Working With Clients: The Brief Is the Whole Job

Ask any experienced freelancer about projects that failed and the accounts converge: endless revisions, moving requirements, a client who could not say what they wanted. In nearly every case, the failure was determined at the briefing stage and simply revealed later.

Clients describe solutions, not problems

A brief usually arrives as a request for a specific output — a new website, a logo, a campaign. This is the client’s proposed solution to an underlying problem they have not articulated. Asking what would be different if this worked, and what is currently going wrong, frequently reveals that the requested output is not the right one.

Establish who actually decides

The most damaging revision cycles come from a decision-maker who appears late — a founder, a board member, a spouse — with opinions that were never in the brief. Asking directly who signs off, and whether anyone else will review, prevents most of this. If the answer is vague, that is information.

Define success in advance

Without an agreed standard, approval becomes a matter of preference, and preference is unbounded. A brief stating what the work must achieve — an audience, an action, a measurable outcome — converts “I don’t like it” into “does this do the job?”, which is a conversation that can be resolved.

Scope revisions numerically

Unlimited revisions guarantee an unprofitable project and a deteriorating relationship. Two rounds included, further rounds charged, stated in writing before work begins. This is standard practice and rarely objected to when raised early.

Charge for the brief if necessary

Where a client genuinely cannot articulate the problem, that work is the project’s first phase and should be paid. Discovery presented as a chargeable stage is usually accepted; discovery absorbed for free is where margins disappear.

Decline the unbriefable

Some clients cannot be briefed — the requirements shift, the approver changes, nothing is ever finished. Recognising this early and declining is the most valuable professional skill in the field, and the hardest one to exercise when the invoice matters.

Spend disproportionate effort before starting. It is the cheapest hour in the project.