Managing Clients: A Designer's Guide
Dealing with clients and organizing their desires can be often frustrating in a designer’s work but client management will lead you for better pay and more engaging projects. When managing a design business, it is important to build and take care of your client’s relationship but managing clients can be sometimes frustrating. You can provide the best work quality on time but still losing a client, while you get to see others doing ordinary work but their clients love it. These are honestly annoying to experience and troublesome. Knowing the things to avoid in designing should be your top priority if you want to keep on business with clients.
A strong relationship with your client will build more satisfying work, more projects and repeat work. So investing with client relationship is very important for your business to continue and stay strong. It will fortify the word of mouth from your clients to other prospected clients. Mastering your client relationship skills will lead to increase presence and win new projects, which are all designers strive for the best.
Here are some tips on how to manage and keep your clients.
Understanding. Designers and clients can sometimes really struggle with communication. It’s no secret that there are times when clients give simple instructions but designers are having a hard time understanding it. These don’t just apply to a designer and client relationship but with other employer-employee relationship as well. It might be because clients are using a business-specific language that is natural for them while it’s unfamiliar for designers, or vice versa. Importantly, always ask for questions if you’re not sure. Learning about the client’s business is also useful to have a better understanding of what the project should be. It might take time and effort to build a strong relationship but it will give you more repeated work and new projects.
Keeping clients. Winning clients is absolutely hard in itself. Every client is worth keeping, so understanding how to work with your clients will prolong a healthy relationship. Ensure to your clients that the work you are doing is important to you. Briefing your team about client relationship is necessary as well, especially on how to treat their clients with care. You don’t want anyone in your team jeopardizing your business because they were not briefed enough. Remember that there are sensitive clients, so damaging their trust will be such an alarm for the project. Held meetings and discuss the client’s goals for the project. Make a client history plan for your team’s reference. By doing so you are keeping your team up to date while you deliver on your promises on your client's requests.
Talking to the right person. If you are a freelance designer who has a team, then it is essential to take note of who should be the right person the client talks to. Identify your business hierarchy that everyone will be aware of, making sure that clients are speaking to the right person about the right things. For example, if clients’ needs to discuss the project itself then he or she should talk to the designer but if they want to talk about the budget then they can talk to the financial person.
Manage the client’s expectation. Don’t over promise on your client. It is important to manage their expectation rather than making mistakes. Be honest on your agreement and always update them, by keeping them well informed on where you are on the project. Involving them as much as you can make it easier for you, plus they will have a better understanding of what you are doing. So if you need more time, ask your client for it and be honest as to why. If you made a mistake, talk to the client. Remember, that right communication is the best way of managing your clients. We must aim to include and communicate our clients at every stage of our project and don’t over promise but over deliver instead.
Healthy client relationship. Successful client relationships are all about communicating and providing what the client desires. But it’s also important to remember that there's some give and take with the relationship. Working on designing projects isn’t easy; there are clients who don’t want to listen to your advice. Clients who aren’t clear about giving directions and instructions are the bane of every freelancer’s life. They take up so much effort, patience and time. These are bad clients, better yet move on or adjust to every client’s needs, modify your managing skills instead and learn how to handle criticism like a pro. Basically, client relationship management is about dealing with other people with respect and professionalism. So if you happen to meet bad clients act professionally and don’t get fiery. The best relationship approach requires good manners, understanding the person and working well on the project.
Looking for a Creative team for your business? Hit us up at [email protected]. We keep our clients happy and get the job done to their satisfaction. Communication is at the heart of what we do and perform.
