Client asked me to dumb down my reports, then demanded the details back

Had a phone call last Thursday with a client who runs a small retail chain in Cleveland. She said my monthly reports were too technical and wanted something simpler, so I stripped everything down to one page with just the numbers. Two weeks later she calls back frustrated because she couldn't answer her partner's questions about where the marketing spend went. Now I'm rebuilding the full report format and adding a plain language summary on top. Anyone else deal with clients who don't know what they actually want until they see the wrong version? How do you stop this loop from happening every few months?

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the_mary10d ago

Isn't that on you for not asking what "simpler" meant before you gutted the report... maybe you gave them exactly what they said, not what they needed?