Q. Have you ever had a client that is difficult to please and constantly rejected your ideas? How did you handle this situation?
A. "Difficult to please" may be a little too strong of a term. I have to say that most of my clients are busy, executive level, professional women that are used to running the show. They typically manage a large team and are used to calling the shots. Even though they are great delegators, sometimes it's not that easy for them to just hand over the reigns in the beginning - especially when it comes to their biggest investment.
I have found that there are two communication styles. The first one is very affirmative. This client knows what she likes and can communicate that to me very easily. It's very pleasurable to go through the process with this client because everything is expressed through such a positive lens.
The second client communication style is very different. She typically cannot express what she likes, in fact, she may not even know what she likes BUT she definitely knows what she does NOT like! In this case we get to agreement of a final design direction through a series of rejected ideas and concepts. I've been doing this long enough to know how this is going to play out and I will often ask my clients not to lose faith that I don't "get" her style. We will just have to go through a lot of "don't likes" to uncover what she does like. It takes patience on both sides but I've never thrown in the towel on a project because I can't determine a design direction for a client. Once we go through the discovery and conceptual process, it's smooth sailing as we move into the procurement and final delivery phase where my team then does all of the heavy lifting!
Experience is key in these situations and not taking the rejections personally. Need help finding your design style? I'd love to help you uncover it! Click on the Contact tab if you'd like to work together on your next design project!
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