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Clear Communication
4:10 with Paul BoagClear communication is one of the most important parts of a designer's job. In this video, Paul offers advice on how best to communicate, even when the news for the client is bad.
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If you want to keep your clients happy, talk to them.
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That's such an important part of good customer services. Clear communication.
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And it really is something you need to pay attention to.
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I once saw a tweet from a very well-known and well-respected web designer
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whose name shall remain nameless who said, "What does my client want from me?
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For me to build them a website or for me to e-mail them?"
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The truth is, a client wants both and you need to suck that up.
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You need to communicate regularly with your clients
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and you still need to be building them their website as well.
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One of the most important aspects of communicating
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with a client is to be regular.
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Contact them every week irrespective of whether you've done anything.
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Even if your call is just to say, "Hey, just to let you know.
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I haven't been working on your project this week.
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I've been working on another project, but it's absolutely fine.
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I've got time scheduled in next week.
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This is part of the plan, and I'm still going to be delivering on time."
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They would prefer to hear from you even if you have nothing to say to them.
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Because otherwise, they're going to wonder,
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and you don't want clients wondering.
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If they start wondering, they start worrying.
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If they start worrying, then they start micromanaging.
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And that is not something any of us want.
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Another important factor with communication
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is the medium through which you communicate.
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Let's be honest. We're all geeks.
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And as geeks, we love e-mail and we love IM and we love BaseCamp.
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In fact, we love any medium which doesn't require us to actually talk to people.
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And so the result of that is that client's get frustrated because they're not like us.
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Some of them do like to actually talk to you on the phone.
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So what you've got to do is use the medium that's most appropriate to them.
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If they like using BaseCamp, hell, use BaseCamp.
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If they like using e-mail, then yeah sure use e-mail.
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But if not, then you need to be using what they like and not what you like.
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With communication, always tell the truth even if the client does not want to hear it.
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You're much better off limiting their expectations
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so that you can later surpass them
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than you are to essentially lie to the client.
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The trouble is we don't intentionally lie to them, right?
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Let's say there's a deadline that's coming up.
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And we're beginning to wonder whether or not we're going to meet that deadline.
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And we go, "It's okay. I'm going to make the time off.
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I'm going to work over the weekend and I'll get it done
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because I don't want to let this client down."
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And so we work weekends and we still sleep in and deadline's getting closer.
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And it's all getting full but no we're going to do it.
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We'll work. We'll work through the night to get it done in time.
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And then eventually, we fail.
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And we've lied to the client.
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We told them everything's going to be all right and it isn't.
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We've given them a nasty surprise
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and as I've said before, we don't want to surprise clients.
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They don't like that.
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So, if you're worried about meeting a deadline.
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If you perceive that there might even possibly
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be a problem with the project, tell the client.
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You're better off telling them and lowering their expectations
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and then everything turning out all right and the client goes away happy
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than you are leaving them with a nasty surprise.
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Meet with your clients often, will you?
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Take the time to go and meet with them. When failing that, use the phone.
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Make sure that you're engaging with them personally
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because it will really help the communication
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and the relationship between you and the client.
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That said, when you do meet them or if you do have phone calls with them,
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make sure you keep notes and records of what's been said too
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and repeat that back to the client.
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Having a written record is often very useful when things go wrong.
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So communication is vitally important
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and it should be considered a fundamental part of your job as a web designer.
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