Winning the Client Relationship Game (Without Selling Your Soul)

We often villainize clients — complain about their unreasonable demands, resent scope creep, cringe at their attitudes and cluelessness. While some clients are gems that entrust us with creative freedom and unlimited budgets, most of the time there are tensions that inevitably come up in the process. While many of us would rather not deal with the human interactions that our profession requires, there are certain philosophies, habits, questions, and tools we can use to almost guarantee success and reward. We can expect our clients to be our allies and best advocates and stay true to our integrity and vision. All while not selling our soul.

Transcript

1. Winning the client relationship game
   (Without selling your soul) @mayabruck // www.pixotech.com
2. TRUTH
   Relationships are tough.
4. The design process is weird and complicated because it involves people, who are weird and complicated.
   MARK BOULTON
5. A LITTLE BIT OF BACKGROUND
7. WHY WE’RE HERE:
8. ONE
   How to pick good clients
   
9. TWO
   Aha Moments
   
10. THREE
    Tools & Techniques
    
11. #BESTCLIENTS
12. @jpamental
    Engaged, interested & passionate about what they do!
    
13. @winterbureau
    Want to involve you in the full scope of a project so you can be a valuable collaborator.
    
14. @CateKompare
    have realistic expectations for cost and timelines. And good attitudes.
    
15. @JasonSpeaking
    The most important char. is mutual respect. They respect you and your craft. You respect them and their needs.
    
16. @mayabruck
    Recognize the value of your services and are responsive, passionate partners.
19. AND NOW, A STORY
20. AND NOW, ANOTHER STORY
21. You’re so focused on not doing things wrong that you’re not focused on doing things right.
    MY AWESOME COLLEAGUE DANIELLE
22. APPROACH CLIENTS WITH HONESTY & CONFIDENCE
24. Dear designers, clients from hell
    only work with designers from hell. Reflect on your life.
    ANDY RUTLEDGE
25. TOOLS & TECHNIQUES
26. Everything you do during the the course of a project has an effect on your client’s expectations.
    You can either choose to lead the conversation or not.
    ROB HARR
27. BE THOROUGH DURING THE SALES PROCESS
28. REQUIRE A CONTRACT
29. Starting a job without a contract is like putting a condom on after you’ve taken a home pregnancy test. It’s just not going to help you at that point.
    MIKE MONTEIRO
30. F*ck You. Pay Me.
    MIKE MONTEIRO
    From Creative Mornings SF
31. COMMIT TO BUDGET TRANSPARENCY
33. COMMUNICATE & DOCUMENT CHANGES
35. HOLD WEEKLY MEETINGS
36. TO SUM IT UP
37. Remember that dogs clients are a reflection of us, so when we work with them, we are also working on ourselves.
    CESAR MILLAN, Dog Whisperer
38. Thank you!
    www.speakerdeck.com/MayaBruck @mayabruck // www.pixotech.com