How to Improve Your Confidence With Clients in 6 Simple Steps
Clients are your bread and butter, the lifeblood of any business. If you feel nervous or unsure when you are with your clients, they will struggle to trust you. If they don’t trust you, they won’t buy from you. On the flip side, when you feel confident with your clients they will feel confident with you. Let’s talk about ways to boost your confidence with clients:
01. Talk About Business Data
Most creatives work with a variety of different business types. One day you may have a meeting with a tech startup and then next day you could be chatting with a restaurant owner. Two very different types of businesses. But what do they have in common? Data. The common thread weaving through all business types is data. Smart clients love it when you talk about business data and dumb clients instantly view you as an expert when you talk numbers.
Understanding the data points of business and talking about them with your clients will boost both your confidence with them and their confidence in you. Here are some common business metrics you can ask about and discuss with your clients:
- Revenue
- Profit margins
- Average order value
- Lead volume and sources
- Conversion rates
- Traffic (website and in-person)
- Customer acquisition cost
- Return on investment
When you understand these terms, and many others like them, you will be able to speak the common language of business. Knowing the language will boost your confidence in client meetings 10x!
02. Remember You Know More Than They Do
Many creatives struggle with imposter syndrome and inferiority complex. (It is an understandable problem seeing as how we get critiqued for a living.) Nonetheless, it does you no favors when it comes to being confident with clients. A few years into my career I realized two things.
First, most of my clients weren’t business geniuses. They were just normal people like me, trying to figure out how to grow their company. And second, in most cases, when it comes to design, marketing, and creative strategy, I knew more than they did. If I didn’t, they wouldn’t need to talk with me at all. It is the same for you. In most cases, you know more than your clients. Let the fact boost your confidence in your client meetings.
03. Know the Value of Your Work
Your work helps solve a problem that your client likely wouldn’t be able to fix on their own. When you remember the possible results your work can have for your client, you’ll realize just how important it is for them to use your services. Oftentimes, they need you more than you need them.
04. Memorize Some Scripts
Stumbling over your words and struggling to communicate effectively can be a confidence killer. An easy way to overcome this challenge is to write some scripts and lock them in memory. Memorize your positioning statement and elevator pitch Memorize common questions you will ask in client discovery meetings. Memorize answers to common questions clients ask you. Memorizing scripts will help you stay on track, sound more confident, and ensure that you’re getting your key points across.
05. Use a Meeting Agenda
When it comes to your meetings with clients, having an agenda set in advance is always a smart idea. It shows that you’re organized and proactive – two qualities every good business owner should have. Plus, since you know precisely how long the meeting will be and what you’ll be discussing, so you can prepare ahead of time and truly shine in front of your clients. Next time you start a client meeting, prepare an agenda and introduce it to your client like this:
“Thank you for meeting with us. We want to be respectful of your time. So to keep us on track, we have three items to discuss on the agenda. First, we will discuss ______________. Then we will review ______________. And we’d like to finished by talking about ______________. Does that agenda sound good to you?”
06. Their “No” Is A “Yes” To New Opportunities
Fear of rejection is a common culprit when it comes to having confidence with clients. We just want to win the deal so much and the client holds the power to decide if we win or lose. When these types of fears enter your mind, take a minute to muster a reality check. You’re a good person. You do good work. If they don’t choose you, it is their loss! And their “no” will just free you up to pursue a “yes” with an even better client, a client who trusts you, likes you, pays well, and wants your creative expertise. Those better clients are out there hoping to find someone just like you. Don’t let a “no” get you down. It just frees you up to a find better “yes.”
Conclusion
Becoming confident with clients is a key to succeeding in your freelance business or creative agency. These six strategies can give you a boost and one of them just might help you win your next big deal.
