Dealing with frustrating customers

M

Michael1

New member
Hey everyone, wanted to share a quick question, perhaps even rant a bit. How do you handle it if you have someone who wants to control everything that you do with your video production company? I have taken on a client who wants to control everything from start to bottom, and to be honest with you, it is quite frustrating. He wants to see every small change to ensure that it is to his liking - granted he is paying the bill, but I am at the point where I’d rather not even mess with it anymore.

Have you ever dealt with someone who is just a control freak and refuses to let you work? If so, how did you deal with that?
 
We had a similar thread on this topic. You weren't specific about what they want to control. But if you mean they are getting involved in every aspect of the picture and sound, that is their privilege. It is their product. You may not like it, but that's what they get to do when they are paying for a product.

But you said they want to control your production company. That they don't get to do.
 
Who's producing, you or them? If they are producing then they are welcome to micromanage you. If you or your company are producing and you are providing a deliverable then your contract needs to be clear about your understanding of their needs and how you are going to implement that solution. In that contract you should indicate where they are welcome to collaborate, as in the specification of the project parameters and where they may give you their acceptance, as in first cut. If they are acting unexpectedly then you did not properly manage their expectations.
 
if it were me, i'd finish the gig, then wouldn't take any more work from them. granted, i'm fortunate that I can afford to turn down miserable clients. life's too short.
 
This is a really simple one to solve. Raise your prices until it's well worth dealing with the hassle, or they go away to some other company and micromanage them.
 
Sounds like you need to re-evaluate your contract/agreement to include various stipulations and overage charging/max hours labor type clauses
 
"A client isn’t always right, but they do usually pay your electric bill, so do your best to find a solution that lets you maintain your integrity and also meets the client’s needs." --- Keith LaFerriere, Hat Heads vs. Bed Heads.

Or:

In 1986, Steve Jobs recruited renowned graphic designer Paul Rand to create a brand identity costing $100,000. "'I asked him if he would come up with a few options, and he said, 'No, I will solve your problem for you and you will pay me. You don’t have to use the solution. If you want options go talk to other people.'" --- NeXT logo by Paul Rand


Micromanagers are part of life. Sometimes they are your boss. A man becomes his own boss so that "no one can tell him what to do" only to find that now he is directly exposed to the public.

It's a hard problem, and it's why I don't have a definite answer for you, only nuggets of wisdom (hopefully). Micromanagers, and unhappy work in general, sucks the life out of you. Not having money also makes it hard to have a life, so you have to strike a balance. But I would err on the side of life: "Given the choice between more money and x, choose x" --- Barry Schwartz, The Paradox of Choice

The bad news is that bad clients are common. The good news is that bad clients are common, so google to find what others do about it.
 
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Just charge your hourly like lawyers do. Phone call time, consultation time, reading e-mails, absolutely every minute you spend even thinking about this client's project. Let them know that you are going to do this, of course. They will have the option to chill out if they want to save the money. And the others are correct, you are not obligated to take more work from this person if, even after charging for everything, it's still not worth it for you.
 
Tell them you won't do any more work for them but that you would be willing, for a fee, to teach them video production. :-P

Since that's obviously what they really want to do anyway.
Make both of you happy.
 
combatentropy said:
In 1986, Steve Jobs recruited renowned graphic designer Paul Rand to create a brand identity costing $100,000. "'I asked him if he would come up with a few options, and he said, 'No, I will solve your problem for you and you will pay me. You don’t have to use the solution. If you want options go talk to other people.'"
Click to expand...

I like the way Ice-T put it;

Ice-T had a meeting with a record exec once. The exec said he wanted to hear a sample of a proposed song before signing a contract. Ice-T says, “If I was selling hand grenades in an alley, I’m not gonna let you throw one to see if they’re any good. You either believe I’m selling good grenades or you don’t! So you either believe I can give you good records or you don’t!”

The exec says, “You've got good business sense. Did you go to business school?”

Ice-T replies, “Naw, but I did sell hand grenades in an alley once.”
 
Barry and Zak hit it, This also fits into the "80/20 rule" of thinking where 20% of your clients are taking up 80% of your time. (in that way of thinking, you "fire" those clients)

The nice way to do it would be

1, Finish the job well your doing now

2, Determine if it was such a bad experience that you never want to work with them again (If so then your done, don't work with them again- you can do this apologetically by saying your busy/slammed on other projects during that period of time)

3, If they ask for an estimate anyway, determine how much it is really worth for your stress and time to deal with them again, bid the job to that price and see if they still want to go through with it. (Don't do this if you really don't want to work with them though, money isn't worth certain kinds of stress)
 
What if you were a mechanic and someone hired you to build them the car of their dreams. Mind you -- THEIR dreams, not yours.

Don't you think they would be entitled to make every decision? Have every single little detail done exactly the way they wanted?

Maybe you would think, "Shoot! My ideas are much better than theirs! Their car is going to SUCK compared to what it COULD have been!" And maybe you would be right, to some extent. But it's THEIR car. If they want it built THEIR way, and they're paying you a fee that you accept for the job, then you build their car their way. If you can't live with that, then you pass and let someone else take their money and build their car.
 
The only thing is that sometimes whoever THEYRE answering to hates what theyve made you do, and now youre screwed cause you look bad for doing what you were told!
 
Is the real issue that you under quoted, assuming you'd be left alone? My experience is that the more money you charge, and the greater importance the end product, then client 'assistance' goes up, and timescales get pressured. It's not a surprise any longer. Looking back at the non interference jobs, they're also the ones that are much much easier. I always take it as an extra opportunity to make more money. "Can we do xxxxxxxx?" "Great idea, I reckon we could squeeze that into just an extra couple of days, now we've shot the other stuff. Shall we hire the XYZ too?" You still give them the option, but very often you can generate more business. Does it really matter if they want to micromanage? Only if you quoted for a day and it takes a week!
 
As the other poster mentioned, the underlying problem is that they are not being charged for extra time. Once they are, you will find they suddenly have less interest in micromanaging the project. I once had a client like this. They actually had good ideas and the final project was one of the best I've done. And it taught me a valuable lesson- limited revisions and then they get charged for additional.
 
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