The diplomatic approach is always better. Why aggravate your client or his employees by ranting your disatisfaction? You will get absolutely nowhere with that and, as you imply, you risk loosing your leading client.
I would bring up the issue with management or whoever is responsible as a disinterested curiosity and with the purported intent to improve the site. You would not rip them off, just let them know diplomatically that they spent good money in something that no one is using and maybe you'll be appreciated under a new light by whoever writes your paycheck. And the brutal approach will never work to your advantage in the long run. They will, at best, consider you a "big mouth" and will pay no attention to you. Rafael Copquin ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Smith" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, June 29, 2009 5:11 PM Subject: [NF] need advice regarding Honesty vs. Brutal honesty with clients > Hi Foxers . I was hoping for some advice regarding exactly how honest is > too > honest when it comes to working with clients. My situation: I did a > website > and programmed some custom software for my leading client. Everything is > great, everyone is happy. Over the next few months I see a subtle uptick > in > dissatisfaction as the tool they commissioned is being ignored by its > intended users, and an increasing amount of vague, non-specific gripes > about > the site. Ignoring the fact the tools work perfectly and the site traffic > has more than doubled from their previous efforts, I find myself in a > somewhat frustrating position. What I'd really like to do is say " Hey > dummies, why not invest your time in looking for ways to leverage these > investments for you instead of grumbling in the corner over problems your > own policies created and you could easily change?". except maybe a little > nicer. Those who know me well understand I have a bad, bad habit of > telling > the blunt version of the truth when I see it . Obviously I want to keep > my > highest revenue generating client, and want to keep them happy. At the > same > time my tolerance for dealing with idiocy is wearing thin, and quite > frankly, I really don't want to just rip them off by doing projects that > don't address their real problems just to make more money. Advice > gratefully welcomed and sincerely appreciated as I suspect over time I > will > run into this again and again. > > > > Dave > > > > David Smith > > Systems Administrator > > Doan Family of Dealerships > > (585) 352-6600 ext.1730 > > [email protected] > > www.upstatedigitools.com > > > > This message may contain confidential and/or proprietary information, and > is > intended for the person/entity for whom it was originally addressed. Any > use > by others is strictly prohibited > > > > > > --- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts --- > multipart/alternative > text/plain (text body -- kept) > text/html > --- > [excessive quoting removed by server] _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/f2578d05eb42489e9abdce592732e...@rafael ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
