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08/27/2007: "What To Do About a Client Who Thinks He Knows More Than You."

A frustrated copywriter recently posted a question on a forum. She was concerned about what to do. Following is, in part, is what she asked about the problem she faces.

"One of my clients . . . my former employer. Because of our long-standing relationship, I give them a bargain rate for my work." She adds that she mostly writes for their blog.

"The owner of the company has the utmost respect for my writing . . . but unfortunately my writing is now being reviewed, second-guessed and edited by someone with a lot less expertise and certainly much less respect for my work."

She adds that recently someone with very little writing experience added his own "flavor" to the copy she wrote. He made lots of mistakes, according to the copywriter.

". . .the work I do for them has always been demoralizing because they give me deadlines, which I meet, and then they drag their feet and they never meet THEIR deadlines. I know that what I'm doing for them is not high priority."

She said she thought of "dumping them" as clients. But she adds that they give her a "steady stream of work" and she really wants to keep their account.

She asks, "Do I complain to the owner about this new wanna-be editor and how he's crapping up my work? Do I tell them they put a misspelled word into the blog and let them figure out that this new guy is not the cracker jack he makes himself out to be? Or do I just let them have their misspelled blog as they want it, collect my fees and emotionally divorce myself from the work since my name doesn't appear anywhere on it?"

I guess all copywriters would have a different solution to this problem. The unfortunate thing is, we all DO have this problem --- far too often.

I've had this problem with two clients in less than one year.

My solution was that I turned the account of one client over to a trusted associate who happened to share some things in common with the client. Therefore, I kept the client in my agency but I didn't have to personally deal with him.

The other client was a bit different. When it came time to renegotiate his contract, I simply added a clause in the contract that said that if he or any of his staff changed my copy or failed to take my advice, I would not make any changes, corrections or updates to the copy or be responsible for it at all.

By doing this, I kept his business and allowed him to screw up his copy if he chose. But, at the same time, I made it known that the copy no longer was my responsibility and I would do no more work on the copy when it didn't produce (as I knew it would not.)

Now you may or may not agree with how I handled these two cases. I've also resigned several accounts where the client did not follow my advice and/or changed my copy because he or she thought they knew best.

My advice is to put it in your contract that you will not make changes to any copy that a client touches after you write it. Write it however you want. But make sure the client understands that he will pay a price for changing your copy in any way or for not cooperating with you in your effort to get him more business and provide him with a better image.

That often eliminates the problem entirely because most all clients want you do be available to them to make changes. They don't want to excuse you from doing more work for them.

The bottom line is this: don't let clients make your life miserable. Their work isn't worth it. Do what's the most comfortable for you.

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