What Type of Client Are You?

In one of our previous articles, we were finding the differences between the design service providers – While Freelance Designers Struggle with Design Agencies, Hybrids Win the Battle. But life is a double-edged sword. Today you’re a performer, tomorrow you’re a client. Usually, we want to find a dream product or service. And that’s perfectly normal. But why don’t we try to focus on ourselves today and think of how to be a dream client? After all, dream clients make life easier not only for the people they hired but for themselves as well.

Of course, it’s hard to find a pure client type in general. It’s the same as with the fundamental personality types. So, it’s always a mix. Nevertheless, we suggest our own classification based on the main client archetypes we’ve distinguished. Read on and tell us about your unique cocktail of client features!

Day-dreamer

Day-dreamers just adore musing and wondering (greeting from Captain Hindsight) and being surprised, of course. But it’s so damn hard to surprise them! Primarily, it’s because their mood and the things they like change as the weather in London. Oh, and those changes tend to be quite dramatic and unpredictable. It’s like you were to cater to the vegan party and have cooked 20 portions of rice with beans and spring rolls… But the day before the party the client suddenly asks you “Where’s my raw beefsteak and grilled chicken?”.

The pitfalls to be avoided. If you are this type and tend to unleash all your wonders, you may never get what you want. Simply because you want different things simultaneously.

Recommendations. Prioritize your wishes. Outline the most important things that shouldn’t change and communicate them to the performer. Then, there may be some room left for the flight of fantasy.

Greenhorn

Greenhorns haven’t got a clue what the service or product they ordered is about. At best, they have a very rough idea of the main peculiarities.

The pitfalls to be avoided:
1. If you fall under this category, you may find yourself disappointed with the end result. And the main reason is that you cannot provide the performer with a full list of requirements.
“What design style do you prefer?” / “What color do you want to dye your hair?” / “How much sugar do you want in your latte?”… Whatever question it may be, the answer is almost the same. It’s something in between an absent-minded “Well, I don’t know” and an indulgent “Surprise me”. No wonder, such surprises go wrong quite often.

2. If you’re a Greenhorn with a dash of a Day-dreamer, you may end up with a zillion rounds of edits until the performer finally surprises you or you dance on his grave (just joking… or not… you decide).

3. If you are a reasonable person who just doesn’t know how things should be in a particular field, you usually trust the professional. Anyway, there’s a possibility that you may get fooled by an unscrupulous performer.

Recommendations:
1. You may learn some basics in the field of the service or product you’re looking for to prevent yourself from being fooled.

2. Think of the end result you expect and point out the main features that are important to you. Create a list of requirements and preferences to guide your performer in the right direction. Why bother? Simply because most people aren’t blessed with the gift of second sight. So, your guidance could save you and your performer lots of time.

Brainiac

The complete opposite of a Greenhorn. Brainiacs have a good understanding of the field and sometimes can be even experts in it. They usually provide performers with the full and exhaustive list of requirements. Moreover, there’s also the cherry on top – they can even give useful advice on how to improve the service/product.

The pitfalls to be avoided. If you are an expert, you eventually develop a taste for being in the know. And sometimes you might get loose on the corners asking for too much off the bat or acting arrogantly as if the performer is your trainee.

Recommendations. Try to avoid smothering the people who work for you. For sure, competent performers will greatly appreciate your expertise. But if you’ve already decided to hire them, let them do their work. Or, if nobody can perform as good as you can, maybe, it’s better to do it on your own?

Brain lover

Actually, anyone mentioned above can be a Brain lover at the same time. A distinguishing feature of all brain lovers is their meticulousness.

The pitfalls to be avoided:

1. If sometimes (or quite often) you are chaotic and disorganized, welcome to the club 🙂 It’s the easiest way to become a brain lover as you can’t properly prepare all the needed materials and requirements for the performer. Eventually, it boils down to many-many amendments and changes, both small and really significant. Because there’s always something you forgot to mention during the previous 98th round of edits.

2. If you’re a mix of a Brain lover and Day-dreamer, you live with the feeling that some creative vibe has been missed out. Why don’t we try to brainstorm harder? So what if we’ve already brainstormed a thousand ideas?

3. A Brain lover and Brainiac is a true combo for your performer’s brain 😀 Mostly, the reason why you don’t get the expected result as good or as fast as you wish is that your expectations are too unrealistic.

4. You have no clue what the guy you’ve hired is doing? But you have a feeling that something needs to change. Although, you’re not quite sure what exactly… The scope of the mess in the project process is in direct proportion to the mess in your head. Eventually, it negatively affects the project’s timeframes, let alone the quality of the end result.

Recommendations. The main thing here is to stay reasonable and find a balance between the important details that really need improvement and a desire to try out a zillion options to make sure you find the perfect one.

Bright Boy

Here comes Dream Client for all service providers and product sellers! Clear requirements and understanding of how the end result should look like. The ability to prioritize needs. The willingness to trust the performer and guide in the right direction when need be… We can go on and on with this one. The main thing that if you’re a Bright Boy (or girl), you receive a high-end result much faster than the previous types altogether.
This type of clients is sooo good that someone may be unsure that such a client actually exists. Well, Infowithart team can safely confirm that we’ve met such guys. We are lucky to work with our Dream Clients every day. Surely, some of them have a dash of Brainiacs, Daydreamers, Greenhorns and even sometimes Brain lovers. But who’s perfect? All of you help us make our services better and we’re thankful for that!

By the way, we’d be glad if more Bright Boys and Girls swell the ranks of the Infowithart Dream Clients Army! Drop us a message and we’ll figure out how we can help you meet any design needs you may have!