So I work for an advertising agency in Texas, part time during the school year, full time in Texas during the summers.

We have a client who has hired us to do a very specific job for them. This is something we've been wildly successful at for years. We proposed the campaign to them, showing what we'd done in the past. They agreed it was perfect for them and said, "Do it exactly like that one."

"That one" was a competition open to any US resident resident, was hosted on our servers using the MySQL database engine built strictly for our campaign. Each campaign has a similar look, modified client per client because the system we have in place works. If it isn't broken, don't fix it.

Part of the system's strong point is that it sits on our servers. We have people who manage this for us, know how to manipulate the information to create reports etc etc. Fo legal reasons, we have to note the domain in the rules.

Over the last few weeks, the client's internal graphic/web design person has tried over and over again to take this job away from us. For whatever reason, this person thinks they can do a better job of it. I thought we shut that down after we illustrated her idea would not work for a large percentage of computer users, the site took over 30 seconds before you do any actions on it (everyone would have left at that point) and they had no analytics software running to track traffic and conversions.

Beyond that, they changed the rules to say only two states and only two professions can enter the competition. This limitation will decrease contest entries significantly. We can not promise the same results given these limitations and this new competition is no where near "exactly like that one"

From the smallest detail to the server it's running on, they want control over every single aspect of the campaign. It's just become too much, but we need the business, as any small business does these days.

Over and over again they say it's perfect, then send another email saying it's not. I'm at my wits' end. I'm about to just scream at the people. How do you deal with this? It's not as simple as "do as the client wishes". If a patient told the doctor to operate without gloves because they don't like the feel of gloves, the Dr. sure wouldn't do that. Because the doctor knows better, the doctor has to protect the patient, and himself. We are not going to get sued because they don't want a domain address listed in the rules.

Thanks.

Was there a contract stating what you would provide?

CECAA850:

Was there a contract stating what you would provide?

Yes, our LOA stated specifically every aspect of the campaign.

Just got off the phone, client has finally let us do our thing. Thank heavens.

But the question still stands, how DO you deal with a micromanaging client when it gets tot he point it starts to damage the relationship and the product?

In our contract we had a claus to cover changes,, At 10 times the origional cost,, and client had to cover double the cost of any law suits.  Now you know why the F22 Raptor costs 350 million each..  Did your contract cover changes at there expense?

I think killing them is out of the question, its bad for business.

one can only provide their advice for so long and then you have to let the client decide. i say tell them your concerns about the disadvantages/limitations of their plan and that you have serious concerns that they will not be happy with the results. then give them exactly what they want. the hard part is when they end up being unhappy just like you predicted--not telling them, "i told you so." I guess the other part that sucks is if your company name is somehow attached to the failure and potential clients could steer away from you because they know you were associated with this other failed projects. in a perfect world, you wouldn't "need" just their business to survive and you could just suggest they find another company.

jacksonbart:

I think killing them is out of the question, its bad for business.

Sometime necessary though.  Especially if there's a backhoe on site to dig the hole. 

Greg

 

 

Welcome to my ****ing world bud

greg928gts:

jacksonbart:

I think killing them is out of the question, its bad for business.

Sometime necessary though.  Especially if there's a backhoe on site to dig the hole. 

Or a wood chipper, as in this clip.  Notice the careful use of a short length of 2 x 4, always a safe workshop practice to protect your hands from danger near power tools.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6OR71VU010

Brick Top wrote:

Apparently the best thing to do is chop the body into six pieces. And when you got your six pieces, you gotta get rid of them, because it's no good leaving it in the deep freeze for your mum to discover, now is it? Then I hear the best thing to do is feed them to pigs. You got to starve the pigs for a few days, then the sight of a chopped-up body will look like curry to a pi$$head. You gotta shave the heads of your victims, and pull the teeth out for the sake of the piggies' digestion. You could do this afterwards, of course, but you don't want to go sievin' through pig sh--, now do you? They will go through bone like butter. You need at least sixteen pigs to finish the job in one sitting, so be wary of any man who keeps a pig farm. They will go through a body that weighs 200 pounds in about eight minutes. That means that a single pig can consume two pounds of uncooked flesh every minute. Hence the expression, "as greedy as a pig".

 

 

-Snatch

I simply hand them a business card or cell phone number of my least favorite competitor. 

I figure if he's trying to bankrupt me, why not pass this A$$ to the one I want to fail more than anyone.

colterphoto1:

Brick Top wrote:

Apparently the best thing to do is chop the body into six pieces. And when you got your six pieces, you gotta get rid of them, because it's no good leaving it in the deep freeze for your mum to discover, now is it? Then I hear the best thing to do is feed them to pigs. You got to starve the pigs for a few days, then the sight of a chopped-up body will look like curry to a pi$$head. You gotta shave the heads of your victims, and pull the teeth out for the sake of the piggies' digestion. You could do this afterwards, of course, but you don't want to go sievin' through pig sh--, now do you? They will go through bone like butter. You need at least sixteen pigs to finish the job in one sitting, so be wary of any man who keeps a pig farm. They will go through a body that weighs 200 pounds in about eight minutes. That means that a single pig can consume two pounds of uncooked flesh every minute. Hence the expression, "as greedy as a pig".

 

 

-Snatch

Holy Crap Colter, 

That's pretty dark and twisted for your isn't it? 

Besides how did you know that a hog cannot digest teeth.  Best to smash them with a pair of sledge hammers and put the dust back inside their mouths before feeding time. 

Years of law enforcement trains you to think of how to commit the "perfect crime".  Try it once, think of how to commit a crime, then think of EVERY possiblity that could lead to a clue or evidence of conviction.  I started in law enforcement when I was 19 years old.  I still haven't figured that one out.

Islander:

greg928gts:

jacksonbart:

I think killing them is out of the question, its bad for business.

Sometime necessary though.  Especially if there's a backhoe on site to dig the hole. 

Or a wood chipper, as in this clip.  Notice the careful use of a short length of 2 x 4, always a safe workshop practice to protect your hands from danger near power tools.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6OR71VU010

 

Gosh you guys have no idea how to remove dna huh?

Jay481985:

Gosh you guys have no idea how to remove dna huh?

Sorry, we're just beginners... 

On a much more serious note, we actually did have a pig farmer who lived near Vancouver who killed 49 women, many of them hookers, and fed them to his pigs.  It went on for years, but he finally got caught and DNA played a big part in the convictions.  It was a very grim story.

 Hi Justin!

The customer is paying you, so they will always have the ultimate control.  There's no way around that.  You can manage them a little with change orders that make it lucrative for you to change the contract. Sooner or later, their schedule will push them to get serious. 

 I'm on the owner end with one of my engineering consultants.  I have a VP that perodically does a Drive-by mugging and has us spin up the consultant on a new "what if" every week or 2.  It costs him/the corporation big money, but he doesn't seem to care and thinks he's doing the right thing.   It has cost us months on what we all thought was an impossibly tight schedule (from the same VP).