No More Revisions! Working With Clients - Project Management Tips
Вставка
- Опубліковано 18 чер 2024
- Want a deeper dive into Matthew and Ben's project management methodology? Click here to enroll in their course, Practical Project Management:
academy.thefutur.com/p/practi...
How many times were you asked by your client for another round of revisions? How did you deal with it? How do you avoid conflict and save more time to work on the essentials?
Here are the 3 tips that you can use to make sure everything goes smoothly.
Tip 1: The Five Sentence Rule
If an email needs more than 5 sentences, then you should schedule a phone call instead.
Tip 2: Drop Breadcrumbs
Taking a page from Hansel and Gretel, these kids dropped breadcrumbs in order to find their way back home through the forest. We have a decision tree document of "breadcrumbs", a list of decisions made for when the inevitable conflict arises, we can review how we arrived at that point with the client.
During the call with the client, take notes. Then, once the call is done, send a copy of your notes to the client, and ask them to confirm that you got everything right.
The next part of this rule is to send a status check once per week. This can be a simple three-sentence email that states:
- What you did last week
- What you're doing this week
- Where you are in the project
Tip 3: Build An Email Arsenal
Look back over the past month and identify the top ten most frequent emails you send to clients. Turn those into templates that you can easily access
00:53 - TIP 1 - The 5 sentence rule
01:05 - Where most of our time disappear?
01:29 - What we should do instead of wasting time on email
02:00 - Script to talk to your client
02:22 - TIP 2 - Drop bread crumbs
03:00 - How to avoid conflict when working with your client
03:47 - How to make sure you and your client are on the same page?
04:05 - The best hack to inform your client about the progress of the project.
04:52 - TIP 3 - build an email arsenal
===
👉Subscribe: goo.gl/F2AEbk
👉See our Academy Channel: goo.gl/vB9zoP
Want a deeper dive? Typography, Lettering, Sales & Marketing, Social Media and The Business of Design courses available here:
goo.gl/bRt5qd
🎙 Futur Podcast: thefutur.com/podcast/
✍️ Futur Blog: thefutur.com/blog/
-
Love the content? Become a sustaining member for $5/mo today.
goo.gl/nwekfL
BOOKLIST -
Essential Reading for Creative Professionals: bit.ly/biz-booklist
Essential Design Books: bit.ly/futur-design-books
Kits & Proposals:
goo.gl/mSjuWQ
Visit our website:
www.thefutur.com
FREE resources:
goo.gl/Qh6gHr
Mandarin (Chinese) Subtitles on UiiUii
uiiiuiii.com/?s=the+futur
-
We love getting your letters. Send it here:
The Futur
c/o Chris Do
1702 Olympic Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90404
USA
-
AFFILIATE LINKS*
🙏 Support The Futur by purchasing through our affiliate links:
Amazon: bit.ly/thefuturishere
Webflow: bit.ly/2EbET9l
Retro Supply Co.: bit.ly/2GW8gzR
Creative Market: goo.gl/g4jlTE
Design Cuts: bit.ly/2GSsAR3
✍️ Sharpen your skills by taking a course, using our affiliate links:
Skillshare: goo.gl/YCo2uT
School of Motion: bit.ly/futur-som
Bring Your Own Laptop Tutorials: byol.me/thefutur
🎧 Do you like the music? Check out the music libraries we use in our affiliate links below:
Epidemic Sound: share.epidemicsound.com/thefutur
Artlist: bit.ly/2uWdna7
Get our FAVORITE notebook from Baron Fig: baronfig.com/?ref=zQoKL
*By making a purchase through any of our affiliate links, we receive a very small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps us on our mission to provide quality education to you. Thank you.
-
Host- Chris Do
Content Director- Matthew Encina
Cinematography- Aaron Szekely, Mark Contreras, Ricky Lucas, Jona Garcia
Live Editor- Jona Garcia
Editor- Stewart Schuster, Mark Contreras, Aaron Szekely, Ricky Lucas, Jona Garcia
Social Team: Elle Money, Alex Burlui
Futur Theme Music - Adam Sanborne www.adamsanborne.com
Typefaces: Futura, DIN, Helvetica Now, Calibre, Knockout, Champion Gothic
Futur theme song- Adam Sanborne
3:26 Make notes during the meeting/phone call and send a copy to the client immediately after the meeting/phone call and ask if what you wrote is correct. This saves time and frustration for both parties. Amazing tip!
Deliverables schedule contract addendum - this is a lifesaver for me. Keeps me on schedule, let’s the clients know exactly what I need from them & when I need it. Finally, outlines what happens if I miss a deadline (I never miss a deadline - ever) & what happens if the client misses one. This one document clearly sets most of the expectations for the project.
I would also add to this, managing client expectations by not over-promising. Magic words: Let me get back to you on this subject after the meeting!
I am a videographer/motion designer, and I have just a couple of tips specific to these types of projects. 1. Read the voiceover out loud to the client before you give them the script to read themselves. Often, clients will want to put things into a voiceover that sound terrible when read out loud, but make sense when read silently. Your client, unless they do this for a living, doesn't know how to craft a voice like your writer does, so don't give them the opportunity. You also might not let them see the script until you have step 2 here worked out. 2. Do a storyboard/style frames/animatic. Often, your client will want to cram all of the information into the script because they lack the vision for what information/concepts can be conveyed with the visuals. This will also give your client a really good idea as to what the end product will look like. It will save you a ton of time in revisions if you can work their feedback in at this stage. Outside of the original brief, this is the most important part of the client interaction, so don't skip it. 3. Don't give your clients too many options. In fact, only show them 1 concept that you think solves their problem best. This facilitates the mindset of, "How can I modify this concept to fit my needs?" versus "What, out of the myriad options, will work best." Trust me, this will save you a ton of time, and it will save you from having to work on your client's crappy idea. Good videos take a long time to make, and you don't want to make a whole video and have your client say, "Could we see a version of that other concept we talked about too?" If you say no, you run the risk of having a client walk away disappointed which is bad for business. What do you guys think? Does anyone else work like this? Does anyone disagree with any of this? I would love to hear some opinions here. Thanks!
Thanks for sharing. One of the biggest things I've learned is communicating openly and honestly from the beginning. Even the tough topics, which we designers love to put off to the last minute or hope they blow over without being addressed. If a deadline is unrealistic, and you know you won't hit it, let the client know. Tell them what you can do by their time frame or when their ask can realistically be delivered. Clients hate being left in the dark about this stuff.
Thefuture crews are greater people for this great video. Kudos & big thanks to you all.
Watching Matthew's face while Ben talks is fun
I read your comment looked up and his eyebrows were wriggling epicly 🤣
0:53 - TIP 1 - The 5 sentence rule
2:22 - TIP 2 - Drop bread crumbs
4:52 - TIP 3 - build an email arsenal
More detailed timestamps to each tip are in the description as well
WOW! How did you guys know that I REALLY NEEDED this right NOW? Thanks a ton!
Content Gold. I love having systems in place and with clients you need to have ways to track things and make sure projects are on course.
Hey guys great tips! I also own a Law Practice and we already use a lot of these methods. For example, any conversation in person or over the phone has notes taken, you can easily use programs such as Asana to keep notes attached to your project to reference at a later date and it automatically timestamps those notes which is very important.
We also use templates (we call them precedents) in much the same way.
Being able to go back and show clients their own instructions is a must when billing as your time is valuable and if they are indecisive and keep changing what they want, you shouldn't wear the brunt of the cost.
I really liked the idea of numbering the revisions/etc in the emails as well and will adopt that for my design business.
Nice tips.
The breadcrumbs analogy and e-mail templates are such handy tips! Thanks guys!
Love this tip on the slides - Round 2 of 3 revisions - brilliant !
I like the status updates at 4:19. In the past, we've implemented the "3 P's method" for internal check-ins; progress, plan, and problems. I see myself adopting your weekly client status into my 3 P's; Progress (what we've done), Plan (what we're doing next), and Position (where we are timeline).
DANAMI I like this a lot
Love the bread crumbs strategy. Thank you for sharing! 🙏
5 sentence rule... Breadcrumbs. Good stuff
LOVE the Status Check strategy! This is immediately helpful for my client relations! Thanks so much for the great content.
It was so short, I demand more tips haha! These are super useful. Thank you so much for sharing these tips.
This is superb!! I have never thought of these small bits. Thanks a ton :)
Mind Blown 🤯 SO NEED THIS!
Email templates... Genius! Why didn't I think of that. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!
Perfect tips, thank you very much! And perfect type choice... Knockout is my favourite font right now!
These are Great! I do most of them but great to add a couple more to improve work flow. Thanks.
the first rule is exactly what i've been looking for this month haha
you guy are awesome !!! you guys are making me a better designer, Thanks alot
These are great!! Thank you.
Very Valuable Information Here! Great Job, Guys!
This is pure gold, thank you!
Very helpful and organized , thank you guys 👌✨
Intro is superb. Mad Men level!!!
This is a nice helpful video. I'll keep these tips in mind for the future, thank you for the tips!
Great tips 😍😍
Love it ! very useful. thank you!
Templates for the win! Also thanks for the quick n dirty video. Easy length to jump into.
Awesome tips, very useful. Thanks 😊
This is GENIUS. Need more videos like this!
@@MatthewEncina When the client asks for Revisions and when you're done doing it you send a file titled "revision 15" when it's just the second or third. I personally used this one and it worked so yeah lol. But these female clients... it does not work on them. How can one be so choosy, I wonder.
This was super helpful!! Thanks dudes!!
Nice one FUTUR
This was really helpful, thanks!
Great Tips! Thanks for sharing
extra great! thanks guys.
Thanks for these tips. You are awesome!
Completely worth it!
Excellent advice
2:50 most important tip ever ! Thanks Futur !
3rd point is the most important point. When I heard "a call is better than an email" the first thing that popped in my mind is that the client will eventually say "this is not what I asked for" whereas it may actually be what he asked for or there was some misunderstanding. I have made this a habit, even if I talk on the phone I always have it written down and sent it to the client asking for confirmation and also drop a message or phone call asking them to check the mail and confirm. From then on I do not proceed with the work further till I get a response. Because it's very easy to start work in an incorrect direction and then realise that you just wasted time.
🙏 Thank you so much ❤️
Amazing Tips.
smart tips thanks!
I love this intro!
Motion Grapher hehe 😜
Tip #2 and #3 are pure gold! Love your energy, Ben!
Sooo... You guys use Notion? How about a new video tutorial on how to set it up? PLEASE! 🙏🏼
Lovely Information! I can also recommend to be proactive with clients if possible ... I had a lot of jobs where clients told me some Information on upcomming things they want to accomplish until a certain date ... if you don’t hear back from them just mail or call them and say: „hey client I just wanted to check because of XY you had in mind... if I can help you I will do my best to do so... so you can reach your goals“ ... clients really loved this and I got tons of new work to do
Really helpful guys, i would timestamp the whole video, especially as smooth as butter on a hot day :)
This is real good!
Dang! Who knew the acting skills of Ben? You missed your calling dude. More great content, thanks. You guys are awesome.
Puppet Dude Productions haha thanks
valuable tips
HEY THE FUTUR!
Great content.
Typo @4:30
2. WHAT'RE YOU GOING TO TO THIS WEEK
Thank you
Thefutur is dropping value bombs. Thanks guys! Ps. What note app did you use for keeping the templates? Evernote?
Ilias Kouvas Notion is the bomb. Monday.com is also fantastic
Great Tips! Thanks for it. I really like the template one. BTW, which app do you use for taking those notes?
Perfect
Id love to hear more about how to deal with Clients telling you what to do aka trying to design/direct it themselves
2:22 Those bread crumbs need GPS coordinates.
Once I had to excavate the trail of 1 year old bread crumbs and create a timeline of the project being worked on.
There was about 171 events and I had to make a Gantt chart with evidence for each event.
Why? Client said they had 1 revision left, we said they had 0.
Not fun unless you are a detective.
Love this! I need those templates.
Btw, What project management tool do you use to track the project status?
i think they might've used Asana in the past. Not sure what they use now.
I love your ways Mr Ben Burns, and I hope to try that someday. But my ways are calls, meet-up and take notes. Emails, like you, said black-hole, so I try to make it no emails or at least few emails.
absolutely agree! see my client is a company with many reviewers of my work sending huge text walls, this confuses me and makes impossible to answer-unless i am paid to be a writer.
Thanks for this and noticed a type error on 4:28 "2. What're you going to to this week"
FUCKIN WOW!!! excuse the language boys and girls but this video was truly amazing thanks guys for sharing and it motivates me to share more!!!
Fire
Speaking of templates, do you use any form of template when creating a brand guideline for clients? I watched and loved the Hamilton Family Brewery case study and saw a partial look at their brand guidelines in one of the videos. I know this is something that also takes time to prepare, is there some process you also use for creating these?
🙏🏻
🙏🏻
🙏🏻
🙌🏻
I feel like 5 sentence rule and the breadcrumbs rule contradict each other. The reason why I stick to email is because it's documented and easily referred back to. When I jump on a phone call - anything goes. I can take notes but it's heresay if a client ends up going back on their word and that's happened more than once before.
Paper trail is gold.
@@r3furbish3dbrain12 You can't record a conversation without their consent. And that's fine if you're willing to offend a client.
Great tips, thanks a lot guys! Don't be angry but there is a mistake in one of the slides, when you talk about status check with client, " 2. What're you going to to this week." I just saw it as I take notes.
dope!
New client Tip: meet with the client and set up at least a loose game plan within 3 days of initial contact when possible. If it takes a week, they aren't as excited to spend the money. At two weeks they're basically gone
we need that last scene of Ben in a GIF please. for uh... science.
Sharing the notes and progreess is key. I'm developing a shared workspace in notion with each client (s/o that tool) where key metrics, task management, meeting notes, and password storage is done. So I can assign "tasks" to the client (i.e. Give me access to your instagram account). Super helpful even though it's in MVP stages.
Hey guys. Thanks for this very insightful video. Just wondering which note taking app you use?
Notion
0:10 I never thought Mr. Ben Burns could do such a thing D:
I have totally been there with Clients :(
Jose C. Rivera you can only push a man so far
Great tips. What note taking program is at 5:18 ?
The (email template) has been the biggest (time saver) of the (list). (Even this comment) is a (template).
Ben is about to hulk smash these clients
holy shit this is a game changer
6:34 Matthew nods in agreement
Hey! What's the software that is shown in 5:19? By the way, amazing video as always guys
Notion fanboy cluuuuub
Run design sprints
What's the program you use to build your wireframes?
Looks like they used a few. The one on the white background is Adobe XD. My guess is the dark one is Invision Studio.
Hey Matt and Ben! What app are you using @5:17 ? Looks smoooooth.
Notion
Take a look at the GMelius gmail add on, it’s an absolute god send for email templates and tracking emails to see if you’re being ignored ect.
What app did you use to build the Email Arsenal? thanks!
❤❤❤
I almost thought he will flip the table and rage quite on client 😂😂
Gaming industry got a daily morning routine called ''scrum'' which is mini conference where you say about yesterday's achievements and plan for Today.
I assume that would be helpful for a busy environments.
and the Oscar goes to......................................Mr. Ben Burns, DANG!
tip #1 tell clients that every modification and hour on phone or meeting is billable ;)
That just sounds uninviting
@@SuperAlphabetagama 20 years in the biz, it works like a charm
@@SuperAlphabetagama This technique makes a client think and gather their thoughts before they call you. which saves every1 time
@@SuperAlphabetagama you could add a free 30 minute phone call and a number of revisions into your contact If you wish, then say the rest is billable. Still gets you the end result of them thinking very carefully about what they want
the intro made me laugh way too hard
The email trap 😬
What if a client doesn’t respond well to anything; phone calls, emails or texts. How can you try and get the project done?
It might be time to check in once more by email and phone (leave a voicemail similar to your email) to make sure everything is okay (not in the hospital or anything like that) and let them know that you'll put the project on hold until they are ready to begin again. Don't work in the dark or your increasing your chances of needing to redo the work in a rush with a client who feels you don't understand them. Don't work for free (assuming they didn't pay 100% up front), because your time could be better spent with responsive clients or finding new clients (or doing fun things unrelated to business.
One way you handle this in my world (government contractor graphic artist), is to give them a deadline and say, unless I hear from you by X date/time, I will be taking X action. I am not sure this will work for freelancers (I've been one), but as long as your supervisor has your back, approves and is aware, you can do it, knowing they'll take the heat for you.
Gary Harding If I was working for someone that would work but since I own my own company that becomes a challenge and a challenge I don’t come across often so when I do I get stumped. 🤔
you know what's hard? getting a client to really describe their business.
@@MatthewEncina i tried to sit a client down to have them explain to me what their process is. Something like, "what kind of information do you need from your clients?" "If i was a client and wanted this, what would you say/ask/do?" Kind of first meeting, categorizing things, etc. And i felt like i never really got an answer longer than 1 sentence.
@@MatthewEncina thanks. Doing a follow up helped, though i had to set up a second meeting which wasnt ideal