Why designing your relationship with your clients is important

We hear frequently that open communication is key but is that truly enough? When approaching any experience with a client, ensuring everyone is on the same page is so critical. That is why we start any client interaction with a discovery session once a client has chosen to collaborate with us on a project.

The Discovery Session

Many organizations use assessments such as the Meyers-Briggs to understand personalities in an attempt to improve inter-personal communication. However, many of these came organizations do not implement processes to take advantage of the information gathered through these assessments. Although the intent is pure, without a clear understanding on how individuals can leverage this information, the efforts are lost. We believe that a discovery session is the answer to this sometimes overlooked problem.

Discovery sessions are a good way to not only find out more about your client and their needs but also find out more about what works and doesn’t work for each party when it comes to the collaborative process. For us, creating clear lines of communication is fundamental to any collaboration.

Designing Your Alliance

This stage is one of the most important. We use this stage to set context for the way in which we work with our clients. From the methods to the frequency of communications, designing the way we are to work together creates a space for open communication. For us, we put emphasis on the importance of transparency and how we want to continually improve the process. If there is something about the way we are working together that needs to be improved, we create space for this conversation to happen.

Beyond better communication, designing the way you work with your client also helps to create a stronger team, improves your ability to deal with obstacles, increases morale, increases engagement, and ultimately, increases your chance for repeat work.

Values Assessment

Following the initial stage, we then work with our clients on a values assessment where we dig into the personal, business and professional goals and motivations. By doing this, we are able to understand the why of the brand. We work with clients to ensure we capture the essence of a subject versus simply selling a product. We believe that when you do this, you are able to truly connect with your core audience and create brand loyalists.

Brand Assessment

In this last stage of the discovery session, we perform a business audit that looks at current and past marketing efforts, audience profiles, social profiles, budgets and involvement, and overall customer impressions.

The Debrief

We believe that debriefs are as important as the discovery sessions. During the debrief, we re-evaluate how the creative process went and discuss areas of improvement. We look at how the campaigns performed and whether or not there should be changes made in the future. Not only does this help bring issues forward, but it also acts as a fail-safe for any loose ends that may exist.

When it All Goes RIght

We believe that when you design the way to communicate with your client, you are creating room for the creative process to thrive. We know that sometimes projects don’t always go as planned but when you are able to track each part of the process and allow for open communication, you will be able to adapt as necessary. When you make yourself an extension of your clients team, you are able to grow with them.