The Client Isn't Always Right

"The Customer is Always Right." Anyone who has spent anytime in a client driven industry is familiar with the phrase. From grocery stores to marketing firms, when your business depends directly on the amount of customers and clients you get, this phrase is treated like the gospel. Unfortunately, anyone who has ever worked in client driven business also knows that the client usually has no idea what it is they want.

The whole reason why you hire a professional is because you don't have the knowledge to do it yourself. You might have ideas, you might have suggestions, but you don't have expertise. This is why you go to a doctor when you're sick, and when your doctor gives you medical advice, you follow it. An ideal client relationship works like a doctor-patient relationship. The client comes in with a problem, offers some suggestions of what the solution might be, but ultimately defers to the experience of the professional they hired.

In reality, the client comes in with suggestions or ideas that will not work, or won't work without heavy modification. You tell them this as politely and deferentially as possible, because after all, you can't afford to lose the client, offer some suggestions, and inevitably, your suggestions are rejected. If you followed the motto "the customer is always right", this is where you would back down, go with the client's ill advised idea, and then have to deal with the blow back when it doesn't work, or doesn't work well enough. The problem with the "client is always right" is that the customer comes to believe this as well. Obviously if things didn't work out the way they wanted, it's your fault for either not listening to them or, conversely, listening to them even though you knew it wouldn't work. As a professional, you can't win.

The solution? Acknowledge that the client isn't always right. Don't be afraid to state, clearly and decisively, why the client's idea, while interesting, will not work. Use examples of similar ideas that have failed. Provide one or two suggestions for alternatives,  and don't be afraid to emphasize the years of experience you have.

For example, if you have been tasked to design a flyer for a client and they want to put something on the flyer that just won't work - it's too strongly worded, the design is ugly, it's the sort of information that isn't meant to go on a flyer - explain to them why it won't work, and if (when) they ignore your suggestion, provide two examples. One with their suggestions, implemented exactly as is, poor wording, color scheme and all, and one the way you know from experience will work best. Present the two suggestions side by side, and 99% of the time, they'll pick the one you designed.

Most of the time if you let the client know in no uncertain terms that their suggestions are a bad idea, and provide alternatives, they will listen. Trying to turn a poor idea into an acceptable one is a waste of time and effort.  If the idea is salvageable, let it drop. The good thing about most clients is that they don't know what they want until they see it, so if you provide examples of what you know works, they'll find something they like and you can go from there.

For the 1% who persist in making poor design choices, there is quite literally nothing you can do. It comes down to whether you can afford to be associated with a poor design - if you pride yourself on the quality of your work, this might be the time to drop an ultimatum on the client, instead of the other way around. But usually, it doesn't come to that. Generally, when you firmly but gently tell a client "how about we try this instead", they'll go along with it.

Always listening to your client is a good way to churn out mediocre work. You will not, in fact, have a high rate of customer satisfaction. Ultimately, you and the client care about the same things - results. If you do everything a client wants, and it fails that is your fault. The client will very rarely if ever take responsibility. It's much smarter to make sure all your projects succeed, even if that means proving a customer wrong.

How do you deal with difficult customers? If you have any additional tips or suggestions, things that worked or didn't work for you, let us know in the comments, or by contacting us on twitter and facebook.