1. What shade of lipstick can you put on our pig?
What to do when the client doesn't care (a story from the public sector)
Suggestions:
- Do something quick and easy that makes you client look good. (show positive change)
- Seek a true champion within the organization
- If you're going to prostitute yourself, make sure the money is really, really good
How to get screwed in one easy lesson (a story from the airline industry)
Suggestions:
- Don't let your enthusiasm get the better of you
- Always maintain control of the "cure" (and make sure the "cure" is well-defined)
- Ensure you establish your rights to the "cure" if the clients give your work to someone else for execution
How to avoid meetings from hell (a story from the financial sector)
Suggestions:
- Write out a clear agenda and make sure everyone gets it prior to the meeting
- List your expected outcomes/decisions
- Provide some background documents if necessary
The truth behind social media marketing
Suggestions:
- Don't be greedy and accept a project unless proper internal resources have been allocated.
- Understand that social media are not marketing tools, they are communications devices
- Focus on communication goals, not projects
What to do when the key decision-maker leaves the team a week before the contract is signed ( a story from the private sector)
Suggestions:
- Make sure the new person knows that you know they are calling the shots (don't threaten, be supportive) - "We help you to achieve your goals!"
- Find out what the new person has in teams of personal goals and agendas (and why the other person left) Avoid talking about legacy decisions
What to watch out for when dealing with bureaucrats (a story about charities and NGOs)
Suggestions:
- A contract is always a contract
- Cover your ass (save your e-mails!!)
- Be wary of contracts that appear after you've started to work.
7. We want the best damned site in our industry. Can we have it on Thursday?
How to give clues to clueless clients (a story about B2B)
Suggestions:
- Try and put the project into a familiar perspective (e.g. Compare preparation needs and budgets with those for their annual report)
- Show how a proper development process works (e.g. www.fatdux.com/how/our-process )See if there is a link to an internal process (e.g. LEAN - muda, muri, mura)
How to avoid "deliverables creep" (a story from the private sector)
Happens because what they asked for has nothing to do with what they needed.
Suggestions:
- Don't be vague in the language you use for the contract.
- Make sure you specify your deliverables - and that the client understands exactly what you mean (not everybody has the same definition of stuff, e.g. Wireframes)
- Always be prepared to give more than you plannend on giving.
What to do when the CEO pulls ranke (a story from the industrial sector)
Suggestions:
- Pick your fights with care. Don't waste time discussing the home page if you can win on stuff like better forms design.
- In a battle with the CEO's wife, statistics will lose
- Get the CEO to choose between his personal business success and his wife - the business will win.
How to read between blurry lines.
Suggestions:
- Find out how you got on the shortlist
- Don't spend to much time proving your qualificcations, instead show that you can think outside of the box.
- Show folks success, not just process
Recommended Books:
- Secred handshake
- Dealing with difficult people
- What clients love (Selling the invisible)
