Bad Client Situations That Can Be Easily Avoided for Designers
- We’ve all been in difficult situations with less-than-ideal clients. But sometimes a few simple steps can prevent catastrophe.
- Over the past few years of participating in design business discussions, I’ve come across a lot of designers stuck in bad situations that they could have avoided quite easily.
- First, I want to acknowledge that this stuff happens, and that’s okay! Sometimes the best way to learn is to make mistakes. I’ve had my own fair share of client blunders, and each time I’ve been able to take a look at what in my process I could fix to prevent them from happening again.
- Below are some of the most common negative client situations for designers and how you can avoid them.
1. Projects dragging out for too long
The situation:
- You booked a project that should have taken a few weeks, but now it’s going on a few months. The project is now cutting into other projects you’ve started working on, and you were expecting to be paid the balance weeks ago.
How to prevent it:
- First off, don’t forget to follow up with your clients. If days go by and you haven’t heard back from an outstanding email, don’t just wait around and stew angrily; don’t be shy about giving them a nudge.
- Next, sometimes projects get delayed because the client goes MIA for periods of time or just doesn’t respond in a timely manner. To prevent this, you can add a dormancy clause to your contract that states that you may reschedule the project for your next availability with a rescheduling fee if there is lack of communication for a certain period of time or a lack of forward movement from the client. With a clause like this, when a client starts dragging their feet, a gentle reminder of this stipulation is usually a pretty good kick in the butt.
- If you will need specific information or content from the client in order to complete a project, state in your contract what that information is and what date you need to have by it in order to complete the design. (For example, I require all final website copy and photos to be turned in one week before I begin a website design.) You can state that if the items are not received by said date, you have the right to reschedule the project with a fee.
2. Scope creep
The situation:
- You had in mind a specific set of deliverables, but the project has turned into so much more. You feel like you can’t say no to the client’s requests, and you feel like you should have charged more considering what it turned out to be.
How to prevent it:
- Before agreeing to a project, it’s imperative that you make sure you and the client are on the same page about what is included.
- Have a written scope of work that’s contractually agreed upon by both of you. Your scope of work includes the client-facing process, number of design options presented, number of revisions allowed to the chosen option, and final deliverables. Your contract should state that anything outside of this scope is subject to additional fees.
- Then, don’t be afraid to remind the client when they’re asking for something outside the agreed-upon scope. It’s totally fine—and not at all rude—to say, “I would love to do that for you! Since that is not included in our deliverables, I’d be happy to work on it as a separate project after we wrap this up.”
3. Client has unrealistic expectations
The situation:
- Your client is unhappy with your work or process, they were expecting something different, they were expecting something to be quicker, and/or they were expecting more deliverables.
How to prevent it:
- Most of the time, all of the above result from not enough clarity on both sides before the project was booked. For the most part, any of these can be prevented by having thorough consultation calls before signing on to do any work.
- When you speak to a potential client, be sure to ask enough questions so that you can understand what they’re expecting. If you get a sense that you won’t be able to meet their expectations, turn down the project.
- During the consultation call, be sure to thoroughly explain your process, how long it takes, what’s included every step of the way, and what they will receive at the end. Include all of these details in your scope of work and in your contract. When everything is crystal clear from the beginning, it paves the way for a smooth collaboration.
4. Client isn’t paying their invoice(s) once the project is done
The situation:
- The client agreed to your price before you started the project. Now the project is done and you’ve sent them the final deliverables, but they still haven’t paid you, and they’re MIA.
How to prevent it:
- Always get a deposit, and do not start any work before the deposit is received. When the client pays a deposit, they have a stake in the game and they’re less likely to disappear. Even if the total project cost is small, still get a deposit or consider having it paid in full up front.
- And, once a project is approved, don’t send over any final deliverables until the outstanding balance is paid in full.
5. Client not respecting your boundaries
The situation:
- Your client is ignoring the “rules” you put in place, contacting you at all hours of the day, texting you, and creeping into the space that’s supposed to be your life outside of work.
How to prevent it:
- The best way to prevent these things from happening is to squash them at their very first occurrence.
- For example, if you prefer not to communicate with clients on weekends, never respond to an email on the weekend, no matter how urgent the client makes it seem. The first time you bend on one of your policies, it becomes very difficult to put boundaries back up later, because you will have already set the expectation for the client that what they’re doing is okay.
Personally, I do not allow clients to text me, but every now and then one does; when this happens, I do not address their question via text and instead ask them to kindly keep all of our conversations to email.
I also recommend putting your communications policies in your contract so you can point back to them if a client puts up a stink.
*** No contract
All too often I see designers foregoing their contracts. But the absolute biggest thing that can prevent so many problems is having a formal contract in place between the designer and the client. It doesn’t matter how big or small the project is; there must be a contract. It doesn’t matter if the client is a friend or past client; there must be a contract. Working without a contract is dangerous because it doesn’t give you (or the client) necessary legal protections. It also doesn’t give you the ability to manage your clients, enforce any of your policies, or even enforce payment.
If you’re a designer struggling with a difficult client situation, feel free to leave a comment or reach out! I’d love to help.
Thanks for reading!
This blog shares my completely transparent thoughts and experiences, what has and hasn’t worked for me to grow my business and feel fulfilled as a self-employed graphic designer.
But not everything works for everyone! There are a lot of opinions out there on how to grow a design business, and mine is just another one. I encourage you to find what works for you, to explore other opinions and viewpoints, to ask questions and try different things out for yourself.
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