#76 - Want to Give Your Team Perspective and Appreciation for Each Other? Try Role Swapping.

Think about your team and the roles each person plays. Does everyone fully understand what each others’ responsibilities are and the unique pressures, time, and skills they entail? Is there any mystery, uncertainty, or even (eek) jealousy between the team members? Perhaps switching things up will offer some perspective, understanding, and mutual appreciation amongst your team.

Role swapping can take many different forms, and you’ll need to give it some thought to make it work for your company. It most likely will never take the form of a complete job switch, but something more like a single assignment, a couple of hours, or a full day of new responsibilities. You could make it subtle or a full blown team building activity.

Not only will this help all of your employees understand and appreciate the various moving parts of the company, but it could also spark innovation and offer a fresh perspective on how things work and possibly bring big improvements.

Have you done this before? Let us know about any ideas or results in the comments.

Have you ever wondered what makes an inspirational leader and what makes people follow them and believe in them? Simon Sinek thinks he has found the link and shares his theory in this must see TedX video. After watching, tell us what you think about the Golden Circle. What leaders inspire you or with whom do you wish you could work?

#75 You can either talk to or listen to your clients. We recommend learning to listen; otherwise, there will be nothing to talk about.

We spend so much time preparing to talk. We plan to wow our clients with our brilliance, stories of our qualifications, case studies, images of our earth shattering portfolio, and the list goes on. But in preparing your presentation, did you allocate time for listening? I mean really listening. Have you researched questions to help you have a meaningful conversation? One that allows you to learn about your client and give them the opportunity to talk – so you can listen?

By asking the right questions and carefully listening to the answers, you can gain the trust of your clients. Clients want to feel like you are someone with whom they can share their story. And if they do, you will be a keeper of that story – one who is not only trusted with it, but also responsible for telling its next chapters.

But telling the right story is key. The right story will connect your client with his or her potential customers. The wrong story will alienate them. So how do you know the difference? It comes down to taking the time to getting to know your client. So next time, before the meeting, make some observations and ask some questions. Then put down the pen and just listen. And when you are done with the meeting, ask if there are any other things they want to ask you or tell you. This is a discipline, only to reach full potential and power once it has been practiced and turned into a natural part of how you interact.

For a further tip of hot to foster great communication, see a little tip from the one and only Ken.

So is this you? Are you only sort of listening? What do you do to listen to your clients?

Designer Sobriety began two years ago after a great response from my HOW presentation in Boston. The talk communicated the 12 steps we need to consider when trying to manage our careers. Since then, this blog has been dedicated to giving tips, and other thoughts, on the intersection of life and running a creative business. My goal was to evolve that concept into what we called “LifeKerning™” and develop a presentation, some helpful products, and ideally, a book.

So in early June I presented Life Kerning™: Where Life and Creativity Meet. You know how to design a beautiful layout, but what about balancing a busy creative life? Is it possible to build an inspired life that honors both your passions—a rewarding creative career and a joyful personal existence? We are here to tell you that it’s more easily achieved than you might think.

The main concept was that sometimes the slightest adjustments in your life could lead to a more enjoyable and rewarding career. The main points are summarized below:

Perspective: This point asks you to remember what you’re passionate about. Often when we get overwhelmed or discouraged we simply need to take a step back. Make a list to recall these passions that you can review every 3 months, 6 months, or once a year. Whatever works for you to keep them in the forefront.

Nudity: When you’re naked it’s hard to hide who you are. Your unique self is what makes your work different, important, and powerful. Are you being “nakedly” honest with the things you want to do that help you stand out? If not, then start. The more “you” that you are, the more you will enjoy your work and bring unique perspective to your team and clients. Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to the final entry of a very important topic in our opinion: making yourself irreplaceable. With this year off to a similar if not more challenging start as last year, now is the time to focus on being different.

So we are wrapping up discussing four main topics:

1 Relationship King
2 Service Superstar
3 Industry Ally
4 Valuable Partner

NUMBER FOUR: Valuable Partner

Do you have clients who would say you are an integral part of their business? If not, what are you doing to get there? #beirreplaceable

Taking care of your current clients is just as important as getting new ones. We have covered ways to make yourself as irreplaceable as possible. All of the tips in the world still pale in comparison to just good old fashioned great work. If you are not producing great, strategic, well thought out creative, then all the tips in the world will not matter.

Avoid Status Quo: In this writer’s opinion that also means continually helping your clients progress. When you have a client for a long time, it’s easy to get into a lull of expected solutions. When you feel this is starting to happen, switch up the creatives working on it, or have critiques with design friends. Do whatever you can to keep some fresh perspective. You can also take a time out to have a retreat with your client once a year and take a look at their business together. Look at trends, competition and internal scenarios to make sure you are helping them stay fresh with a current perspective.

Set Boundaries: You are only as valuable as you are excited about working with certain clients, but every excitement has to have its limits. When you set boundaries for your personal well-being, your clients still need to feel you have their best interests in mind. So be clear about your work hours, your availability, your payment needs, project process, key contacts, etc. Conversely, take initiative to learn their expectations, too. This way both parties will know expectations, have less communication issues along the way, and you can focus on what is important - the work.

Stay Optimistic: EVERYONE has tough clients. No matter how big or famous. So remember that if you are in a challenging scenario, people have been in your situation before. Some have been fired by clients, have done 50 logo revisions, dealt with project creep, and have been beaten down by an experience. You have a choice: you could get upset about it, or you can be optimistic and figure out how to appropriately handle the scenario. Handling something difficult properly will reap you awards 100% of the time. And it allows you to keep an optimistic mojo to handle these types of scenarios better or to avoid them altogether.

Being a valuable partner is mixture of process, time, manners, vision, consistency and understanding that we are a service business. When we realize these truths of our industry and learn how to incorporate them into a work flow that helps create great work, we are on our way to being irreplaceable.

#74 Don’t dread the cold call; own it by being prepared, strategic and ready to promote yourself. It’s an opportunity. Get ready to nail it.

The next several tips will talk about those things we all hate to do or tend to avoid. The one we are focusing on today is the dreaded cold call. First things first: if you are just calling companies with no plan in mind, STOP. You are wasting time. Cold calls are your lowest percentage of new business, so you have to be prepared. Here are some simple tips:

1. Do your research - See if they are a client that you are interested in. Do they seem to appreciate creative, or do they need a lot of help? Either way, is there an area you can capitalize on and show your experience? Like their web, social media, or upcoming tradeshow?

2. Have reasonable expectations - You are not going to “close the sale” on the phone. What you want to do is get a chance for a meeting in person or some sort of follow up. Focus on getting a meeting. Statistically it takes the majority of us five or more points of contact to get a project (if there is one). Don’t get discouraged.

3. Be ready with your calendar - Be prepped with days and times you are available to meet, and always be ready to jump on an opportunity.

4. Gatekeepers are your amigos - Too often I hear of people trying to do battle with someone’s gatekeeper. Remember, though, they are called gatekeepers for a reason…have good manners and be honest with them. Being professional with a sprinkle of charm usually gets you some great feedback and the information needed to get to the next level.

5. The greeting of success - Have an opening statement ready. Practice it as many times as it takes for it to sound natural. Think about what they may be looking for and have information that reflects the research you have done. In your prep time, think about any questions or objections they may have, and be ready to answer.

These are just a few cold calling thoughts - what are some of your tips? Any horror stories or success stories you want to share?

Welcome to part three of a very important topic in our opinion: making yourself irreplaceable. How are you going to do that?

So we are discussing four main topics to think about:

1 Relationship King
2 Service Superstar
3 Industry Ally
4 Valuable Partner

NUMBER THREE: Industry Ally

How are you showing your clients that you understand their needs, their industry, their dreams? Understand their business and #beirreplaceable

In design school we studied things like theory, typography, history, production and if we were lucky, a little marketing. But most of us had very little business exposure, training, or understanding on how to relate our design education to the business world. More than ever we need to take time to understand our clients’ needs and points of pain. If you don’t specialize, which is a whole other subject to talk about, then you may have a lot of homework (depending on how many different industries your clients are in). Here are a few tips on how to learn about your clients’ world:

1) Listen for industry terms, trends, acronyms and competitive speak in meetings so you can google it later. If you have a great rapport ask for details in the meetings, or do both. This will also give you a chance to do more online research to help you understand your client’s world better.

2) Read your clients’ and/or their industries’ leading blogs via RSS or subscribe to thier industry publications. A peek now and then will help you stay up to speed and could give you ideas on ways to help them stand out. These will also help you with new regulations, trends, or major topics that will help you understand where they are coming from.

3) Try to understand your clients’ corporate culture. If for example they have an initiative to be more sustainable, you can recommend making an online report and/or using more FSC certified printers or paper. Or if they want to increase internal communications, you could help them set up an intranet or create internal environmental messaging, brainstorm team events, etc. Whatever the case, when you understand your client, the best chance for more business is with a client you already doing business for.

4) Going to trade shows can be an amazing way to create a deeper relationship with your client. Spending time with them in their world, walking the floor to talk about competition or where they want to go can be invaluable. Also, depending on the industry, there could be many new opportunities by working with suppliers, clients or even competition where acceptable. Having an understanding and track record in that industry helps you sell and makes you more of an expert.

5) Use your collective experiences from other industries too. Some project or program you did in one industry might be “cutting edge” or refreshing in another. Figure out ways to share that knowledge to make a case and show your clients how you can help them stand out in their market.

The best practice is and will always be to do your homework and have conversations with your clients. From there you create relationships that allow you to serve them better. And then they will value your services as irreplaceable to them.

What do you do to stay on top of your clients’ business?

#73 If you’re not sketching enough, start collecting images or ideas on your phone. Visual reminders are just as important.

I’ve sketched or doodled as long as I can remember. But, as the busyness of  life, work, etc. has built up, my sketching has decreased. I have always felt very strongly that nothing is better then pen to paper, and when I don’t have time to sketch, I get frustrated.

But then along came the iPhone. I never thought I would use a camera phone. It has decent resolution but is often blurry, lacking a flash for low-light scenes. However, as I started taking shots to remember well-designed stuff, funny scenes, and various people or places that inspired me, I found myself stockpiling mounds of inspiration. And then I realized that it wasn’t just a resource, but a visual sketching of sorts.

So, if you get bummed out that you don’t sketch more, buy some cool photo apps, shoot whatever you can, and have fun with them. It still doesn’t bring me the same feeling as when I can actually sketch, but it is equally as cool in a different way. Here are some apps we are currently digging:

ShakeIt Photo: shakeitphoto.com
CrossProcess: crossprocessapp.com

There are also some great sketching apps that you can get crazy with if you do have some time or don’t have paper nearby. Plus with the new iPad coming out, it makes apps like brushes even more exciting to try. Go to this site and see what can be done with brushes - pretty amazing.

Brushes: brushesapp.com

What are your favorite photo habits, apps, or other ways to capture inspiration?

We are continuing our series on a topic that is especially important this year: making yourself irreplaceable. How are you going to do that?

So we are discussing four main topics to think about:

1 Relationship King
2 Service Superstar
3 Industry Ally
4 Valuable Partner

NUMBER TWO: Service Superstar

If your clients don’t get their information in a timely manner or you treat them like anyone else, how will you #beirreplaceable to them? We all like to feel special and heard. So what are you doing to make sure you can respond in a seemingly unique and thorough way? There are many ways to up your service to clients, but we want to talk about one of the most important ways here: timely and special communication.

Let’s talk about making your clients feel special. Email communication is easy and fast, but does it make your clients feel like one of a kind? One of the great ways to stay on top of things like estimates, schedules, proposals, green reporting, user names and passwords, etc., is to make templates of these items that you can customize on the fly. We have about 30 different forms that we use to respond back to the client in a much more memorable way than just shooting them an email. Make PDFs with some of your branding, and areas for theirs that they can save, print out and generally feel good about. The great thing about these artifacts is after you create them, you have records of the information as well.

A another crucial piece to the service puzzle is making your communication with clients faster. Don’t make them wait a week for something that in their minds should only take a day or two. To do this, you need to figure out a system of tasks, schedules and job tracking that will help. Now there are a million options out there, but DS recommends the products from 37signals. They are not free, but they do have great functionality, some good pricing options, and continual upgrading. We have seen many large and small companies utilize Basecamp, a project management and collaboration tool, and Highrise, a great CRM. Both are great options. For more details on 37signals’ full suite of options, click here. (We will write soon as well about all the great options from Google, but that is a whole post in itself).

Whatever your method is of tracking and staying on top of work, our point is do it in a way that will help you save time, keep up to speed, and respond quickly to your clients. Don’t give anyone an edge on a relationship that you have worked hard at developing. We hear from people all the time about clients who accuse creatives of not being able to manage jobs efficiently. Don’t fit into that category, and take some time to tweak your service so you can be a superstar.

How are you irreplaceable with your service?

#72 Want to be better at conversations or more interesting in meetings? How to talk about things other than the weather.

Not everyone is a great conversationalist, and even the best have a tough day now and then. Plus, we’ve all had a client that is challenging to talk to. So, what sort of things can you do to make better conversation? Here are four ideas:

1) Be interesting by doing interesting things
“Interesting” can be simple or complex. Great conversations can come from things as simple as going to a gallery opening, book reading, or going to a concert. Or for more extreme conversation topics, try running a marathon or sky diving, running with the bulls, or inventing the next great micro brew - I think you get the idea. Talk about, blog about, and share your interesting experiences.

2) Talk to yourself first
Sometimes I go though the steps of an upcoming meeting in my office or in the car. I work through possible questions that may arise or topics I can bring up if there is a lull. This exercise helps me visualize my presentation as a whole as well as prepare for any surprises that come to light. Doing this makes me more comfortable, which makes my presentation go better and keeps the conversation flowing throughout the entire meeting.

3) Read interesting stuff
I have found that my conversations with clients, or anyone in general, improve when I set time aside to read. It doesn’t have to just be books. Read up on your favorite blogs or magazines, and suddenly you’ll have a lot more to talk about. Plus, being up on current trends, technologies, etc. has led me to more work as it results in deeper conversations and better relationships.

4) Do your homework
Nothing beats research before a meeting. Reviewing your clients’ materials, their competition, or learning a little about their industry simply adds to the understanding and depth a meeting can have. Sure, this is a no-brainer. But if you are like me, it’s easy to lose track of time and never get around to doing it. With the ability to Google anything, getting the latest about your client’s industry or company is easy, so make sure it doesn’t get brushed aside.

So, what do you do to interact better with your clients?