How To Handle Client Revisions (And Minimize Them)

I think it's safe to say that all of us have had to deal with client revisions in the past and I'll be the first to admit that it's not always my favorite thing in the world. I'm willing to bet it's not yours either but we all want to have harmonious client relationships, don't we? *le sigh* If you guys are anything like me, I'm sure you hold your work pretty close to your heart and when someone wants to change it, it can feel like a personal attack sometimes. My mind suddenly goes into a frenzy of "am I not good enough?," "did I really do that bad of a job?," "am I not qualified to do this?" and so forth. I always have to remind myself that client revisions can mean so many different things and whether it was "my fault" or not, feedback can be expected in the freelance world. It's how we grow and learn with each project that comes our way including how to tell a good client from a bad one. Because we've all had that one client come back at us with the most ridiculous request, am I right? Haha! Anyway, let me share with you a few tips for handling client revisions and how you can minimize them going forward.

Respecting Your Process

So how do we handle client revisions? First off, part of being a freelancer is getting to decide what your process looks like and the types of boundaries that you need to establish within your business in order to not pull your hair out when that crazy client is emailing you at odd hours wanting ~said request~ to get done. Are you following me yet? Yes, I'm 100% talking about a "revisions and alterations" section in your contract/agreement. Again, in order for you to not spend an excessive amount of time on one project, you have to know where to draw the line and you do that by outlining exactly what will happen should a client ask for revisions. 

The Revisions Clause

So, what should go in your revisions clause? A few things to consider may be how many rounds (or hours) of revisions you are willing to offer, is it free or will you charge an hourly rate, when and how the client can expect these revisions, how long can they ask for revisions, and is it actually a revision or are you starting from square one? All of this will help build out your policy and make it easy to adhere to if and when client revisions are requested.

Depending on your line of work, you'll want to be honest with yourself about how much additional time you would want to spend on the (what should have been an already complete) project. Ideally, you would pick a timeframe (or amount of tasks) that wouldn't take so long that it could start coming in between other projects. For us as commercial product photographers, that's about 1 business day, or 8 hours of post-production time. Anything that would take more than 8 hours of our time, we bill the client at an hourly rate. This hourly rate is typically higher than our average rate (for post-production) since the project is now taking up more of our time and effort than the original agreed timeline. 

Honestly, you can never be too specific with your clients on revisions because there's bound to be that one client that reaches back out over a year later for a random request. It truly does happen folks so be sure to get into the nitty gritty here.

Handling Revisions

So what happens when a client does request revisions? Well, I like to believe that I go through a sort of 5 stage process mentally. First, absolute denial... Haha only kidding! But seriously, we all do sort of go through a few mental steps when this occurs. The first being that we try not to take things personally. As I mentioned, when a client requests a revision, it can mean a million different things from the client not knowing exactly what they wanted to just wanting to correct a small thing and it may not have anything to do with you at all. 

This is honestly the perfect time to show your professionalism. Acknowledge and thank them for their feedback and that you will do your very best to accommodate their requests (if they're reasonable and done in the manner of your revisions policy of course!) Once you've gotten a chance to review the requests, it's time to assess what is and isn't possible and when you can complete the revisions. Be realistic with yourself and your client. If they're asking for an unreasonable request, be assertive and always provide an explanation for why it's not possible. There's no such thing as over-explaining in this case. Something I always like to do is to provide an alternative revision or suggestion and it shows that I'm really trying to find a solution and fulfill my clients' needs. 

Never be afraid to ask for clarification or you just might end up like Jim in The Office when he doesn't know what a "rundown" is. Lol! Sometimes clients will be very vague about their requests so you'll definitely want to make sure you ask the right questions to get that information out of them. The last thing you want to do is spend a lot of time revising your project/work, only to go back and do it all over again because something was missed in communication. That's just not the business, you feel?

After you've communicated with your client about what revisions are possible, be sure to complete each and every revision and triple check that you've done everything. Nothing is worse than getting an email from your client (after you've sent the new work over) telling you that you missed something. It's happened to me before and it's definitely not fun. I felt so unprofessional and a good chunk of time was wasted at that point. Dot your i's and cross your t's people!

Client revisions don't have to be the worst thing in the world and we've had our fair share of them. A recent example that we shared on our podcast was a lovely client who came back with several revisions on some of our work and while it was quite time-consuming to do, we did it happily because of the way they communicated the revisions to us. There's something to be said about a client who respects you, appreciate and values your work, and yet knows how to communicate exactly what they would like to be changed. Not only were they specific but they shared their reasoning for wanting those changes. Once I saw their "why," it became very easy for me to make those necessary changes because I understood where they were coming from.

Tips For Minimizing Revisions

So, how do we minimize revisions? Well, we all know a red flag client when we see them right? I hope so at least. A client that's likely to ask for endless revisions will usually be the client that doesn't know what they want, are hinting at tons of "scope creep" down the line, or are very picky to the point that they should really just be doing the project themselves (haha!) That is my number one tip for minimizing revisions all together: simply don't work for clients that are exhibiting any of these bad client behaviors. That's why it's so important to have a clear contract/agreement and lots of email communication to help avoid any issues and misunderstandings from the get-go. 

Secondly, have such a strong revisions policy that it scares your clients into being highly communicative throughout the entire process of working with you. When they find out what your hefty revision hourly rate is, I can guarantee you that 8/10 the client will speak up often and make sure everyone is on the same page in order to avoid paying for additional revisions beyond what you plan on offering. It's a smart tactic really but at the end of the day it truly protects you as a freelancer from being taken advantage of. It also helps wrap up projects in a timely manner instead of being dragged out. Third, always write down requests throughout the process. For example, sometimes we have our clients on set and they often have something to say or request as we're shooting and it's a good habit to write it all down so 1) you don't forget and 2) you avoid additional time spent on revising. 

Fourth, be sure to limit your revisions. I know I mentioned that was something to consider having in your revisions clause, but it's a surefire way to minimize the amount of times a client will come back to you for more edits if they know they have to pay for more. And lastly, it is perfectly normal to disagree with your client when it is appropriate. You are the expert at the end of the day and sometimes we (as creatives) make certain choices because we believe they will suit our client best. In this scenario, you can kindly acknowledge their requests and state WHY you disagree. Sometimes, a client just needs an explanation and they'll respect you for it. Other times, you might really just have to say no. This is especially true once you notice a client is fully taking advantage of your time or what they're asking is for an entirely new project. Being assertive in client relationships can be hard to do (hi... it's me... I have difficulties haha) especially when you're dealing with a "difficult" client. However, these experiences will only help you to know who to work with in the future and who to steer away from. 

Hope you guys enjoyed this post. Feel free to share with us any of your tips or any experiences that made you add or update a revisions policy in a comment below or on Slack!

Is it the weekend yet?
Arabela