How to recognize a bad client
When you’ve been on the agency-side as long as I have, you’ll have encountered all kinds of clients. Some really good ones and some really bad ones. The good ones keep you in game. The bad ones make you question your career choice. The work is one thing, but the people are everything. An associate I once worked with summed it up this way, “Good clients like your work, great clients pay for it.” There’s a lot of truth to that, but it’s not quite that simple. So, if there are any clients reading this, here are indications from personal experience that you may be a bad client (with apologies to Jeff Foxworthy):
You may be a bad client if …
You throw the agency’s work back at them. True story. I had a layout actually come sailing back at me in the client’s office. If I hadn’t ducked in time, the client’s rejection might have taken my head off.
You order work from your agency, fail to issue a P.O. (mandated by your company), then leave or get fired without telling the agency. The work is completed, delivered and is never paid for because no P.O. was ever issued. Tsk-tsk.
You ask for favors from the agency, such as pro bono work for your favorite charity or brother-in-law, and expect them to do it gladly, within the agency compensation agreement, of course.
You sandbag the agency on deadlines, making delivery next to impossible for them but convenient for you.
You take credit for the agency’s ideas.
You ask for speculative work to pitch your business, provide no details regarding the risk, then use the ideas you didn’t pay for with someone else.
You’re nearly impossible to reach. And you couldn’t care less about that.
You’re a poor communicator. Your feedback is sketchy. Your attention span is shorter than a goldfish. You never bother to read anything.
You approve the agency’s work, then fold like a house of cards when your boss so much as sighs when you present it.
You expand the scope of work but not the compensation.
You talk a good game. You ask for the moon and the stars. But you have no moon and stars budget.
You’re just a jerk. Need I say more?
To be fair, there are plenty of bad agencies, too. That’ll be the topic of my next post. But for now, to all you clients out there, just remember, “Good clients make great advertising.” And good advertising makes everybody happy.
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About Paul Friederichsen
He is a partner in The Blake Project, the leading brand strategy consultancy and The American Marketing Group, specialists in penetrating the North American home furnishings market. He is also listed with The Home Trust Arbiters of Refined Taste.
Paul is a contributing editor to Floor Focus magazine, contributing author to Branding Strategy Insider, has been a guest on Business Radio X, “Up or Out” Radio with Connie Pheiffand has been interviewed by The New York Times, Mashable.com and CNBC. Paul is also a contributing writer to the New York Daily News on marketing and brand related topics. He has served on the advisory council and spoken at The International Surface Event and Coverings trade shows. He serves as Education Director for Domotex USA.