Set meetings in advance

Something you can do to increase your clients’ confidence in you, even before a project begins, is set meeting dates in advance. After you sign your agreement, while you’re still mapping out the creative and getting started, send a list of meeting dates.

This makes it real for your client. Often, they’re hiring you because they can’t do the creative work themselves. To them, it’s all a foggy, undefined experience. They don’t know what goes into the creative work, and they don’t know the process. By setting meetings to review creative, production, or deliverables, this makes the process real to them.

You probably know the kinds of meetings you need during the course of your project. A creative kickoff, maybe. A pre-pro meeting or a review of selects. Whatever your process is, take note of what you usually do. Then work backward from your delivery date to set those meetings.

This works well to keep your client off your back. We’ve all had needy clients who reach out too often with elementary questions. It’s mind-numbing. When you set meetings in advance, this gives a needy client confidence that you’re in control, and you’ll let them know when you need to chat.

Finally (this may be the most important benefit), it keeps you accountable. The most likely suspect in unprofitable projects is scope creep. Scope creep often occurs when a project takes longer than it should. We’re quick to blame our clients for delays, but rarely recognize when we let things take longer than they need to. When we set dates in advance, we do a favor to our future selves.