From: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Mathieu_Ren=E9?= <creaturiste-AT-primus.ca>
To: <puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org>
Date: Sat, 23 Aug 2008 03:25:36 -0400
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Customer's Vision


>Alan Cook wrote:
> Mathieu--
>
> Much of the problem with difficult  customers is that they have no idea 
> what they want---if they know anything, it is what they don't want.
----------------


Alan, I completely agree.

It's mind boggling how they act like or insist that they do know.
("they" refers here to the most difficult customers, which are thankfully 
rare).

And when we ask them to describe what they want, they block, or give 
contradictory indications, usually denying after the fact that they did so. 
What bugs me the most is when they exclaim that the resulting sketches do 
not reflect what they described, when we artists know how many hours have 
been spent on research and exploration to go through the whole painstakingly 
compiled checklist.

The one way I've been able to make things slightly easier is to give them a 
quiz, a series of targetted and customized questions I think would make the 
character easier to grasp.
It takes me time to write, therefore it costs them more.

In theory, I've been told some difficult customers can be swayed if we make 
them believe the result is their idea, or directly inspired by something 
they brought to the table. So far, it's been hard to apply that theory, as I 
hate playing games. With little clear indications, I have to go on a limb 
and make something up.

I'm wondering what else we can do about it, to make our dealings, and 
therefore the work, easier with the difficult indecisive customers?

Another kind of difficult customer is one who absolutely wants something 
that is already out there, another artist's creation. You can tell them you 
won't copy, then they agree to "something similar or in the same universe", 
but during the process, they keep complaining it's not enough like "the 
thing". The hardest part is to detect who will be difficult in that way 
before accepting the contract.
How do we deal with them, once we're stuck in the contract?


On a more postitive and encouraging note...

Some "difficult customers" turn out to be the easiest to deal with:
Some of my first-time customers in the past I realized were not "trained" to 
deal with visual artists, or take visual decisions. I think they were 
indecisive because they did not have the vocabulary or precise references to 
express their needs. All they wanted was something that worked for their 
purpose, and would have a life of its own.
At one point I realized most of these people don't even want to bother with 
the headaches and the back and forth of the usual process. So I just go 
ahead, ask only the important questions, make most of the decisions and send 
a few pics in progress to keep them appraised and reassured. I also give 
myself precise deadlines, toa void long periods of non-cmmunication. I love 
these cases, as I can go wild and "do my thing". If I am fully satisfied 
with the result, the customers usually love it even more, and hire me again 
in the future. When they have dealt with me once, they know what to expect, 
feel more comfortable and interact some more in the process.

There's a wonderful kind of special satisfaction when customers come back 
for more.
It's a kind of validation that is hard to beat!



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