Client leadership: the secret to managing design clients so they don't walk all over you
If you don't manage your design clients from Day 1 then they will walk all over you - FACT!
I talk a lot about 'client leadership' as a way to make sure you stay in control of your projects and in this post I share some tips about what this means and how to take a leadership role in your work with your design clients.
When we are working with clients it can go one of two ways
1: The clients will dictate our schedules and the way we run our businesses (hello Saturday afternoon text messages from the furniture shop with "cushion emergencies" or asking for your opinion on a sofa, even though you’ve already specified one!).
OR…
2: We can be in control of the projects we are working on by managing and leading our clients successfully.
In order for your projects to run more like the latter scenario you have to be leading your clients successfully right from the very first interaction you have with them.
You have to set clear expectations and boundaries about how you work. The more a client feels like you’ve got your sh** together the more they will trust the process and leave you to get on with your work.
Here three ideas around how to get better at leading your clients and staying in control of your projects:
1: Have a great onboarding process
The way you welcome and onboard your clients will have a huge impact on the way your project goes and is probably the best tool I know to take early control of your design projects.
Use your onboarding process to:
set expectations
introduce your team (if you have one)
explain how your process works
establish communication boundaries
get them to complete anything you need from them (e.g. onboarding questionnaires)
give them any resources you may think are helpful.
I encourage all designers to put together a ‘Client Welcome Pack’.
This is a pack you can create once and then update each time you get a new client and it will explain everything they need to know about what to expect working with you, how to communicate with you, the scope of their project (and what is out of scope!!) and lots of other information as well.
Having a pack that has all your essential information in it makes you look really professional but also helps establish your leadership role. You also get on the front foot of questions and help clients understand how the project is expected to run.
2: Establish clear communication boundaries
Outlining your communication boundaries is an essential part of making sure your clients know up front how and when to contact you.
Your communication expectations should be clearly outlined in your client welcome pack including details about:
your office hours
how to contact you if they have an emergency (and pointing out that choosing tiles on the weekends are not emergencies!)
some information about your regular weekly communication rhythm and when they can expect to hear from you with updates or checkins
Being proactive about communication and always over communicating with clients is how you maintain a position of leadership as a project continues.
Again - this can be outlined in your Client Welcome Pack.
3: The Friday email
Part of the over communication process is to keep your clients up to date, ideally in writing, every step of the way.
A Friday email is the perfect thing for this and is a place where you can update them on progress that week, summarise any decisions you’re waiting on them for and let them know about any delays or issues that occurred during the week. It’s basically a general summary of where the project is up to and actions that still need to be taken.
These Friday emails are particularly important if you have one client (of a couple) that you speak to more than others, which generally tends to be a wife/female owner who is your main point of contact and a husband/male partner who only sticks his nose in if something goes wrong or he gets an expensive bill he wasn’t expecting. I realise this sounds very sexist but this is fairly routinely how it goes in my experience.
So the Friday email should be sent to all stakeholders in the project including both/all clients, contractors and whoever else might need it. That way if you ever get a cranky call from someone who hasn’t been at a site visit about a decision that was made you’ve got yourself covered with some written documentation. They probably won’t have read it of course - but at least you have sent it and can point them to it!
You may not be in control of some parts of the project (from a project management perspective at least) but you can take leadership in keep everyone up to date with where the project is up to.
4: Don't deviate from your rules
Finally, if you deviate from any of the rules you set up front (e.g. communication boundaries as laid out in your Client Welcome Pack), then you lose your position of leadership.
For example, if you've told clients that you don't answer emails or texts on the weekends and then you answer a text from them on a Saturday afternoon, then you can expect the client to then ignore all the other rules and boundaries you have laid down.
There is very rarely an "emergency" that is so bad over a weekend that it can't wait until Monday (and, no, choosing which white to paint the walls is not a design emergency!!).
This is your business and it's completely OK for you to set rules around how you want to work. But once those rules are set - make sure you stick to them! Otherwise you can't blame your clients if you ignore your own rules and boundaries.
Client leadership is so critical to running your business successfully and stops you from always feeling like you are a slave to your clients.
Have a think about whether you need to upgrade your skills in this area and check out my business short courses below as there’s lots there to help you with this important topic.
Courses and Templates for Designers and Architects
DO YOU WANT TO….
Improve your professionalism?
Find more clients?
Bring in more revenue?
Create better systems and processes?
Then check out my business courses and templates for designers and architects.
These courses and templates leave you with work done - not just a long list of things you need to do next. We have a really strong focus on taking action and getting things created that improve your business.
Enjoy the rest of your day!
Clare x
Dr Clare Le Roy
