Check in Before You Check Out

You talk with your clients, send them emails or texts, and maybe give them periodic progress reports. But are you communicating with them? We all know the difference between hearing and listening, but we forget sometimes the difference between telling and understanding. Just because you said it or put it in writing doesn’t mean the client has internalized that information. Complete the communication loop by confirming that they got the message.

At its most basic level communication involves four things: a sender, a message, a medium, and a receiver. Depending on the type of message, some media are more effective than others, but let’s confine our discussion to basic business communication media like meetings, phone calls, documents, emails and texts, with which you and your client are familiar. And let’s assume you have the ability to articulate clearly the message you want to send. So far, so good.

Things start to get tricky, however, when we add in the other elements—namely, you and your client. Chances are you don’t view the world (or the project) in the same way and from the same perspective, and you may not use the same vocabulary, either. As the designer, when you are the sender, you may assume that the client will rise to your level of understanding about the project and how you do business. Presumably, if something is not clear, they will ask a question. Often they will not. Meanwhile, the client, as the receiver, is passing that information through their own set of filters and sorting it into their own mental pigeonholes, giving the greatest attention to the parts with which they are most familiar. In addition, regardless of the type of medium, some loss of content and clarity will occur during transmission. Message sent. Message delivered. But what has been communicated? That is to say, how much of the original message has been received and understood by the client, and how much has been distorted?

The only way to be truly sure you have communicated with the client is to ask them to repeat the message back to you. This has to be done with some tact, of course, so as not to imply they are weak-minded or inattentive. You can ask them questions about particular details, or to confirm dates or other logistical matters, or restate some point you have agree upon under the guise of making sure you have understood it correctly. Last but not least, rephrase the message in a slightly different way as a kind of summing up. That final check in can make all the difference between a rocky client relationship or a happy one.