Client Rant!

[fixeighted]

I have a cunning plan! Ditch him!
Seriously - did you tell him that sadly you have booked a holiday cabin to spend the weekend with family in?
Damn, sorry Mr. Client but I really can't put this off and won't be back until your ACTUAL deadline is over

Problem solved.
I DO like a good client rant....so this post is all good.

As for the 'jam tomorrow' situation.....just GRRRRR....heard it so much, even by the guy who first told me of the term LOL.
My advice - don't let people treat you bad at all. Always walk away, regardless of the money.

[voltron7]

its exactly it. When clients try to low ball me or make me work on lower rate and I don't budge I explain to them that this puts them in a disadvantage against other projects which are paying the rate I am asking, quickly this fixes the situation.

Great advice!

[ior=0]

I think anyone that is having a ..."Single Ferrari Stallion.. he should be silver" , can definitely afford to pay for extras!!

[glorybound]

Rants are cheap the therapy!

I try to make each client feel special, so I don't complain to them. I knew a "boutique" house designer, who wasn't licensed and did really high-end homes. He had the look; shoulder length blonde hair and a sharp dresser. He drove a lotus and lived in a million dollar house. He did well because he treated his clients like royalty and his clients ate it up. Nothing special about the houses he designed, he just did well because of how he treated people. He actually fired a project manager because the PM sent the client a late invoice. I try to take a little bit of that into what I do, especially when I like the client.

I try not to be a commodity and just crank out pictures which is what I feel like I am falling into.

[andybot_cg]

Rants are cheap the therapy!

I try to make each client feel special, so I don't complain to them. I knew a "boutique" house designer, who wasn't licensed and did really high-end homes. He had the look; shoulder length blonde hair and a sharp dresser. He drove a lotus and lived in a million dollar house. He did well because he treated his clients like royalty and his clients ate it up. Nothing special about the houses he designed, he just did well because of how he treated people. He actually fired a project manager because the PM sent the client a late invoice. I try to take a little bit of that into what I do, especially when I like the client.

I try not to be a commodity and just crank out pictures which is what I feel like I am falling into.

Lol, he was probably up to the hilt in debt! Yes, treat clients well, but don't be a pushover just to be "nice." Professionalism goes a long way, and part of that is saying "no" firmly.

[glorybound]

Yeah, he might be in debt, but I have knew him for about a decade and he never skipped a beat. I have always been fascinated with why some brands succeed and others fail. It seems that the ones who are willing to play the game win. I mean, you need to understand people and stroke them where they need to be stroked, which is usually their ego.

Again, an Elvis story. If you ever watched him, in his older years singing his earlier songs and smirk at his band, that's for a reason. He hated singing those songs, but he knew his fans eat it up. He would shake his head, smirk, and say to himself that he can't believe that they eat this crap up. Point is, know your market and playoff your strengths.

One company I know is about 2X as expensive as others and their work is good but no better than their competitors. They have a meeting once a month to create a short list of projects they want and they decline all the others; the list of people wanting them is huge. Why? They created a persona that people eat up. These houses resell for more when this design/builder is listed. Like Apple, who produces subpar hardware and software, has a persona that people eat up.

Where and how do you say no? If these changes, in the long run, only take a couple of hours, is it worth saying no? Yes, they'll continue to ask, knowing I don't say no but is that what it takes to win loyal clients? Today I have a guy I am saying no too, but it has gotten downright ridiculous and my kindness has come to its end.

[Deflaminis]

Yep, you are correct. But then again, I like to help. I have been working 18 hour days for the last two months, so no, I don't need the work or the headache. I just get mad when people try to take advantage of me or anybody else. I kind of like to share so people learn. Maybe if they get the call for a last minute project with little information they raise the red flag. I am getting tired of the 10 projects a month with ten different clients. I am ready for the large project that'll keep me off the market for months.

It took me a really long time to learn that working 18 hour days only wins you.... more 18 hour days. And efficiency takes a nosedive after 4-5 days in a row doing this. What I love about you Bobby is that you're a team player (clearly) and you work hard. But you're only stealing from the last part of your life by working yourself so hard now. And those clients will be long gone.

At this point it might be time to hire a minion and split the load if you don't want to fire the client. You really can't win here. Now that you've established a reputation for always getting it done with this client, the first time you resist that's going to be what the client talks about for the next 3 months because their expectations have been changed. It's tough. At the very least if you do have to drop them maybe refer them to a budding artist that needs the money and is happy to work those hours.

But let's be real man... we're not getting younger. Working those kind of hours too often will damage family relations, personal sanity, etc. It's only a matter of time... and for what?

[JuhaHo]

I follow my diastolic blood pressure regularly to see when I'm working too hard. When it's over 85, I know, I need to slow down. Ruining my left eye sight taught me a lesson about mortality.

[andybot_cg]

Where and how do you say no? If these changes, in the long run, only take a couple of hours, is it worth saying no? Yes, they'll continue to ask, knowing I don't say no but is that what it takes to win loyal clients? Today I have a guy I am saying no too, but it has gotten downright ridiculous and my kindness has come to its end.

I don't mean a hard, unqualified NO. I mean you set some terms. "No, I can't do it unless you pay an extra $1,000 for disrupting my work with my other clients." Be upfront about what you can and can't do, like Deflaminis says above, once you set the expectation, it's a lot harder to undo.

[glorybound]

Yes, I’ll need to tighten my practices. I just had a client want me to change something back to I had it before he made changes. I simply said sure, it’ll cost X amount. He quickly said, “okay, lets go ahead and leave it”. That seems to be how it works with people.

[zeronove]

I simply said sure, it’ll cost X amount. He quickly said, “okay, lets go ahead and leave it”. .

More than often these are the magic words to say

[andybot_cg]

Yes, I’ll need to tighten my practices. I just had a client want me to change something back to I had it before he made changes. I simply said sure, it’ll cost X amount. He quickly said, “okay, lets go ahead and leave it”. That seems to be how it works with people.

Right on! That's what I mean by saying "no."

[hoppergrass]

Yes, I’ll need to tighten my practices. I just had a client want me to change something back to I had it before he made changes. I simply said sure, it’ll cost X amount. He quickly said, “okay, lets go ahead and leave it”. That seems to be how it works with people.

This is exactly how we have managed to get certain projects/clients back into the black, "Sure I can do that, its going to take this long and cost this much, how would you like me to proceed?" is a great phrase. Its a nice way of saying no with out actually saying no, plus you get to charge more for changes.

[Garryclarke]

There's some great advice here.

Yesterday I had to ditch one of my freelance clients, someone I've worked with for decades, however he's a tweaker, and once they know they can start making tweaks they'll carry on making them and over time it'll get worse. It got to the stage with a simple 15 sec motion graphics job that despite me following the brief and all the tweaks to the letter it was still coming back for more tweaks. When the 6th round of tweaks came in I called it a day. I packaged up the files sent them all to the client and told him he can know make as many changes as he likes (I'm one of many freelancers he uses) and that I won't be invoicing for the work or taking on any more.

The amount of stress that this one client was causing me was unbelievable, today I actually feel relaxed, relieved and even my wife noticed that I seemed in a much better mood because of it.

I may have lost out on the time and money (it wasn't a great amount) but the lesson I've learnt is huge. I just wish I'd done it years ago.

[flino2004]

I had a client that he wants to do a lot of changes and I had to even fix his designs...I did two projects for him in a very bad mood because of the situation....He came to me with another one so I said to him, I'm very busy and base on the previous projects I don't have flexibility on the fee and it's going to be more expensive because I have other projects to do, (he was paying less than the fee I quoted to him ) ....So I charged more, changes too, after paying he requested the model I said "NO" and I don't work for him anymore ....a win, win, win to me