The client is always right...?

I am not a professional. I do not work in the business.

I occasionally give advice to people who ask me about something I have some expertise in.

When I am approached regarding real yacht design work I steer the potential client to working professionals I know and trust. Therer are too many good offices straining to make a go of it these days to have someone with less abilities (me) taking business away as a part-time endeavor.

 

Pragmatically expressed.

I can't help but wonder how this differs from the dilemma faced by a romantically disconnected concubine who stares out the window, wistfully dreaming of another life.

 

After building over 350 custom homs (no 2 alike ) in a forty year career a customer is right in what they want. You learn how to propose your ideas in the planning stages incorperating theirs. You can easily point out better ideas
if you have them and use tack. I had to eat and sleep with these people for 3 to 5 months during the whole design and building process. Never had a formal complaint so I guess I handled it properly. I have built a few boats for others (not BIG ones-30' max ) and did it the same way W/O problems. They appreciate getting good advise especially if it saves them money.

 

From a different industry altogether, but still an interesting parallel to this discussion...

Tuesday, March 16th, beverage giant PepsiCo, announced that it would be removing sugary drinks from schools in more than 200 countries worldwide by 2012. This markes the first such move by a major soft drink producer.

Everybody knows how much kids are driven by sugary soda drinks. For a major player in the beverage market to willingly abandon a major market in an effort to help reduce child obesity is absolutely remarkable.

Just curious, but what do the folks who say that the client's desires drive all decisions, have to say now? It's very clear that the reverse of that paradigm can be a business model, especially if the end result is of wide benefit to the overall status of those involved.

 

As a client, rather than a designer, who has an interest in design, I'd be pretty pissed if I took my ideas to a pro and all he did was nod his head, telling me how clever I am. It is the professional duty of any designer to point out the 'home-truths' and guide the client towards a satisfactory conclusion.

 

...is the client always right....methinks that this simple question is not really just that at all..it is a complex answer, and some here are very determined to say "NO" where maybe the answer is "no, not necessarily"...but the question put has a YES or NO alternative only...once you have said your piece it then becomes a matter of qualifying why you said what you did, I am sure that we can all argue quite effectively for either side if we so wished.

But again, I do see it a sad indicement that so many are so determined by the NO answer...of course we go to "experts" when we need help ....or was it because the legislation says that we have to have it signed off by a NA??????????........(please do not see this as saying I have no respect for NA's...quite the opposite...I am putting this up as a arguement not as a fact of opinion).

 

Chemisty and experience will determine if the client is right and if the client has substantive imput worth listening to past the determined criteria of boat design, an area that should be etched in stone by a pedigreed professional .

 

Please reread the question: "....is the client ALWAYS right?" Any bells ringing huh?? What is this discussion about really? As a professional, it is my obligation to give adequate, professional advice, to the best of my knowledge to my client, even if that means telling him/her that he/she is wrong. That is what they pay me for. There are other trades, where pro's get paid for licking asses, don't mix things up........

 

The title asks if the client always right. Being right or having substantive imput is two different things. Its up to the builder or designer to determine if the imput meets the criteria for the propose project.

 

Nice to get some balanced input happening here. I have been Client and Consultant in various roles, and being combative in either just means poor communication.

I have dealt with NA's who cant 'get' a concept because it isnt 'right' for them, and others who have taken a while to understand, but then have produced results far and away better than the original request.

This business is all about teamwork, and if either party is so arrogant that only they are right, the project will fail.

 

Absolutely agree RW
I think the important distcinction here is that as a professional you have a duty to explain to your client if what they are proposing is impractical, dangerous, or whatever. To simply act as yes-man is doing nobody an favours, just as ignoring the opinions or desires of your client is falling well short of your responsibilities.

 

This is a long way removed from your original proposition that all things in yacht design is a compromise and the client is usually wrong. I can see the pendulum swinging to align with my views.

Teamwork, collaboration, mutual education, mutual respect aim to optimise within the set requirements to exceed the customers expectations.

Rick W

 

Thats BS. Listening to imput is a long ways from doing it the way the client says to do it.

 

Why would anyone hire a professional designer and then tell him how to design. The client has a set of requirements that the professional should aim to meet without compromise. If there are conflicting requirements then the designer should inform the client on the conflict and recommend various options for the best solution - a process of optimisation.

Rick W

 

Ahhhh, crap. Just when it looked like the thing had come to rest.

Rick, this is a vast world of sorta, kinda, maybe... while fancifully colored concepts dance in an ever-changing sea of grey. The incredibly complex world of boat design is but one part of that moving sea. One simply can not hope to always apply static answers for hugely dynamic issues. Yes, there are moments when the static comes into play and thank goodness for that. But, it's all about flowing with the thing and the shifting target of what might be optimal.

Relax a bit, have a cigar and see if it doesn't come to you. I have a feeling that it's there.