Just Say No: Three Reasons the Customer Isn’t Always Right
It’s 11:30 pm. My wife has already gone to bed. I was cramming to get an ad
done for the paper the next morning. The phone rings. It’s the client’s assistant.
“So? Is it okay?” I ask.
“She hates it,” she replies.
“Did she say why?”
“No.”
Frustrated silence. After a fruitless exchange of profanity and exasperation
we get off the phone. My wife is exhausted and livid at this ungodly hour.
So I turn off the ringer and go to bed, knowing full well that the assistant
is still furiously trying to get through to me and leaving messages on my voice
mail. I have a choice here between my wife and my client. I choose my wife.
Needless to say, I lost the client, including payment for several unpaid invoices
totaling in the hundreds of dollars, not to mention a great deal of lucrative
future work. That money is gone.
The next day I sent an email apologizing for dropping the project right before
the deadline. I swallow my pride and try to explain my actions without placing
blame on their boss. I was cornered and had to choose between my wife’s
well being and stretching to accommodate what most people may consider an unreasonable
expectation without any kind of guidance or support. In retrospect, I do not
regret losing this particular client. I simply regret the way in which it happened.
The business mantra of client service is that ‘the customer is always right’.
And customer satisfaction will always trump price and product at every turn.
It is what distinguishes one business in a sea of intense competition and gives
individual small businesses an edge over more established organizations. Serving
the client should be priority one for any successful freelancer. But, as in
life, there are no absolutes.
Freelancers choose to freelance because they are afforded freedoms and choices
their workaday colleagues lack, including whether the next project is worth
taking on. I’ve
had to learn the hard way that it’s
perfectly okay to feel free to say ‘no’.
This is difficult, especially when you’re just starting out and building
a client base or when your funds are running low. But in today’s more
robust economy, we are afforded a greater degree of economic stability and
safeguarding than our predecessors had in the time of the Great Depression.
As such, we are more free to make better choices for ourselves.
Here are three common instances when it’s okay to turn down a customer.
The Work Compromises Your Values
You’re offered a contract that helps promote a corporation that uses
third world slave labor or pollutes the environment or exploits workers without
due compensation. Perhaps you belong to a faith group and the
work could violate your beliefs. You have every right to turn down work that
bothers your spiritual or social conscience. You will sleep better at night
and possess a clear mind to better focus on your work.
The Work Compromises Your Life Balance
Sometimes, too much work is a good sign that your business is growing by leaps
and bounds. But if you’re like most freelancers, you probably work
alone. You run the hazard of taking on too much and something will give,
either in the quality of your work suffering or making a late submission
past the agreed deadline, or even worse, neglecting the most important aspects
of your life such as getting enough rest or spending time with loved ones.
No amount of prosperity is worth jeopardizing your own health or valued personal
relationships.
The Work Compromises Your Professional Worth
The mantra must be repeated: never do work on spec. It’s fine to volunteer
your skills to a charitable organization. You may even be able to get a charitable
donation tax receipt in lieu of your time. But never dedicate your valuable
time to be compensated at slave wages or way below your pay grade. Your rate
reflects your worth and if you value your highly-skilled work, you will charge
accordingly. By low balling your billing, you not only undervalue yourself,
but you undermine the worth of your profession and of all your peers in the
same discipline. If a client is looking for a deal, tread carefully,
but don’t
sell the store. It’s
better to lose him or her as a client and take that time to serve another
customer who respects your value as a professional.
Again, the client’s satisfaction is paramount to any competitive business.
But it’s your business and you reserve the right to protect
your worth and integrity. By politely refusing the occasional instance where
a project or client keeps you from maintaining your high standards or living
a balanced lifestyle, you leave room for success that’s more than just
monetary.
Great article!
As much as I agree I have to say that this argument fell apart with the following statement:
“But in today’s more robust economy, we are afforded a greater degree of economic stability and safeguarding than our predecessors had in the time of the Great Depression”
I can only assume that this article was written a while ago. Unless I am missing something and everyone is smiling again, we are very much heading into recessions – world wide.
So based on that point the argument cannot stand.
But I won’t end on a negative note. I agree with what you are saying when it comes to telling clients to take a hike. Do it more for your sanity than for financial reasons. As you say ‘My Wife, or my Client?’. I say your wife.
I’ve never understood spec work or why anyone would do it – work for free to make somebody else wealthy and comfortable. Noway. There are multitudes of opportunities in the nonprofit sector if you need to build a portfolio or gain experience, plus you can say you’ve written for some worthwhile organizations (and that can only help your brand/image).
With experience of dealing with clients and riding the highs and lows of jobs comes the ability to identify clients who are going to be a headache throughout the job. I think it’s ok to take these on as well as the fun jobs, as long as your daily rate has been amended to include the “Bastard Tax”. Taking the money and running is sometimes a viable option as long as you know what you’re in there for. Harsh, but true.
Great article
Very relevant and well written, I especially love your last paragraph – I think that’s the key, realizing that work is only one facet of a happy life.
Excellent article and very true. I can personally relate to having to choose between family or clients and I am perfectly happy to say that my family always comes first. When I was just starting out in my freelancing career, writing, clients, and money were my priority but that all changed when I began to realise that my family relationships were suffering. Money is great but what’s the point if you have no one to share it with. Unreasonable clients with unreasonable demands are not worth your time or effort and as a freelancer you really do have the right to say no.
“But in today’s more robust economy, we are afforded a greater degree of economic stability and safeguarding than our predecessors had in the time of the Great Depression.”
What?! When was this written?
I was holding my breath in anticipation of a zinger at the end of that statement—one never came.
David and Bern? Sure everyone’s talking about a depression at the moment. But, has it really affected you? I agree with Ed.
I’m receiving more enquiries and new business now than ever. The so called “economic crisis” is causing people to rethink their relationships with expensive larger firms. They still need work done but they are turning to smaller, cheaper organisations and freelancers.
It’s a great time for us!!
Spec work? No way.
Decide what the cost of the project is. Require fifty percent up front and the balance due before files are released to the client. I have never had a single client object to this arrangement. Not one.
Maybe I have just been fortunate, but I think not. It’s far better to lose a client, even early on in your portfolio building, than to suffer what you did on this project.
Lesson learned. Freelanceing 101.
Happy Thanksgiving!
I agree. These last 2 months have been my busiest in the last 11, logging over double the normal billable time per month. The Economy is down, but our business isn’t necessarily.
What i don’t really agree with is the example given, and your choice. I didn’t get whether your wife was ill and needed you to care for her? But, personally? at the nth hour? you bail on a client? not very responsible and bodes poorly on the industry, and you. I don’t care if the client is totally unreasonable. Fulfilling your role could still have been achieved. i’m constantly on tight deadlines that go into the evenings and weekends and unrealistic turnarounds. If you meet them? then you have the power to say, sorry not again. Or no more. After this project is over. But you get paid. In this instance, no one walked away happy. You didn’t get paid, the client felt they got screwed. LOSE, LOSE…
I suspect this project was a set price and not an hourly price that the client was taking advantage of. Shame.
How did it get so bad so fast? so late? so timely?
Good article, although I’m not sure why there are extra line breaks everywhere…
“But in today’s more robust economy, we are afforded a greater degree of economic stability and safeguarding than our predecessors had in the time of the Great Depression.”
I wouldn’t say it’s “robust” but it’s definitely in our favor at the moment. Hiring may be down, but work still needs to be done. That’s why companies would rather pay $2500 for a project than $65,000 for a full-time employee or a large firm. I’ve seen my business increase dramatically in the last few months and I believe it’s because of the weak economy.
My mantra is more “The customer is always entitled to their opinion.” If they have ideas or a specific way of doing things, I’ll take that into account with my development work. However, they are paying me for my expertise. To just roll over and agree with everything they say is not a good use of my time or their money.
By the way, about “charitable donation tax receipt in lieu of your time”. I spoke to my accountant about it last year and was told that in the United States this is NOT allowed. You can deduct cost of transportation to the charity, where you do your work, the cost of software or computers you purchased (and donated to your charity), but NOT the time you work there.
Very good article. Working as a freelance web designer, I come into these situations frequently. It’s difficult because you never want to turn down work, but yet you also don’t want to take on people you know are going to be problems.
Freelancers actually get busier when times get tough. Our productivity (work produced per dollar spent) is higher than full time employees.
And there is a fine line between telling a client to take a hike and working with an imperfect client. It might be better to find a different way of working with them (starting today: specs must be approved before work begins) than to lose them entirely.
Good article, I have to admit since freelancing full-time the past couple of months I have found myself spending a lot of time doing client work up to the early hours the next day and have been spending much less time with my girlfriend whom I live with. I feel very bad about the situation and I know I need to change my schedule quickly, but freelancing and working from home sometimes makes it difficult to have a set amount of hours per day or even finding yourself trying to balance certain amount of hours for work and for your personal life.
The mantra from Laura is spot on
I think if the client cannot tell you why they hate it then to be frank and honest I cannot see them as worth working for, I’m very much for trying things even if the first works are not quite the right direction, test, test and test even more should be the approach if a client is not happy, to totally dismiss it is just wasting both your time.
At the end of the day the client wants results but if they’re not prepared to help you achieve those results then why did they bother to ask for your help in the first place.
Right, the economy is absolutely not robust right now, but yes, freelancers have more work now… So in the end, it’s the same conclusion… details details.
I get paid by the hour, no matter what I do. I write specs yes, but I get paid for it… just think about it.
Really nice article. I’ve been in the situation with getting completely underpaid for work, and then not getting paid at all. It’s not worth your time or effort to deal with dodgy clients so you really need to know when to say ‘gtfo’. Needless to say I didn’t follow my own advice
In all the jobs I’ve worked I’ve never had anyone tell me that “the customer is always right” is store policy– the only people who tell me this chestnut are customers. Pfbfbft!
“The customer is always right” sounds like a tagline from an old-fashioned department store ad. I can imagine poor, long-suffering Darren Stevens pitching this nonsense to some grouchy suit just after his wife, Sam, saves his butt yet again.
I’ve been there too. When someone has to get up early the next morning and is a light sleeper, you have to make choices. Sometimes you have to say that you’ve done all you can do for the day and call it a night. If your clients can’t understand that, they’re not worth keeping. Pure and simple.
Another reason to drop a client is if they ever verbally abuse you with insults or derogatory comments. Luckily this has only happened once during my 10 year freelance career. I finished the project (it was JUUUUST about done when this happened), cashed the check, and then let her know not to contact me again. I feel great that I never have to work with them again.
I would like to say that expectations play a huge part in determining when to say “No.” Sometimes aspects of a project are requested that you just shouldn’t do — like re-create original artwork of another artist or scour books for artwork that should have been prepped for you by the client (unless they are paying for your time to do so). But this can be thwarted by being fastidious in your project time-lines, deliverable and communications. If such is not the case, you’re the only one the blame can fall on for not managing your project properly or communicating information to your client clearly.
Another instance is when it’s a good idea to say “No” to a client is when they want to continue with edits or revisions when the project price is a set rate. If they stop you in the midst of your working to see a comp, tell them NO. You’ll show them the comp once the design is done – and then they can make their edits within the time set forth. If you don’t do that, you may run the risk of having edits and revisions eating up the budget before the project is finished. This again, comes down to proper client/project management.
As far as compromising professional worth….never do any logo work for any sort of “logo service” or “design service” or “bidding” service. These budgets are low, the clients don’t respect you and the expectations are usually really high. If you’re into screwing people out of their money to spend 10 mns on a logo, then go for it. But I wouldn’t.
Also, Customers are only right when they are talking about things specific to their business. When it comes to their own business, they know best. But, seeing as they hired you, a web desginer/graphic designer, you are an expert in your field–when it comes to these things, you really know best. It’s our duty as professionals in our fields to educate our clients. There is a good reason a farmer doesn’t do accounting–and there’s a good reason clients don’t do the design themselves. You’re the boss, you’re the expert. If something is a bad idea, say it. Be honest. Sometimes you’ll find this has negative repercussions. Other times, you’ll find you’re hitting the nail on the head.
Look out for Yes men and poor leasons. They can often stop you from letting the actual client know what is good, what is bad, and how things should work. It’s a touchy thing dealing with those types of situations — but if you keep your cool and act tactfully, you’ll be fine.
Thanks for all the great comments, folks. However, this is NOT my post. Obviously an honest mistake by Freelance Switch (just notified them of the error). Looking forward to seeing who actually wrote it.
Although I agree with the premise that the customer is NOT always right, my biggest question for the author is this: Why were you doing the work at the very last minute?
There are many instances when clients are way out of line. But without more background info, this story comes across as if you were either overwhelmed with work, you overpromised or simply procrastinated.
I’m not saying that was the case. Just pointing out that this is how it’s coming across.
And if that is, indeed, the case, then I think the client was justified in being upset at the fact that you didn’t come through.
I make it a point to set expectations with clients from day one. I explain what I can and cannot do. And I ask them a series of questions to help uncover their expectations, the project’s scope, and what the deliverable should look like. I also manage revisions by indicating clearly how many revisions I include for my fee and turnaround time for each round of revisions.
We also agree on a deadline that works for everyone, and I take the project over from that point. Because I’ve never submitted work late, clients know they can count on me to come through. That’s why I will never accept a deadline I know (or suspect) I can’t meet.
And if I do, then I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure I meet it.
Would love to hear more about the circumstances surrounding this project. That may clear up a lot of this.
I would like to add something to the community comments, you should always have a work-flow politic in order to avoid late revisions or add-ons. Never start a design before you have all the text aproved and signed by the client. You should also sign a contract detailing your work reach, and stick to it (be very very specific with every single point of your service). Sometimes because we need the money, we sign contracts too fast and end up working beyond the budget in order to make the client happy and get paid. 50/50 is a great fee politic… another good one when the work requires long terms and big budget is to work under a payment of 30/40/30 that will make the money flow better. (30% in advance, 40% when the final draft is been aproved, 30% when the work has been delivered). You could always have a different structure like 20/40/40 or so… but 3 payments when the job is complicated, is the best way to go.
There is another thing I´ve been told to do, that is a “Written Manual for the Client” (could be a in PDF format) that you should always give to your clients together with the contract, regarding work procedures, formats (for example minimum required for photographs, texts, etc), phonecalls times (you might not answer calls after 7:00 pm for example) and things like that.
I hate my cellphone, as much as I love it… so I made it clear to my clients that if they can not reach me on my cellphone, they should always use the Email… it is better for both because having a written petition, revision or/and answer backsup your work. (So that way I don´t answer late night phonecalls)
Hope I made a point since I speak Spanish as you noticed for my rough English.
I’ll leave the whole financial crisis humor to itself, and just say “wife”. No doubt, the base of people you have in your life is gonna pull you through bigger crisis than a client can ever put you in…
Unless you and your wife live in a studio apartment, there is no reason an 11:30PM business call should wake her up. Do you have your home office in a separate room? If so, do you have a dedicated phone line for that room? If not, why not?
Best article in the series for “The customer is not always right!”.
Well you can’t blame those customer for acting so unbehavior because life isn’t always easy.I agree with your opinion that say work can compromise your life balance and value but it doesn’t affecting my professional worth (no, not always)
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! This article needed to be written and published. It’s about time someone stood up for what matters in life… and that is not getting more work and clients. If client work ever infringes on my family time or causes those relations to suffer, than I have let my priorities rearrange in a unjustifiable manner. Kudos.
I sort of agree with this article
A while back I was going overseas for a week.
The day I left I had to wakeup at 3am to get to my flight
Later that day one of my clients informed me they had urgent work that needed to be done because the project was going live the next day
So the FIRST day I had arrived overseas (staying with family) rather than spending time with my family I ended up spending 8 hours working for my client which took me all the way through to 3am the next day
Not only did I sacrifice sleep staying up 24 hours which had effects on my health the next couple of days, I gave up spending time with my family.
Needless to say the client PAID for this as I charged almost 3x my usual rate to allow them to reach their deadlines
That said, if I was put in this situation again,
I’m not sure if I’d be so willing because it definately took it’s toll
Grim story. Definitely a client for the wind.
Great article
Wow, what a great article right here. You’re damn right.
Great, great article.
I’ve added this to my bookmarks, this site is amazing!
This scenario will be repeated time and time again until folks get in their head the idea that being a freelance writer means being a professional. That means contracts and very clear terms.
Also, when first approached, pay attention to your gut, not your checking account balance. Sometimes no amount of money is worth the aggravation.
Cheers!
George
“So? Is it okay?” I ask.
“She hates it,” she replies.
“Did she say why?”
“No.”
LOL, You done right… thet will get me nervous too. You make me laughf.. Ilike this article