Client education

[monotonia]

I'm currently dealing with a client who clearly doesn't get it. Any of it. She wanted a logo, and at one point found something online and said "Oh, I want this one!" and I had to explain to her why she couldn't just use someone else's logo. I was baffled that she'd pay me to do that, anyway

Comments

[monotonia]

LOL I thought I was metaphorically doing that, but I guess maybe she's got a steel plate in there or something.

[lillyflowers]

I'd be inclined to walk away myself. She sounds like an awful lot of trouble. Is she giving you enough pay to make educating her worth it?

[monotonia]

I really *want* to walk away. In fact, she initially wanted a brochure done as well, and I'm definitely going to end the relationship when this logo is complete. I don't want to end it now, because I'd like to get paid for the work I've done. I was just laid off at the agency I've been working for, so I need whatever money I can get at this point. And yeah,she's paying a decent amount, so I will follow through.

[lillyflowers]

That complicates things a lot. And, having been there, I understand completely. But fire her after you're done. You don't want to be involved in working with someone who steals.

[fenmere]

I like the idea of a page or tutorial like that. We basically had to create one for ourselves at the newspaper I worked at. But you know what we found out? It didn't help. All it did was provide us with an in-print policy we could point to when we fired an ad client.

Whatever you find out there, I'd use it as a tutorial on your own webpage, and then incorporate it into your policy as a list of things your clients have to comply with. It's a nice two-pronged approach where you educate people and protect yourself at the same time.

As for specifics, I suggest making the tutorial yourself and then asking your friends to proof and edit it for you.

But if your own words are not good enough to get the idea across to the client now, then your client is probably going to be further trouble down the road.

[monotonia]

Well, I've been pretty clear with my own words, I think. I thought maybe if there was something "official," it would be more like "this is industry standard, not my arbitrary decision."

[tactful_cactus]

This is fun, but doesn't really address your you specific issues.

[monotonia]

That's awesome.

[rainisnice]

*downloaded and saved as I have had to deal with this type of client more than once*

[aspen]

I had a similar client that I finally just fired. I honestly couldn't get through to her and she kept doing the same thing, using draft samples to print business cards and letterhead (that looked horrible and caused her to complain further) - she wanted more and more and finished products but was stalling on paying me. It's often not worth it - you can go back and forth with her and spend hours of your time or you can use that time to find new clients.