I recently watched a video of Michael Bierut talking about what makes a Good Client. This got me to thinking about the fact that clients are the universal thread for every services firm; they are vital to our success. This success is often based on how well we work with a client and reciprocally, how well clients works with us. The client defines and shapes a project from the beginning, so the more clear they are with their expectations and the more information they can supply, the better the outcome of the project is going to be.

So what makes a good client? According to Bierut, the profile of what makes a great client is brains, passion, trust and courage.

Brains refer to working with intelligent clients, who not only value the services we are providing, but also possess big picture thinking and understanding. It is not our job to educate the client on the intricacies of what we do per say; but it is to our responsibility to learn as much as we can about their company and transfer that knowledge into the strategy and creative.

Next up is passion. Working with clients that are passionate is a joy. Their passion brings an increased energy to the project and their enthusiasm makes the collaboration more communicative and engaging. This makes for better work and hopefully future work.

The third thing is trust. What is meant by this is that the client inherently trusts us and the processes that we follow to distill information and create solutions. Trust means following recommendations that may not always have a quantifiable outcome. A good client will be open to ideas and believe we have their best interests at heart. They will trust that our ideas are based on expertise and experience.

The last thing is courage. Courage to get approvals when needed and also stand by the work that is executed. The client is not always the decision maker which sometimes makes for a disjointed approval process. A client with courage will communicate clearly with all parties so the concepts and deliverables are understood and decisions are made thoughtfully and nimbly.

When all is said and done, good clients lead to good work which will in turn lead to more good work. And the opposite holds true as well, bad clients lead to more bad clients. Bad clients take up a lot of time and energy; time and energy that could be spent on good clients – our favorites.