How To Be Your Design Client’s Superhero

You have the ability to envision, create, and orchestrate things in ways that others might deem impossible for themselves. When your clients see your expertise, they treat your services differently. You essentially become a superhero: someone who can anticipate and identify their problems and find creative solutions for them in ways they could never do on their own. 

This elevates your clients’ experience of design and makes them willing to invest far more into the project because they truly understand and appreciate the impact your designs have on their daily lives. You just need to know how to position yourself as the expert for your clients.

Nix The Niceties

We often want so badly to make our clients’ lives easier that we try to sugarcoat the process of how we get there. We cushion our responses with niceties such as “No worries,” or “Piece of cake,” to show our clients just how easily we can get the job done. However, when we frame our process in that way, our clients suffer the illusion that they may be able to do the design themselves, without you. If it is as easy as you say it is, why shouldn’t they be able to?

Instead, you need to let them see that there is a process behind every design decision that we make. Your ability to successfully navigate the process is your superpower, not something that just anybody would be able to do. If you became more visibly thoughtful in creating solutions–rather than just waving them away like they are a walk in the park–your clients would understand that if it requires an expert to be this thoughtful throughout the process, there is no way they could do this without you. 

Elevation Is Everything

The reality is that you can have any design process you want. But, if you start to share your creative process of decision-making and show them just how complex it can be, you will elevate yourself and your process to something unattainable by the ordinary person. You’ve turned yourself into the superhero that flies in to rescue them from the illusion that they wanted to do this project themselves. 

This also opens their minds and hearts to trust your process, which makes it easier to get them to buy into what you have established for them as the best plan of action. And, when you move them from “need” to “want,” their wallet will expand and their investment will grow. Ultimately, elevating yourself to your clients in turn elevates their experience of design and makes them willing to invest far more because they fully understand the impact and value you have shown them.

If you want to learn more about The Affluent Creative, check out www.melissagalt.com/ac033