It’s not always easy. In fact, it always makes things much more complicated. I could just work for my clients. That would be simple. I would limit myself to doing what they ask me, collect, and that’s it. But it wouldn’t be right. Besides, regrets wouldn’t let me sleep. And it is that many clients do not know (they don’t even have to know) the world of Online Marketing.
That’s why I always work for the clients of my clients. And for that I must get into the skin of my client. I constantly think that this is my business, and not my client’s business. Otherwise, you may be tempted to simply do what they ask, even if it’s not always the right thing to do.
If a client asks me to use comic sansput a MP3 of background music, or program an aggressive pop up just access the web, i will refuse. Not only for a matter of good taste, but already of principle. I wouldn’t do it if the business was mine. So I won’t do it for yours either.
This has led me to have to give up more than one client, Sure. There are some companies and executives who are very clear about what they want to do, and they don’t care if it’s a bad decision. Especially large companies, with middle, large, small managers and all kinds of complex positions and roles, in which decision-making usually comes “from above” (seriously, sometimes I think that those at the top smoke something in decision-making meetings). Sometimes you don’t even know who they are, because the decisions come “from headquarters” or “from management.” As if that were a planet from another galaxy.
But I am “consultant“. Not a “programmer”. Not a “designer”. Not a “robot” that transforms your thoughts into finished projects. My added value is precisely that: My opinion. And not a subjective opinion, but the opinion that is the result of my experience. If what you want is a robot that simply converts your designs into the web, for that you should hire a pure programmer, there are some. (and very good) or that they put him on the staff, who will have no problem doing everything that is asked of him.
It’s not that I want to be smart, nor that I claim that I’m always right, far from it. During all the years I’ve been doing this, I’ve been wrong many times, and I’ve had to fix it. As everyone! But it is precisely those mistakes that have made me improve and learn. And in turn, Those are the same mistakes that my client should not make.. That is precisely why I was hired. To consult me. Makes sense right?
So, back to the title of the post. I work for my clients’ clients. In other words, when they ask me to “place a slider on the home page” because the others do, I do not do it without first thinking about it, and asking myself if it has any use. And I don’t ask myself “Is this slider useful to me?”, I don’t even ask myself “Will this slider help my client?”, but “Will this slider help my client’s client?” And if the answer is “no”, I explain it to my client. I tell him because I think it is not a good decision, and I justify it through other real cases of success or failure similar to his, with data, with examples, with references.That’s my added value.
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