Don’t Misrepresent Yourself to the Client
By Dennis KardysIt’s not OK to make stuff up.
Consider this scenario: An organization sends out an RFP for an upcoming web project. After filtering through many responses they narrow the list of applicants down to just a handful. The organization has established some criteria to help them pick the agency they feel will be the best fit. Now they need to perform some research and conduct interviews. You know that you can handle the project, and the client’s name would look great in your portfolio. So during the course of your interview, you stretch the truth. Nothing major…you just get a little creative with the facts. Maybe you said you have experience with something you don’t…or perhaps you told the client that you have more staff than you actually do. No big deal, right?
Actually, yes. Yes it is a big deal, because it’s their money and the decision of whom to work with rests solely in their hands. The client is trusting that the information you provide them is accurate. What you tell them has a direct impact on who they choose to partner with. Unfortunately, you have already disrespected them. When you demonstrate a lack respect for your clients, even if they remain unaware, you doom the relationship. This type of misrepresentation is not okay in any field. Would you accept this type of dishonesty from an architect? A general contractor? A doctor?
You need to win projects on your own merit, or not at all.
Misrepresentation is when you knowingly provide a client with information that is false, or neglect to mention details that would affect that client’s decisions. Misrepresentation comes in many flavors. Here are a few:
- Misrepresenting who you are
- This includes: How many team members you have; where you are located; what your experience or abilities are; who your clients are; and so on. Be candid and honest when representing yourself and your abilities.
- Secretly sub-contracting
- If a client pays you money to develop something, the expectation is that you will be the one programming it. If this is not the case, you better be up front with the client. Andy Rutledge wrote an excellent must-read article on this very topic. Inform the client if you intend to outsource any portion of the project.
- Misrepresenting your role on projects
- When you present samples of work, the assumption is that you were the sole creator of the design and that you were also the developer. If this is not the case, it’s your responsibility to inform the client. Always give proper attribution and credit on sample work.
Don’t try to be everything to every client. Before you pretend to be something that you’re not, consider showing the client the real you. Sure it takes courage to lay out all your cards and admit that there are limitations to what you can do, but every company has its limitations. It’s better to focus on the things that you can do best or that make your company unique. You might be amazed to see how far a little honesty and integrity can get you with clients. And if that isn’t enough motivation to stay honest, just take a moment to think about the backlash that could occur if a few white lies came back to haunt you.
Reader Comments
What are your thoughts on web design / development firms posting a company on their public client list when they haven’t actually delivered anything live to the client yet? I was checking out a site for a company that is going to be taking on part of a redesign, but the redesign launch is months away. However, the rather well known client is already on the firm’s website, as a nice big logo in their client list.
Hi Rob,
That is a really interesting question, because technically speaking, once someone signs on the dotted line, they become a client. My opinion is that if the developer hasn’t delivered anything to the client yet, then presenting their name/logo on a client list would be a bit premature, and somewhat inappropriate. The reason is that when you create a client list, what you are basically telling people is, “Here are companies that we have successfully done work for (or with).” But if you haven’t actually done work for them yet, presenting this would be misleading.
Now on the other hand, say the agency has completed a bunch of discovery and design work, and finished programming the site, but the client hasn’t launched yet. It may take months on the client’s end to populate the site with content, or to do the other things necessary on their end to get the site launched. In this case, it seems ok for the agency to reference the company on a list of clients. So I guess I would say that as long as the design/development firm has an on-going “working” relationship with a client, and has delivered enough to them that the client could act as a reference to the firm’s abilities I would consider it acceptable.
Where do you feel the line should be drawn?
AFAICT you’ve covered all the bases with this aswner!