June 6th, 2010 in Articles by Rishabh
5 Points In Dealing With Design Clients
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Loading ...Hello, today’s post comes from a new author on HV-Designs in this post Rishabh will go through 5 important points in dealing with design clients.
Clients are the people for whom every one of us works. We encounter several types of clients in our daily life. Some are easy and supportive; some are stubborn and hard to crack. But all of us have to find a way out of each and every kind of client we see. The reason being, clients are the people who pay the bill.
In the graphic design industry, the scenario can even be worse. Sometimes, you have to face really silly and weird questions and terms and conditions of your clients. The weird questions and comments can range from “I can design this better than you”, to “This is not going to work for me”. Now the question remains, how to deal with these types of clients? Let’s have a look.
1. Ask, Ask and Ask
With the first encounter with your client, the only thing you should do is, let him do all the talking. Let him spit out what all he has in his mind. Do not interrupt the process. And most importantly, ask all the possible questions you want to. That helps in getting a clear picture of the project on both sides. It has been proved that the reason of most of the failed projects is the miss-communication between the client and the service provider.
2. Dont Lower Your Standards
You will eventually come across such clients in your design career, who want to get the best results, still are reluctant to pay the price for it. Always remember one thing, “All great things come with a price tag”. And if you happen to come across a client, who is not ready to pay up to your standard of expertise and experience, the best bet would be not to go ahead with him. Believe me, it’s more important to retain your standards and wait for the right client, instead of jumping in whatever comes in your way.
3. Have A Clear Goal
Many of the web designers do not define their boundaries and goals at the beginning of their project. The result? A client yelling, “This is not what I wanted”. To make sure you never get in to such situation is, prepare a solid path and set your goals at the very start of your project. This helps in creating a plan so that you are never left out of the league. Also, keep updating your client about the progress of the project.
4. Break It Down
Not every client understands the complexity and the amount of work you put into a project. All they care is about the final result. And to make sure, you don’t get it all wrong in a jiffy, break your project into small and independent modules. After you are done with a module, consul with the client over it and take his/her feedback. After he is satisfied with one module, move on with another. This way, you’ll be able to keep things in shape.
5. Never Deliver Unless The Client Pays
Make it a rule of thumb. No matter if the client is your wife’s dad, or your best pal. “Never, ever deliver your work until and unless you have the payment”. Trust me on this. I’ve been in many projects, where the client convinced me about a so-called trust factor and I was left with no-payment ever. So, invoice your billings effectively and make it a habit of taking some amount of down-payment as you start off with the project. This way, your hard work would never go in vain.
Conclusion
Not every person on this earth is alike. We always come across people with different mind sets and mentalities. But all we have to do is, make a strategy to deal with them, effectively.
Thanks Rishabh
Please give thanks to Rishabh for this post. Hopefully we’ll see more in the future.
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