In a black-and-white world, there are two types of clients:
Type A: Pain in the neck
Type B: Pleasure to work with
After many years of freelancing, I have developed a sixth sense, warning me ahead of time which type of client I’m dealing with. Usually, this gut feeling is spot-on, but recently, I was unpleasantly surprised.
It all started when I was asked to narrate a Dutch script. From the first paragraph I could tell…
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Paul,
Another excellent blog! I say let’s hear it for high standards! And how relieved you must be not to be connected to that project any longer, and certainly not in perpetuity!
That is why we are the company we keep.
Best, Lori
You’re absolutely right, Lori. Sometimes I’m very happy not to be associated with certain clients and/or products. Money never trumps integrity.
Like I always say ” The lowest paying clients are the most demanding.” And I’ve actually said that to some. That usually wakes them up, Or ticks them off (Which is fine by
me) You are so right on Netherboy.
Thank you, Buffalo Man! It almost sounds like we’re superheroes!
Yes, oh how close to home this hits! I’m very lucky that the people who hire me Know that I will tell them immediately of stuff like this. I have rejected jobs that were so badly translated that I couldn’t possibly say those words like that. While I’m at it, don’t trust your translator, even if it’s me! Verify with another native speaker.
And with the good ones, which are much more plentiful… I got an email today for a project I did last week. She got the first edit today and was thrilled, exceeded expectations. That’s a COOOOL customer! 🙂 Great blog as always.
So much can get lost in translation. Congrats on your cool customers. They get what they deserve!
I learned my lesson after “helping out” a client with the translation of a couple of sentences, with the promise of future work, etc. And yes, never to be heard from again.
Thanks for sharing your story, and great policy about retakes! I might just steal it… 🙂
Steal away, Sylvia. A lot of clients are not deliberately unreasonable. They just need a little guidance.
Ever wise, Paul. My delete button gets more use these days. When I made a recent exception and gave the client a raw-read ‘bargain deal’ on a long job, back came reams of pickups. But these were well-intentioned almost-B clients, just not very experienced.
I went along with it as I could have been more astute. But never again. Proper pay or probono, no half-measures.
Howard, you know my thoughts on working pro bono, right? If not, here’s the article: https://www.nethervoice.com/2012/10/24/work-for-free-for-charity/
I hear you, Paul! Love your A – B distinctions!
I have even come across auditions, asking to translate the script in order to audition! For free, of course. For those cases, I have found a little workaround: I do an improv audition – not using the script, but just talking about the subject matter (in my case in German) so they can hear my voice in that genre. I have booked two jobs based on ‘improv auditions’ and both clients turned out to be great “B clients” after all.
Paul,
Sometimes that sixth sense does fail us!
When it comes to translations that don’t make sense, if I can see how to make it make sense, without completely rewriting the script (obvious – to me – grammar issues for example), I will always give an alternate take and send it along. If it is so confusing that I simply don’t have any idea what it is trying to say, I will go back and ask and then, yes, if they insist, read it the way it was written.
I remember one project where I had to go back to the client at least twice with quick rewrites to see if we were getting close to what it meant. Ultimately I ended up reading what they had written and a few months later, they came back saying that the client wasn’t happy with the results – it was too slow.
Translate – too long. Yes, that had been another thing I pointed out to them at the beginning. It was too damn long for a marketing piece. So they wanted me to redo it (for free) and oh, they had made a few minor changes to the script.
Like cut out half the script…
I recorded it again and sent it along with the new invoice…which they balked at paying saying that my first read had just been too slow.
I sent back a clip of the first paragraph – which was very close to the new paragraph and asked if they were happy with the pace. When they said, yes, I pointed out that this was the original recording and that the script had been changed and improved and to point that out to the client. I did get paid, but lesson learned with this particular client – just as you point out – get a “paper” trail!
Wonderful piece. I nodded along all the way through. I must admit it was the title that caught my eye and I wondered whether it was in some way a reference to a ‘rotten’ client. I ask this because I recently had one of those ‘WARNING don’t go there’ alerts and turned down a job a from a client with a related name.
Linda, thank you for sharing your improv audition method. I’ve seen those requests for translation as well and I wasn’t sure what to do with them. Now I know!
Conny, depending on the language, a translated version can end up being longer than the original. English happens to be a very compact language. German not so much. Ignorant clients sometimes expect you to fit the translated and longer text into the same time slot as the original video. A nightmare!
Dani, I’ve had a few dirty rotten scoundrels as clients, but the majority is fantastically fabulous and very professional.
On the grammar-spelling-usage side: Alas, these do not appear to be important in much of what passes for professional branding. I’m happy (in an unhappy way) not to be alone in my embarrassment for those language-challenged websites, presentations, (published) books, etc. It seems the thinking [if any] is, “So what? Big deal, it looks good.”
Could it be the result of our educational system and our tendency to scan instead of read documents?
This translation thing is part of my day to day as well, Paul. It can be quite aggravating. Your article comes at an opportune time for me as I’ve just signed on to work with a client who falls completely into TYPE A. I’m going to politely remove myself from their roster.
Hey Roxanne, it’s often not easy but not impossible to educate a Type A client. The ones that are open to change usually have had bad experiences hiring cheap talent. Every once in a while I am asked to redo a recording because the talent that was hired wasn’t able to deliver, costing the client more money in the end.
Fantastic read Paul, as always!
I had a situation similar to this last year when I had a very carefully outlined contract set up for a large smartphone app job. After they changed their mind about how they wanted the return route to be recorded, I mentioned that would be additional money & require a new contract. After some back & forth, & the Project Manager resulting in yelling at me, they then decided to go in another direction: they had the gall to threaten to blacklist me in my lovely little town.
I was shocked & appalled. Although it didn’t sit right with me, I pretty much gave them what they wanted to save my reputation. I was afraid they would badmouth me all over the place & it was a big project. But, you can bet I will never work with that project manager again. & this blog post is a reminder that I need to stay firm with what is written in my contracts, no exceptions.
I also think the principles you discussed here apply in every type of business. I’ve forwarded your blog onto several pals that are in business for themselves. As entrepreneurial small biz persons, we support each other by sharing information that is super good stuff.
Especially — that we all have a reputation to uphold and should never compromise quality just to make a quick buck.
Cheers!
Rose, I’m so sorry to hear about that horrible experience. Perhaps we should start a private LinkedIn group where we blacklist companies like the one you mentioned. That way, our colleagues are warned in advance. The more information is shared, the stronger we stand!
Paul,
I have been working in Asia for several years after a fortunate successful career in the US.
As I sit and read this post it seems to come at just the right time and I so appreciate it’s reaffirmation of my own feelings.
There is another component to client A&B I would like to mention that is cultural in nature and specific to working in Asia, the concept of “Face.”
In this case “Face” (as this applies to voiceover scripts received from clients and the need to contextually revise them.) English in this case.
“Face” will most often tump all other considerations including accuracy, proper use of language, productive result and or any discussion based the literal context of the script.
In hierarchal societies which are generally family based and authoritarian, the authority is top down. Those below the authority are not generally allowed to raise a question of shall we say, an edit. The tendency is to “shoot the messenger” metaphorically, and no one wants to get shot. Given this, it is very difficult to suggest or affect any change in the script provided.
Fully 95% of the scripts I am offered require contextual edit. Agreed, never suggest to alter the content even though you may not have a clue as to just what is being offered or described via the content itself.
And agreed again, you must have and maintain a standard of professionalism.
IMHO, Without a personal standard of professionalism you will find yourself lost to greed and opportunism. Your “Power” will be corrupted.
Another great blogpost Paul.
I just came up with this exact same problem this week. The translation was bad in places and literally didn’t make sense. I’ve come across this before and in the past the client came back to me, exactly like your situation, wasn’t happy and actually wanted to blame me for doing a bad job. I politely wrote back (even though I was seething and gritting my teeth as I wrote the email) and actually pointed out that they were keen to create a quality product, hence they hired a professional voice talent as opposed to using one of their own staff but unfortunately there is a glitch in the text that would reduce the standard of our final product. I think of our project as being a team effort. I can fix it now but if they come back to after I have sent the files to them I will have to charge extra. They accepted my polite rant but, as in your case, told me to read the script as is. Grrrrr it just about killed me. It was horrible. However, they came back to me two weeks later and asked me to redo it. They didn’t want to pay me but I stood my ground and did actually receive my money.
This week, the same happened and I decided to read as is, but also continued and read the problem section as it should have sounded. Then I made a note of the time in the audio file, explained what I’d done and that there are two versions of the same line but one reads as I think it should be. It’s up to them which one they use but they’ll need to edit that part of the file themselves. I knew the client was able to do that so it wasn’t a problem. They were actually very grateful and have gone with my correction.
You’re right though with your list of tip-offs for type A and B clients. I think I may display that on my office wall. 🙂
Thanks for your insights Paul,
Pearl
BRAVO, Paul…and Amen.
Great Blog! Always good to read good thinking, your thoughts are clear and accurate, i have suffered these types of client and I have always tried, in spite of dealing with them, to finish always on good terms, as you did in your case.