Recently in the Facebook group for the Design Life Project alumni, Alicia Sturdy wrote,
“Thinking about what it means to help & love our clients. Helping I get. But loving? How do you love a client well?”
I was kind of stumped by her question. We are told to love on our clients, but yes, what DOES that mean, when you are thinking of it in step-by-step terms? I’m finally just now formulating an answer to this question. I think loving on clients looks different on everyone, perhaps it is semantics, on how we as individuals show our love to others. So then, I can only say how I strive to love on clients. When thinking about it, I found 3 major ways that I try to love on my clients:
Come from a place of love
This means to always be on the positive. Brighten their day. Always give clients the best of you. Come from a place of pure intentions and come to them with a full heart. Serve them and their needs with joy in your heart. I hear you – this can be tough sometimes. I get that people have junk going on behind the scenes. I have my fair share of junk going on, but I try my best not to dump my baggage on my clients. I come to them from a place of love, of wanting to help. I check my ego and my problems at the door and I clear my head, if I need to. They deserve the best of me, I’m grateful for every one of my clients and if I’m having a bad day, I cast my cares on Him and pray about it, effectively dumping the garbage, so that I can approach them with a clear slate. Come from a place of love.
Respect their decisions
A lot of times clients come to me having had a less-than-stellar experience with another designer or coder. Sometimes I hear from them is that the last designer did not AGREE with their vision. While I think it is amazing to have a personal style, I still believe that the ‘customer is always right’ in this scenario. What separates designers from a traditional artist (painter, etc.) is that we are solving a problem FOR a client. It’s NOT about us. You have to let go of your Diva and respect your clients decisions, visions and wishes. You lovingly give your input and your feedback, but you need to respect when they don’t agree with you, or if they want something else. I also find a lot of clients apologizing when they don’t like or agree with a design that I’ve chosen. I tell them, hey – do not apologize for your thoughts – it’s NOT about me. YOU need to love it. What YOU think is the most important thing of all. MY version of success comes from a client feeling WELL REPRESENTED and authentic. I’m not painting the next Mona Lisa. I solve a visual design problem. Period. Respect their decisions, and listen to them. Which leads me to my next point….
Listen to them (and hear what they aren’t saying)
Of course I mean this in the literal sense, but I sort of mean it in the hypothetical sense too. Hear not only what they say, but what they aren’t saying. Hear their needs, but also think about what they really need – those things that they are NOT asking for. Going through a re-design is NOT an easy process, and we as professionals OWE it to them to fully utilize our experiences. We know things that they will need, that they have not yet thought of. Listen to what they are asking for, and calculate what else they may need. Pretend it’s your loved one that you are proving this service for – you would make sure they knew all the tips, tricks and helpful hints so that they would be truly successful. THAT’S how you go the extra mile to love on them. You are truly helping them to the best of your ability and hearing their needs whether they state them or not. Invest in them.
Bottom line, if you are genuinely caring for your clients and you are coming from a positive place, they will feel the love. We won’t always be perfect at it, we are human and inherently will make mistakes. But we get back up and try again. It’s loving on others that makes our job fun.
Have a lovely weekend friends!
REGISTRATION FOR CPP IS CLOSING SOON!
Tired of trading time for money? Need to develop a system of passive profit that doesn’t depend on you? Have no clue what to offer or how to start? This is exactly why I developed the e-course, Create Passive Profits. This course will help you to develop the idea and hit the ground running with it. I’ve also added a coaching portion this time, so I’ll help you one-on-one to help you get started.
Class starts on Monday! Grab your spot now!
Love #2. Not something you would normally think about using your artistic skills in the service of others.
Thanks Danielle! It’s important that it’s an answer to their problem, and not a design ego boost!
Definitely helpful advice. I like the part about listen to them and what they are saying and not saying as well!
Thank you Lyn!! I think we can go on auto pilot sometimes and assume too much. It’s good to try to think that they may not be familiar with things that we are! 🙂
Coming from a place of love made a huge difference in my business! Whenever I start to get frustrated with a client, I stop and take a deep breath, and come back at the problem with love. It makes a HUGE difference. Great post- I love what you’re creating over here!
Love that. Count to 10 right? 🙂
Love this — thank you for the reminder about really listening to what our clients are saying (and not saying) — so important!
Thanks Kathryn! We need a poster next to our desks. “What aren’t they saying?” 🙂
I think #3 is so important—thinking about what your client is not asking for. I’ve been wanting to put together a “welcome packet” for all my clients to give to them when we start working together, something that answers all their anticipated questions and provides a reference for them to go back to throughout the process. Like you said, it can be really overwhelming for a client to go through the whole design process, and I think having something to refer to—to say, “oh, we’re here at this point in the process as clearly laid out in front of me” would go a long way to making them feel considered and “loved-on”. Thanks for the boost I needed to get that going!
Thanks Sara! So much easier on us too – we pretty much know what they are going to ask right??
Very lovingly said, Cathy! And spot on.
Thanks so much Emily! xo!
great advice! i have been thinking of this a lot over the past few months. working in the wedding industry, i find that truly celebrating with engaged couples and enjoying their wedding day with them is one of the most loving things i can do (rather than getting into a rut that it’s ‘just another wedding’). thanks for this post!
Exactly Stacey! It’s super important to make engaged couples feel cared about. So many wedding pros miss the mark on that one!!
This is beautiful. I’m always looking for ways I can “love on my clients”. I’ve always seen myself as truly blessed to be able to help another beautiful soul on their journey when they come to me and invite me into their lives and their work. Having this approach naturally puts me in place where I just love my clients and really want to see them succeed that I’ll do practically anything to help them! It’s definitely true what you say “if you are genuinely caring for your clients and you are coming from a positive place, they will feel the love.”
Thanks so much Stacey! Sometimes the entrepreneurial/business side gets in the way for me. I realized I don’t need to do business like “they” do it – I want to do business in a way that feels good instead!
Not entirely related but holy crap am I in LOVE with your website!?! Your design skills blow my mind, total eye candy. Gorgeous. Seriously.
The post is super helpful – I love actionable advice and I always like to provide it myself so I’m glad you are the same. I believe it’s so important to love and express gratitude to our clients. Retention is cheaper than new client acquition.
It’s so important to be present and actually respect what the clients say. A lot of times once someone gets the client, they let the whole experience go and the focus shifts to getting yet another client… the sleazy way, I call it. I run from it like the plague. I’ve come across it many times too. So whenever we SHOW we care and love our clients, it’s another way of showing them that yes they made the right decision hiring us – and we are there for them.
Present.
Great post.
Wow Kamila that is incredibly sweet. Thank you! I love what you said about biz owners who love the thrill of the chase, and then it ends there. I have been on the receiving end of that kind of service and it totally stinks! You feel SO unappreciated after they get your money. So business owners DO care but don’t show it enough. It’s important to show it and tell them you appreciate them. 🙂
Yes, “love” can sound woo woo to many, but how you break it out makes perfect sense. I was told once that it’s not about you (the coach). When you take YOU out of the equation, it’s way easier to “love” your clients. And LISTENING to what they’re not saying, very great advice! Intuition is certainly a thing, we need to use it!! Thanks!
Haha totally Andrea! Love definitely sounds WOO but it doesn’t have to be mushy. It has to be authentic and real. Without them we are nothing and it needs to be apparent to them that they matter! 🙂