Professional Graphic Design, Printing and Website Development Services

Here’s a little nugget from which we can all learn and client-designer relationships can benefit.

I had a meeting with a prospective client yesterday. We’ll call him Jack. We scheduled the meeting after a relatively lengthy phone conversation in which he described his branding needs and goals, and I described my qualifications and professional background. He determined me to be up to the challenge, yet wanted to see and hear my ideas in person. I promptly explained that while I was more than happy to meet him in person to further discuss his project needs and show him my portfolio samples, I would not be offering creative ideas or branding concepts until we had service and payment agreement in place. He said he understood, so we scheduled the meeting.

Unfortunately, it was a short-lived meeting with undesirable results for both parties. Turns out he obtained an estimate from Valley Vision Design several months earlier, only he had someone else contact me for the information. We’ll call her Jill. Jill said she knew what she wanted for the logo, and asked for 3-5 hours of design services to take her idea and make it digital art. Simple as that. So, I provided her with my hourly rate and explained that logo design can be as quick as 3 hours, but as many as 20. There are many variables, including the client specifications and requests throughout the process. Therefore, clients are billed for actual time to achieve approval, whether less or more than the estimate. Jill expressed her appreciation for the information, said she understood and would get back to me.

Now, let’s go back to Jack. When he arrived to our meeting (ten minutes late), I provided him with an estimate that was based on the specifications he provided me in the phone conversation we had. Those specs included branding development to consist of concepts for a company name, logo design and coordinating collaterals. When he saw the estimate that I put in front of him, he stood up, looked me in the eye and huffed that if I couldn’t come up with his brand concepts in 5 hours or less, like I promised Jill, then I wasn’t worth squat as a designer. He went on to tell me how he was a graphic designer longer than I’ve been alive, so he could tell me a few things. An opinion he developed without even looking at my portfolio.

Now, I come from a strong customer service background and am quite familiar with the mentality that “the client is always right.” But, I am also familiar with the phrase, “there’s an exception to every rule.” And this is one of them. It’s one thing for a service provider to under-promise and over-deliver, but quite another for someone to request an estimate for a Ford Focus and expect a Cadillac CTS for the same price as the Focus.

Not once in the 45-minute phone conversation that led to our meeting did Jack mention the estimate I provided Jill. Had he, I would have explained that what she asked for was far less in-depth and less time consuming that what he requested. For goodness sakes, Jill at least had a company name! Jack would not have been so unpleasantly surprised to see my estimate for branding had he been up-front and honest with me. It’s understandable that in the months between talking with Jill and then Jack, that their needs might have changed, but then so should the estimate.

The moral of the story is to be honest with your designer when asking for an estimate, so that he or she can provide you with as accurate a proposal as possible. In over six years of being a freelance designer, I never had such an experience, but now that I have, I think it’s important to explain that Omitting information and requirements in order to get a lower estimate won’t save you any money. trying to pull the wool over our eyes isn’t going to outsmart us, it’s only going to make it more difficult to achieve a successful client-designer relationship. If your needs change, that is fine, but please let us know so we can can estimate accordingly. To allow for flexibility, most designers provide estimates—not quotes—for creative services. Reputable designers do not want to over charge—we want our clients to keep coming back because they know they can get quality services and products for a reasonable cost. But just like anyone else, we do have bills and student loans to satisfy, groceries to buy and gas tanks to fill up. Wasting our time by trying to fake us out doesn’t help lower our rates or your costs. Freelancers who don’t charge for consulting or estimates, do so because we want your business, not because we have all the time in the world to work for free. So, be honest with us, we’ll be honest with you, and your company identity and client-designer relations will be better for it.

Oh! And, if you’re wondering, just like I was, why Jack would need to hire a designer if he had so much experience as one himself. Well, through a little networking with other designers in the area, I learned that Jack was never a designer and that I’m not the only one who he tried to buffalo. He’s left several designers in his wake, telling each of them a different story about his background. On the bright side, we all got a chuckle, another teaching moment arose and now we can move on to the next project.