SL (and RL) RANT: Justifying Knowledge

Have you ever noticed that when you hire out to perform a specialised service, more often than not, you have to fight with people to do the best job for them?

I'm not just talking about SL, though this issue is one that repeatedly raises its head in my new advertising and marketing business.

It's annoying.

You spend hours creating something that does everything they need and then some... you hand it to them and you're about to bust because you KNOW it is good.

They get it, look at you and say something like, 'I don't like blue.' Or maybe 'It doesn't look like I thought it would.'

Does it never occur at these points in time that there may be a good reason that it's blue? Or that it looks different than you, the client, expected?

Does it never occur to you that the reason you hired someone else to look at this was because you need specialised insight to creating a result you do not have today?

Does it never occur to you that the rest of the world might respond to blue? Or that you might be the rare 0.999999999% who does not in that, particular context?

No. Of course not. The customer always thinks they are the epitome of taste, class, style, organization, intellect, humor, and attractiveness. Or they think none of those 'should matter' in the marketplace, therefore anyone who grants them any credence, import, or attention is 'doing it wrong' because they're not supporting the ideals to which Mr./Ms. Client adhere.

(panting lightly)

Ok. Ok. I'm going to tell you a few things and you're just going to have to accept them because they are, every last one, true:

- Images have different meanings to different people. There is no one image that is going to have 100% universal meaning to everyone.

- Symbols, on the other hand, are carefully supported by cultures to have as close as possible to universal meaning.

- Unfortunately, symbols are often used differently in different cultures, insuring that the universal meaning sought is stymied.

- Color has meaning that is as much based in our physiological responses as in clever marketing.

- Advertising and Marketing is both the study of how the above things combine to create specific responses in viewers AND what those 'things' are, and why they are constant enough to be considered 'reliable'.

An example, you say? Fine. Here is one article that speaks only superficially about visual placements and responses of readers online:

http://www.poynterextra.org/eyetrack2004/multimediafreeforall.htm

This article is relevent to a number of points, but I'm using it as an example of the reality that every minute element of an ad has a purpose and is where it is, the color that it is, the shape and image or symbol that it is for a reason... and that reason is usually the reason you're paying me and not doing the job yourself.

Or, more concisely -- that article is an example of the reality that I spend the time to know and keep up with things like this... and you (generic 'you') do not... so could you cut me just a LITTLE SLACK on the likelihood of knowing what is going to work?

I'm tired of feeling like I have to apologize for knowing something, or feel badly because someone I'm talking to feels badly that they do not know that something.

BAH! BAH I SAY!

Ok. My rant is done. Thank you for listening.

p.s.: All of the above is the direct result of two clients -- one RL and one SL who are doing the same thing to me at the same time. It is intended not as a statement of anger at them, but at frustration with the consistancy that this situation happens. It seems to be a very logical thing that, if you hire me to do this, you are doing so because you want the expertise and background you do not have. So why then turn around and act like you know all the things I know? I mean, ok, in the real world, I'll bill you by the hour and you can do this allllllll you like. But in SL, come on, you're just not being logicial.... or maybe I should charge by the hour. Hmmm.

Charge by the hour. I've never yet had a building design survive from the original vision all the way through to construction without some serious compromises along the way. What remained important is not that I was satisfied with the final result, but whether I maintained a good relationship with the client and that they were satisfied. And once the result is out there, they look at it every day, while I hardly ever see it again.

The customer (or the editor) is boss. You work for them, you please them.

coco

If I hired you to put together an ad campaign for me, it would be smart of me, as your client - to take into account your expertise and knowledge, and to accept that you know something I may not.

Conversely, I think making your clients 'happy' is somewhat of an art itself. Not only do you need to come up with that killer campaign, but its also your job to communicate to your client *why* it's a killer ad campaign.

After all, you're not doing charity work - your clients are paying you. Definately, charge by the hour. Or at the very least - charge something up front so your time isn't wasted.

But really - its your client's dime. How they choose to waste it shouldn't really make a difference. And if they're happy with your work because you took the time to make it make sense to them, I'd think it'd mean more repeat buisness for you in the long run.

Modern-Day Capitalism has a bad habit of breeding this misconception. "He who has the money must (not) have the insight."

While I could go off on a tangent on how money is the foundation of our culture, the misconceptions that breeds, and blah blah blah... really, the answer to this is simple:


People don't generally like admitting their ignorance.

And it stems from there. Know how if you say something over and over, you begin to believe it? Many people living in ignorance reassure themselves that they must know the right answer, and therefore, must be better than the person that's actually doing the work for them!


I know it's frustrating, which is why I avoid "sales" like the plague in SL. That, and I'm more supportive of "teaching people to fish" as it were.

Rule #1: The Customer is always Right.
Rule #2: If the Customer is wrong, see Rule #1.


I always make my items to suit my tastes, and maybe a couple variations for choice. I'll then sell those as the base models. If someone then comes to me and say they'd like it in a different color/size/etc, I say sure - but the customized job will cost extra.


- Newfie

You struck a nerve here. I am a technical writer in RL with 15 years of experience. Clients who think 'it's just writing and anyone can do it" are seriously shortchanging themselves when they hire my fairly expensive services. Yes, I want to give the customer what they want... but I also expect to be able to give them what they really want, based on my expertise, education, and experience.

Marion Zimmer Bradley, the late fantasy author had a great quote "don't get a dog and bark yourself"

I may wind up turning down my SL client. When you explain and they just don't get it, and you're on your third iteration without payment, I'd say it's time to cut it.

You're right, of course. I'm just frustrated.




Heh. See above. Precisely.



Very true. Usually, it is not this pronounced an issue. Jeff has a good point as well. I think sometimes, it just comes down to pride. Silly, but true.

@Ananda -- Good point.

I am also a writer with 15 years of experience. I worked with several designers who used a trash example in order to get their clients to "choose" what they wanted them to use anyway. However, I found that rather insulting, when I was the client. One of the designers would deliberately choose a ghastly colour in order to let the client choose a better one. Having made at least one change, the customer was usually happy.

Basically, the job when you work for a client, is NOT to produce the best campaign you can come up with, but to fulfil their brief to you. If they don't like what you've done, however, brilliant, you haven't fulfilled the brief...that's as simple as it gets. They're paying the bill.

Making your clients feel that you think they are idiots who don't recognise your professional expertise is not a good way to go, at least if you expect people to continue to employ your services. Outing them on the forum even if you haven't specifically mentioned them by name is not likely to endear you to them either. They will know who they are, one assumes.

Having been both client and supplier in this area, I think that you have to simply accept that the client pays the bill and calls the tune, standing on your professional dignity isn't an option. Change what they want changed, or refuse the job, but don't moan about clients in the forums, it's really bad for business.
Cali

I have a hobby/PT job, designing websites. Sometimes I do this for friends or aquaintances who own their own businesses. Actually, I did.

The reason I say did, is because I found it makes dealing with an unknown client look and feel like a cakewalk.

That is, friends, for some reason, expect MUCH more, at least in my experience.

Let me say that I am VERY PICKY about quality - whether I am building or texturing in SL, or building a web page in RL. I spend all kinds of extra time (free) building sites, because I can't stand any flaws, even if I think only I would notice.

What I have found is that friends are usually not happy with the end result, even though I have gone way above and beyond for them.

Example: A friend owns a fishing tackle mfg./importing/sales company. He wanted to step into the 21st century with a website. He provided me with logos, and I spent a couple of days photographing 100% of their inventory, so I could build a clickable picture catalogue of their items.

I made customs backgrounds with faded out antique lake maps, divider bars and buttons based on their logo, color scheme, sport fishing, etc. After having him go online to check my progress several times during a two week period, I was finished, and I invited him over to view the end result.

He didn't say much. He just typed in an URL for a competitor's site, which had a plain black backround, a terrible quality picture of a guy holding up a fish (which I had placed several of throughout his page, along with one-liner testimonials), and a yellow Arial font title. It was ONE page deep, had no catalogue, no testimomials, and looked like it had been done by an extreme novice. My friend Joel says, "I want my page to be just like his." WHAT? He waited two weeks to tell me he wanted an extremely basic, two color webpage with nothing other than a title, a picture, and a contact phone number? Bleh.

He is not the only friend who has done this. I had a guy who owns a small art gallery give me grey hairs, as well as another who sells railroad safety equipment. Why is it that I don't have these problems with anonymous clients? I have never even had more than a couple of very minor complaints, usually dealing with browser compatibilty or the like, which are fairly easy to deal with, and not a reflection on the overall quality of the end product.

I know this is tangental, because we are talking about SL here, and customers in general, not just friends, but I run into the same issues with friends in SL, that commission me to build for them.

I may just have to stop building for friends, not unlike the policy I adopted in RL, with web design.

I suppose it's because they feel more comfortable offering critiques, but never the less, it's extremely frustrating for me.

What part of 'rant' did you miss? As for assuming, I'll leave that to those who enjoy it. You seem to do so.

@Nolan -- I know exactly what you mean.

Having been on both ends here, client and contractor, in both RL and SL, on some pretty specialized stuff, I can understand your frustration. Occasionally the client ends up asking for, say, two things that cannot both be done.

For example, I was asked by a client to put together a video presentation using a whole lot of still images, set to music. It was to be a 60th anniversary present to her would-be in-laws. We ended up disagreeing on the length of the final cut. She wanted something that would be around 10 and 14 minutes, and I wanted something that would last around seven.

We both had valid reasons for this. She wanted a good bang for the buck. But much more importantly, she wanted impact. Impact was important to her; she wanted a video message that would squeeze the tears out of the tightest eyes.

Impact was more important to me than length: Something that is very effective and leaves the audience wanting more is much better received than something that drags on even a minute longer than the audience cares for.

The final cut ended up being around eight minutes long. The client was just fine with this, because I showed her rough cuts all through the process. When she saw how effective the pacing and timing of the cuts were, she was comfortable with my expertise and wisdom on the subject.

As it turned out, the couple for whom the gift was intended loved the video. It was presented to them at a party and they demanded that my client replay it for them a second time during the party. Then, when they got home, they wanted to watch it several more times. Always leave 'em wanting more!

That worked out, but only because I communicated a *lot* with the client and explained the reasoning behind deviating from her original demands. Ultimately she and the family were so satisfied, she had to buy a few more copies of the DVD from me.


As for being the client:

The moment I deviate at all from the original statement of work I have originally agreed upon with my contractor, I immediately pay a bonus. Nothing obscenely cheap or gratuitous, but something that communicates that I understand that this is a little bit more work than we originally said we were going to do and that it's fair my contractor be compensated for this.

I always want my contractor to be very, very happy with the work they're doing for me. The work always ends up being so much better. The contractor is also more likely to want to deal with me in the future.

Yeah, it's tough. Especially in the design and writing services. Few people would argue with an electrician or structural engineer that they should be using a different guage wire or whatever. But everyone can relate to design and writing, so they think they need to have some input. And a lot of people get a notion in their heads of what it should look like before they even hire you. Then when you labor over the typography and color balance, getting their message spot on, they take one look at it and say "That's not what I was picturing."

I find that dealing with these problems systematically from the beginning helps. Start with listing the business goals of the project, and how the client wants to be perceived. Then with each element of your proposed design, explain how it meets the clients' goals, giving the client as much credit as possible for driving the design. Not to patronize, but to emphasize the client's job is to understand their business, know their customers, and know what they want to communicate. You're the translator. If they can communicate all this to you they've done a good job, and you can more easily justify what you're doing.

That's a great story. Usually, people are willing to grant that you are experienced and know what you're talking about... but now and again, you get hold of one who just feels compelled to shoot holes in everything you show them, and insist you haven't a clue.

This is one of those times for me. I'm shuffling 8 clients at the moment in SL and this 1 is just giving me a headache. I can't even focus on the other 7 for it.

I think it may just be time to let it go. It isn't worth the headaches, especially when they show little to no understanding of the time and effort (work!) that goes into fleshing out a concept.



Same here when I'm the client. When I find a good supplier, I want to keep them in my network. Sure, I could hammer the 'best deal possible' at every turn, but the chances that anyone I did that to would want to deal with me in future would be rightfully small.

I think the real frustration here is with myself, for letting myself get pulled over the boundary I set. Ah well. Lesson learned.

Giving my clients garbage is not an option. Even when they ask for it. It's my name and my business card that's associated with the final product. If you can't agree not to produce garbage for your client, you're not communicating effectively. Part of your job as a professional is that you owe your expertise to the client. If you throw your hands up and say "Hey, he's the boss. I'll do exactly what he wants" even when what the client wants isn't worth doing, you'll cheat your client out of professional work by delivering something that may as well have been done by an amateur. Personally, that's not a fee I feel comfortable taking.

The standard is not to blindly please the customer. The standard is to please the customer using only your very best work.

There are two issues, as far as I can see.

The first being your frustration that the client is not leaving you to work to your talents with a free hand.

The second being that an agreement has been made between client and contractor, and additional changes made due to requests from the client warrant additional charge.

I am sure we all have talents in different areas and so recognise both of these in some shape or form from both sides. As far as I am concerned, if the client has given you a free hand, they have little to complain about. You of course will always get those request specific things (before the work begins) which the contractor disagrees with, and there is nothing wrong with that. It's then up to the contractor if he/she wishes to produce what the client wants, despite personally disagreeing with those choices.

THANK YOU. Precisely!!

Y'know, sometimes you just have to part ways with a customer. If a deal becomes such a hole in your time and profits that you can't get anything done, you and the client just aren't suited to one another.



You're absolutely right here. I think the most critical lesson I ever learned for business came during my negotiation lectures. The gist being, "A good deal" is one where *both* parties are completely satisfied with whatever outcome is reached. You can make a few one-sided deals, but eventually that sort of behavior is going to stain your reputation and then even honest deals will be very, very hard to secure. It's a bad idea to enter negotiations trying to get something while giving your counterpart nothing. The best deals are ones you and your counterpart would make again and again, because the rewards were there on both sides.

"Everyone thinks they have good taste."

I have kind of the same story Nolan -- a friend was setting up a clothing brand and wanted me to make them a shopping cart site. I made it really cool and professional. He wanted it to sort of look like the Patagonia site.

Anyway, they were mostly satisfied with it, but they also wanted me to stick in all these useless bits of text and information, which someone told them would boost their site in Google searches and Yahoo.

The information they wanted to add was not a bad thing. It included things about the environment and trees and such, which fit right in with the company, which sells organic clothing. But the bits and pieces of text (about how heroic they were and how the customer *should* feel good about their purchase and blah blah blah) really screwed up the look of the site.

Anyway, they got someone else to do it, and since they were friends and I was doing it mostly for free, I told them it didn't look good. Their site sucks now.

The one thing I have learned from doing web design for clients is this: I can design an "ideal" site to meet their needs. It can be classy, simple, clean, and easily navigable.

And it may still fail to please them. Maybe they want Flash menus, maybe it's just that they want a different color scheme or graphics. Whatever the case, what I find to be "ideal" may not always be the ideal of my customer for their presence online.

Now I understand what you are saying; that they hired you for your expertise. With that said, though, it is still their presence. It is what is supposed to represent their business, or their service. In the end, a balance should be struck based on what is ideal to them, and what you know will work and is good for their business. That's a tough balance to strike - I know from personal experience.

Whether you can strike that balance (and I'm sure you can, it just takes quite a bit of time and effort now and then) you deserve to be paid for your time and your efforts. So, since this is something that is probably going to take several tries to get to where you both are satisfied, you really should be charging by the hour of work you put in. That's just my L$2.

Edited to add: I fully agree with Enabran that you should never be ok with handing your clients utter garbage, even if it is what they ask for. That's where striking the balance comes in.

Some of the people I work for (Hell... MOST of the people) are like that. I'd say at least 30% of my returning to the drawing table are caused by the client... and about 45% caused by the client's spouse. >_<;;;;

One of the groups I used to work with had told their clients jokingly to never discuss or show the design to their wife/husband, because automatically a "I don't like it" will come up. I don't think he was joking though. He also has a poster in his studio that reads:

CLIENT: "My wife just doesn't like the colour."
DESIGNER: "Well, we don't like your wife."



Sometimes letting one go has to be done for time management. One designer I knew was lucky enough to score the job to design for the Pan-Am games when it came to my city. He thought it would be great to work for the big leagues as well as good for exposure. In the end, he let down several of his regular clients because the Pan-Am was so demanding and the Pan-Am project for his design group was canned out of sheer frustration.

Just don't stress yourself out over it.

Ah, this is a truly frightening spectre, Lo: The AMATEUR SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZER! Having worked a bit for someone who does SEO professionally for some pretty big causes, you have my sympathy. Good SEO doesn't detract from the site at all, except for making the page titles a little longer than one might like. Particularly with Google, your most critical task is getting your page linked to by other, related sites, not 1998-style Alta Vista spamming.

Agh, people.

This is superb advice.

Lots of very good insight and advice posted in reply. Thank you, all. I likely will be moving to a per hour rate, it just makes better sense.

I'd be interested in learning how this goes. I imagine it does require some amount of trust on the part of the customer. Collections might also become interesting. But, it's easy when you're working with IP. You just withhold final delivery until full payment has been made, I suppose.