When a Client Doesn’t Like Your Work
It’s can be difficult enough to complete a project off the top of your head. So when you get it back with demands attached and a client who is giving you attitude, it’s natural to get a little defensive.
But it’s not always the smartest thing to do as a professional.
This article caters to situations when you’ve really done all you could…like when a client says “Just write my website…it’s about Topic A and you can research that on the Web,” or “I like pink and black, make a logo out of that.” It’s geared towards circumstances when the client says, “You’re the professional, I trust your judgment,” and doesn’t give you a lot to go on, despite all of your prodding for more information.
Despite not giving you a good foundation, I’ve found that some clients in this situation can get a little uneasy. Even though your work may have been great, their expectations were somewhere else so no matter what you do, it’ll never measure up. There are times when the client really has nowhere firm to stand because he or she has left you without information, so it’s vital not to just take the heat—but to stand up for yourself and take charge of the situation, moving the project onward and upward (even if the customer has gone a little sour!)
When you’ve given it your all and your client is putting you in a pinch, what can you do? Take a breath and keep cool—I’ve got some tips to help you diplomatically explain your actions and avoid a temper flare at the same time.
Don’t rub in their fault—at first. While it’s okay sometimes to point out that they gave you little information to go on and previously said it was okay to start and you’d go from there, it’s important not to lash back. If and when you do, it’s best to do so politely. But not in the beginning of the conversation—the beginning is for listening, understanding the client’s perspective and then using your skills to get the client back on track.
Explain the process—and that this is a process. When the client says something like “I just don’t like it,” you have to tell them that a normal part of the editing process is to get their input and you’ll need specifics. It’s better not to say, “Well, what don’t you like?” but to lead them into detail-giving with something like, “Okay so let’s start with the headline. Do you feel the tone is too conversational? Do you want to tell me in layman’s terms the tone that you’re going for? Are there any marketing collateral pieces you’ve seen that have a tone closer to what you want?” I think grilling them is essential, especially since you’ve explained that you’re going to need their input and how vital it is.
Get down to details. To be honest, sometimes you’ve got to speak to people like they’re five years old, minus the coddling tone. Upfront, I tell my clients that it’s perfectly normal not to always be pleased with the first draft. But I need specific information to get things as they want them to be. I let them know that I will work to get it just right, but I need them to sit down and think about what they specifically like and don’t like, and give me examples (if need be) of similar projects they do like. (In my case, I have them tell me in layman’s terms what tone they want, or I advise them to show me a marketing piece with a writing style they like.)
I always try to get as specific as possible and have learned to prod even if they continue to give me simple “I just don’t like it” answers. I toss the ball in their court. “Okay, I understand. So help me make it better and let me know what specifically you don’t like about it? Why don’t we start at the intro paragraph?”
Toss in the past. If that client is still moaning and wailing over spilled milk, you can consider putting up more of a boundary—but do tread with caution. While I don’t believe the customer is always right, I do believe you should never burn bridges. This is where you can mention that you didn’t have a lot of information going in (not so much as a defense but as an excuse), and how they said it was alright to go ahead anyway.
You could say something like, “I know we didn’t have a lot of background going into this, but now that we have a first draft, can you offer anymore information to help me get a better feel for what you’re looking for?” Again, explain things in baby tone without the baby talk (i.e. “This may not be what you really wanted, but it’s a strong start despite not having much to go on. Let’s figure out where you’d like to go from here to get this juuuuust right for you.”) I really only remind a client of that after I’ve explained the editing process and offered to “fix” things and they don’t sound happy. I try not to start getting tit-for-tat over things or bringing in the dreaded, “Well you never gave me much to start with.”
Inject some lightheartedness. This hasn’t happened to me outwardly, but I get the “You’re the writer, you know best” vibe a lot. The truth is that I may know best—but the client has to be happy with it in the end, so my opinion really doesn’t matter unless it’s requested. Since many customers may toss this thought your way, it’s in good taste to reply by stating that while you’re good at the visual interpretation (if you’re a designer, for example), they really know what “look” in an image they want best.
Replying with something like, “I can design whatever you’d like, but I want it to really represent your company the way you want it done. So I’m going to need your input on this. Do you think we should take this line out?”
Remember that some people may just want to put you down. Try to move them away from criticizing to giving you constructive criticism. The key is to facilitate moving forward, even if a client only wants to look back.
Kristen Fischer is the author of Creatively Self-Employed: How Writers and Artists Deal with Career Ups and Downs. For more visit www.creativelyselfemployed.com.
That happens to me recently with 2 clients. The first one needs to come to an end. We had a great email battle but we’ve both learned our lessons. The 2nd one became more steady and confident relationship. It’s true that all we have to do is to be honest, know our limitations, be always polite and move forward.
Thanks for sharing your article, Kristen. It’s good to see everyday enlightenment.
That happened with me aswell; I had to develop an e-store, and the client gave me pretty much zero proper information to fill it in, and I was told exactly “Just write my website…it’s about Topic A and you can research that on the Web”, something I thought was not good business practice. I thought that if you’re selling something online, you as a seller have to make sure everything you write and portray about a product has to be 100% or at least 98,5% accurate to the original physical object you’re selling, that said, I cannot google for “chocolate” and put any random image I find there. Considering that, I passed a deadline I set with the client because the client wouldnt give me that accurate information on any of his products; at the moment I don’t know how to properly deal with this client, ’cause asides the product info troubles, he’s now asking me more options on his website than the ones we agreed on at the beginning of the project, and obviously he considers that to be “on budget”. A total pain!
very useful article – with experience, I’ve become very good at handling rejection and difficult clients. I always put on a smile, share my reasons for disagreeing with the client in a very friendly and professional tone, and finally, always do what the client is desiring, he’s the one paying me after all.
The reality is there. Thank you by divide your wisdom with us.
I usually really like it when a client is vague, about design anyway. They understand why they’re hiring me – to do the actual design, not mimic a design they laid out.
Having said that, I’ve had the above mentioned experience recently as well. I designed a website for a client without much direction, only to have the client come back and say she didn’t like it.
It’s important to remember to put yourself in the client’s shoes. They are not designers (or copy writers, etc.). That’s why they’re hiring you. They can’t necessarily give you the details about what they don’t like, they just ‘know’ they don’t like it. They don’t have your skill set, so when this happens, try as hard as you can not to make them feel stupid or belittled, you can kill a relationship pretty fast that way.
In my case I asked her for examples of what she did like, but not specifics about the designs. I came back to her with ‘OK, I see the direction you’re heading in’ and did some fine tuning. It was really about the colors, even though one of the main colors I had chosen originally was one of the things she had specified, and was taken right out of her logo. However, I didn’t get into specifics with her, just presented the new version, she loved it. It’s kind of a ‘I’ll know what I like when I see it’, your job as a designer (or whatever your role) is to nail that and make it work. The better you get at design, the less revisions you have to make. Yes, you have to be a mind reader. That’s part of your job description.
I had this recently with a client. Whilst the overall design had been signed off, they kept on making minor tweaks to it meaning that design sign-off was over 100 days late!
When they started wanting to make changes two days before the website was due to go live, I told them that it was chargable which soon stopped all that silliness!
I recently had a client who requested logo designs, of which some of them were my best to date, I was really pleased with them and other colleagues agreed with me.
The client came back saying that they didnt think they were good enough and that they do not meet my usual standards!! I mean, come on, how does the client define what my usual standard are? And why in the world would I propose or provide sub-standard work??
Again, I initialy prodded them enough to get a good idea of what they wanted, from style, concepts, type and mood before I began.
I was offended by the ‘ do not meet your usual standards’ remark and decided to end the project immediately. I asked them for a cancellation fee of 30% and retained the designs and told them that the work provided was up to my standards and I believe that I cannot provide anything more that could satisfy them. Maybe wasn’t the best thing to do, but I could afford to drop the client, but had to do it in the nicest manner possible.
Thanks for this article and everyone’s comments. I tend to take it personal when a client doesn’t like my work. It’s nice to know that this happens to other creatives as well. And I appreciate the business perspective on how to deal with it.
Excellent article about a situation that comes up quite frequently!
Generally when you get the “you know best” line, it either means that 1) the client really thinks that you know best, or 2) the client actually thinks that they know best, and them saying “you know best” is a way to safeguard themselves later on when they realize that actually don’t know what they want (in other words you’re an easy scape goat).
In either of these situations, I’ve found my personal remedy is to exude confidence and be more forward than I would otherwise be. I don’t think this is the catch-all solution for all freelancers however, it just depends on your personality. I’m a people please, so I’m used to taking abuse/discontent in the name of keeping the peace. Because of this I MUST be confident in these client situations in order for it to turn out well. If I am not confident then I for client 1- I destroy their confidence and trust in me, and for client 2- I open a huge door for them to walk all over me.
That being said, for those of the opposite personality, the steamroller/superconfident person, you’ve gotta tread softly! I’ve worked with some overly confident designers in the past, and while this can be a good trait at times, it can also be their achille’s heel. The superconfident designer can come off as brash, snide, and abrasive during these type of client encounters. You have to be sooo careful not to burn bridges, just as was indicated in the article. Remember to treat these type of clients as a mutually beneficial partner with a common goal in mind. As soon as you treat them as an enemy, your mindset and project is going to suffer.
Just my 2 cents!
Oh… and yes, it happens! Don’t take it personal- believe if you do this for any length of time you’ll get over it and realize that its impossible to please everyone. Surround yourself with trusted second opinions so that you can get accurate feedback should you ever need deeper insight. Gosh… I love FreelanceSwitch…
This happened to me just last night. I started a web design project months ago and was given full creative license. I made it clear in writing and conversation that feedback from the client is critical in the design process. After sending my initial design to the client I waited for weeks for feedback. I tried repeatedly to get input. Finally, last night I received an email that said, “I think the home page could be more inviting and elegant.” Period. Completely useless feedback. Unfortunately these types of clients always seem to be the ones that complain about deadline creep.
I’m not sure I totally agree that you should hold the client’s hand by picking apart the project and asking about the introductory paragraph, etc. I think this is sort of “leading the witness” and could potentially open a can of worms that turns into a complete re-design or re-write. I’m more inclined to put the ball entirely in the client’s court without being an a-hole and encourage them to verbalize the specific details that they like or dislike.
@Omar,
I know you said you didn’t need the work, but it’s very unprofessional and, dare I say, premadonna to cancel a project (and charge a 30% fee) because the client didn’t like your work, especially on the first proof.
Clients say rude things—we have to live with that. But sometimes, when they sound like they hate it, it’s really just one or two small things that are a big deal to them, and in actuality, that really like it.
You need to swallow your pride, because doing things like what you did is going to hurt your reputation in the long run.
This article came along at just the right time – thanks for some excellent advice, Kristen! I actually posted in the FS boards about my own issue in order to get advice, because this is the first time it’s happened to me (see http://forums.freelanceswitch.com/comments.php?DiscussionID=3810&page=1#Item_0).
Wonderful article Kristen. Thanks for the advice
I’m very glad this was useful. I think it’s good to shed light on some of these issues that we don’t necessarily like to talk about…
I’ve had a few people who were like this, and most are reasonable, one however just didn’t like anything. A classic changing the parameters over and over again and wanting re-writes to suit ‘The New Vision’. It got to the point where I had to tell him that I had delivered what he had asked and any re-writes would have to be billed as a new piece. Needless to say, the re-writes ended.
I wish I read your email before I started my retaliation, but I think I was polite enough in my response. I did 11,5 days of work and I billed the client based on my previous email with regards to rates. He mentioned that even though they don’t have a budget at the moment, they would have one by the time we met or negotiate a fee. Of course, we didn’t talk money. As an established company with tons of experience, they were also evasive about talking about the bottom line. I turned down a couple of jobs to facilitate seeing the job from the beginning to the end. They have a follow up meeting coming up and have a second chance to pitch, of course there’s a new brief all together and the request to design more pages than before; after sending them the draft versions to see the shape of the layouts (magazine design), they asked me to turn in the files and they’ll ask an in-house designer to continue. Immediately I replied that I still have 4 days left and surely we could manage to sort something out, I felt unsettled especially because I didn’t manage to fulfill their needs, but they persisted for me to hand over the work. So I billed them, and I received a snotty reply on the amount I billed (of course they would) and without discussing it before hand (telephonically) with the guy that hired me. I replied that I wasn’t awarded a chance to revise and found it fitting to invoice as they asked me to hand over the work, without consulting telephonically with me and kept it in email format from a third party.
My conclusion, this client would never have blinked an eye or picked up the phone to consult with me about remuneration if I didn’t invoice to spur on a reaction. And maybe I should have picked up the phone, but he didn’t to let me know they no longer need my services without an understanding of why, without an email of what they’re doing. I think it was rude and cowardly to leave the dirty work for a third party to pick up on.
How this will play out I don’t know, I have a feeling I have burnt my bridges regardless. But I’ll be writing the conclusion next week, and will try to save any damages by using the advice (where I can save my reputation). Thanks for a great column, I hope the heavens are opening their floodgates of mercy, but one thing I know for sure, the wise words have lifted my self-esteem and made me feel less disheartend and like a failure. Much appreciated!
Great Article!
It’s easy to get very defensive when they just tell you they don’t like it. I actually had someone give me a lot of sh*t on a pro-bono project I did for a friend’s girlfriend.
Simple web-design for a makeup artist…yet she had no quality photos ready, no idea of what she wanted, no idea of a color scheme, no bio, nothing.
Still not good enough….people can sometimes be amazing. Freelancing is certainly not easy, I’m sure everyone would agree to that.
Just found this blog, but I’m RSS’ing it right now.
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Chris
guerrillaRed.com – Social Media Marketing on a budget
Very helpful article and I couldn’t have read it at a better time I am dealing with a difficult client myself and will use your advice.
Thanks,
Carolyn
It is not nice when this happens.
When I start a project I conduct a research first on the market I am targeting, that way I know better…no colors or design elements should have a reason behind it an idea, or concept.
Anyhow, clients sometimes are super hard to deal with, and these types o clients that do not make us grow is better to politely put an end and leave behind.
Thanks! Great article!
Bellatrix
I currently have a client who would not give out information for a project…not even what the company was about! They just wanted a blind estimate, which is something I had not faced yet. I wonder if I did the right thing or not. The client had a clear idea of font and layout for the company’s logo. Given it was a family friend I gave a price for drawing that idea out by the hour, and gave an estimate for actually designing the logo, given that with more information that price could change. I have yet to receive a response from the prospect so I wonder wether this was a smart move. I think I should have just kept on asking for more information and not give an estimate yet.
Any advice or comments on this and any possible action now to get the client with the information?
Its an awesome article, really. this site should be found when, people will search for similar problem. Well in my case, its really so …whateva. My clients takes decision so lately. Its been an week , she couldn’t have time to sit with her hubby to decide, if they will appoint me to work for them or not, where they have signed the agreement paper, that we have made the deal, and will workout on it. how pity. really need to know, how to deal with with this matter. my client is CHINESE.