Speaker 1: Hey, I'm Michael Janda. In this video, we're going to talk about how to create a collaborative partnership between you and your client. In the early days of my agency, I didn't understand how to create the right dynamic between me and the client. I just felt like I was the order taker, designer, just doing whatever they said. And I didn't understand this partnership mentality that creates a win-win relationship. So over the years, I started to figure out how this is done, and I actually created seven clauses that I added to my contracts that established the foundation for a partnership between me and my client and defined the expectations of that relationship between each other. And I started including those in the contracts and reviewing them with the clients before we engaged in a project so that we were all on the same page about how we were going to operate together. In this video, I'm going to show you those seven clauses and give them to you so that you can start adding them in your contracts and helping you create that same dynamic with you and your clients. So I call these the seven keys to a successful project. That's what I define them as in my contracts with my clients. And we review them, and I'm going to walk you through them right now. So the first one, the agency should strive to provide creative solutions with the objective of meeting the client's project goals. This is your mission. You're there, you understand the client's goals, and you're going to strive to provide creative solutions to achieve those goals. That's number one. Number two, the client and the agency should strive to work within the approved scope of work, the approved project scope that you've defined. You agree that you're going to follow the scope. The client agrees that they're going to follow the scope. And that is the binding documentation that you both agree on. Now, this is an important clause because when things start getting crazy in the flow of a project and the client is sitting there pushing the scope, you can go back to this clause and say, client, look, we talked about this during our proposal and contract phase. When we were starting this project, we've got to stick to the scope. You remember, we talked about this. You can reach back to that point and remind the client that this has got to be something that we both agree on. All right, let's look at number three. Number three, the client should provide timely and consolidated feedback. Timely and consolidated feedback. When I explain this to the client, I did it like this. We want quick turnaround. A lot of times when the project extends in length, it's because we're not getting timely feedback. So client, it's best if when we deliver something to you, you get back to us promptly with your collaborative comments. And then consolidated feedback is also important. It's detrimental to the flow of the project if we're getting feedback from five different people at your company. So consolidate that feedback into one central person and we'll receive that feedback from them. It's a much more effective process for us to work through. Okay, number four, the client should provide assets in a timely manner. And this is, again, how you discuss this with the client. You tell them, we are often waiting on assets from our clients. Images that you have and we don't. They're not stock photos. They're your images. Logos, copy, written copy that we need to implement into whatever it is we're designing. Those things, we've got to get those from you. So it's really important to keep this project flowing that we get those assets in a timely manner. Number five, the client and the agency should adhere to the agreed upon payment terms and estimated project cost. Now, this is how you explain that. When we define the terms of the scope, the price, and the timeline and give you payment terms for that, we need to stick to those. So it's super important that we both stick to that. We told you what we're going to do this for and we're going to stick to our price as long as we stay in scope. You agree to pay that. That's our binding agreement. So making sure that you set that expectation at the start of the project is really helpful. Next, number six, concerns by either party should be discussed promptly with the goal of arriving at a mutual agreement. And this I put in there because I would have clients who were getting frustrated over a span of time and then it would blow up and land on me. So my employees were working through a project. The client's getting frustrated and client didn't tell me, the agency owner, that they started getting frustrated. And by the time it escalated to me, it was this big, huge mess that we had to go and resolve. So encourage your clients to promptly discuss any concerns that they have and have that discussion with you to arrive at a mutually beneficial, agreed upon solution. And encourage them to do that early on and not let these things bubble up and escalate until they're almost unmanageable to recover from. All right, and final one, number seven, both parties should agree to try to create a win-win relationship. And I always would talk to my clients about that. We want this to be successful for you. We want to deliver results. We want you to get a return on your investment. That's what we're doing for you. And we also want it to be beneficial for us. We want to have a great portfolio piece. We want to have a nice, fun, enjoyable working experience. We want it to be profitable for us. So let's try and work to create a win-win relationship. And I would put that in my contract. And then I would reference it when things started getting out of the win-win relationship. I could say to the client, look, in the contract, our mission here is to create a win-win relationship. And this is not a win-win. How can we navigate this challenge in this project flow to create something that's going to be more beneficial to you and to us at the same time? And you kind of frame those conversations like that. Okay, I hope that helps you get some ideas of ways to create this collaborative partnership between you and your client. Again, I had those in my contracts. You should add them in your contracts and discuss those things with the client. It's a great way to set the foundation of how you're going to work together. Thanks so much. If you like this video, hit the like button and be sure to subscribe. And we'll see you again in the next one.