Is client always right? The importance of communicating goals, alignment and hard learned lessons

Maybe they are not interested in more sales, or more traffic, in other words you are encountering resistence towards objectively desirable outcomes. What may be some of the causes and what to do about them?



Being ordertaker is a luxury many of us in the creative industry simply don’t have.

Did you ever had a client who wasn’t pleased with your final work despite you following every one of his orders to the letter? Maybe they were very specific about impossible color or font combination, or maybe they gave strangely specific description of layout that if executed didn’t make much sense. I got all these in briefs and there were times when I wasn’t experienced enough to refuse to comply. Instead I worked so hard to make it work, just to get myself into loop of even more chaotic comments that came as an attempt to fix the mess. Today I know that if I was given little bit more breathing room, and little bit more trust then I could easily provide good design, the problem wasn’t in my designing skills but rather in relationship between me and the client.

Can client have different goal they don’t share with you?

Is it possible that client may hide their main objective from you? Short answer: Yes! Businesses compartmentalize for various reasons whether it’s to protect their trade secrets, or more myserious intention, sometimes you are left blind and may feel like you are set to fail. How to know which discrepant projects are salvagable and which aren’t? Try this first!

• Ask them to give you more freedom. If you have a good track record with your previous work, there shouldn’t be a reason to distrust you. After all, they hired you as an expert.
• Provide a comparison. Create a sample piece according to their specifications alongside your primary showcases. Show them that you are respecting their insights, but be confident in your abilities.

It still feels like they want something else...

It may be possible that your client will still undirectly lead you away from goals that they initially stated. It's important to consider extend of their contraproductive requests, wheter theres place for compromise and in case the metrics of success will be impacted, you need to make sure it wont be used against you an you will get payed. At this point you can either exit the project or accept clients authority with all possible implications. What their reasons are may differ, my experience isnt universal but here are examples of few I encountered:

• The client may simply be biased. We all have our biases, and it’s not always easy to break out of them.
• They may not be comfortable sharing their true reasons with you, which may indicate a lack of trust.
• You are not working with the end client, but rather their employee or entrusted person. This is probably the most frustrating option because it’s hard to align with someone who may not even be the person profiting from the project's success. Although these people may sometimes be professional, it is, on average, less likely they will be as motivated and dedicated as the executive or owner.

Encountering a situation in which you are opting for suboptimal solutions may be frustrating, and sometimes it can result in real problems for you or your business. Being unassertive when making the big decisions means you may open yourself to valid criticism from your competitors, or even legal troubles. Make sure you are always fulfilling your contractual obligations, and if your client changes the scope, amending your contract is reasonable. Whenever you decide to continue working with your client, or not, remember that we are all humans, and it’s always preferable to stay respectable toward your clients.