7 Things Clients Say and Their Actual Meanings
Every industry has its own set of jargons and language words. Jargons often represent the specific terms used in that industry. The language words are used by professionals to discuss work, issues, and challenges related to a particular industry niche. Similarly, there is a language which is often used by clients, in which they use general words, but these words do not signify their actual meaning.
Every client hails from different parts of the world, but one of the common factors among them is the universal client language that they speak. There are certain phrases used by clients which often carry a deeper and hidden meaning. This post will give an insight of some of the commonly used phrases used by clients and what those phrases actually mean.
1. We Want to Complete This Project ASAP
This is among the most common phrases you will hear most of the clients speaking. This actually means that they want you to leave everything else you are working on so that you can complete their work first by keeping it on the top of your priority list. To this, you can reply positively that you understand the significance of this work and won’t waste even a second to commence work on the same.
2. Designs or Initial Work is Good But Needs a Few Minor Changes
This implies that though you have delivered your best, we would like to give our suggestions on almost everything so that you would have to almost rework the entire design or the initial work. To this, you can respond as, "I hope that the changes you are suggesting will be in-line with the underlying concept as the patchwork of the two diverse ideologies often ruins the work".
3. We Would Like to Have a Flexible Team
Often when a client says the flexible team, it seems they want to highlight one of the many attributes of their team, but it actually means that many times you would have to stay in the office after the office hours and might even spend some of your weekends in the office too. To this, you can reply that you would exhibit flexibility in everything, right from creativity in execution, but it should not impact the work-life balance. This will make it clear that you are least interested in putting extra hours to work unless it is required.
4. Make It Look the Best and Classy
Every client wants their project to be completed in a way that it delivers the best outcome in terms of quality and appeal. They want to deliver the best to their customers and thus, they use such phrases to remind you that they don’t want you to take ideas from the existing products in the market. They encourage you to come up with the most creative and pioneering ideas and deliver an unmatched quality.
5. We Have a Long List of Projects Lined-up in the Near Future
While this appears as one of the most alluring phrases, it actually means that you should work steadfastly on the project and deliver your best to get more projects from them. This may also mean that a client wants to lure you with future opportunities to get the best quality and price on the current project. So you should not get tempted and must reply that you would like to associate with them in other projects as well, but for now, you would completely focus on the one in hand.
6. We Don’t Have a Specific Budget in Mind
By saying this, the client implies that whatever you demand from them for the project, they will negotiate on it and will try to pay as less as possible. By not having a budget in mind, clients often encourage you to give a quote so that either they can negotiate on price or add more requirements to the project in order to get optimum value for the money they are spending. Thus, you must initially clarify the scope of the budget and the price before commencing with the project in order to avoid any issues later.
7. This is Going to be a Great Opportunity for You
Most clients highlight that their project is one of the best work experiences you will get in terms of innovative thinking and hands-on experience on new technologies. Sometimes, clients want to negotiate on price and thus start highlighting the advantages of getting associated with them on a particular project. To this, you can reply that you are sure you will gain a lot from this opportunity, provided it offers you financial benefits as well.
Although not all clients use these phrases and talk in this manner, most of them use such phrases to get the optimum output at the minimum cost. So, whenever your client tells you one of these phrases, you would know what they actually mean.
