Comments for simonfoust.com

Comment on What I Want From My Clients, Part 1 by Simon Foust

Simon Foust — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 22:17:20 +0000

Lisa, thanks for the compliment on the article. I have enjoyed our conversations over the phone about our clients whom we love, and then those ‘other’ clients from years past whose comments we could have submitted to that funny blog of client woes. :)

Comment on What I Want From My Clients, Part 1 by Simon Foust

Simon Foust — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 03:31:19 +0000

Anthony, your point about being a “critical extension of (your clients) success” and communicating that to them is a great one! The trick is learning how to communicate that to them in the most effective way. And actually, trust is the topic of my second article in this series of posts. I’m going to call you to get some input from you while I write the article! :)

Damien, being able to choose our clients is one of the biggest benefits of self-employment!

Thank you all for the great comments and positive feedback!

Comment on What I Want From My Clients, Part 1 by Damien Buckley

Damien Buckley — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 01:28:00 +0000

Good article and right on the money – being civil isn’t too much to ask though you’re right; email is a cold medium and care must be taken to ensure that what we write doesn’t come across as either condescending or just plain rude. I had a prospective client who I sent a quote on Friday, call me this morning to go over some points. On request I re-worded a couple of terms & conditions to his satisfaction. Following this, he didnt want to pay the standard 50% deposit we take to put projects in the production schedule so I explained that at best I’d take a smaller deposit with the balance of it payable when I started work on his job. So, then he moves to; well I’d be prepared to do that but it would have to be in writing that if the project didnt start on the stated date, there would be reparations to pay. I simply told him that he may be better finding someone else as we don’t work this way.

Sometimes, you have to be prepared to walk away and especially when working for yourself, this is one of the advantages – that we can simply say, ‘no thanks’ if we don’t like the sound or vide from a particular client…

Comment on What I Want From My Clients, Part 1 by Anthony Fisher

Anthony Fisher — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 22:18:48 +0000

Great read. I agree with your statements and have experienced what you have written about. To prevent situations like this from happening, I have found that it’s important to educate my clients from the beginning of every project about expectations and implementation. This is more than just details about how I will build out their website, logo, print piece, etc… but it’s about letting them know how I work best and what I need from them in order to execute at my peak performance. I let them know that I’m a partner, a support and a critical extension of their success. Once that foundation has been expressed on my end, rarely do I receive negative tones or demands.

The two examples you provided are wonderful.
Keep up the great work you are doing.

Comment on What I Want From My Clients, Part 1 by Lisa B

Lisa B — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 19:14:09 +0000

Excellent article Simon! I totally feel the same way about email communication. Some people just don’t realize how they sound when “barking orders”. Just by changing their tone, the whole relationship could change for a positive.