Chris

00:00:00.080 - 00:03:35.786

Hey, everybody. Chris here we're trying something a little bit different than what we normally do for the podcast. We're doing solo episodes.

These are shorter, more contained, built around certain themes and questions I think are very relevant for us to be talking about.

So wherever you're listening to this, however you're seeing this, let us know in the comments and the feedback what you think and we'll make some adjustments. Foreign welcome to a super short episode of the Future. Today we're going to talk about the five things that creatives do to lose clients.

Clients that are so hard to get. Some of the best ways that you can lose a client, and you have to keep in mind it's really hard to get a client in the first place.

So you need to treat them like the goal that they are.

Especially when you're young and you feel like you're God's gift to whatever it is that you do, then you can take it for granted and think, well, I'm the gift and they should be so grateful to work with me. A is when you're not being responsive. That's one of the best ways to lose a client.

When they ask you for something and it takes hours, days, weeks for you to respond. For whatever reason, that should never happen.

I don't mean to say you're on their beck and call and there's a hotline to your personal phone, but you should have systems in place that people are responding. And sometimes when you don't have a really good answer, the best response is just to say, received. We are processing.

I will get back to you as soon as I have a good answer for you. So just make sure. Responsiveness is something that I use to measure whether or not I'm going to hire somebody.

And at the very early stages, if you're not responsive, you're not going to get the project. Number two is to be completely inflexible.

There's certain latitude that you have to kind of keep in mind that when you're working with someone else, whether it's a team of two or a team of 2,000, it's a collaborative effort and to never close yourself off from input from your clients. It is a natural thing for creative people to feel like, I have the ideas. You hired me, I'm the expert, so let me do my thing and don't mess it up.

That kind of attitude sometimes, even though you're not literally doing anything, can be felt. And people are very sensitive to these kinds of attitude.

Like you give them a weird look, you side eye Them you roll your eye, you let out and they start to feel that and then they feel like they're being punished for trying to contribute to the project. I have to say this, that sometimes when you're working with really good clients, they will ask you to do something that's really difficult.

And I don't try to measure if it's difficult. If I should do, I always ask myself, is that a better idea? If it's a better idea, I do it and I'm grateful for it.

And if you do that, then you are inviting them to feel like they're a collaborator. And no one wants to feel like they're just money, that they want to feel like they've had a hand in it big and small.

So make sure you're more open minded to collaboration and to input.

Number three, when you onboard a client and the feelings are high, you need to make sure you have a very clear process and don't leave them asking what happens next. You should take the initiative. Thank you for signing the purchase order. We're going to send you an invoice and here's what's going to happen next.

And the more you have a system in place, the more they're going to feel at ease. Because only people who have done things many times have a system in place.

It makes it feel like you're an experienced professional and they're in good hands. And the whole point of it is you're selling not what you do, but you're selling peace of mind, having a clearly defined structure and process.

A system in place. Here's what happens next will help you communicate that in literal terms and figurative terms.

The Futur

00:03:35.938 - 00:03:38.550

It's time for a quick break, but we'll be right back.

Chris

00:03:47.220 - 00:04:09.480

Are you committed to making 2024 your best year in business? We want to help you make it happen. With expert guidance, a supportive community and exclusive trainings.

The Future Pro membership was created to give you everything you need to take your business to the next level. Go to the future.compro to learn more and join us inside. Okay, back to the conversation.

The Futur

00:04:13.820 - 00:04:16.680

And we're back. Welcome back to our conversation.

Chris

00:04:18.380 - 00:07:05.520

Number four is to realize that your clients hired you because you are the professional and not to expect them to have the language to so carefully articulate the things that you understand in the language that you know. There's no point to hire you if they can do that.

So you want to make it feel safe for them to be able to say in non technical terms, using non jargon, non specific language, what they want and for you to then dialogue with them, ask them deep follow up questions to get to what it is that they want. And then the way that you do that is after asking all those questions is you play back.

Here's what I heard you say, here's the objective that you want and this is how we will do it. Do you have any questions? Always ask that question at the end. Do you have any questions? Is that clear?

And is there anything that you're not 100% certain about? Because I want to talk it through. Sometimes in you describing what it is you're going to do, you'll default to language that you understand.

It'll make you feel really smart and feel like you're an expert and you'll intimidate the client to the point in which they just go along with it versus agreeing to it, which is a very different thing. You get a false yes from them, you do the thing and then you show them the work.

And, and you're so excited about showing them work and they have a reaction you never want to hear like, oh, that's not what I was expecting when you said you were going to do X. So make sure you're inclusive in your language. And you continue to ask them, are we on the same page? Do you understand?

And the last point, the best way you can lose a client is to just take the relationship for granted that everything's always working and that they only call you when they need something.

And what happens in these moments, like usually it's like three, four, five months into relationship, you've fallen into rhythm, everybody's doing what they need to do.

Don't forget to call up your client to go over progress and to just dialogue with them about their impressions about what's going on or future things that might be coming down the pipeline.

This is really important for not only maintaining the relationship, but potentially opening doors for newer opportunities so that the scope can increase. So if you're dialoguing with them, you're making sure the team's doing good job.

And this is a really important thing because sometimes the team that you put in place will not tell you they're having challenges with a client until it's too late. Until the client says, you know what, I don't want to work with you anymore. It started out great, your team isn't getting it.

And now that bridge is broken and there's no way you can get back across. Maintain constant communication. When I say constant, there's a cadence.

Maybe it's in the beginning a couple of times a week and then once every other week, and then once a month, but not less than once a month.

Make sure you give them valuable information, insights, analytical data that's driving some of the things that you're doing that reminds them that they're making progress towards their goal. It makes them feel like you're on top of it and that you care deeply about their business, but also opens the doors for new opportunities.

The Futur

00:07:11.060 - 00:07:55.200

Thanks for joining us. If you haven't already, subscribe to our show on your favorite podcasting app and get new insightful episodes from us every week.

The Future Podcast is hosted by Chris do and produced and edited by Rich Cardona Media. Thank you to Adam Sanborn for our intro music. If you enjoyed this episode, then do us a favor by reviewing and rating our show on Apple Podcasts.

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