What to do when clients cancel or postpone projects

I've been talking to my creative agency clients over the last couple of weeks about what to do when clients postpone or cancel projects in light of the current impact of COVID-19.

Keep in contact

While for many it's counter intuitive (and some just plain awkward!), I've been advising them to maintain regular contact.

Now more than ever is the time to nurture your relationships because when we come through this, those who have shown they care, maintained contact, offered support, shared ideas and added value will be the ones who will stand out and be remembered.

Show empathy and listen

It's a time to show empathy, practice your listening skills, be supportive and flex your creative muscle to come up with relevant ideas to help them with their business.

The economic climate is volatile, many business owners and employees are uncertain about the future and the situation is highly changeable.

This can be stress inducing for many so the saying "Seek first to understand and then to be understood" is relevant right now i.e. asking how your client is doing, how the situation is affecting them most, is the first and most important step to ensuring a genuine connection.

The human touch

Don't rely on email to nurture a relationship, it's too impersonal. Call them, leave a voice message, send a voice message via LinkedIn's messenger function or Whatsapp/Facebook (whichever is more appropriate) or use a video messaging service like Bonjoro. Ask them (most importantly) how they are and how the situation has impacted them.

This isn't about just checking in to say hi (although if you have a very strong and casual type of relationship with your client this may be appropriate too), it's about looking at ways to show leadership and demonstrate you genuinely care about your clients and want to help.

Be sensitive

There are numerous ways to be helpful but it has to be appropriate to their situation.

Hence you need to listen first to understand before suggesting ideas. If you start suggesting ways to help and it's inappropriate it could have a detrimental effect.

Keeping their brand top of mind

You could offer to come up with some ideas for how they can keep their business top of mind during this quiet time.

Fountain Partnership have helpfully collated some research showing those businesses who maintain a level of marketing activity and continue to advertise during a downturn can end up winning market share.

Are there ways you can suggest to keep your client's brand top of mind given some of the individual projects on their 2020 marketing plan have been placed on hold? 

Sharing info, articles and posts

If you know your client's business, industry and them personally, you'll also be able to share with them something you see in the news that could be interesting or relevant.

Examples could be new technologies or trends relevant for their business or industry, competitor news or articles/videos you've seen that are interesting to them personally e.g. hobbie-related.

If you know they work from home with kids it could be something like sharing ideas for keeping them entertained. I saw recently John Griffin, Co Founder and Creative Director at Wolfclub Digital had developed a Trello Board for parents at home educating and entertaining their young children. What a fantastic idea to share!

Periodically sharing articles and posts is a great way to keep you top of mind.

Help them communicate with their customers and stakeholders

As you know their end user/customer/target audience very well, are there creative ways you could come up with to help your client provide value to their customers during this time? e.g. using your copywriting skills to help them with their corporate communications so their messages are relevant?

Perhaps a product launch event has been placed on hold. Can you come up with ways to communicate with this specific target audience with teaser messages or come up with ideas for how to plan for the launch to be in a virtual format?

Sharing offers/discounts

Many service providers are offering discounted products and training. Can you pass these along to your client to help them? AppSumo is a great resource to find amazing deals on apps and software.

How to suggest ideas without feeling pushy

Some of my clients have been struggling with how to even suggest these ideas. You could use a story about 'another client of yours' and how you've helped them so you can avoid the feeling of being pushy.

For example "Many of our other clients have been asking us to [share ideas around maintaining regular communication with their customers and stakeholders during this uncertain time]. Would it be useful if we discussed how you could do the same?"

"We've been asked by some of our other clients to [share some digital tool ideas for collaborating with colleagues and enhancing a virtual working set up], would you like me to share them with you?"

"We've been asked to put together some free training for our other clients on [some of the most important technological changes and trends expected over the next 10 years according to a recent report and our interpretation of what's important to do right now to prepare for them]. Would you like to join us?"

Be visible on social media and show how you can help

Finally, it's also worth thinking about you can ensure you continue to attract prospective clients who are also searching for ideas, information and help to get through these uncertain times.

Now more than ever is the time to stay visible on social, be where your potential clients are and show how you are helping your other clients. Follow Ash Jones for useful tips and strategies for how you can be more influential on social media.

So how are you planning to stay in contact with your clients?