He came in looking for a fight.
“No one likes the spot. It’s not us. No one gets it. We think we need to start completely over.”
Rather than hit him over the head with a light stand and strangle him, I kept my body language open, my voice level, and asked “Why did you approve it?”
A bit wild-eyed, he exclaimed “ The wrath of the Chick”.
I’m not making this up.
We told him two things: We are not starting completely over. The concept is valid and was carefully thought out. It needs to be given a chance to work beyond a quick glance via email to 10 of your pals and handful of air-time sales girls. We will make adjustments so you’ll feel more comfortable without screwing it completely up. Further, we are disappointed that you would send the work out to colleagues and competitors for their opinion. It was an inappropriate thing to do.
He sputtered, acquiesced and then, a telling moment. He stood up and offered his hand. I didn’t stand up, neither did my camera guy. We kept our seats and shook his hand. I did not see him to the door.
Final note: Instead of a “settlement”, he sent $275 more than the original amount to cover the revision, acknowledging he had approved the work. Guilt money. (He’s about $1500 off, but that’s ok…we just want it to be over).
We all have clients who are high maintenance. It’s up to us to decide how bad we want the business. What’s the bullshit worth? In this particular case, it just isn’t.
The Wrath of the Chick.
It’ll be a cool Tattoo.
Tags: advertising, agency client relationship, Bad clients, entrepreneur, small town clients
High maintenance. Scariest words to describe any relationship, business, pleasure or otherwise. The guilt money thing is high comedy, though.
A thought on your tattoo: I just stumbled across the new trend, which is tattoos that are only visible under black light. (Big in the rave scene I guess.) So what I’m thinking is that you can get one of those, and if a client starts to piss you off, cut the overhead lights and flip on a black light. That would freak ‘em out but good!