Award Sounds Music, Photography and Consultancy

Client Acceptance is a key issue for me across every sector I work in. A formal acceptance process can mitigate many issues to the point that problems are caught earlier and hence, projects delayed less.

Mix Formality and Informality

Most project frameworks incorporate a formal model for customer approval. This is fine in that it lets both parties know what to expect at the time of review. However if followed to the letter, it can result in the client being out of the loop on how the product is developing until the point they get to test it.

The best way I've found is to have a formal approach running in parallel with an informal approach.

The formal approach has the process laid out for review and approval, the informal approach lends to giving the client early sight of the product in an unfinished state. The latter only works when the client has the trust in the supplier to finish the job to the required quality. If not, then don't supply unfinished work because that is often the level that the client comes to expect and they may go elsewhere.

The Process

Every product (could be a song, a mix, a master, an image, a document) should undergo a Client Acceptance process. This could also be called a Sign-off Procedure, Customer Approval process, etc.

The usual route is to submit the product to the client for review. The client's responsibility is to review the product with the overall result being:

• Accepted, no changes required - client to sign that version
• Accepted, minor changes required, changes are agreed at that meeting, client to sign version agreeing to changes, no need to resubmit product for review
• Rejected, changes required, resubmit for review

And this process keeps going round and round until the client's happy.

Improve the Process

I mentioned earlier that the informal approach of letting the client view the product in an early state can be beneficial to both parties. This works well if the client is taken on the journey of the product development. That's my preferred way of working. From the point that the client commissions the work, they are involved. It has the implication that the client has to spare time and personnel on a regular and frequent basis. They'll learn what's involved and many clients initially resist the effort that they have to put in to be involved to this level. It depends on the client and their needs.

Next?

I'll follow this up discussing the typical signs of client's being unreasonable at the customer approval stage.

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