What Goes Around...

“Others are merely reflections of ourselves… you cannot truly love or hate something about another person without loving or hating that same thing about yourself.” Wait… does that mean when a client does something I don’t like… that I don’t like it because they are just like me? I believe it absolutely does.

Graphic design is always about solving problems in the end. Many of the problems sound something like… “It seems like all my customers care about is price, I need to help them understand why doing business with us is more valuable than my competitors.” Invariably, this will be the client that is all about price when it comes to his design project. I mean EVERY time… it’s amazing.

Here’s another one… “Everyone thinks they can do it themselves, they don’t realize that if they hired a professional like us, the would have a better product and actually save money in the end. How do I get my clients to quit micromanaging everything and let us do our job?” Without fail, this will be the client that drives us to drink with endless, inane revisions and relentless micromanagement. They are also the ones that wonder why you can’t read their mind.

So, next time you get frustrated with the party on the other side of the business table… go take a hard look at the culture in your own company. Your frustration may be a simple matter of self-fulfilling prophecy. Tightwads hate tightwads, micromanagers can’t handle micromanagers and do-it-yourselfers are irritated by other do-it-yourselfers.

So, what is the answer? I advise all of my clients to follow a little bit of advice from Ghandi; (I revised it to fit business environment), “You must BE THE CHANGE you wish to see in your clients.” Take the time in your organization to define what you consider to be the “perfect customer,” then go breath that culture into you own company. You will be amazed at what happens.

The culture of your company is a huge part of your brand and can become the cancer or the cure in all of your business relationships. It’s up to you.

When it goes around… don’t be surprised when it comes around.