What do we do when the client \ company relationship falls apart?
Sometimes, the issue is bad communication, sometimes a client or the company does something incorrectly or takes too long on a project. This causes tension and it can usually be alleviated by (drum roll please)… a conversation. Yes, just talk to each other and try to work it out - apologize. Just be nice to each other.
After it’s worked out, try to have realistic expectations about hours, pay and service.
If that fails and the deal has gone sour, it is important to have solid contracts to rely upon. Without bad-mouthing anyone in particular, my design agency was zinged for a significant amount of production hours by a client that was essentially leading us on. Now, we should have seen this coming and demanded payment before any additional work continued. We like to give the benefit of doubt to our clients. Sometimes, this gets taken advantage of. We lost approximately $20k worth of production time because of our bad judgment. We should have done things differently.
What should we have done?
For starters, we needed a better contract, with stronger stipulations on time and payment. We should have made additional entries on the contract when new items came up. In this case, our communication was daily at the least, so that is not an issue. Secondly, we shouldn’t rely on a client’s “good nature” to mean that we will get paid. If they don’t have the money or want to get work for free, then their “good nature” can be a put-on.
I don’t want this to sound bitter - as we assume the responsibility for allowing extra production hours without a proper contract. It’s a lesson learned. We hope that other design firms stop relying on handshakes, promises, etc. and start relying on good contracts, solid due-dates with production work as well as holding clients to their payment schedules. If modifications are to be worked out, both parties should get them in writing to protect themselves.
