What to Do When Clients Don’t Like Your Work
I wrote a post recently about my logo design process and thought there was no better way to illustrate it than with an actual client piece (check it out here). The client I chose to use as an example didn’t end upusing one of my logo options, however, I did end up with some work I was very proud of and still use in my portfolio today.
Reading through the comments after the article was published, many readers wanted to know what happened next; was I compensated for my time? Did I end up creating a different logo for the client? Did I do any other work for this individual? Never had it really occurred to me to continue writing about what to do when the client rejects the work. Thankfully, I’ve only had to deal with this twice in my career. Here’s when and how I end a client relationship.
When to End the Relationship
My contract allows for three rounds of revisions. However, I’m a people-pleaser at heart. It’s really important to me as a small business owner to make sure my clients are happy. When I’ve submitted my third revision and the client tells me they’re still not crazy about it, I don’t just hit the ground running with my design. I talk through it and try to make sure my 4th attempt is the right one.
There have been two situations where I submitted many more than three rounds of revisions and talked for hours with the clients about the pieces. Each project felt hopeless and I could tell the client was starting to feel the same way. At that point I had to ask myself, “Am I wasting my time? More importantly, am I wasting my clients’?” In both cases, I knew that it wasn’t anything I, nor the client, was doing wrong. We were just incompatible, stylistically speaking.
My approach to design-problem-solving wasn’t what they were looking for. Before ending it, I really evaluated the relationship and the project; had I done everything in my power to solve their design problem? Had I tried my best? It’s important to keep in mind that by terminating this client and their project, you’ll also likely be terminating any future projects with that client and their referrals.
How to End the Relationship
After deciding to end the working relationship, the next thing I do is tell my client immediately. It’s important that they know that I value their time and business so I choose to tell them over the phone, should we not be able to meet in person. I am sure to return all client property promptly. This includes any photos, sample brochures, or literature they’ve provided me with to help with the project.
As stated in my client contract, all deposits are non-refundable, so any balances already paid by the client can not be returned. This is my compensation for time already put into the project. It is my policy to not charge clients the remaining balance for a project should it be terminated. Last but not least, if there are any instructions in my or their contract about project termination, I am sure to follow through with those as well.
The process above is not “the way” to go about ending a client relationship; it’s simply the method that I have found works for me. Of course, please don’t take this as legal counsel for terminating anything either. There’s a reason why I’ve only had to deal with this twice in my career and it’s because I use it as a last resort. Client satisfaction is key to the success of most freelancers’ businesses. There certainly will be no satisfaction on anyone’s end should termination have to take place.
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Hi Angela,
I find it quite staggering just how similar your process is to mine, and for a second wondered if I actually wrote this myself! We have much in common. Great post.
Great post Angela, definitely great advice to terminate a project as a very last resort. It is good to not get frustrated through a difficult round of revisions. Not everyone is going to like everything you do all of the time.
Brilliant post! And one which I’m sure to refer back to – did you forget a link in the first paragraph though? It looked like you were going to link to the other article (in the brackets) but you never did!
While that may seem common sense to many, I’m still amazed that there are still a lot of people who fail to at least partially cover their tails. And you’re right, it’s compensation for time already spent. I make sure that I never begin anything without deposit in hand. On occasion it’s upset a few clients, especially one that took about 10 weeks to “send it tomorrow”, but you have to cover your time.
The keys I take from this are, ‘know when to say when’, ‘be respectful and prompt if saying when’ and “last resort”.
Great read, Angela.
I think you have a pretty good method for this rather sticky situation. My own philosophy is similar – I always attempt to go the “second mile.” In other words, one more step than I’d like to go, and I’d rather eat the cost of time than hurt my integrity. I appreciate your approach!
This is a really helpful post. I’ve had this problem with a previous client, not too long ago. It is probably the most difficult part of designing websites. Often the business-types have end-product views that they are unable to voice, and as a designer you end up going in circles.
Also, I do the same about a deposit. You have to be able to cover the time you are spending not doing other work. I usually ask for 25% up-front, non-refundable. I know many other freelancers who ask for 50% (seems like the norm) which I feel is a bit risky and can easily push away clients.
Great article…I don’t think enough bloggers have hit on this topic, and it’s a very important one when you end up in this situation. The main thing to remember is to not get frustrated at the client. They have opinions just like you and sometimes it’s not possible for you both to meet in the same place design-wise. Being up-front and respectful is key.
and @Timothy, I’ve charged 50% up front for every project (web, logo, email campaign) for years and have never had a client balk at it. If they did balk at it, then that would send up a red flag that they may not be too willing to pay the remainder either.
I’ve enjoyed both articles!
I’m confused on one point: when you say you offer 3 revisions for a logo, does that mean you provide your first 3 concepts and if the client doesn’t like them, you provide another set of completely different concepts, and in the end they get 9 concepts for the logo fee–assuming they’re not happy with any of the them? Or in this example you went the extra round and client received 12 concepts. Also, once they do choose a concept but want to “tweak” it more, how many rounds of “tweaks” do you provide?
My process is the same as yours but when I get to this point I always struggle sometimes.
I can’t stop laughing at the pic. Is that when all else fails?
It’s crazy that you come up with this around the same time as I’ve gone through something similar… After 4-5 rounds of changes, the client emailed me that she felt we weren’t on the same page stylistically (I’m not usually one to give in, but it was killing me– we really weren’t compatible), but since we were doing a services exchange, I decided to forgoe any payment. Advice to you others out there: don’t take payments in massages from clients if there’s a chance they’re going to wind you up!
It is a very nice logo that you’ve designed, Angela. What do you put in your portfolio though? I prefer putting only approved content in mine. Do you think people look at work differently if you lost/terminated the client?
what happens if you show them an initial round of designs, and they terminate it right there? she was all, “i think i’m going to hold off on this. i won’t be needing you anymore” . I did some damn fine work and got dissed. no explanation. no why, just boom, no.
i hope its because she is not going to be starting her own business after all. shaky economy i guess.
“It is my policy to not charge clients the remaining balance for a project should it be terminated.”
I’m all for customer satisfaction, and it seems by your account you did everything you could for your client. If a project is terminated early on, just keep the deposit and move on. But I think after as many revisions as you did and as hard as you tried to please this client, you should have invoiced for full compensation.
If you get a haircut and you don’t like it, you still pay. If you get a massage, and it was a crappy one, you still pay. If you eat at a restaurant and the food just wasn’t what you were hoping for, you still pay. Hotel rooms, car washes, concerts… The same concept applies for freelance services.
I assume the client reviewed your portfolio before she hired you. (If she didn’t, she’s not a smart consumer, which isn’t your fault.) She should know that you would produce work in the same style and of the same quality. And it seems like you did. You fulfilled your contract so I believe you should have been paid in full.
Great article. It’s hard to know when to terminate a relationship with a client. I like to think I can do it all, but stylistically everyone is different and has different tastes. If you’re not on the same page, there’s not much you can do.
It’s a tough call.
I have some pretty incredible stories about absolutely insane client requests from my days as a production designer. People are insane.
Great post Angela, I havent dealed with a situation like that, but actually I do have the same project policies… but i also charge an extra 20% por project cancelling.. am i being too hard with my client putting this extra percent on my contract?
Great article and pic! Although sharing your strategy was helpful, I think the best part for me was hearing that not every client is a match. Sometimes clients or jobs are simply not a good fit and there may not be anyway to know that until you get into the project or start working at the job.
I have to agree about ending the relationship, but I’m thinking that getting to 3 revisions of a logo is quite high.
For sure there has been a misunderstanding or bad communication. If you miss on the first time it’s not a problem, but at this point you should really get over the briefing again with the client – you did the rebriefing right? So where was the briefing wrong?
I’m talking about “content” not “style” here, because I’m sure the client knew your general style beforehand.
I posted a few days about more or less the same topic on my blog – I don’t want to linkspam here
so who wants to read it click on my name – and obviously more of this posts are welcome
Henry is spot on regarding payment in full. At the point in time which you terminate your business relationship and project with a client, there’s a good chance you’ve already burned a bridge so to speak and won’t be receiving anymore work from them. Therefore, you shouldn’t necessarily worry about “insulting” or being “super-nice” to the client by allowing them to skip paying the remaining balance. If you did the work set out in the scope of the project that was agreed upon in your contract, they are responsible for your bill. Its just like all the examples Henry gave and you should use examples like that to explain yourself if you have to.
One caveat….if you do feel there’s a chance you could get more work from the client in the future, then by all means feel free to give them a break!
Some great real-world tips there, especially for those just starting out.
This is always a difficult situation. Thank you for sharing how you typically handle this. Since I’m fairly new to the freelance thing, it was VERY helpful in getting me to think BEFORE this happens to me.
three rounds is good enough for a project.. more than this you should quote per hour.
On the other hand. Before the start up, you and your client must work on definition. briefing, briefing, briefing.. it helps to avoid the third round and don’t spend extra hours working on a low budget project.
If your client would change the way after the third round, you had their directions written in that brief I’ve mentioned.
How could you show them all the wrong way they decided to go? Easy there are some friendly project managment systems suchs as http://www.goplan.info/ or http://www.basecamphq.com/.
good luck
Great article! My two cents: Before I do any job I write a project brief that captures as much information as possible, such as who the audience is, what the tone/manner is, any mandatories and any landmines (things you absolutely must not do). I get this approved before I start any project. It also states how many rounds of revisions I’m willing to do for the quoted price. NOTE TO SEAN STEEZY: Clients who pull the “I won’t be needing you anymore” trick usually have a designer/nephew/whatever in house who is going to take your work as a base and finish the project while either using the early termination as an excuse to not pay you, or to only pay you a portion of the quote. That’s why my quote includes x rounds of revisions “for free.” Throwing me out after the 1st go-round does not get you a discount.
But back to the brief – having this approved statement of the job description a) reinforces that you did the job and therefore should be paid; and b) can be used as a tool to discuss what the client doesn’t like without being so tactical as to get into colours and shapes and exact words. Some clients don’t know how to articulate what is wrong – they just keep trying to fix it by suggesting changes. The brief helps gets the conversation out of the weeds and up to a higher level so you can provide the service of determining a solution, not just taking an order. Because nobody is happy with anything that is designed or written by committee.
Amazingly, I did the exact same thing with one client. I submitted some logos, that I thought turned out pretty well, unfortunately client wasnt convinced. It ended up that I kept the 30% non-refundable payment and also kept the designs (in this case I win all-round). They were happy with that and all was well.
Later on, I re-used the logos in a different way for another happy client
Great article, thank you! I have a question regarding the number of revisions – how do you classify “a revision”? For example is one revision any number of changes submitted within 24 hours? Or is it any number of changes submitted within one email / meeting after the original design has been submitted?
I’m just trying to figure out how to put this into my contract and am really struggling! Any help you can give me would be very much appreciated
Thank you!!
Anna
If I ever had a client who made a fist at me like that, I wouldn’t care WHAT she doesn’t like.
This is quite a painful thing to happen, I didn’t have a policy because so far it had never happened to me in about 6yrs, but to my disbelief I found it happening to me with a project about a month or so ago.
To my horror nothing I designed (was an illustrative cover for a CD), no matter how wonderful in my eyes, was to their liking, despite many conversations about the design. We mutually realised that it just wasn’t working and I actually offered to refund everything they paid, including the deposit, and to cut them completely free to find another designer.
This was painful because I’d spent at least 10 hours on their project including communication time, at least. But I told myself its the first time it’s happened in 6 years so I could afford to cut my losses and let them go properly without any bitter feelings on their part.
My reputation is so important to me, I would hate to think of a disgruntled customer out there hating me for keeping their deposit. I know it’s fair to keep it (actually it’s even fair to want the rest as well and my terms and conditions actually tell them I’m keeping the lot even if they don’t want the design) but I just hate the thought of disgruntled customers so I offered it all back.
I was supposed to be doing their front end web design and I was releasing them of that commitment also (I had the deposit, but hadn’t started on it yet and so was going to refund that as well). However they said they still wanted me to do that for them. I said I was only willing to risk the design of their website if I could at least keep the deposit for the CD they never liked due to the risk factor of them perhaps not liking my designs again. They agreed.
It was a nerve racking time wondering if I was going to loose money on the web design also but they loved it! Barely any revisions required. Subsequently they hired me for a full page magazine advert design, which they also loved immediately, barely any revisions required again!
They are an established business (10yrs), with expansion plans for the near future, and have said they are coming back for much more and I feel we’ve forged what will become a long term relationship, despite the initial teething problems.
Perhaps they ‘trust me’ after my willingness to give them all their money back. Strange how they seem to like all my design work now, but just didn’t like that CD cover no matter what I did to it.
Funny how things turn out. But why didn’t they like that CD cover!!
It’s one of my favourite pieces of work!
Great article on something that may eventually happen to us once in our careers.
I also use a design brief as state by many of the above commentors and it works pretty well. It allows the client to visually see all the things they want in writing. Most of the time the client just has this “vision” in their head that they can’t properly put into words.
Seeing it laid out may help them refine their vision.
Great article again!
Nice Tips Angela and interesting writing too.. I usually having difficulties in ending relationship with clients. mostly when it’s my client since very long. Till now i don’t have any predefined terms or process for identifying the clients for ending working relationship but i usually going with my seances and if i feel i cant take it anymore then i just take a proper action. i never done that ” tell my client immediately” thing in past but i really like to try this out in future.
Great post! I dealt with this same situation with a web design project where the client continually asked for more and more revisions. In the end, I finally had to let them go to save my sanity.
Great article. I often have nightmares with my “nicest” clients in them
Ah. I don’t mind the unhappiness of a client, SO LONG AS IT IS ACCOMPANIED BY FEEDBACK. I’m a problogger and grumbling about being unhappy but not being specific is the quickest way for me to end a relationship. I can’t improve without feedback and if a client doesn’t have the time or wherewithall to let me know why they are less impressed than usual, I’m inclined to end the relationship. But only after repeatedly saying “I’m here to serve you. Please tell me what you would like changed or how you’d like this improved.”.
I did let a client go after she just never answered those questions (and I was dreading her email). But she ended up taking a two month break, apologizing and we’ve moved on to a better relationship.
I think it is important to stand your ground and not be so desperate for clients that you sacrifice your sanity-or their satisfaction-to stay in the relationship.
One of the toughest parts about creative work can be separating yourself from the product. It can be hard not to take disapproval personally.
Thank you for this, it’s been very interesting to read your posts and enjoyable!
Best of luck!
I did happen to have noisy client who always arguing about my final result, especially the banner logo, not only complaining about the logo but more detailed like the lines around the banner, and so much more complaining which took me more than 3 days than the deadline. Thank god i’m not doing freelance so often like in the past. Because right now i’m happy become a blogger also the make money online program i had. For me being a freelancer is just for fun and to go out, see new place that i never went to.
Hi Angela,
Great article as it is important to my opinion to be humble enough to realize that the reason why a client doesn’t fall for our work is sometimes just a matter of incompatibility, just as in a couple. It’s not because he or she is an **ss or else, even if sometimes, since we put a lot of passion in what we do, it’s a relief to say so. Great article, I love it!
Great post, cheers
The difficult part I discover are the clients who are in love with the caricature illustration they had done of their band & wanted it as their logo. Oy!
I just wanted to thank everyone for their comments — it is helping me rally through a rather stressful period with a client. I’m currently working on web design and logo design for them. The web design has been signed off on, but the logo design is an area where I struggle to satisfy what the client wants. I have just turned in my second logo revisions and hope that it’s on target.
At some point I have to ask myself, “How many revisions is too many?” It appears from the comments on this post that if more than 3 rounds of revisions have come and gone, something went wrong and it’s likely in the communication — failure to ask the right questions, failure to understand the audience, etc. It’s what I despise about freelance work, but I find myself still loving anyway.
I almost had a breakdown, but reading through these comments really made me feel so much better. I am currently going through an analysis-paralysis with a design and have picked apart and redone almost every aspect of the design. After three revisions, and the client is still not happy, are they really ever going to be?? I think moving forward I would rather end the client relationship at that point, instead of going forward. I need to work on that point when you just have to say NO…but it makes me feel a lot better that there are others out there feeling the same way!!
I’m quoting on a web desing project now and the client has asked the question “what if I don’t like any of your designs” thankfully this article has given me some ideas
Its really good to read your article because I find I am not tough enough and need to take on-board a few of your tips, I end up doing far too much for too little pay, well we all live and learn don’t we.
Great post!
I ran into a similar situation recently. I was working with a company to create a new logo design for them. I had done work with them in the past and they were really easy to work with, so I wasn’t too worried about the process. I recently got an email from them that said “thanks for your time, we have decided to go with a different designer”. I was shocked but am hoping to learn from this. Do you have any suggestions on questions to ask the client so I can improve for future clients? Also, I have been paid so I’m all set there.
Thanks!