CYA – Client Focus

To those of you who believe that if you repeat what you want to happen over and over again it will happen, stop it. You’re annoying the hell out of the rest of us who are trying to make it happen for you.

It occurs in the world of writing and editing a lot – the clients, good and bad, don’t quite hear what you’re saying. Right now I’m working with a very nice client who seems to have some rare form of email blindness, for no matter how many times or ways I say it, he’s not understanding that his project will not be done this month. It would be different if I said it once and I was vague, but folks, I’ve said it four times now and very directly. I started saying it in August, when it was very apparent that the job was bigger than expected. I thought with ample warning, the client would have a chance to make a contingency plan.

Apparently that didn’t happen, for here it is December and once again I’m getting asked the same question I’d answered three times prior. Will the project be ready? No, the project will not be ready. Pretty clear to you, right? What makes it worse is that I really want to have this project completed. I’ve worked my tail off and now I have writer friends helping me, as well. I’m waiting for the next question, which will surely come this week or next. Maybe I should set up my response like a Dr. Seuss rhyme – “It won’t be finished in December, just as it wasn’t in November. It will not happen, no sirree, no matter how often you ask me.”

Clients, please. We love you. We want to do good for you. We want to make your project our priority. However, you are not our only client, nor can we devote all our time to you, as we love all our clients and they deserve some of our time, too. If you want to pay us a ton to be our only client, we’ll devote time accordingly. However, this being the real world, we understand you have a budget. So do we. That’s why we have to take on other client work, too. Otherwise, we’d starve. So please have patience. Please hear us and read our messages – we’re not putting you off or slacking in any way. We’re conducting our businesses in a sensible manner and we’re working on your project as much as we’re working on others.

Truce?