Client sent over 47 revisions for a 30 second radio spot

I spent 4 months working with a local car dealership on a simple ad and they kept asking for tiny tweaks like 'make the voice sound 5% warmer.' Finally had to tell them the project was over budget and walked away. Anyone else deal with clients who think radio spots are free to produce?

3 comments

3 Comments

theac631mo ago

My buddy in Chicago had a dentist client who asked for 12 rounds of changes on a 15 second jingle. He finally just told them the mix engineer moved to another country and that was the last version available.

the_nathan1mo ago

Have you tried setting a firm revision limit in your contract up front? I started capping revisions at three rounds after a similar nightmare and it saved my sanity. What's your usual process for handling clients who keep wanting changes after the deadline?

cameronn621mo ago

Three rounds sounds generous honestly, I might need to try that myself. But is it really that big of a deal though? Like, some clients just want what they want and a few extra tweaks never killed anyone (though my will to live was tested that one time). I get that it can be annoying but I've had clients come back with genuine improvements that made the whole thing way better in the end. If the price is right and they're not being total jerks about it, a few extra changes don't seem worth getting all dramatic over.