and many other freelancers deal with, I've included a small snippet of what happened yesterday:
- One client that burned through 2 full messages on my voice mail (the machine cut her off), she also sent 5 emails full of gibberish which I had to try to make sense of and get her back on track. Talk about OCD!
- Another complained about the printing done on his inserts, even though he wanted to go with the printer because they were inexpensive (he wanted me to call and try to get a future discount for him...nah, he can call).
- A client who's also a buddy was supposed to provide 300 characters or less for his flyer, he gave me 585 and said, “See what you can do”. He first tried to have his sister design the flyer instead of paying me, when that backfired he came groveling back.
- Another client I hadn’t heard from in ages assumed that I would be able to pick up right where I left off - she’s frightfully demanding and has no idea what she’s doing so I constantly have to reeducate her.
- Lastly, and perhaps the best of all, one client tried to get me to join one of those worthless multi-level marketing deals. Jeeez.
Yep, just another day in paradise. Do any of these client interactions sound familiar to you?
It's a constant challenge keeping clients and projects moving in the right direction (even for me), I can only imagine what other freelancers are going through that don't know what I know - ouch.
PS - Blog post title was inspired by my friend and illustrator, Rich. When asked, "Dude, what are you up to?"
He always replied, "Just cracking rocks..." This is also found in the Clash's song, "I Fought the Law" - "...cracking in rocks in the hot sun, I fought the law and the law won, I fought the law and the law won..."
PPS - Shout out to my friend, Ruben over in Belgium for his feedback on BASAS, "I’m really enjoying the book, already learned a lot! Not completely finished yet, because it’s been very busy with the holidays coming up, but when I have some spare time, it’s always a pleasure to read. Really worth the price!" - thanks Ruben.
What happens when the clients you've mentioned read your small snippets and see that you've spoken badly about them? Worse, what happens if any potential clients see what you've written and decide not to pursue a project with you because of how standoffish you may seem?
I quite agree that there are some clients that can be difficult, but I think to give specific examples as you have done makes you look like you may be difficult to work with (regardless of whether it's your fault or theirs). Just a thought.
Posted by: Neil Martin | July 13, 2009 at 05:06 PM
As Michael Port suggests in Book Yourself Solid, I've found that adhering to his Red Velvet Rope Policy does help me in steering clear of clients who I believe are going to be particularly troublesome. My gut reaction is usually correct that a client is going to be more trouble than he or she is worth.
But every now and then, I still work with one who surprises me. My favorite is one that decides that after you've done the work (and they've said they love it), they attempt to come up with reasons why they shouldn't pay you. Yes, that's happening right now.
At any rate, I really enjoyed your take on this. Thanks for posting.
Posted by: Stephen Hadley | July 13, 2009 at 06:15 PM
Solid point here, Neil - it can be a mistake to publically speak about negative dealings with specific clients, but it's not an issue with me - in fact, not only have a shown the couple of books I wrote to current and new clients, a few of them have actually bought the books. Crazy world we live in :) Thanks for weighing in!
Hey thanks for the comment, Stephen. You've read Michael Port's book - nice, it's a good one isn't it? That's where I got the idea for implementing "the velvet rope" - glad it's working for you as well.
Just remember that you can only work with a certain number of clients in your lifetime...choose to work with good people as best you can.
PS - hope you really enjoy the WSNH Package, thanks for picking that up my friend!
Posted by: Jeremy Tuber | July 13, 2009 at 07:20 PM