Ways to better communicate with your clients to cut down on conversational clutter, keep clients happy while making good design decisions and design projects on budget.

1. Adding the art of sales to your
creative process

2. About me & you

3. Overview
• Roadblock removal
• Rules and Rights
• Steps for Success
– Step 1: Get it together before you get together
– Step 2: Get a read on your client
– Step 3: Get a read on their audience
– Step 4: Pre-sell
– Step 5: Design
– Step 6: Sell your design

4. Vocabulary for our talk today…
• Designer – the person engaging in
conversation with the client, can be an
account service person and/or a designer
actually creating the art.
• Client – the person commissioning the
art, can be a boss, co-
worker, mother, brother, business owner…

5. An honest look at what’s working against your work.
Roadblock removal

6. How do you feel when you’re in a
sticky situation with a client?
When do they most often occur?

7. • Clients are not paying
Have you ever said:
me to babysit they’re
What do all of these statements
paying me to design
have in common?
• I shouldn’t have to
change the way I
These beliefs communicate, they hired
are holding me
you back • I went to design school
from building so my ideas are the best,
successful client they don’t know what
relationships. they’re talking about
• Clients are crazy
• Everyone wants
everything for free

8. People say…
Designers start projects they can’t • Creative people are not
or don’t finish.
Designers don’t value their time
good communicators
and expertise.
They say they can’t because they
• We’re flighty
don’t want to.
• Untrustworthy
Designers talk down to clients and
throw fits about revisions.
• Overly emotional
Our reputation is in danger

9. Clients are not paying • Planning is what keeps
me to babysit they’re
paying me to design
projects on budget
• Planning is what keeps
clients happy
REALITY CHECK
– Dogs, kids and clients are
all crazy without rules
ROADBLOCK
– Everyone likes to know
what to expect
• Maybe they should pay
you to babysit

10. I shouldn’t have to change • Remember, clients are
the way I communicate, the
client hired me
paying you so be nice
• Clients really do need
your help, but won’t
REALITY CHECK
take it unless you go
about it the right way
ROADBLOCK
• You can get what you
want but just not the
way you want to go
about getting it

11. I went to design school • Clients do their job every
so my ideas are the best, day and you don’t
clients don’t know what
they’re talking about
• Clients talk to their target
market everyday and you
don’t
REALITY CHECK
• Clients get in their own
way and it’s your job to
ROADBLOCK
help them see the designs
in the correct perspective
to get the desired results
from their audience, you
are a facilitator, don’t
act like an expert it unless
it’s called for

12. • They are if you let them
be
Clients are crazy
– or take away their control
– talk down to them
REALITY CHECK
– mislead them
– or don’t meet their
ROADBLOCK
expectations
• Perhaps you’re
crazy, you know what
they say about birds of a
feather
• Consider a catch and
release program

13. • And they will until you
Everyone wants decide that your work is
everything for free
worth paying for
• Set the precedent
REALITY CHECK
upfront for what is paid
work and what is free
ROADBLOCK
• Have a formal
agreement in writing to
refer back to with
tangible items

14. Rules of engagement for client and revisions warfare.
Rules and rights

15. Number 1 rule of design:
Don’t design to get your
emotional needs met.

16. Rules of perspective
• Understand your role
– Creative advisor helping them find the best
way to represent their company
– Assist them to choose a good design that
represents them well to their audience
– A communication liaison between the target
audience and the company, do your part as a
good communicator and you’ll have a client
for life

17. Rules of perspective
• See it from their perspective
– Clients are not art critics and don’t have the training
you have, they see bad design so often they are used
to it and can’t tell bad from good
– Often they feel threatened by something they don’t
understand
• Listen, stay calm, do not defend, ask questions
and really understand their point of view
• The first person to go emotional looses

18. Know your rules of engagement
To keep yourself from being walked all over
in the design process create your bill of
rights for example:
• The customer is not always right but their
opinion is crucial to the successful outcome of a
project. They have a right to know our
opinions about their ideas and then with that
knowledge can make an informed decision
about their work.

19. Know your rules of engagement
Examples continued:
• Respect will be awarded to those with a
backbone. We are a young company and a
quality company. We hold firm in our values
and seek knowledge from every experience.
We are respectful to others and expect the
same in return. When the need for firmness
arises we are firm with a smile, preferring to
kill others with kindness.

20. What are your rules of
engagement?

21. N o mo r e
o f t h i s !
I know you believe you understand what you thought I said but I’m
not sure what you realize what you heard is not actually what I said.
Steps for success

22. Steps for Success
– Step 1: Get it together before you get
together
– Step 2: Get a read on your client
– Step 3: Get a read on their audience
– Step 4: Pre-sell
– Step 5: Design
– Step 6: Sell your design

23. Step 1: Get it together before
you get together

24. • Review your design
Step 1: Get it together
before you get together
process and uncover any
potentially challenging
areas
• Create email templates
to use throughout the
STEPS FOR
process so you don’t
SUCCESS
forget key details
• Make design templates
• No paralysis by analysis

25. Step 2: Get a read on your client

26. Step 2: Get a read on your client
• Take notes – Later you can use these
notes to describe the art using their
STEPS FOR SUCCESS
words. “Parrot Phrase.”
• What is their goal for the piece?
– The reason they tell you is not the real
reason.
– Your job is to uncover the real reason or
you can’t help them achieve the goal.

27. Step 2: Get a read on your client
• How do they perceive themselves?
– New kid on the block
STEPS FOR SUCCESS
– A major competitor
– Incorrectly perceived by the public
– Established but unknown
Un d e r s t a n
d i n g t h i s
ma y h e l p
y o u h e l p
t h e m s e t
g o a l s .

28. Step 2: Get a read on your client
How do they communicate? (DISC)
– Short impatient, big picture discussion (D)
STEPS FOR SUCCESS
• Dominance: Direct and to the point, decisive
and bottom line oriented. These people tend to
be independent and results driven. They are
strong-willed people who enjoy challenges,
taking action, and immediate results.
– Energetic and agreeable fast talkers (I)
• Influence: Optimistic and outgoing. Often highly
social and out going. They prefer participating on
teams, sharing thoughts, and entertaining and
energizing others.

29. Step 2: Get a read on your client
How do they communicate? (DISC)
– Easy going slow paced speech (S)
STEPS FOR SUCCESS
• Steadiness: Empathetic & Cooperative. Typically
team players and are supportive and helpful to
others. They prefer being behind the scene,
working in consistent and predictable ways. They
are often good listeners and avoid change and
conflict.
– Thought out detail oriented sentences (C)
• Conscientiousness: Concerned, Cautious &
Correct. These individuals are often focused on
details and quality. They plan ahead, constantly
check for accuracy, and what to know "how" and
"why“.

30. Step 2: Get a read on your client
In what way do they best
interpret information?
Kinesthetic,
10
– Draw pictures or diagrams
STEPS FOR SUCCESS
– Taking notes – scattered
(not necessarily visual) or
organized (visual), brief
(audio)
– Have to talk though ideas –
lots of questions and
Audio, 30
conversation
– Types of words they use
Visual, 60 “looks like”, “feels”, “I’ve
heard”
– Talk with their hands –
Visual paints a picture with
hands – Kinesthetic more
repetitive gestures to
create emphasis

31. Step 3: Get a read on
their audience

32. Step 3: Get a read on their audience
• Collect general target market type
information
STEPS FOR SUCCESS
• Don’t act too smart, let them tell you
• How much do does their audience
understand about the product the client
is trying to sell
• What is the relationship of the business
with the target audience
• Consider the audience communication
style, ask the client if they notice trends

33. Step 4: Pre-sell
In sales we call this an
Up Front Contract

34. Step 4: Pre-sell
Talk now about items that immediately
raise concerns.
STEPS FOR SUCCESS
– Don’t tell them what to do
– Ask them more questions to get a clear
photo then express concerns from an
experts perspective. (Think like a lawyer.)
– Ask them what’s most important in their
design requests so you can accommodate
them
– Get excited about their ideas and let them
know when you think they’re really good

35. Step 4: Pre-sell
Talk now about items that immediately
raise concerns.
STEPS FOR SUCCESS
– Allow yourself to buy into client ideas
even though they are not your
own, sometimes they have a stroke on
genius and you won’t see it unless you’re
open minded
– Explain any considerations that should
be taken based your target market
conversation

36. Step 4: Pre-sell T h e wh a t
d o e s i t
t a k e t o
g e t f i r e d
• Ask them about their expectations from
c o n v e r s a t
.
a designer i o n
STEPS FOR SUCCESS
• Tell them upfront about potential bumpy
spots in your process, share your
timeline, costs and your expectations of
them.
– Get permission to tell them if they’re about
to make a really bad design decision
– Explain what will happen if your
expectations are not met

37. Step 4: Pre-sell
• Learn how they want to communicate
– Ask them about a follow up call or
STEPS FOR SUCCESS
meeting after and during the work
process
– Who’s involved with making design
decisions
– What’s the best way to contact them
• Tell them how you want to
communicate

38. Their agenda
Your agenda
Time
Possible outcomes
Your up front contract

39. Step 5: Design

40. Step 5: Design
Design what they said they wanted.
– Even if it’s not perfect it allows them to see
that you heard their requests and honored
STEPS FOR SUCCESS
them
– If you think the design isn’t working out
determine the problem areas and re-work
those areas within the clients given
parameters. The reasons for changing these
areas should be justified logically, not
emotionally:
• Key items are the noticed first
• Easy to understand layout
• Charts/Graphs and other must have details are
easy to see

41. Step 5: Design
Design one better.
• Do not do this to win a design war with the
client. If the clients requests are justified
STEPS FOR SUCCESS
they must still be met on the new design.
• When you design a better than suggested
design it must still reach the same intended
goal and outcome
• Don’t be afraid to change the parameters if
needed for example in most cases a
cluttered one sided print design can be done
easily and not much more expensively on two
sides

42. Step 6: Sell your design

43. Step 6: Sell your design
Based on your client read determine
how will they will best interpret your
STEPS FOR SUCCESS
designs in a positive light.
– Always let them know their
responsibilities
– Assign a deadline for a decision/revisions
– Let them know the next step in the
process

44. • Send over the designs with brief
thoughts
• Include only red flags and big touch
Step 6: Sell your design
points
D
STEPS FOR SUCCESS
• Generally they’ll call you to follow up
Audio and Conversation Tips
 Call to follow up immediately after
sending
 Allow them to lead the conversation
 Don’t tell them what to do
 Help their decision based on
results/goals (ex: ink, load time, cost,
effectiveness of message overall)

45. • Cut down to only the best options
(3-4)
• Include which design you like best
Step 6: Sell your design
• Can follow up right away to talk it
I
STEPS FOR SUCCESS
through or the next day
Audio and Conversation Tips
 Guide them to best results
 Focus conversation on how others
(audience) will see and interpret
the design
 Give your opinion

46. • Cut down to only best options
• Send designs let them know when you
will follow up in a few days by phone
Step 6: Sell your design or email
S
• Let them know when you’ll want a
STEPS FOR SUCCESS
decision
• Give them the option to meet in
person
Audio and Conversation Tips
 Persuade for best designs with pros
and cons
 Share your opinion
 Speak slowly, give them time to
process

47. • Write a detailed email referring to designs or
include with actual designs, pros and cons of
each option
Step 6: Sell your design • Let them know when you will follow up (a few
C
days later) with a phone call or email
STEPS FOR SUCCESS
• Give the option to meet in person
• Let them know when you want a decision
Audio and Conversation Tips
 Explain how the design works or doesn’t work
 When persuading for or against a design refer
back to goals to assist or desist a decision.
 Stick to the facts and details

48. Are there clients that you have the most challenges working with?
What’s their style and how does it differ from yours.
Your style –vs- Client style

49. Overview
• Roadblock removal
• Rules and Rights
• Steps for Success
– Step 1: Get it together before you get together
– Step 2: Get a read on your client
– Step 3: Get a read on their audience
– Step 4: Pre-sell
– Step 5: Design
– Step 6: Sell your design

50. Thank you!
Any questions for Monica?