It’s all about the love this weekend with a guest post from Marilyn Hawkins of Hawkins & Company PR. She offers seven tips for students and new PRos negotiating those tricky client relationships.
1. Relax. This always demonstrates confidence. And never sell yourself – your ideas or solutions – too soon. Allow the client to “buy” the service or make the assignment. Your clients will love you only after they trust you – and they see competence, feel legitimate rapport and sense genuine value.
2. Never Complain About How Busy You Are. The client needs to feel that he or she is the most important thing on your work mind at any point.
3. Seek a Peer Relationship. You’re not a mere order-taker, so work to establish a joint-venture environment. Yes, you’re smart, but let the client discover that. If she or he ever complains – hear it undefensively, then adapt accordingly. And if you mess up, ‘fess up. To have clients with integrity (and ethical behavior), you must practice those yourself.
4. Guide Every Conversation with Good Questions. Demonstrate true interest in, enthusiasm for, and ultimate understanding of every task at hand. Always listen before you talk. Clearly hear what the client thinks will signal success – not only what you think will.
5. Remember “The Project is Boss.” Don’t waste time and energy fretting about who’s the controller and who’s the controllee in any situation. It’s you and the client against the problem or opportunity, not against each other. You can accomplish anything you want, as long as you don’t care who gets credit for it.
6. Disagree Agreeably. Use conversation starters such as: “Let’s talk about that for a moment…” or “Maybe we’re coming at this from slightly different points of view…” Remember Michaelangelo’s famous dictum: Criticize by creating. (And never let clients make dumb mistakes “just to teach them a lesson.”)
7. Honorably Ease Out of Impossible Situations. If the project/product, or your personal chemistry, just isn’t working – collaborate with the client to find a different and better way to get the job done. It’s not enough to be right on the facts of the matter if you’re wrong in the mind of the client.
image: © Serge Krouglikoff/zefa/Corbis
Kelli
Thanks for the links to Getting Ink. I’m glad you’re enjoying the blog, it’s nice to know some of what we cover is relevant to our US colleagues.
I’ve enjoyed reading some of the other posts you’ve linked to, also, so thanks for broadening my own reading!
Sally
Getting Ink
This is such a valuable post! We recently had a speaker discuss client relations in my capstone PR class. One thing she added that I think is helpful, is to anticipate your client’s conversational manner: Be prepared to make small talk or get right to business.
Thanks for the tips!
-Reanna (prtifact.blogspot.com)
Reanna, great suggestion. thanks for dropping by.