Comments on: Yelling At Clients http://www.ideagrove.com/blog/2006/04/yelling-at-clients.html The Idea Grove is a full-service agency specializing in public relations, marketing and Web design. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:07:15 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Matthew Stibbe http://www.ideagrove.com/blog/2006/04/yelling-at-clients.html/comment-page-1#comment-1528 Matthew Stibbe Sat, 22 Apr 2006 09:33:00 +0000 http://www.ideagrove.com/weblog/?p=974#comment-1528 A client of mine did something bad to me and did it in a way that made the problem much worse. I didn't yell at them but I did send an email which was, arguably, designed to provoke a reaction more than it was intended to solve the problem. <br/><br/>The film director Richard Attenborough claims to deliberately lose his temper on the first day of every shoot to make sure people knew it was possible and to counter his reputation for being a bit of a luvvie.<br/><br/>On reflection, I wish I hadn't sent the email. It seems to me that professional consultants (like me in the copywriting / marketing world) need to be exactly that - professional. This means working through persuasion, best practice, influence, courtesy and diplomacy. <br/><br/>If something is so intolerable that you can't do the job, quit. I almost wish I had had the courage to quit the assignment rather than get cross and then have to repair the damage.<br/><br/>I posted about this obliquely on my blog which is a very roundabout non-apology apology: http://www.badlanguage.net/?p=105 A client of mine did something bad to me and did it in a way that made the problem much worse. I didn’t yell at them but I did send an email which was, arguably, designed to provoke a reaction more than it was intended to solve the problem.

The film director Richard Attenborough claims to deliberately lose his temper on the first day of every shoot to make sure people knew it was possible and to counter his reputation for being a bit of a luvvie.

On reflection, I wish I hadn’t sent the email. It seems to me that professional consultants (like me in the copywriting / marketing world) need to be exactly that – professional. This means working through persuasion, best practice, influence, courtesy and diplomacy.

If something is so intolerable that you can’t do the job, quit. I almost wish I had had the courage to quit the assignment rather than get cross and then have to repair the damage.

I posted about this obliquely on my blog which is a very roundabout non-apology apology: http://www.badlanguage.net/?p=105

]]> By: Laura http://www.ideagrove.com/blog/2006/04/yelling-at-clients.html/comment-page-1#comment-1521 Laura Fri, 21 Apr 2006 16:07:00 +0000 http://www.ideagrove.com/weblog/?p=974#comment-1521 I've actually worked on the client side of the PR equation, and we had a pretty good PR guy working for us. We looked to him as the expert so we'd frequently tell him our upcoming news that we'd like to do a press release about, and he'd let us know whether or not he thought it was newsworthy, or whether we needed to change the angle of the story. He was very matter of fact about it; he told us up front when we hired him that he'd do any story if we asked him to but he would be blunt about it if he thought it was a waste of our time and money. And he was helpful that way because he was almost always right. Granted though, it wasn't usually damage control.<br/><br/>He never yelled at us, but he used to get really pissy with me if we made changes to his work because he couldn't take criticism AT ALL. He'd often send us drafts with errors in sentence structure, grammar or spelling and try to defend his errors when we asked him to correct them or heaven forbid, corrected them ourselves. <br/><br/>I don't know if that's because it's not considered appropriate to make changes to the PR work, but I don't really care... I wasn't going to send out work with errors in it and if that meant fighting with him, so be it! I’ve actually worked on the client side of the PR equation, and we had a pretty good PR guy working for us. We looked to him as the expert so we’d frequently tell him our upcoming news that we’d like to do a press release about, and he’d let us know whether or not he thought it was newsworthy, or whether we needed to change the angle of the story. He was very matter of fact about it; he told us up front when we hired him that he’d do any story if we asked him to but he would be blunt about it if he thought it was a waste of our time and money. And he was helpful that way because he was almost always right. Granted though, it wasn’t usually damage control.

He never yelled at us, but he used to get really pissy with me if we made changes to his work because he couldn’t take criticism AT ALL. He’d often send us drafts with errors in sentence structure, grammar or spelling and try to defend his errors when we asked him to correct them or heaven forbid, corrected them ourselves.

I don’t know if that’s because it’s not considered appropriate to make changes to the PR work, but I don’t really care… I wasn’t going to send out work with errors in it and if that meant fighting with him, so be it!

]]> By: SB http://www.ideagrove.com/blog/2006/04/yelling-at-clients.html/comment-page-1#comment-1509 SB Wed, 19 Apr 2006 14:37:00 +0000 http://www.ideagrove.com/weblog/?p=974#comment-1509 Well, except for the X-ed out hotlinked image, you and Andrea are doing a fabulous job. I have just checked traffic figures to determine how expensive a gift to buy each of you, and it looks like I am going to have to go back to currency exchange to get more money.<br/><br/>In response to the post by Rohit referencing Media Orchard's efforts to extend brand value through guest bloggers, I am officially upping MO's asking price... to a 12-pack, no longer settling for 40 oz.<br/><br/>To anyone who bet that I couldn't go two weeks without looking at the blog ... you won, but only by technicality. The wife is a little under the weather today and taking a nap, so I have a little time to kill. But please ... nobody tell her I was on the Internet!<br/><br/>Ciao...<br/><br/>The Real SB. Well, except for the X-ed out hotlinked image, you and Andrea are doing a fabulous job. I have just checked traffic figures to determine how expensive a gift to buy each of you, and it looks like I am going to have to go back to currency exchange to get more money.

In response to the post by Rohit referencing Media Orchard’s efforts to extend brand value through guest bloggers, I am officially upping MO’s asking price… to a 12-pack, no longer settling for 40 oz.

To anyone who bet that I couldn’t go two weeks without looking at the blog … you won, but only by technicality. The wife is a little under the weather today and taking a nap, so I have a little time to kill. But please … nobody tell her I was on the Internet!

Ciao…

The Real SB.

]]> By: SB http://www.ideagrove.com/blog/2006/04/yelling-at-clients.html/comment-page-1#comment-1508 SB Wed, 19 Apr 2006 12:55:00 +0000 http://www.ideagrove.com/weblog/?p=974#comment-1508 Sherrilynne, I definitely add in a PITA* tax when the client earns it.<br/><br/>;-p<br/><br/><br/>*Pain in the ass Sherrilynne, I definitely add in a PITA* tax when the client earns it.

;-p

*Pain in the ass

]]> By: Sherrilynne Starkie http://www.ideagrove.com/blog/2006/04/yelling-at-clients.html/comment-page-1#comment-1506 Sherrilynne Starkie Wed, 19 Apr 2006 07:08:00 +0000 http://www.ideagrove.com/weblog/?p=974#comment-1506 Never yell at a client. Just leave your invoice as you back away. Then later, chase them up for payment. Never yell at a client. Just leave your invoice as you back away. Then later, chase them up for payment.

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