Clients play a role in the success of projects

The confidence the Client has in the Agency's capability to deliver a scope of work, impacts on whether the project will be a success or failure. Put simply, if those around you are telling you that you will fail, your chances of success become slimmer.

From the time we learned to walk or ride a bicycle, we have needed the confidence of others to overcome obstacles. A Client's confidence is no different. The vested confidence in an Agency gives client service power to be effective, make decisions and focus on the deliverables of the project.

For all the reasons confidence empowers, lack of confidence disempowers. The Client will behave unproductively - micro-managing client service, demanding trivial reporting and face to face meetings which accomplish little except appease the Client's emotions. With their focus divided and their attention occupied by the Client's emotional state of mind, client service become tired and ineffective.

The net result for the Agency are projects which never end, projects with no outstanding result to promote the Agency's services, and the threat the Client may refuse to pay. The Client is unlikely to be a long term prospect, or refer the Agency to other professionals.

Client service should keep a mental register of how negatively or positively a Client perceives the Agency, and establish practices to prevent or correct instances where confidence is slipping.

A few practices to minimise the likelihood of a Client losing confidence include:

1. Seeking win-win deals. Ask yourself 'Does the Client trust us?'. If the answer is no, consider not taking the project. There is a tendency for deal makers to ignore underlying emotional problems, and simply focus on the deal size or particulars. The underlying issue is left unresolved, later surfacing and reducing the value of the contract.
2. Communicating clearly. Comprehend the Client's needs and understand their intent. Deliver accurate, timely documentation, free of typos. In an existing relationship, a Client may overlook many of these errors, but in a new business context, their tolerance may be much lower.
3. Assessing personality types. Discuss and assess the Client's personality, where they have worked before, and their pain-points. Tolerance for errors will vary from Client to Client, and depend largely on their expectation and experience.
4. Act on warning signs. The Client may be testing the Agency's ability to read their body language by dropping subtle clues. Serious or not, warning signs must not be ignored and acted on immediately.
5. Establish a clear path of complain. Allow Clients to air their complaints by appointing an independent party as a silent listener. The listener is normally someone senior in the Agency, who is approachable and possesses many of the faculties stated above.
6. Knowing when to call it a day. When confidence slips too far into the red, no reasonable effort may reverse the perception. It may be best to terminate the scope of work agreement, than to continue to push in a direction which is causing all parties undue stress.