LoveOnClients-blog

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!

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