A friend of mine just received some great news. 

The banks were about to call in his company loans, revenue was drying up in the middle of the Detroit desert, time was short and the options didn’t look good.

In, what could have been their last days, the team put together a plan and approached a very large client with new ideas.  They told the client that they knew major changes were ahead and they would help in the transition.  The client accepted the offer with a very large contract.   The company was saved.

They didn’t give up during a time when many would have.  It’s a rough economic time; it would be understandable, excusable and maybe even acceptable to do so.  They didn’t fight for what they had and they didn’t shy away from risk by trying something new.

They looked forward to creating new value for their client. 

What new value you can you bring to your clients?

Rosh

New clients are hard to earn.  Yes, you earn them.  But, sometimes we get a little too relaxed and don’t offer the service good clients deserve. 

What is a good client?  Well, that is up to you, but one thing is for sure: if you don’t take care of your clients they will become someone else’s customer.

Sometimes clients become friends or a least close acquaintances.  They may be more understanding or flexible.  But, that doesn’t mean they should be the one suffering due to a lack of planning.  Even worse, being put on the back burner because of a poor customer that consistently places demands well beyond the call of duty and wanting it for less.

Here are a few things that your best customers should not hear.

I need more time

The project will be late

Will you deliver that to me? (Verse picking it up yourself)

I’ll get to you later

We don’t have it

You’re not invited

We can replace your business

Your order is too small

Could you pick up the tab?

We had to give yours to someone else

It’s not worth our time

I’m sure you can think of more related to your business. 

Rosh

As artists, if we intend to make a living, or at least a partial living from our work, chances are, we are going to be self-employed. It’s not really a choice—the industries out there that are hiring artists are mainly concentrated in film, animation, web and graphic design. It’

s not often that a company will hire an artistic painter on salary. And the days of having a patron are also gone.

So, you are self-employed, whether you like it or not.

I don’t mind. In fact, for the most part, self-employment suits me just fine. Call me a control freak, but I like to be able to work the hours I want to work, work with the people I want to work with, and still be available to pick my son up from Kindergarten at 3 o’

clock without it being a big fight with my boss.

And I really like that I am my own boss, because I have worked for some doozies in the past—

micro-managing, toxic-environment creating bosses. Yuck.

I have also worked for some great bosses, and it is from them that I take my philosophy for working with people. One man who hired me (and was taking a chance by doing so) said, “I hire good people and then I let them do their job.” It was a joy to work with him—

there were no power trips, he would check in, and he would always be there if there was a problem, but for the most part, he trusted me and let me do my thing. Working for someone like that is so empowering.

I feel the same about the clients I work with. And I use the word ‘with’ very deliberately. If I wanted to work for someone, I’d go get a job. But I don’t—I want to collectively work with my clients to help them reach their goals—and it’

s a shared process.

Don’t get me wrong, not every client I work for sees their relationship with me in that way. I think it is possible for clients to think, “well, I’m paying them, so they should do what I want them to do.”

And they have a point. But my point is, they will get better work from me if they treat me as an equal or a team member than if they treat me like an underling.

Here are some tips to help you you to keep from having this less-that-positive experience:

1. Screen, screen, screen. You might not be accepting a full-time job from this person, but you should still treat the interview with a potential cient like you would treat any serious first date: do I want to hang out more with this person? Can they meet my needs? Can I meet theirs?
2. Do your research: Before you even go to the interview, check out their website, and put the word out to your network to see if anyone has dealt with them, and what their experience was like. Being prepared for the interview helps you to be able to ask the right questions, and get a clearer sense of how you might be able to help them.
3. Trust your gut, and learn to say ‘no’. I’ll be really honest with you, this one is the most challenging for me. As someone who goes from gig to gig, there is always that fear that this could be the last gig. And I should not turn it down. But if your gut is telling you it might be a problem, you should listen, and try to have faith that a better client will come along who is a better fit for you.
4. Create a contract with clear, specific measurable goals. Let the client know what deliverables there will be, and what the payment structure will be based on those deliverables. I have been recently working with a graphic designer to create a logo for my company, and her deliverables included three back-and-forth edits of the logo. We both know where we stand, and that’s important. Both of you must sign the contract—it’s very important!
5. Suck it up. If you get stuck doing work for someone whose philosophy is entirely different from yours, take comfort in two things: first, the majority of the work we do as artists is short-term, so hopefully your interaction will not go on for years and years. Second, think about what you can learn, or take away from the experience. Can you develop a greater tolerance for other work styles? Or just become clearer about who you don’t want to work with in the future? Either is totally valid.

And one of the things I like best about being self-empolyed is that I have the ability to make mistakes, and learn from them. Which, really, is the key. 

Special Guest Blogger

Rebecca Coleman

Titania Productions

Marketing and Media Relations

thenextstage.wordpress.com

http://www.titaniaproductions.com