why clients aren't letting you be the damn expert [idgaf 011]

Yo Reader,

The first time I charged $20k for a site, it was for a global wedding planning business. And they wanted something creative. I was so hyped cause this was the type of work I really wanted to be doing. Go beyond boring and purely conversion oriented. Make it fun and exciting.

It was a bit rough at the start cause they kept changing their minds on what kind of direction they were looking for, but I got them on track eventually.

The concept stuff was awesome. They LOVED it, just had some tiny little requests. No biggy, right?

Change a colour here. Maybe move a block over there. Minor adjustments, almost always it looked a bit worse, but it’s their site so whatever.

But as the project went on, the requests got worse. Bigger. And I'd do something, they'd realise it was shit and ask for something else. Plus they’d change their mind at every meeting!!!

Nightmare.

I was just taking whatever orders they gave me, and it sucked! Felt like I was there to push pixels and push pixels alone. They didn't care about my expertise, they were having their creative moment and my job was to do the work that they couldn't actually do themselves.

It’s probably the third most depressed I’ve been about a project (you don’t even want to know about the other two).

Do electricians or plumbers have to deal with clients telling them how to do their job? Lawyers and doctors? No?

Why me?

There's a few things going on, but let me introduce you to the concept of bike shedding (aka Parkinsons law of triviality).

The terms goes back to this story about a committee responsible for approving a huge multi million dollar nuclear plant. Every decision on the complex stuff was made quick and easy. No problems.

But they ended up getting stuck for aaaaages on the approval of an employee bike shed. A BIKE SHED. After approving all this complex stuff that was genuinely serious, they got stuck on something that really didn't matter.

This happens cause most people have no idea how to contribute for the complex stuff. They don't get it, can't really form an opinion or have a view, so there's not much to discuss.

But on the trivial stuff, they understand it better. And they have opinions.

That's why clients will tell you what to write. Or what to design. Or what their social media post should be.

If you want to be the expert, you need to act like it. Not just when they make a request, but throughout the whole engagement.

This means three things:

You have a way of doing things that delivers results, why would you let a client tell you how to do things?

For example, I define project goals and scope before I start. If they want to change the scope, it's not hard to look back and the goals and see if this is something I can dismiss, or whether I need to change the scope (which they will pay for just FYI).

Frame it properly from day one, that you have a process that gets results. Then just do things the way that lets you get results.

Yes, obviously you can easily do what they're asking for. But should you? Ask why the client wants it, and how that's going to get them closer to achieving their goals. Maybe they have a good justification, maybe it's just personal preference.

Clients often ask for shit because they think it will solve a symptom of something. Your job is to find out what the real problem is and make sure that's what you're fixing.

I'll make sure I understand the client, their problems, what outcomes they want, so then when they want me to do something specific, I can figure out whether it's going to help or hinder.

Often, just asking those types of questions helps the client see it's actually not the greatest move.

Of course, sometimes they just want what they want. But this is your expertise area, not theirs. If they make a dumb request, it's up to you to push back and explain why it's dumb.

But you've gotta do it right. I can't believe I need to write this, but you don't actually say "that's dumb."

Educate them enough so it isn't just a matter of your preference vs theirs. That would be personal, and if it comes down to a you vs them ego battle, they're gonna pick themselves.

When you say no, its because it either runs counter to their goal, or it's simply out of scope (which means you get to rescope and charge more).

Two reasons.

First one: Imagine you do whatever the client asks, deliver this steaming pile of shit EXACTLY AS THEY WANTED, and it doesn't work.

Who does the client blame? Yeahhhhhhhh you're the person they complain about to their next provider. To their friends. To your google reviews page.

Second reason: requests tend to snowball. A client asks for one thing. See something else that they'd like changed, so ask for that too. Then they get almost a taste for it, and go mad with power.

And then it is all kinda shit, and they realise they need to change more stuff, and boom you're stuck in this never ending cycle of bullshit requests for a client getting less and less grateful as the project looks worse and worse.

Vom.

Sometimes people think I'm a bit of an A-hole for how firm I am about how the client relationship should operate. I won't take on clients that already know what they want and just need someone with the technical skills to implement it.

But this is from hard won experience fam. VERY hard won. *flashbacks*

So if you're looking to be the expert, hopefully this is the email that helps.

✌️

Cowabunga,Nick Gulic