IN AN economic downturn, the health of one’s design client roster can become something of an obsession, acting as it does as a barometer for the overall health of the company.
With existing design clients and potential clients alike tightening their belts, the danger in a recession is that businesses get panicked into ignoring their own ground rules on who they are willing - and unwilling - to work with.
But it’s when the market gets tough that design businesses must redouble efforts not to lower the bar on the kind of design customers they wish to engage; a client that was a bad fit for a company when times were good is still a bad fit now. In fact, they’re an even worse fit, because when margins are tight, companies can ill-afford time wasters, bad payers or clients unwilling to place trust in your expertise.
This makes being able to spot such clients at an early stage more important than ever.
How to spot the early warning signs of a bad design client
Alicia O'Dell is a director of UK design agency 400. Asked if there are any warning signs to look out for that might alert one to the fact a client could be more trouble than they’re worth, she said: “If a client is worried about price over quality, if they want a response instantly, if they need to have their hand held throughout the initial process – these are all indicators of how they will behave in future.”
O’Dell’s mantra is “Never underestimate the bonus of working with nice people”. She adds: “If you get along with them from the outset, no matter how much they understand about what you do, it'll make the whole experience an enjoyable one.”
Difficult clients ‘are more trouble than they’re worth’
Glenn Elliot, managing director of London-based brand communications agency N1 Creative, advises that clients with no experience of hiring the kind of expertise a company is offering can often be more trouble than they’re worth.
“Such clients can be a challenge, as you need to educate them on so much in order to win their trust. They can end up giving masses of direction, so that when you try to do a job properly, with strategy and insight, they spend all of their time arguing with you.”
Just such a scenario led to N1 recently sacking a “really big” client. “The relationship was just impossible to get right,” says Elliot. “Ironically, we ended up doing some of our best work for them, but the account was an absolute nightmare to run. They went through three account managers in nine months, and we were using up all of our senior management time trying to make them happy. It was really destructive and not conducive to good work. So, despite the fact it was a six-figure account, we had to let it go.”
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