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The Customer's Always Right
... even though you know the truth, don't you?
By Steven Klapow
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 "I like it. Really. It's great. I see you put a lot of time into this ... "
Ah, the satisfaction of a verbal nod from the client.
"... But I'm not sure it's quite right. It needs more—oh, I don't know—more something. Can you do it over?"
What?! Do it over? Every detail, every nuance, was discussed before and during the project. Do it over?
"And can you have it ready by tomorrow?"
No matter what part you play in the production process, you've probably heard something along these lines. If you have, it's probably happened more times than you can stand. And no matter how many times you hear a client make comments and requests like these, does it even get more tolerable? Probably not.
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Like anyone whose profession entails performing a service for others, you often have to grin and bear the unbearable client. The client brings you business, talks about you favorably, sends more clients to you. Although we all hope for delightful transactions with our bosses, customers or whomever we need to please, somehow the horror stories seem to be the most riveting.
Like anyone whose
profession entails
performing a
service, you have to
grin and bear the
unbearable client. |
When I talk to readers about their recent projects, I make it a point to ask about the bumps in the road. It seems every project has one. In particular, I like to ask about review and approval. For some, it's a long road. The bigger the client, the more perilous the road.
One content creator at an independent facility that deals with household-name Fortune clients told me that the review-and-approval process seems endless, even when it's been mapped out in advance. When the client is a corporation and an advertising agency is involved, he said, things get even more complicated. "The client sometimes doesn't specify why they want certain changes made, or why they don't like something. They just want changes."
Are those changes for the better?
"Not usually," he said.
This brings us to another client: the client who is paying you for your communications expertise but then doesn't let you apply it to the project. You know the audience, you know the purpose, and you know just the right way to communicate the message. Then the client says "no."
A number of producers have succeeded in getting executives to move away from boring PowerPoint presentations and to start using video either in lieu of or as part of PowerPoint. However, I've heard more than a few stories about clients who insist on having producers create slides for presentations aimed at tech-savvy audiences--not a power move, but sometimes executive clients are a hard-sell when it comes to technology they don't understand or haven't used before. Then there's the client who wants a video when a PowerPoint presentation on its own would be more effective.
Sometimes the producer can't win the argument. In the end, how do you do your job effectively without angering the client because you disagree with his or her ideas?
There is no one way to manage client expectations or to handle the client who requests myriad changes very late in the production timeline. Or is there? How have you soothed the savage client? How do you keep clients from making countless changes while expecting you to finish on time and within the budget? What do you do to prevent the seemingly endless cycle of revisions that, in the end, don't improve the product? We're eager to hear your horror stories—and your winning approaches.
Share your comments about this column by e-mailing Steven at sklapow@pbimedia.com.
Source: AVVMMP
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