Indie Arsenal

Over the last couple of months I’ve been noticing a trend in my customers: I’ve had to work double as hard to keep them on task and involved in their projects.

You’d think having money invested in something would be more than enough to peak someones interest, but more often lately I’ve found myself having to send constant reminders to make sure my folks are up to date on whats complete, what needs to get done, and what they need to do to help me finish up.

What do you do to keep your customers on task?

I’ve mentioned my love of Basecamp before, but I must stress again that it has worked wonders in keeping everyone on task and in control. I like how the software provides a “checks and balances” system to ensure everyone knows their responsibilities, deadlines and expectations. There are no excuses for “not getting an email” or “can’t find the file.”

I highly recommend looking into some type of project management software. It doesn’t have to be Basecamp. There are a lot of great alternatives, but use something. You and your clients will be much better off.

Other than software, for me the best solutions have been bulletproof contracts that explicitly state who is responsible for what and when things are due.

Finally, I try to never get too far along on design or coding until the client has content/text/copy finalized. There always seem to be bad results when designing or coding without a final message in mind. Seems simple, but it happens all the time.

I’m always conscious of the fact that there is a ball on the court.  I do my best to keep it in their court as much as possible.  I’m not afraid to let them know that either.  When they are just sitting on it, it can always help to send an invoice if that is appropriate at that stage of the project.  As soon as they remember that they are paying for the work, they remember to get on it. 

Otherwise, I just send weekly emails or so making sure to ask specific questions related to their part of the deal.  “Have you had a chance to test the functionality that I worked on last week?”

I do believe there comes a point where you would have to point to a contract, but fortunately, I haven’t had to do that in a while.  It’s great to have some language in your contract about specific time frames and consequences just in case.

I’ve implemented a number of “checks and balances” this year, mainly via project management software I use similar to basecamp and have had the opposite effect. I’ve had several folks specifically opt out to avoid getting reminders. I’ve even caught customers changing their email addresses on their accounts to avoid notifications. I’ve also always had deadline clauses in my contracts.

I was looking to expand beyond our last time we discussed management and see if anyone has a more psychological method used for simply keeping their clients interested in their own projects: What do you do to maintain that excitement they had when they first signed up?

Here are some ideas:

1. Remind the client why they decided to initiate the project.

2. Generate excitement for the new site by telling them how cool “feature x” will be, or how much better “content y” will showcase their capabilities.

3. Keep the timeframe as short as possible. The longer the project, the more stagnation can sink in.

4. Get the client to drop teasers and sneak peeks about their site through their PR/Marketing channels. Having the client tweet about the upcoming site or having a coming soon banner on their Facebook page makes them get their act in gear. Who wants a coming soon banner up for three months!?

In addition to photography I also do grant writing.  My experience has always been that once we get past the “big idea” stage and on to the details of program planning and meeting the funding agency’s requirements, my clients either shut down or outright disappear.  I suspect that something similar goes on with all types of creative projects - once the fun of generating ideas is over, clients are more than happy to pass off the more unpleasant tasks to a contractor/freelancer because: 1.  they are intimidated or otherwise feel not up to the job; 2.  can’t be bothered with details; 3.  have lost sight of/don’t believe in the value of the project; 4.  don’t want to be associated with it when it circles the drain; or 5.  just plain don’t have the time to devote to it.

As with the fact they are paying you for a creative product, the logical conclusion would be that if I am working to bring in thousands or millions of dollars for my clients, they would stay interested.  But it has been my experience that the good of the organization is often lost in the 5 personal issues above - a sense of self-preservation (real or not) somehow always seems to out-weigh the good of the whole.  I think the real trick to keeping your clients motivated is to figure out where they fit in the 5 categories and try to work to overcome the issues.  Unfortunately, time and patience are often in short supply by the time the client goes MIA.  I would love to hear everyone’s techniques for working with clients and general project management.  I hate to think that the only way to keep my clients happy is to drag a project to completion despite their lack of participation.

Great insight Jacqueline. I’m thinking this would be a good topic for a roundtable discussion at a member meeting so we can explore this more in-depth, and in person!