Faith, Trust and Respect
Written by Verne on June 2nd, 2008Last week I drove across town to meet with a potential client only to be patronized for 2 hours. Rather than embracing my youthfulness and that of my team, the client saw it as a detrimental disadvantage that could lead to the downfall of the project at hand and inevitably his business. In fact, through the few encounters we’ve had through email, phone, and in-person meetings, it’s clear he’s already labelled us a group of fresh grads simply killing time building a creative agency while we wait for the perfect corporate gig to come along. Because that’s what all fresh grads do, right?
Conversation after conversation, we’ve continued to jump through the hoops to offer reassurance that we are indeed a professional and committed creative agency. Reference lists, case studies, contracts in blood – nothing has really deterred this client from treating us like we were his nephews looking for something crafty to do between airings of Sesame Street and Full House.
I think it’s perfectly acceptable and understandable that a client needs a bit of reassurance before engaging a party for services and in most cases, I’m more than happy to provide evidence when questions of past successes arise. However, I can say for certain that it’s not common for our commitment and dedication to the business, the client, and even the craft to be questioned. It’s almost insulting.
The million dollar question of this post:
Where do you draw the line when working to gain the faith, trust and respect of your clients?
Metrics, past work, and written contracts are fair game. Beyond that, I’m inclined to say that, as the client, you must take a leap of faith. It’s the same leap of faith you take when you drop off your clothes to the dry cleaners, trusting that they will still be open for business the next day. And for the same reason you don’t question your dry cleaner on whether they’ll ditch their cleaning business tomorrow to pursue their real dream job of touring with Cirque du Soleil, you don’t question the commitment of your creative agency to delivering creative – especially when they’ve demonstrated a strong track record of happy clients that already implicitly serve as evidence of the commitment in question.
If you don’t respect the party you’re engaging enough to take that small remaining leap of faith, then you’re better off working with someone else. That’s my take on it.
What would you do?
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This entry was posted on Monday, June 2nd, 2008 at 2:28 pm and is filed under Uncategorized, agency life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Michael W
June 2nd, 2008 at 3:46 pmEarly on, I started drawing the line fairly quickly with perspective clients. During the first five minutes of talking to someone, I have a good idea of whether or not we’ll be a good fit. Fortunately, the vast majority of my clients come through referrals from current or previous clients. Therefore, I come recommended to my clients by someone my client knows and trusts.
On the other hand, when I’m interacting with perspective clients who have no prior knowledge of my work, I’ve found that if my initial presentation of my skills and expertise doesn’t sell them I’ll often try to point them in some other direction that they’re more comfortable with. From a business standpoint, perhaps I’m selling myself short; however, from a life-style standpoint this eliminates a lot of needless stress.
Basically, whenever I’m evaluating a new business opportunity, I have to consider how badly I want the opportunity. Does my desire to land a new job justify the hoops I’ll have to jump through to convince a skeptical prospective client? Furthermore, does the opportunity fit within my overall goals for life?
In other words, I design creative assets to help and empower my clients to achieve their communication and marketing goals. Are my clients on-board with that mission? There’s enough stress inherent in that process to further my personal and professional growth without having to spend an inordinate amount of time convincing someone that I’m the person for their job.
Good post. Thanks for sharing; it got me thinking.
LaurenMarie - Creative Curio
June 2nd, 2008 at 5:12 pmI think people like your client project their own pasts on to you. They were unreliable and wild when they were young, so you must be, too. It’s unfair, but what can you do? You can choose to not engage, but then maybe sticking it out will yield a client that will sing your praises to anyone who will listen.
Something tells me, though, that you know the right thing to do. You’ve dealt with enough people that you know the ones who are worth it.
Sometimes you and a client are just not a good fit for each other and trying to force it will only aggravate you both! Perhaps you can politely refer him to a designer colleague who is older? If you think it’s worth it… Just don’t let it threaten your sense of accomplishment. You are a fantastic designer!
Designers: Faith, Trust and Respect | White Sands Digital
June 2nd, 2008 at 11:22 pm[...] disadvantage that could lead to the downfall of the project at hand and inevitably his business. read more | digg [...]
Winnie Lim
June 3rd, 2008 at 2:17 amI personally believe that the client-designer relationship needs to have chemistry, just like all relationships do. It is reasonable for clients to have doubts, but if he/she is being stereotypical, it is very likely that he/she will apply the same mentality to all other areas as well, including the possibility of being close-minded to your creative ideas. If the client doesn’t have faith in you, I think there is no point convincing him/her otherwise. The ideal client hires you based on your work and you, and this is the sort of client that will provide positive energy to your work and you. :) My two cents.
Verne
June 3rd, 2008 at 11:06 am@MIchael – One of the reasons we’re reluctant to forget the client is because they’re a referral as well. It makes it that much tougher when a past client has sent them to you and told them that “Verne will take care of you”. But like you said, it comes a time to balance out whether it’s worth the end result. I think the whole situation’s currently hanging by a thread, so one more hoop is certainly going to result in someone being dropped.
@LaurenMarie – You rock! Thanks for the uplifting words! :) I’d definitely love to pass it onto another designer but a) I’d be ashamed to pass on such a troublesome client (their predisposition on young talent isn’t the only headache) and b) doing so only further reinforces their ideas. Must… keep… on… trucking!
@Winnie – I think you’re right that this behavior is likely to transcend into the creative process – a nightmare to even think about. I prefer to stay optimistic and give people the benefit of the doubt, so we’ll see what happens! Thanks for your 2 cents. :)
Brian Fleming
June 3rd, 2008 at 11:45 pmThe hardest thing to do in business is to not gravel for business. Present from a position of strength – if a potential client doesn’t see value in your proposition – manage your resources and move on. You can’t please or do business with everyone.
LaurenMarie - Creative Curio
June 4th, 2008 at 12:13 amAw Verne, you’re welcome! I hope things work out ok. You wouldn’t be a designer if you didn’t experience problematic clients! It gives us all something to commiserate about :P
Hey, have you ever thought of submitting your design firm to Communications Arts’ Fresh feature?!
RWeiss
June 4th, 2008 at 11:30 amIn spite of the fact that you say this potential client is a referral, my recommendation is to sit down with them and bluntly state that you are sorry, but it would appear their project and your firm are not a good match for each other and to decline their business, and walk away.
Follow up with the person who gave the referral. Thank them very much for actively supporting your firm and make sure they know the basic/high-level business reasons why you chose not to take on this particular referral client. Reinforce that in spite of the fact that this one may not have resulted in additional business for you, that they should not hesitate to refer other possible clients your way.
If the strength of the referring person’s opinion, along with the evidence you have provided to-date are not enough to convince this person they wish to sign with you, then trust me, you DO NOT want their business… if you push them to sign, it will likely turn out to cause more fuss and trouble than the resulting project is worth.
You can’t force yourself on a client. Go search out a better fit where both parties will be satisfied.
Verne
June 5th, 2008 at 10:48 amBrian & RWeiss, thanks for the reinforcing and encouraging words of wisdom! Both of you are right that we need simply stand our ground and bluntly state that it’s simply not a good match.
LaurenMarie – No, I didn’t know that such a feature existed! I definitely will look into it and see if we can get some of our work up. Thanks for passing it along! :)
RWeiss
June 5th, 2008 at 6:47 pmBesides… you may find that by standing your ground and showing you are willing to walk away (”from a position of strength” as Brian Fleming said), this person may respect you more and possibly … it’s a long shot I know… *ahem* give them food for thought.
Good luck!
Dev Basu
June 6th, 2008 at 3:20 pmSome people never change Verne. A friend of mine was proposed to do a large scale SEO op on someone’s site for free, because the client thought it’d be good ‘volunteer’ experience for the ‘young’in’. If a client is not desirable enough to have as a future reference, or in my portfolio, then that’s a client I’d rather not have. In the case that I cannot (or do not) want to work with a prospective client that has been referred to me, I usually try to pass them on to someone else that can possibly fulfill their needs. Nota bene: I let them know that I can’t vouch for the quality of the other person’s/agency’s work, but that I’ve heard good things about them — Dev
Zinni
June 8th, 2008 at 2:52 pmI know that I do not know all of the sides of this situation, but to me it sounds like you have already made up your mind. I would just tell the guy the project is never going to work out if he is not willing to trust you as a business. Tell him that you have given him more than enough reassurance, and if he gets over it that he can always call you later to restart the project. I would do this in a very professional manner, but I would also make it very clear that you are not in the business of being intimidated or abused.
Chances are the guy thinks that he can use his age as a way to pressure you into a more subservient role and make demands he knows he wouldn’t otherwise be able to during the project.
I would instead focus this time you are spending on finding new marketing methods, or maybe even calling a couple of prospects you have scoped out already. Replace all this wasted time with productive time and you will most likely make out better in the long run.
Ossie Jesson 54 yrs old and still learning
June 20th, 2008 at 6:55 amHow far to go to get the trust for the business
To straighten out the uncle ,patronizing cautious type you could at the right time and in appropriate language ask this open question
Well sir /madam can you,have you , at this present time been able to find a web development service with better credentials ,resources and proven abilities to do the task your wanting done than ours . ?
Yes . . . well sir/ madam what are you sitting talking to me for ?
No well sir/ madam sign here . We’ll be starting work on your project later today .
Speaking as a 54 uncle ,patronizing cautious type we seem to want to be recognized as having been around the block a bit and survived. Hey if we are still trading profitabley and look like we can give you some work and ,pay you for it without you employing a lawyer !!!
Surely we need a little sucking up to for our old sliver back status but only just enough sucking up to because . ..
the reson we tallkingt to you young guns is … is you have what we want and need and without you perhaps we wont be trading profitably for much longer.
The age patronizing bit of the deal is just a part of the mix tha exists in any trading relationship tha has to be handled wisely and appropiatley like any other part of the mix
So bottom line how far should you go .. just far enough so that both parties get what they want and stike a deal or part to get on with their respective businesses .
A.C.
November 24th, 2008 at 5:57 pmExcellent post, and you bring up a touchy subject indeed. I believe a lot of this has to do (as you point out) with risk and fear. That can be mitigated to an extent by allowing the other side to “experience” your work. I’ve found this experience needs to be three dimensional .Rather than testimonials, and portfolios, and past work (an expectation), one question to ask is how can I give this person an experience with my core competencies. Often times, I’ve donated work or done pro-bono, or other things. You’ll know pretty quickly whether they are serious or just jerking you.
Thx for discussing this.
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