before our next meeting
The conventional wisdom and prevailing thought
Is to take up as little of your client’s time as possible
But that’s only because traditionally
Client kickoffs hosted by their expertise-based providers
Were a colossal time suck
For everyone involved
Why?
Big. Ginormous. Unwieldy. Firehose-level brain dumps
Where the client offloaded years of research
Often in big heavy binders
My dreams are still haunted by the thump as they hit the conference table
And still, those meetings were 3 hour slogs
Filled with the disgorging of mountains of information
That the people receiving it were getting but a fraction of
The telltale sign of which came at the very end of this marathon of mental fortitude:
“So … any questions?”
See if this helps:
You can still get the equivalent
Of giant plastic binders worth of background
That you can actually understand
And use
If you do it little by little
Starting at Week 0.
Provided that you speak first.
If you start a dialogue
Where you are the one speaking first
You control the flow of information
This is why reporters always ask the first question.
And why your first question should be asked
Many, many days before the first meeting
Yup
In an email
Several, in fact.
Because that’s all the time your client has
And all the information you can take in
Here’s the thing:
You need the information to do the work
But if you don’t know what you need
You’re going to get what your client
Thinks you need
And thus begins a relationship of both you and the client
Guessing at what the other
Thinks they need
Instead
Of just
Asking.
I’m here,
Kevin
P.S. Feel like you came in the middle of something? This is a series on a type of collaborative intake that helps people in the marketing, consulting and creative industries enjoy more satisfying relationships with their clients.
To catch up on the Questionable Questionnaires series, here’s One , Two , Three and Four