I started a thread at our forums which has been getting some nice feedback recently. The thread is named What To Do When Clients Just Don't Get It? and I would love your input on it as well. Let me give you a run down of some of the responses;
Andy Hagans says he would just fire those clients that do not get it. To me that seems a bit harsh, but for some SEOs, having clients is just not their thing.
Chris Boggs prefers to keep trying on the clients, but towards the end of the business day. That is when, he said, he can fine tune his "patience skills."
Nacho drops a nice one liner; "Let them spend their time getting educated, not your time educating them."
Brandall takes the approach that he is an SEO consultant, most of his clients just want the results. If they are on teachable then he doesn't care - he just continues his work. But he says it is rare, in fact, most of his "clients very open to the SEO conversation."
Dave takes the approach of a client. He says, if he was this client he would want "100% honest with me regarding possible opportunities." But he understands that some people just will never get it, but give your all and if after that, then take other course of action. Of course he is wise enough to mention an important distinction in the equation; "If they’re just a drain with endless questions they don’t understand the answers to, and don’t want to pay you for consulting services etc."
Randfish is at the point where he requires his clients to give him a 100% of the control and the final word on the decisions of the site design and architecture. So he no longer has these issues? But does he not have to explain his actions to the client?
Dazzlindonna takes brandall's approach; "Do they have to get it? As long as they aren't going to undo something important, if they are willing to pay you, knowing that you get it, then they can blissfully go on their merry way."
EGOL takes Rand's side.
Overall, I think most wouldn't mind a client to keep paying them to restate the same topics each time. But what if you just feel like it is not going anywhere? What if you feel so bad for the client that you tend to not want to give up? What if the client wants to know and learn but can't? These are the questions of the thread.
Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.
