The Client is Always Wrong

In most service-based businesses, the phrase “the client is always right” tends to come up. The idea being that because the client is forking over their cash, they get what they want.

Fortunately for you, that’s bull honky. The client is not always right. In fact, they’re frequently 27 shades of wrong. They don’t have a fat clue what they want or why they want it. That, my friend, is why they hired you.

If you aren’t pushing back on nearly everything that comes out of your client’s mouth, you’re doing it wrong.

Now, I’m not saying you should be a jerk and make the client feel like an idiot. You shouldn’t. But when you get hired to do something like design, development, writing, or art, it’s typically because you know your stuff and are good at what you do.

For example, when someone comes to me for UI design work, it’s because they need help. And they don’t need help just “making it pretty.” They may say that initially, but if they think that’s all there is to UI design, then it’s even more clear they need to be guided towards good UI design.

It’s your job to educate them. It’s your job to teach them why their suggestion isn’t such a great idea. You’re an expert in your space and they hired you for that. Don’t just sit back and take whatever awful suggestion that gets spewed out because you’re afraid you’ll offend them. Consciously or sub-conciously, they are looking for guidance from you because they weren’t able to pull it off themselves.

Push back is part of the process. It’s about refining and forming. It makes a better end-product 100% of the time. The success of their business depends on the quality of your work, and you owe it to the client to make sure they get the absolute best.