Stay Away from These Clients
By Levina Kusumadjaja
Like spotting red flags in dating relationships, you should also learn to spot red flags in your potential clients. No, I’m not saying you should be enemies with these potential clients. However, I think saying “no” to these types of clients would prevent a lot of conflicts in the working process and protect you from a lot of anxieties as the creative and strategist working on the project.
One of the things that you don’t want to have in your client is the scarcity mindset.
What is the scarcity mindset? The scarcity mindset is the belief that there won’t be enough for everyone. They feel like everyone is competing for a limited amount of ideas, solutions, and opportunities- so then they treat everybody as a competition and it's hard to see that innovation is worth pursuing. This mindset is a major hurdle to your own growth as a creative, your client’s growth as a business and brand owner, and the brand’s growth itself.
Clients with a scarcity mindset are usually clients that don’t see the value in strategy. Many of them are in a rush and you can tell from the very beginning that they are ruled by their businesses. They don’t focus on their unique qualities, but allow the market to dictate what they need to become. It’s no longer just about answering the needs of their ideal customers and evolving in the products and services as time goes, but it’s focused on hoarding customers and trying to reach everybody in the process. There is so much fear in doing something different and innovating because their eyes are fixed on what other businesses have done, even if their own brand could probably pull off the new and more innovative strategy.
If both you and your clients embrace a scarcity mindset, then potentially you both would influence one another into the same thinking. Chances are, there won’t be much innovation in the process because both of you don’t believe that every business is different. You would be focused on competing and catching up with other brands, instead of being true to the brand itself and making sure the brand connects with the brand’s ideal customers. There is a big chance you will miss the unique qualities that differentiate the brand or your client and create a “surface level” brand, instead of an emotionally connected brand.
Remember the heart of your decision: you want the best for those potential clients too, and if your process isn’t something they are looking for, refer them to someone else.
If you have embraced the abundance mindset and your potential client still embraces the scarcity mindset, it will be very difficult to see eye-to-eye in the strategic process from beginning to end. Instead of giving value to your potential client, you will end up forcing them to do something they don’t want. That will do more harm than good to the relationship. It’s okay to refer those clients to someone else who only provide deliverables. If their goal is to get deliverables, tell them you’re not the right person to go to because your goal is to offer a strategic solution above deliverables.
You have the freedom to say “no” to clients who don’t see the value of strategy the way you do.
This is not about you being arrogant and showing a dishonoring attitude towards your clients. This is about figuring out the best for both you—the strategists and creatives— and the clients. In the end, forcing a business relationship with a client that wants a solution different from what you are offering will do more harm than good. The biggest disadvantage falls to the brand our clients want to build. If you want to help your clients, you have to have the courage to be honest and tell them from the very beginning that perhaps, you’re not the right creative for this particular project.
And that’s okay.
Cheers!
Levina
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About the author:
Levina is a writer based in Indonesia. Because of Melinda Livsey, she recognized the power of brand strategy for every creative. She is sharing about her learnings as she goes to help creatives have fun in their growth and journey of building brands. Connect with her on LinkedIn and say hi!