{"id":10184,"date":"2017-06-15T15:17:38","date_gmt":"2017-06-15T14:17:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marvel7077.wpengine.com\/?p=10184"},"modified":"2017-08-01T21:34:44","modified_gmt":"2017-08-01T20:34:44","slug":"things-clients-get-ugly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/things-clients-get-ugly\/","title":{"rendered":"When Things With Clients Get Ugly"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the first 10 years of my career, I worked exclusively for clients. First as a freelancer and then later in the context of my design shop, Sputnik. In those years, I worked for some amazing people, but I also worked for a small number of really awful people. As much as you try to do your homework on the front end of a client engagement, it\u2019s tough to fully know the person who has hired you without putting in the hours of work required to figure them out. What\u2019s worse is that sometimes, the client that seems wonderful at the outset of a project can become a total shapeshifter when friction gets introduced.<\/p>\n

<\/div>
<\/svg><\/div>

\n\"It\u2019s tough to fully know the person who has hired you without putting in the hours of work required to figure them out.\"<\/p><\/span><\/blockquote>\n

Recently, I saw a designer tied up in a very public conflict with their (former) client over an unpaid invoice. The designer\u2019s instinct was to take the conflict to social media in hopes that the social pressure would be the leverage needed to get their payment. Success! The design community mobilized almost immediately, taking the fight to the client. There were a slew of posts and even negative reviews for the client\u2019s business. We got \u2018em, right?! Well, the scary part of the situation is that almost no one gave the client the benefit of the doubt before pulling out the knives and heading forward to write some really brutal posts. <\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been there, I\u2019ve seen clients do unthinkable things and take advantage of people in ways you couldn\u2019t imagine. But, my experience has also taught me that it\u2019s also very possible that the situation could be the product of a larger misunderstanding or impropriety.<\/p>\n

So this whole thing has had me thinking about the right way to handle conflict with a client. Inevitably, working with humans leads to some ugliness so it\u2019s worth investing in being prepared rather than resorting to brash measures to even the score after a conflict. What defines us as professionals is how we react when things go poorly, so here are a few of my thoughts (but who am I?):<\/p>\n

<\/div>
<\/svg><\/div>

\n\"It\u2019s worth investing in being prepared rather than resorting to brash measures to even the score after a conflict.\"<\/p><\/span><\/blockquote>\n

Build Relational Equity<\/h2>\n

In most client relationships, the biggest thing you have in common is the work you\u2019re doing together. Sure, sometimes you end up working with friends or people you\u2019ve known for a while but the majority of clients you work with will be strangers. I always found it hugely important to invest time into clients away from the work in an effort to build up value between myself and them (or their team). Just like any personal relationship you have takes a fair amount of maintenance and work, so too does a relationship with a client. Without a decent amount of shared relational equity, it makes it much easier for things to go sideways.<\/p>\n

<\/div>
<\/svg><\/div>

\n\"I always found it hugely important to invest time into clients away from the work\" <\/p><\/span><\/blockquote>\n

Don\u2019t let it get emotional<\/h2>\n

I\u2019m not the master of this, but I can tell you that the times I\u2019ve let emotion dictate a conflict with a client, it hasn\u2019t helped one ounce. It\u2019s best to approach a conflict as a problem to be methodically sorted through. Don\u2019t rush to make a decision, instead explore every possibility. In my experience, it\u2019s important to always maintain a defensible position of reason in any conflict. <\/p>\n

<\/div>
<\/svg><\/div>

\n\"It\u2019s important to always maintain a defensible position of reason in any conflict.\"<\/p><\/span><\/blockquote>\n

Hone in your conflict skills<\/h2>\n

We\u2019re designers, right? We\u2019re used to busting our butts to learn new things. Well guess what, you can develop skills specific to dealing with conflict of all types. One of the best books in the world for honing your skills is \u2018Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In\u2019 by Roger Fisher. A friend turned me onto this during a particularly hairy situation I encountered in my business. This book will completely reframe how you even start to think about approaching conflict.<\/p>\n

<\/div>
<\/svg><\/div>

\n\"From my experience, conflict leads to resilience.\"<\/p><\/span><\/blockquote>\n

Know when to walk away<\/h2>\n

I think the most important thing to consider in a conflict with a client is the opportunity cost of dealing with the situation. A few years back, I had a client stiff me out of a $6,000\/mo. design retainer without any notice. Worse, they quit responding to emails where I was trying to recoup prorated fees for the work done up to this point. After about 9o days of trying to make progress, I reached my breaking point where I was so mad I couldn\u2019t sleep. I actively plotted how I could get revenge and I wanted justice. That same week, I ran into two of my design buddies Trent and Greg who have about 10-15 years of experience on me. When I asked for their advice, they more or less both said \u201coh.. don\u2019t sweat it, everyone eats 6K at some point in their career. Just learn from it and move on.\u201d<\/p>\n

The point of what they were saying was that it was going to be a major distraction to pursue this client and that any sort of public action was just going to ultimately handicap me with clients moving forward. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but ultimately I knew I would continue to spin my wheels and dedicate undue attention to this situation that would end up costing me much more than I would recoup. Say it took me 100 hours of emails, stress and sleepless nights to make progress. That makes my hourly rate $60 if I\u2019m able to get the full amount back. My hourly rate at the time was $150\/hr. Quick math made it clear it wasn\u2019t worth it. It\u2019s not that you\u2019re letting the bad guys win, it\u2019s that you\u2019re keeping them from damaging you further. <\/p>\n

I\u2019m by no means an expert in this field. I\u2019ve handled conflict as poorly as anyone could, but I feel like I\u2019ve approached conflict with an attitude of learning. Each time conflict arises, you are taught valuable lessons about how to weather the next storm. From my experience, conflict leads to resilience.<\/p>\n

This post was originally published on Stu's Medium profile<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the first 10 years of my career, I worked exclusively for clients. First as a freelancer and then later in the context of my design shop, Sputnik. In those years, I worked for some amazing people, but I also worked for a small number of really awful people. As much as you try to do your homework on the… Read More ￫<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":147,"featured_media":10255,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-viewpoint"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\t\n