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Had a client tell me 'just give me what I asked for, not what you think I want' and it totally flipped how I handle scope | Revision Limits - Freelance Forum - The Community for Independent Professionals

val974•3mo ago

Had a client tell me 'just give me what I asked for, not what you think I want' and it totally flipped how I handle scope

That one comment from a landscaping client back in March made me switch to listing every single revision in writing before touching anything, and now I'm wondering if anyone else has had a moment where a client's blunt feedback actually saved them from endless redos.

3 comments

3 Comments

dakota_miller933mo ago

Man, that's a good one... clients can be brutally honest sometimes but it usually saves us in the long run. Having everything in writing is a lifesaver, cuts down on so much back and forth later.

finley_smith3mo ago

Honestly, I think the real game-changer here is realizing that "what they asked for" is often just a guess they made, not a real solution. Tbh, clients aren't designers or landscapers, they don't know the best way to get their result. The trick is to write down their words exactly, then add a second section that says "my suggested changes based on your real goal." That way you're still giving them what they asked for, but also showing why your version might work better. Ngl, it stops a ton of arguments because they can see you listened first and then offered a smarter fix. Saved my butt more than once when a client tried to blame me for their own bad instructions.

corap613mo ago

Whoa, hold on there. You're talking like clients are all clueless, but that's not always true. Some of them actually know exactly what they want and they're paying you to do it, not to second-guess them. I've had plenty of clients who came in with a solid plan and it worked out fine because they'd seen someone else do it or they just had good instincts. The trick isn't always about "fixing" their instructions, it's about reading the room and knowing when to push back and when to shut up. If you automatically assume every client is guessing, you're gonna piss off the ones who actually did their homework. And that right there will lose you more jobs than it saves you.