What to do when a client asks for something “stupid”

I hear many stories about how a client, having received the result of the work, gives some wild feedback. For example, asks to increase the size of the logo by a hundred times or draw a yellow transparent round square.

There are those in freelance circles who like to laugh at this topic. I used to be one of them. Until I realized two things.

First. Whatever nonsense the client offers, it doesn't seem nonsense to him and should be treated with respect. The client is simply so far removed from the specifics of the work that his comments may be perceived strangely. It is important to simply explain to him why the offer seems excessive to us and offer a cooler option.

Second. And here lies the problem. A freelancer, having received a strange comment on the result of his work, immediately imagines how he will have to spend time making edits, feels discomfort from this and his first reaction (which is very easily and unfriendly read by the interlocutor) is to sharply object.

How to reduce the amount of “nonsense” from the client, and also increase his satisfaction with the work process and the result?

I'm writing here from the perspective of a freelance UX designer, but the overall approach is pretty universal.

Firstlyin such situations, when I act as a freelancer, I almost never object to anything I hear from the client. The first thing I do is say: “Great idea!” And then I ask clarifying questions, trying to understand where it came from and what goals it pursues. Once I am sure that the idea has some basis, I begin to figure out what its implementation will result in. Not from the position of “damn, I'll have to do this”, but from the position of “I'll have to try this and compare it with my solution, but first I need to understand what the pitfalls are.”

The pitfalls in the client's decision are found very quickly and I voice them to him. There are rare exceptions when the client's idea is no worse than mine – and this is great. When the dialogue takes place in this vein – that is, the performer admires the idea, shows his interest in its implementation and begins to seriously discuss what it will lead to – the client will not want to defend his idea (as in the case if I sharply and without hesitation showed my negative attitude to the proposal) and he will sincerely listen to my professional opinion. And this is very different from “you are a professional, you know better.” No, the latter phrase is used in slightly different situations 🙂

Secondlythe more client comments are taken into account during the work process, the more valuable the result is for him. The more he is involved in it. And the happier he will be. Therefore, you should not be upset by inappropriate comments (and demonstrate this upset in negotiations and correspondence), but, on the contrary, you should use them to your advantage. For example, I show an unfinished product catalog, to which I have not yet had time to add page navigation. And the client says: “Cool, but it would be great to add page navigation.” And instead of answering: “I was going to anyway, it's just an intermediate result,” I will answer: “Excellent remark! I will definitely add it!” It is simply magical how clients enjoy such a process.

Thirdlyif during work I compared two sketches and chose the best one, then I will definitely save both options. And I will definitely spend an extra 30 seconds to show the unsuccessful option to the client (in the form of a screenshot in the work chat or later, during the prototype demonstration). This will clearly demonstrate that I am not sitting and linearly delivering the result on the first try, but in fact I am doing a lot of useful work behind the scenes. This not only increases the value of my service in the eyes of the client, but also gives him the opportunity to agree with my decisions reasonably, and not because I verbally said that I offer the best option. By the way, sometimes it turns out that the client likes the options that I “rejected” more. And, lo and behold, saving and demonstrating them helps to come to a result that will satisfy the client even more!

Fourthly. And it is difficult to overestimate this point. It is important to avoid a scenario where the contractor works productively for two or three weeks and then issues this entire gigantic result for review. In this case, it will be unrealistic for the client to even formulate feedback in one approach. The contractor will receive several batches of comments over several days. This may look like mockery on the part of the client, but no, the person simply does not have enough time and energy to cope with such a large volume of work for review. In such a state, he begins to get nervous, repeat himself and, yes, sometimes formulate rather “wild” comments. To prevent this from happening, I break the work into short iterations, just those that are easy to check in one approach (and it is better to demonstrate them to yourself and discuss them during frequent negotiations).

Useful links:

My The Book of a Normal Freelancer. Free. I don't teach life, but I tell what I did as a freelancer myself and what came out of it. On the topic of the article, I immediately recommend the chapters “Endless edits” And “Why High Service Level Is Good»

Well, that's mine too. Telegram channelIt's about freelancing and interface design.