How to deal with the ‘Difficult’ clients
I’ve been asked a few times about my experience with challenging clients — demanding, difficult, unclear or otherwise. It’s a common topic in the service industry and not an experience lost on me.
The question is almost always framed in a way in which the work has already been done — and feedback is the problem. Fair, it’s how I usually pictured it too.
We’ve all been there. Having worked tirelessly on a project on ridiculous timelines and tight budgets, only to have the work torn apart by a client seemingly out of nowhere.
It’s tough. Sometimes you feel like you’re doing your best attempt at simultaneously being a mind-reader and creative magician. Design is subjective, so there’s never the ‘right’ answer to fall back on.
Once you get a bad round of feedback or unclear guidance it is easy to fall into a tailspin chasing the right solution. As the deadline ominously creeps closer and email sign-offs become less and less cheery. There is a tendency to open round 1 with your own opinion on the right solution (or at least, a few options) and then the following rounds trying to shove a round-shaped idea into a square-shaped hole.
With this in mind, the solution usually feels something like smiling sweetly, holding your tongue and hoping for the best until the job is delivered. Not ideal. There are things to learn and take from this — like learning to add to and unpick (un)constructive criticism. Ensuring a level head when conveying feedback to the team is crucial.
Remove bias and frustration from your approach and lean into the fact that you’re supposed to be working with, not against, the client. You want to leave the room, call, or email, with a clearly defined problem and some rationale as to a potential solution. Ask questions about the feedback and dig into it a little more. Why was ‘thing A’ wrong? Even harder — why was ‘thing B’ right?
Take time and be considered in response. The temptation to rush to a solution immediately is a powerful one, but almost always results in a worse concept than before. Take a second to breathe and get some fresh air. A 30-minute walk talking about anything other than the project will forever be more effective than staring at a screen doomscrolling Pinterest.
It starts at the beginning. Obvs.
But rather than recommend you take a deep breath and count to 3, I’d look at cutting the risk of difficult clients from the off.
Day one is the most important of the entire project. Take the time to sit down with your client. Listen, properly, to what they’re saying. Pick apart the brief and rebuild it together ensuring that everyone in the room is on board. It's our job to solve business problems with creative executions.
The first task is to define what that business problem is. “We need to sell shoes” is fine. But not enough. Who are we selling to? Why would they want them? What makes them interesting? And even more vital — who do you (client) need to convince internally to make this thing happen?
I put myself in the client's shoes and view the challenge from their perspective. It’s rarely the case that the people in the room are the ones to have final sign-off, so make sure you make your direct contact’s life as easy as possible. What’s their true goal?
In a serious project that’s had prior consideration, clients will be prepared. As such, they might want to hear their thoughts contextualised in a creative wrapper. Listen and play back their thoughts to them. Does it make sense? Do they agree?
From here, you’re most likely to have come to some very early ideas. That may be organically from the flow of conversation or some pre-prep you’ve done ahead of the kick-off. Get a vibe check, and see if anything sticks. Get the first meeting right and the rest of the project will flow. Usually.
A good relationship forged day one can work wonders for the success of a project. I try to be as open and relaxed in my approach to concept sharing. It’s a collaborative exercise — so give the client as much control and say as they’re comfortable with. Be playful with how you share ideas. This should be the most fun part of their day, so try not to take it too seriously. Even the most rigid and sensible clients can enjoy the process.
I don’t get it right all the time. I’d wager I get it wrong more often than not. But that’s ok. When you’re working together it's a shared victory so the only option is to collaborate on finding the best solution.
All it takes is one route to make it through in the end.
