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.

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?

#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?

Your theme, especially this year, should be to make yourself irreplaceable. How are you going to do that?

The design and visual communication field boasts over 55,000 different companies in the U.S. When you add freelancers, crowd sourcing, and the person who still has CorelDRAW, the competition is steep, especially for clients that may have more pressure than ever to watch the bottom line. Of course, if we lose work to the guy with CorelDRAW, we probably didn’t want that client anyway, but I’m just saying there are a lot of us out there.

So how do you #beirreplaceable? We’ve got a list of several great reminders, and we will be covering one at a time for the next few weeks. Short and sweet, and something for you to think about. Some of the topics will be:

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

NUMBER ONE: Relationship King

If your clients don’t think they or their needs matter to you, how will you #beirreplaceable to them? Close your email and pick up the phone. Send a (real) card on their birthday. Remember their name and spell it right. Know what hobbies they have or how many kids they have. Pay for lunch. Send them interesting links about business related items, or shows, or things they are interested in. Connect them to other clients when there is a good business match. Send them a holiday gift – maybe for an unexpected holiday. But more than anything be genuine. The little things matter, and if you do not know yet, relationships are king.

What are you doing to stand out and #beirreplaceable? Any of these things? What do you do in client relationships that has been most successful?

#71 Busy or bad day? Like Grandpa said, your response is your responsibility.

Your Grandpa may not have said that to you, but it’s true. All too often we get going so fast that we tend to not see too far past ourselves. This often leads to us being a bit short, forgetful, or just obviously not present in a conversation or meeting. If you are having a crazy or even a bad day, YOU are in control of how that affects your interactions, whether they be with co-workers, clients, strangers, family or the FedEx guy. Does it really take that much extra energy to smile, write a simple greeting with your message, take a breath or be cordial? On the flip side, if you don’t take the time to be polite, the damage control could be way harder to deal with.

We are all guilty of this from time to time, so here are three things to think about:

1) At work, tell your co-workers if you are stressed out or having a bad day, mainly so your bad juju doesn’t mess with the environment and people know you’re aware of your ‘tude. Oftentimes, letting people know helps you relax and get over what’s bugging you.

2) Even if you are in a hurry, you have time to add a friendly greeting or signature to your emails. In fact, you could make a couple templatized greetings or signatures to help you stay in the green.

3) Smile. Look at someone in the eyes. Put your iPhone away. Just take a minute to really listen, hear and cordially respond back.

I’m not saying you can’t have a bad day, but treating others with respect is always the right thing to do.

#62: Have a good supply of unique gift items to send to clients & business amigos for birthdays, anniversaries and any sort of special occasion.

As we all are becoming more “wireless,” we must remember gifts, especially for business. Who doesn’t like getting a personalized care package recognizing an anniversary, promotion, new birth, or a random occasion? We talked about personalized notes a few tips back, but giving gifts is also a great relationship builder (plus it’s fun!). For more along these lines, we have a post coming up about listening to and “dating” clients, but for now we just recommend taking notes on clients’ unique interests. Then when a special occasion comes up you will have a better idea of what will really make their day.

Also, keep on hand a collection of your own note cards and other swag to send along. This adds a personal touch as well as extending your brand. One of the things we do is we buy several copies of our favorite something - usually a business book or a great kid’s book for our clients’ kids.

Some of our favorite business gift books are:
Brand Gap, Zag, The Designful Company, Made to Stick, Groundswell

Some of our favorite kid’s gift books are:
Where the Wild Things Are, Little 1, Charley Harper ABCs

We also send gifts that are special or unique from our locale. We have a great caterer/deli/sweets mecca in Geneva called Movable Feast. We send their brownies whenever we need to. We also will send Lou Malnati’s pizza or Eli’s Cheesecake.

Anyway, I think you get the point. Take a few minutes to brighten your clients’ days. I guarantee they will appreciate it.

Any other suggestions? What do you send to your clients?