Each week we spend hours chasing clients. I am not talking about chasing them to get them to buy from us- that’s the easy part. The real chasing begins after they become a client and we need them to give us feedback.
We send blog posts and logo designs via email and wait. We call and follow up, and call, call, call, and email and call. There are many reasons clients disappear; they get busy, they are out out of town, they ran into cash flow issues or their priorities have shifted. Stuff happens. When we finally connect, it takes the pressure off them and allows us to focus on other tasks.
There is one circumstance which still baffles me. In this situation, the client doesn’t like what they have been given to review and they don’t know how to communicate the issue. Instead of being proactive, they do nothing. Rather than “hurt our feelings” they hide, giving us no feedback via phone or email. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does everything grinds to a halt.
This is a lose – lose situation. They will never get the website, logo or brochure they like and we will spend way too much time chasing them.
Here is the simplest solution I can come up with to help you avoid this issue:
Tell Us You Don’t Like It!
We are proud of the work we do at Roundpeg. The thing we are most proud of is how happy our clients are when what we create works. If you don’t like a design or a blog post, that’s okay. Let’s talk about it. Tell us where you think we missed the mark. Give us a chance to tell you why we made the decisions we made. It’s easy to get a project back on track when we have a quick conversation.
Whether you work with us or another content and design firm keep in mind the following:
- You won’t hurt anyone’s feelings if you don’t like something.
- Sometimes what you think is a big deal to change is in fact a small adjustment.
- The longer you put off giving feedback the worse it gets. By the time you talk to the writer or designer you are frustrated and so are they.
- Trying to edit or redesign it yourself defeats the purpose of hiring someone else to do it for you.
- There may be a good reason why the designer or writer included something. Maybe it’s something they have tried before and it worked. Keep an open mind.
The bottom line: If you have hired someone to help you with marketing, they want to do a good job. Tell them what you like, what you don’t like, and why. You will be glad you did.