Weak agencies and designers blame their clients for predictable problems. “We got stuck in revision hell,” they say. “Because the client didn’t know how to make up their mind.”
We get a knowing grin.
And like snarky little amateurs, they scurry off and post to sites like *Clients From Hell*, where the creative underclass vents their rage. (Hint): contempt for client is always the surest sign of an unskilled and incompetent designer.
Revision hell has happened to us.
And, if we’re being honest, it’s 100% our fault. What we’ve done below is listed the first hand experience we have with revision hell and exactly what we did to prevent it.
Tolerating Mediocrity Is Always The Cause of Revision Hell
The root cause isn’t unreasonable clients, or someone that’s taking their day out on you.
The problem, if we’re being honest, is letting the cancer of mediocrity in.
The client is not being unreasonable. The client just reacts to the hand that they are dealt. When we allow mediocrity, we get those results.
Mediocre Presentations Cause Revision Hell
A lot of what the client is paying for is the ability to work out problems with a collaborator. Our agreement may read “a website” or “a video” but the truth is that they also expect to be able to have a sounding board and a second set of eyes on their business & its problems.
When we present our work to our clients and aren’t prepared to teach, explain and sell the choices we’ve made, we do the client a grave disservice. They lose confidence in the work that they paid for because it came in junky packaging.
Mediocre Contracts Cause Revision Hell
What does your agreement allow? What’s a change order? How many rounds of tweaking do you allow? This is something that you have to absolutely know. Because if it’s loose or ambiguous then the client isn’t abusing you.
They are doing what is allowed in the contract. In your contract. By you. And that means that they aren’t at fault. You are. Because you have a mediocre contract.
Mediocre Execution Of Your Work Causes Revision Hell
When you don’t execute at a high level you expose yourselves to the possibility of revision hell.
This means your art. Because agencies are really artists for hire. And when we don’t mind the details – from the script to the fit and finish – then what happens is that trust is eroded. Because clients aren’t dumb.
When trust is eroded *everything* comes into question. If, at some point a client had to see some work that wasn’t properly quality controlled, they will be questioning every decision that was made.
Because they have to.
Because to them, this project could be the only visible thing that their CEO sees them do this quarter or this year. That’s the stakes.
Mediocre Hiring Practices Cause Revision Hell
This is a hard one, but we had to turn over our staff. We had to hire a large group of people to get jobs out under the gun. We didn’t have the right mix because we didn’t learn how to hire people. This caused us to be in revision hell for a long time.
Because we hired only when in crisis (instead of always as we do now) we wound up green lighting people that we shouldn’t have green lit. We wound up working with a true horror of a placement service (that’ll get its own post). In order to hit deadlines we had to add staff and the staff wasn’t a great fit.
Mediocre Systems Cause Revision Hell
The other cause of revision hell is mediocre systems. Consider this: someone says, “hey,that looks great.” Is that a finalization? Is that confirming that that’s locked in? Probably not. But a lot of times agencies treat a little bit of positive feedback as if it is.
Formalizing the acceptance process – and a thousand other things – prevents this sort of thing from happening.
Mediocre Client Selection Causes Revision Hell
All of this leads to the worst part: Mediocre Client Selection. Unless you’re doing excellent work, you have to deal with mediocre clients. And the mediocre clients do what they can to prevent good work.
But guess what? You picked them. You screened them. You selected them. These guys are your fault. Chances are you are working with EXACTLY the right clients that you are supposed to serve. Just because you can’t currently get NIKE doesn’t mean you get to take your day out on someone else.
To fix this: select better clients.
Fixing Revision Hell.
Now sometimes we’ll make different choices than our clients want. We can fix that.
The hard work of ending revision hell is one of those “ounce of prevention” things. You can’t fix it by just willing it away. You have to fix it by doing the upfront work to have better presentations, hiring practices, client selection, and general systems.
None of that is easy. But the next time a project goes that direction instead of blaming the client, ask yourself:
Was I impeccable in every area of my agency practice? If not, then correct *that*.
And if you need a project done *that’s not* in revision hell…please contact us.