Comments on: 5 Things Clients Say and What They Really Mean

By: Brian Yerkes

Brian Yerkes — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:11:00 +0000

Samuel, very true. It is one of those things that a lot of designers, freelancers especially never get a chance to really learn, and they gain the experience when it is too late, and they are stuck in a nightmare project. Thanks for your comment!

Lisa, I agree, that’s probably something I should have finished with…that most of these red flags are reasons to not accept the project or take on the client.

Martin, that just happened to my company recently. We were kind enough to give the potential two face to face meeting during the sales process, the second meeting was even after we gave them a price! And they they did the “Something came up, we have to put the project on hold.”

It’s never fun to to go that length during a sale and not get the business. Two face to face meetings are quite an expense for my business when we are busy, and have deadlines etc.

Ann, thanks for your comment!

Dan, I just went through that exact same situation. Changing the same paragraph about 5 times. Especially when revising design work, it seems most of the time the client ends up reverting back to the first rendition, and is happy with it after making you go through several revisions.

Marko, even though it is rare that this will turn out well, it can sometimes be a great deal. It’s basically like investing in a company, if you think the idea is a good one and the people behind the idea are decent business people, it can be a great opportunity.

Cameron Johnson (a multi-millionaire entrepreneur) started an online business when he was a teenager and needed a programmer to create the site for him. He had no money to offer, but gave the programmer a stake in the business. Ended up being sold for millions, and both of them became very rich!

By: Marko Randjelovic

Marko Randjelovic — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:34:34 +0000

Excellent article!
I’ve heard #2 a few weeks ago for the Nth time. The guy wanted me to build him a website for free and he would give me 20% of the site’s profits for the duration of two years once his business takes off (in a couple of years).

By: Dan Wellman

Dan Wellman — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:27:57 +0000

lol, good list

I had a client asking for last minute copy revisions a week before launch; they asked me to change a paragraph, so I duly did, then a couple of days later, the same person asked me to change it again, and what they asked me to change to was exactly what it was originally!

By: Anne

Anne — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:00:04 +0000

Great article – I particularly agree with your summary statement:

“Client management is an underestimated element of being a designer or project manager, and the successful ones are able to handle each level of communication that they have with clients.”

I’ve encountered each of the points you mentioned to some degree, with a few variations.

By: Martin

Martin — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 12:32:20 +0000

How about; I’m going to have to put the project on hold for a while (and never get back to you) but I DEFINATELY still want you to do my website but something’s come up… Meaning – I didn’t realise that websites cost that much, and as it can’t be THAT hard and I don’t value my business, I’ll just make my own website with a copy of Paint and FrontPage and a bunch of crappy clip art?

Rant over lol!

Good post!