When clients ignore your specific instructions

[Harold Mansfield]

One of the most frustrating things about starting a new project for me is getting the client's FTP, or hosting account information.

For some reason, no matter how simply I put it, "All I need is your username and password", it seems like every clients is hell bent of doing everything except just that and sending me all kinds of information that I don't need.

The biggest irritation is Go Daddy's "account executive" option. For months I have made it a point to tell my Go Daddy customers that this option does not operate smoothly and in almost every case I end up on the phone with customer service , going back and forth between the link they have sent, my personal account, the credentials that they have created for me, and talking to Go daddy on the phone and wasting hours, sometimes even until the next day to get logged in.
Then after wasting that time, I still have to contact the client and/or GoDaddy again for FTP information because the account is usually limited to accessing the files from within the GoDaddy dashboard, and not with my own tools which is another big pain in the butt.

I don't know why clients insist on ignoring me on this, but without fail it seems that 9/10 insist on going through this account executive set up, instead of just giving me their password.

I don't know how else to put it other than "Please Do Not Do This" to get the point across that this causes me a humungous waste of time.

My job involves that I have access to your server to build the site. There is no way around this.

What can I do when I tell people what I need, and they insist on giving me something completely different?

It's almost to the point where I want to refuse to work with anyone who has Go Daddy becuase they seem to be the only ones who won't follow instructions.
.

I hate to show frustration at the beginning of a project, but how else can I make it perfectly clear that "this is not what I said, why are you ignoring what I asked for?"
It is the one thing that I say NOT TO DO, that people do anyway.

Should I charge them more for their inability to follow simple instructions?

[Spider]

"I need access to your server to build your site. Please send me your username and password so I have access."
"NO, I need your username and password, please."
"I need the username and password to do the job you are paying me to do."
"Go Daddy's "account executive" option does not give me adequate access, please send me the username and password on this account."
"If you insist I use the Go Daddy's "account executive" option, I can certainly do that for you, There will be an additional charge of $2,000 due to the extra time and extra steps I must go through to build your site. Please confirm your agreement to this additional charge and make your Paypal payment so that I can proceed."

See? You don't have to get antsy or frustrated. Cool, calm and collected - and firm - is all that is needed.

[vangogh]

I like Frederick's solution. I'll add one of my own. Let the client know what you need to get the job done and then get a a non refundable deposit. Don't start the job until the client gets you the information you need. If the client has given you a deposit they will want to get you what you need and not lose their deposit.

Then if they insist on the account executive thing do what Frederick suggests and let them know about the extra charge as your estimate didn't include the extra work involved. You might also let them know your time estimate for completing the job will have to increase as well.

On thing I would add though is if this is happening with more than one or two clients you really should look more at how you're asking. If it's happening again and again the only consistent person involved is you so it could be something in the way you're asking. What's clear to you, me, and Frederick, may not be clear to the client.

[Spider]

It just occurred to me - you probably have a list of requirements when bidding for the job --

I will build your website, provide all the code and set-up everything to work smoothly.
You (the client) will provide to me the content - ie. all the text (in a plain text (.txt) file, please), all photos and graphics (in not less than 300dpi resolution), and access to the server (your username and password.)

If you don't include those last couple of items on your initial communication, that might be a place to establish the need.

You could even add - *For Godaddy users, Go Daddy's "account executive" access is inadequate and will require a $2,000 fee to implement. This can be avoided by you providing your username and password.

[billbenson]

I can't see how you could do a good job of building a website without a username and password. Not just Godaddy but other large hosts must have other similar features that work slightly differently. I wouldn't do the work without a username / password. Seems kind of like not giving your mechanic the keys to your car...

[Harold Mansfield]

On thing I would add though is if this is happening with more than one or two clients you really should look more at how you're asking. If it's happening again and again the only consistent person involved is you so it could be something in the way you're asking. What's clear to you, me, and Frederick, may not be clear to the client.

That's the part that is also confusing to me. It seems when I make it a point to say "Don't do this", that is when they do it anyway. It is the very first thing I say to people that tell me they are on Go Daddy. It is happening more times than a few and the really weird part about it is that they do it without mentioning that they are doing it anyway.
It's like I say, "Don't use this option. It wastes time", and they say, "OK, I'm setting you up as an account executive".

I'm also thinking that Go Daddy is probably sabotaging my requirements by telling them not to do it my way. The Account Executive option requires that I have or create a Go Daddy account for it to work, which means they (Go Daddy) then has me on their mailing list to sell me services. Which is one of my objections to doing it that way, but the main one is that I literally need 5 minutes inside the account to get what I need. Setting up an account executive usually spans across an entire day between the client setting it up, me creating a Go Daddy account, following the invitation link, waiting for the credentials, and then logging in, if it works at all on the first few tries.

It is a ridiculous waste of time.

I think I will start charging for the extra time to do it that way and make the language clear on my website as well.

[billbenson]

Just dealt with Godaddy setting up an SSL. My SSL certificate didn't work. The tech at godaddy was doing a poor job of explaining what I needed to do and at the end said I should get another host (he didn't say godaddy). Turned out they were doing a very poor job of explaining what I needed to do, possibly intentionally. Once I knew the process it was easy. But setting up an SSL is something I do only every several years, so I don't remember the process.

I hope this isn't a trend with Godaddy to push users to use them for hosting etc. In retrospect, this SSL thing seems that way and what you are describing seems that way as well.

[Spider]

That's the part that is also confusing to me. It seems when I make it a point to say "Don't do this", that is when they do it anyway. It is the very first thing I say to people that tell me they are on Go Daddy. It is happening more times than a few and the really weird part about it is that they do it without mentioning that they are doing it anyway. ...Aha! There it is! That's the problem, my friend! You are using "Notty" langauge - a big mistake in communications.

If I told you, "Harold, Don't think of the color blue!" what's going to happen? You will think of the color blue. You cannot help it. In order to not think about it, you have to think about it! Have you never told yourself, "Don't forget to ...." and finish up forgetting it? Happens all the time. You have to tell yourself to "Remember to...." then you are more likely to remember it.

Sounds silly, I know, but try it and see if it doesn't solve your problem. Instead of telling them what not to do, tell them what to do. You will notice that both my posts above used non-notty words.

There is a story that a convenience strore owner wasn't selling much ice. So he put up a notice that said, "Don't forget the Ice!" His sales, bad as they were, actually went down. He was told to re-write the sign to read, "Remember the Ice" and sales went through the roof!

Read the book (K)notty Words | Remember The Ice (http://www.remembertheice.com/knotty-words/)

You might enjoy this little video, too. YouTube - The Power of Words (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hzgzim5m7oU&feature=youtu.be)

[vangogh]

I was going to say the same thing. Instead of telling people what not to do, just tell them what you need them to do. You might be saying don't do x, but later all they remember is the x part.

All you really need to do is ask them for the login to GoDaddy login. You should be able to get everything you need inside. You should be able to set up your own FTP account inside their control panel.

[Harold Mansfield]

Well, the emphasis not to use the account executive option came from people constantly doing it.
Originally, all I said to people was "I just need your username and password. Nothing else.". This simple instruction works fine for every other client who doesn't use Go Daddy.

But it's not simple enough for Go Daddy customers. I found that they were still using the account executive option.
It became such a problem with every Go Daddy customer that I found it necessary to emphasize to them that I am aware of this option and please do not use it.

I don't know of another way to ask for username and password.

It's a prime example of people with a little bit of knowledge over complicating things and as you see, it really angers me that people insist on making this complicated and is making me resentful of Go Daddy hosting products as a whole.

[Spider]

Well, the emphasis not to use the account executive option came from people constantly doing it.
Originally, all I said to people was "I just need your username and password. Nothing else.". This simple instruction works fine for every other client who doesn't use Go Daddy.
.. But it's not simple enough for Go Daddy customers. I found that they were still using the account executive option.
It became such a problem with every Go Daddy customer that I found it necessary to emphasize to them that I am aware of this option and please do not use it.
.. I don't know of another way to ask for username and password.
.. It's a prime example of people with a little bit of knowledge over complicating things and as you see, it really angers me that people insist on making this complicated and is making me resentful of Go Daddy hosting products as a whole.Pay attention, Harold! :-) In the above, you will notice, you have not told them what to do.

You have told them what you need. You have told them what you do not need. You have told them not to use the Account executive option. But you have not told them what to do.

The words to use are -- "Send me your username and password."

(Actually, in my "dialog" post above, I use the 'I need" more than "Please send." This error is so easily made.)

[vangogh]

Harold I deal with people with GoDaddy all the time and have never had this problem. When the client comes across as tech savvy I ask for their FTP login information and their GoDaddy account login information. If the person doesn't come across as tech savvy I may just ask for their GoDaddy info and once logged in get the FTP info on my own.

Do people ever give me the wrong information? Sure sometimes, but when it happens I just ask again for what I need. I never tell anyone what I don't want them to send me.

[DJ2121]

I usually find that no matter what service you offer, and how beneficial it is to the consumer...there will always be tire kickers. I personally deny my services to anyone who looks like they will cause me stress and waste my time throughout our entire business relationship. Before I started doing this I found that 50% of my time was spent on the 5% of clients that were rude and demanding.

[vangogh]

Being able to identify the tire kickers is an important part of running a service based business. Sometimes though tire kickers appear like they'll be good customers at first. Some are easy to identify, but some aren't.

[Spider]

Another good reason to grow one's business, I feel. There aren't so many tire-kickers in big business. The bigger you get, the fewer tire-kickers you have to deal with.

[huggytree]

you need to find a way to charge your customers for all expenses...

on large projects i always add a bit of time for problems...i dont like to charge for extra's and always have room in my bids for a extra or 2

small projects need to have special rules....give the customer the rules and also a list of extra charges as options

to get rid of tire kickers i recommend changing your advertising...my Ads all say 'DO it right the 1st time'....my tire kickers dropped 95 percent...now almost every call results in a job

[greenoak]

how about....telling them you will start the project when they send you the info.....