How close is too close?
So here is a client relations issue that many of us small business-facing creatives have: Getting too close to your client. Generally, my small business clients are usually run by a single person. That person usually has the chops to run a business and sell him/herself to the general public. One of the reasons that I like the niche that I am in is because I have access to the decision-maker and the raison for the business. I’ve made no secret of how I LOVE my small business clients and I root for them every chance I get.
Buuuuut, sometimes I get too wrapped up in seeing the person succeed that I forget that it’s not MY business. It can be easy to lose sight of what the client wants and instead try to impose what you want for the client. It’s a tough space to find yourself in and then have to re-establish the professional distance between client and vendor. It’s good to push a client to look at possibilities outside of their comfort zone, but at the end of the day they are the client and it’s their final decision.
Here are some questions to ask yourself:
Do you find yourself helping the client to make internal business decisions that are not related to your role as a creative advisor?
Do you find that you are talking to your client as much about nothing as you do about projects?
Do you ever appeal to anything other than his/her business sense to sell a project?
Has your client ever hurt your feelings by saying no?
If more than one of these answers is yes, you may be too close to your client. You won’t be doing you or your client any favors by using emotional appeals, manipulation or trading on your buddy status to force projects through that may not meet business goals or limitations (budgets are key here).
Take a step back without jeopardizing your working relationship and ensure that what you are pitching is best for your client’s business as it is now, not as if YOU were running it. They will respect your professional distance and objectivity. That said, clients using personal relationships with their service providers to influence projects do themselves a disservice.
The client/service provider should be one of mutual respect and camaraderie. Just make sure that all the fun you’re having doesn’t interfere with the job at hand.
Please share your stories!
Brand Culture: Creating a community around your small business brand…a primer
Years ago, when the web was relatively young, I remember business owners asking me to build them a website with the rationale that “they just needed one.” There was no more discussion than that. Me, being young and hungry, built them a site that, for the time and my skill level, looked great. But then… More
Shock and aww
So I was engaged in a conversation earlier today about User Experience, UX for short. This, along with User Interface (UI) design, are the hot button topics of web design now. Suddenly, companies care about their users now that the web has evolved and flattened so that users have a say in how they interact… More
new logo
Heya guys! Here’s a logo that was just approved for a massage therapist client. In my research, I found lots of massage logos to be a little on the heavy side. This logo is meant to convey health, cleanliness and serenity. Tell us what you think.
We’re gonna need a bigger boat
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I’m givin’ it all she’s got, Cap’n!
You remember when Scotty, the engineer on the Enterprise always came up with a solution to catastrophic damage to the ship in a third the time he told Kirk it would take? Or that he was “givin’ it all she’s got” when Kirk asked for more power and found just enough to save the day?… More
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Branding Brilliance
Brilliant.
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Another gem of an article. http://lnkd.in/dgHftfK
a little something interesting I found: http://lnkd.in/dgHftfK from LinkedIn via IFTTT
Let’s Dance
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Spring Cleaning
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The most important conversation you’ll ever have
Sitting here late at night working on a name for a new product for a small business client, which got me to thinking about the meeting that led to this late night activity… I call it the kickoff and it is the most important meeting I have with a client. Just like in football, the… More
Facebook microtargeting
One of the goals of marketers is to create a message that the viewer believes is meant solely for him/her. Considerable time, money and effort is spent developing the right message for the right audience. The smaller the audience, the more specific and compelling the marketing message can be. The practice of delivering messages to… More
First Contact
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latest blog post: Some great message gamification. Well executed and extremely customer centric. Try the quiz! What kind of procrastinator are you? check it out.
a little something interesting I found: http://ift.tt/1spo1Oe from LinkedIn via IFTTT
Location marketing on location (Me gusta “lo-sos”)
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Comcast Direct Response Television is here
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