Working with Clients

Often I find that when pressures mount my first reaction is to defend myself.  Take, for example, a recent conversation between me and Reid.

Reid: Peter, when you have a moment, I could really use some dev support to spec out a small plugin for one of our clients.  It’ll only take an hour tops and would really help me a bunch.

Peter: I’ll get you some dev support as soon as our dev projects calm down in a couple of months.  We’re working as hard as we can and you’re not the only one who has need you know?  I mean I’ve barely slept in like 5 months and have started to BUY laundry and dishes instead of cleaning them because of these deadlines that we have to meet and oh my god you’re totally STRESSING ME OUT WITH YOUR INCESSANT DEMANDS!  CAN’T YOU SEE THAT WE’RE DOING EVERYTHING WE CAN? AHHHHHHHHH!

Reid: Um…  I’m sensing that this is not the best time to ask you about this.  When can we talk about this again?

Peter: I’m sorry Reid, I don’t mean to be wigging out so much.  I’m really not that stressed.  But I don’t know when I’ll be able to help more.  I appear to be double booked for every appointment i have over the next 6 weeks and I just can’t think about this right now.  I know it might not seem like it but I’m working really hard and you should know that I’m working hard, can’t you see that I’m working hard?  What more do you need from me?  AHHHHHHHHH!

Obviously this slightly dramatized interaction could be improved.  There are any number of ways to better address Reid’s request, but one stands out to me in particular: an open call for help (possibly paired with some anti-psychotics).
Continue Reading »

As fun as it can be to let a project drag on for eternity, and as much as I thoroughly enjoy working for free, one of the best things I can do for my relationship with my client is to define a clear end point for the project. I need sign off.

The problem, is how do I terminate a project in such a way as to strengthen my ongoing relationship? Continue Reading »

I don’t believe that clients set out to be “difficult” on purpose. Sure, there are certain personalities that just don’t mesh, or clients can have expectations of the designer that are unrealistic, or be unclear about communicating, but for the most part people don’t shell out money with the intention of it ending badly.

Projects end badly for a number of reasons, but the majority of them have to do with a lack of communication between the designer and the client.

So what can you, as the client, do to make the design process a much more positive experience?

Here are some ideas:

Continue Reading »

So it just dawned on me, after having spent yet another weekend on this project, that maybe there should be a cap on the time or the number of revisions allowed within the scope of the bid.

Oh wait, we do have a cap in our contract. So (scratching my head), why am I now working on revision #4,536,136? Oh, that’s right, because this is for the one client that we have for whom we did not prepare a formal contract for.

This brings to light a fundamental concept… Contracts are for people who think they don’t need contracts.

Continue Reading »

A lot of freelancers have been asking us if we use a standard contract, what issues we address and the verbiage we worked out with our laywer. Since our contract was hard-earned, I thought it would be worth sharing. This is lawyer ratified, but if you choose to use it, neither Peter or I, nor our lawyer will be standing next to you in court when things blow up. Please, please, please sit down with your lawyer and make sure to get the odds and ends in place to fit your business.

All our contracts have a cover page, then the revised proposal followed by the terms and conditions and signature. I might be willing to create a template for the entire proposal / contract document if we get enough requests in the comments.
Continue Reading »

It can be hard to explain why a really simple UI design should cost more than a complex one. Here’s how I like to look at it:

Good UI does the work for you.

Continue Reading »

Last night at the Webbies Video Awards, Jennifer Daumler, Director of PR at Level3, asked me “what kind of clients do you look for?”
Continue Reading »

In the most recent small business newsletter from Wells Fargo they included a very concise and interesting article on the responsibilities of a CEO. As part of the responsibility of increasing sales and customer service, the authors alluded to the use of a simple customer satisfaction rating system:
Continue Reading »

In the last 20 years, Gallup has interviewed over a billion customers, trying to identify what they really want. As you would expect, they first discovered that a customer’s needs vary by industry. Surprisingly though, they found 4 sets of customer expectation that consistently spanned across various types of business and people. These expectation are what they call hierarchical, meaning that you need to accomplish 1 and 2 before 3 has any value. I was thinking about this and decided to apply it to our company and industry.

Continue Reading »

I was chatting with my cousin Harun (a.k.a. Haza) the other day and dropped a note about why i love working with blip.tv. After rereading it, I thought it is worth publishing. Continue Reading »