What I Want From My Clients, Part 1

First published on Feb 7, 2010 by Simon Foust

There are plenty of good articles out there about what your clients want from you. But this article is about what I want from my clients.

Talk To Me Like a Peer, Not an Errand Boy

One thing I appreciate about my really great clients is that they never speak to me like I’m simply there to run errands for them. However, we’ve all received emails that were just downright insulting. In the website design & development business, communication often takes place via email. Let’s take a look at a fictional email from a client asking for some technical support.

Images not working right. PowerPoint attached w/red arrows showing mistakes. Need this fix immediately. Email when done.

Don’t you hate emails that read like telegrams from people with no tact? It just feels like you’re being treated like a slave. Maybe this doesn’t seem like a big deal to some readers, but this kind of email is symptomatic of larger problems. If you get these kinds of emails frequently, you’ve set yourself up as more of a personal assistant unworthy of respect rather than a professional front-end developer.

Now let’s take a look at another fictional email asking for help with a similar problem. This one is modeled after a client I have who always speaks to me with great appreciation and enthusiasm.

Hey Simon, once again I want to thank you so much for all your help so far. I’ve got one more question for you. How can I get the images uploaded via WordPress to fill the width of the content area? Specifically, (and he explains his problem here).

Thank you so much for taking a look at this for me at your earliest convenience. I always appreciate when you make screencasts for me because they show me exactly how to accomplish what I need!

What a great email! Now, I’m not saying that I want to be coddled, or constantly complimented. It’s simply a matter of respect and consideration. Here are some important distinctions of the second email:

• He asked me to help with a problem; he didn’t command me to fix it.
• He wrote the email in a conversational tone, speaking to me just how he would if we were face to face.
• He expressed appreciate in advance for my help; he didn’t demand that I drop what I’m doing to fix his problem immediately.

Understand that email is a cold medium; it can be challenging to convey tone. But it doesn’t take too much effort to sound more like the second example. And these issues obviously apply to phone calls and in-person meetings. If you let people talk to you poorly via email, don’t expect for them to treat you any differently in other settings.

So how do you get your clients to treat you like a peer and not an errand boy?

Probably the most important thing that I’ve learned is that you need to get to know your clients. In our industry, as front-end developers, it can be tempting to keep your clients at a distance — especially if you’re running a PSD to HTML type of company, where many of your projects are “one and done”. But that’s not really a good business to be in. It’s more profitable and fulfilling for both you and your clients if you are looking to establish ongoing relationships. So, building a certain amount of rapport is crucial.

People prefer to do business with friends, not strangers. And a stranger is more inclined to communicate to you like the first example email. But in a good business relationship, the communication is positive and much more effective.

Feel free to leave me some feedback in the comments section — Let me know about your experiences with clients or partners.