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How to ______ Without Being a Jerk #1

How to Talk to Clients Without Being a Jerk

A big part of my professional role involves client management and education— putting complex scenarios and processes in simple understandable terms. When faced with a mind boggling question or situation, addressing it in a clear easy to understand manner can build trust and strengthen relationships. The more people understand and grasp what they want and need to know, can mean the difference between a project becoming a big cluster or it running smooth as butter. And above all—the most difficult part—doing all of this without losing your cool.

I want to share a few suggestions occasionally—how to handle mind boggling questions or situations cool like Fonzie when your first inclination is to be a jerk.

Situation
At your first wireframe review meeting, a random guy (who’s never been in any of the prior conversations) decides to join and chime in. “What is the deal with these black and white boxes and arrows on paper, when can I start to click and see things move!”

“What you want to say is… ” Seriously! #$*@!, We can’t make your website work if we don’t know what the heck we are building…I’ll give you something to click on.

“What you should say is… “ I know you are anxious to get things rolling, we also want to move as fast as possible…” Then use analogies to help them understand processes and deliverables. For example, a wireframe is like the blueprint for your website, same as you have a blueprint before you start building a house, we are building a blueprint for your website. We may show you sketches or boxes and arrows along the way, we are laying the foundation for both of us to understand what we are building and how. Luckily you’ll probably never see that guy again.

Situation
Client calls and asks why the image they just uploaded to their site will not show up. (It’s in a Word doc.)

“What you want to say is…” Holy &#@S! are you kidding me, Word is used for “Words”. Read the extra large text in red that says, “ALL IMAGES MUST BE IN JPEG FORMAT”...then call me.

What you should say is…” Word documents really work best for processing copy even though you can place images within them. On the web, Word files are read as documents, not images. The easiest way to make sure you are not getting the error again is to directly upload the Jpeg you placed in the Word document.

Situation
Potential client says “Maybe you should look at how Joe’s Discount Website World runs their business, they can give me the same thing for 1/2 the costs”.

“What you want to do is…” Throw up all over the conference table while laughing hysterically and bid them good riddance.

“What you should do is…” Keep your cool, explain the obvious, that different businesses in any industry have varying level’s of quality, processes, experience, expertise and business models. You can buy a new BMW or you can buy a used Ford Focus, they are both cars and will get you around town but one has more value longevity, higher quality and etc. (You get what you pay for). Of course you’ve just identified that the relationship is not a good fit for you, so kindly thank them for their time, wish them the best of luck and exit promptly.

Working with people in general can be a constant game of biting your tongue. When you respect others point-of-view (especially when you disagree) and keep your cool when faced with adverse or annoying situations, it goes a very long way.