I’ve been in business for a long, long time. Well – 10 years for myself and 20 as a professional. That’s long enough that I’ve had ups and downs. I’ve won some, I’ve lost some. Thankfully, I’ve won a lot more than I’ve lost.
And in the losing, I’ve learned a couple of things – and they’re inextricably connected.
1. You can’t please everyone.
and
2. Don’t upset the people you can’t please – no matter how good it would feel.
When I first started freelance design full-time, I had a pretty good string of making my clients very happy. I worked hard, I worked cheap, and I did my square best on every project.
Then, there came the day when I stopped doing one of those. Take a guess which one…
When I worked really cheap, every single client would be thrilled, as they were getting professional design at a cut rate. When everyone started paying me what I was worth, I immediately started getting bellyachers. I had the “no way am I paying that much” crowd.
I’ve also had clients that just would not be pleased by anything I would do. My style wasn’t what they wanted, or I wasn’t going fast enough, or they just couldn’t communicate what they wanted.
And so, when that kind client would come around, I did my best to be cordial and not be condescending, but I steered them away in a gentle, decent way. As good as it would feel to tell them off and use big words and rant and rave, I decided to be kind. Show them the door and gently push, even if I wanted to kick.
Winston Churchill said “When killing a man, it costs nothing to be polite.” And that should go with clients and customers. Be polite, be kind – even while you’re giving them the axe.
I’ve had many clients complain about rates, complain that they’re not getting what they’re looking for or that my style just wasn’t appropriate – and I’ve had a lot of those people come back to me when they couldn’t find anyone cheaper/faster/better. I’ve also had the formerly “disgruntled” recommend me to other people.
If I had burned the bridge, I would have lost the customer, lost their friends, lost their associates.
Word of mouth is one of your best sales tools – and upsetting someone will guarantee bad press. But, a couple of warm fuzzies and kind words will always come back to not haunt you.
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[...] There’s one other thing that’s crucial to having return customers and even getting new referrals: when things go bad or you’re just not getting through to your client, DON’T start burning bridges! [...]