The Art of Business: Your Client’s Bill of Rights
Considering that it’s more difficult than ever to attract new clients and harder to keep current clients, a good mantra for the day might be “client satisfaction.” Corporations pay great lip service to the concept, but what does it really mean in terms of creative services, other than listening well, being responsive, and doing great work?
Having been on both sides of the client/contractor aisle, I propose the following Client’s Bill of Rights. Skewer me if you will.
I Hold These Truths…
As a good-paying client or prospect with your creative design firm, I believe I am entitled to these inalienable rights when working with you:
- I have the right to references.
- I want to know who you’ve worked for in the past, and what you have and haven’t accomplished for them. Please be forthcoming with reference contact information. And don’t be upset when I call them.
- I have the right to ascertain our mutual level of importance.
I’d like to know if I am your biggest client or your smallest. My preference is to be somewhere in between; I don’t want you depending largely on me for work and I don’t want to be a small fry in your operation.
- I have a right to inquire about your financial stability.
I hope to become a very good client of yours, and in doing so I’ll be investing plenty of time and money in our relationship. I want to know that you’ll be around in the future when I am depending on you for vital services. I don’t expect you to open your books for me, but I would like some evidence of financial stability.
- I have a right to clearly understand and negotiate terms and conditions.
Our relationship will span everything from consultations to deliverables. I want to understand and agree to terms of payment, credit, dispute resolution, and other essentials of our contractual relationship.
- I have the right to expect fair business practices.
What are your hours of operation? How quickly will work be turned around? Can I call you or staff after hours if a problem arises? What are the reasons and costs of additional work outside the scope of our initial agreement? I want to be informed of changes in practices before they go into effect. Conversely, I expect you to take the time to understand and adhere to my business practices and customs.
- I have a right to fair billing practices.
I expect invoices to match proposals. I expect invoices to arrive promptly and provide adequate detail. I have a right to be informed about extra charges before they are applied to my invoice, unless otherwise stipulated, along with an explanation of how to prevent such charges in the future.
- I have a right to confidentiality.
I expect that you and all your employees will treat information and material confidentially, and that non-disclosure statements will be honored.
To Be Self-evident…
- I have a right to exclusivity in my industry.
I expect that you will not accept work from anyone that might be considered a competitor, unless I agree in advance.
- I have a right to be educated by you.
I am not a designer and therefore depend on you to help me both save money with your services and make money with your services. I am depending on you for more effective ways to create and use the materials I’m asking from you.
- I have a right to expect you to know about my industry and if you don’t know much, to learn about it quickly.
I will be depending on your professional services and advice. To properly give it, you must take the time to learn about my company, my competitors, and what works, what doesn’t, and why.
- I have a right to communicate regularly and freely with you or the right person.
I don’t want to speak to an account rep or sales rep if they can’t help me with my problem or need. I expect to be able to speak with the person who can help me from the littlest problem to the biggest.
- I have a right to know if and when you are using contractors.
I understand not every design firm can handle all creative tasks. But I have a right to know when you are using an inordinate number of outside designers, writers, or vendors.
- I expect you to take the time to document my requirements.
I understand that personnel come and go, and a designer here today may not be there tomorrow. That is why I trust that you will maintain a custom profile of my company’s needs, business practices, and history. When a personnel change does occur, it is your duty to bring new staff up to speed, not mine.
- I have a right to competitive pricing.
I may not ask or expect you to be the lower bidder, but I expect competitive prices. This is particularly true later in our relationship when I no longer may be asking other firms for bids.
As a client that’s what I’d want in my Bill of Rights. Can you think of any more? Email me ([email protected]) and I’ll keep a running list for future columns. I promise.
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I agree that a Client’s Bill of Rights is a good idea. For the most part, I don’t think these particular rights are a good start.
Don’t give potential new clients too much information about your company. If you are any good, your portfolio will speak for itself. Most potential client calls come with a referral from an existing client or project anyway. When I get inquiries from potential clients without a referral, they are usually looking for the lowest price.
In these cases, there is no expectation of confidentiality with the information you give out about your design firm so choose your words carefully.
I don’t want new clients bothering existing clients for references. All of my clients are busy professionals and don’t have time to help me promote my business.
Financial information should always be kept confidential. ALWAYS. All client information should be kept confidential as well.
Clients pay extra for exclusivity. Exclusivity is an unreasonable request and a bad idea. Exclusivity is one of the defining differences between being an employee and having your own business. An exclusive client can stop outsourcing work at any time and if you have passed up opportunities to work with others in their industry, all the expertise you’ve gained will go to waste.
Choose your clients wisely and don’t let them dictate how you run your business. Obviously honesty, integrity, competitive pricing and the ability to meet deadlines are important to giving good service, but some of those things vary based on the project and client ability.
Be honest, don’t promise more than you can deliver and don’t be fooled into thinking that employers and clients have the same rights.
Sounds a lot like “I pay you I own you” mentality.
Quote: “I’d like to know if I am your biggest client or your smallest. My preference is to be somewhere in between; I don’t want you depending largely on me for work and I don’t want to be a small fry in your operation.”
That’s just irrational. Like it or not, SOMEBODY has to be the smallest client.
After having read the designer’s bill of rights first I feel that there is a rather large amount of contradictions between it and the client’s bill of rights. One should reflect the other, not combat it.
Unfortunately, this is exactly why doing business with corporations has been quite taxing for many freelance designers. The mentality is often of ownership of the designer once work begins.
This bill of rights is laughable. Any client that asked me for half of these things would no longer be a client of mine. I have to like whom I’m working with before I progress with any design (short of being poor and desperate!) and a client who listed such requests would not be someone I would feel comfortable with.
“I have the right to references”
That’s what a portfolio is for.
“I’d like to know if I am your biggest client or your smallest”
This request is absurd. If word of mouth, a solid portfolio or a solid example of talent attracted the prospect client then why ask a question that has no bearing on the outcome? Again, simply absurd.
“I have a right to inquire about your financial stability”
Most businesses aren’t even comfortable supplying a reliable budget but it is okay for them to rifle through a designer’s numbers? So far this bill of rights reflects the types of clients that set off alarms to any designer worth his/her salt.
“I expect that you will not accept work from anyone that might be considered a competitor, unless I agree in advance”
Fair enough. Then I expect that the client will not hire any other designer, creative professional, relative, friend, mammal, vegetable or mineral that will assist in a contract, in-house or pro-bono capacity for any design without my prior agreement. Or we could simply agree to function on a level of reality and sanity.
“I don’t want to speak to an account rep or sales rep if they can’t help me with my problem or need”
This request exemplifies the type of pushy client that doesn’t respect communication etiquette. If a firm or freelance designer has setup a system of communication that involves an account rep then that is the method of communication. Period. Just as many designers don’t wish to deal with micromanagement chaos it is reasonable and acceptable for the client to parlay their needs through the proper channels to avoid dealing with too many mouths and not enough ears.
To be candid (as though I haven’t been already!)I’d like to submit that there isn’t a need for a client bill of rights as much as there is for the designer bill of rights.
Designers are constantly subjected to corporate nonsense. Remember, the general mentality is that we just make pretty pictures and they do all the real work. With this kind of mentality it is clear that clients are rarely the ones in need of defending.
while I don’t look into the suppliers financial situation too closely, I agree with virtually all points. Let’s face it – we all want long term relationships – it’s easier in the long run. Therefore we need to be upfront in the ‘courting’ stage.