Something that has been on my mind recently is the way in which we communicate. When it comes to clients, friendships and relationships in general communication really is key. Now, as a publicist, obviously my job requires a lot of communication but really in any business where you have to deal with multiple clients, personalities, maybe even cultures, it is so incredibly important that you are tailoring your communication styles to who you are working with. We all learned “treat others how you would want to be treated” and that’s true but it is also important to treat others how they want to be treated.
Now, how do we do this? It’s really quite simple – pay attention, think about the person on the other side of your email, text or phone call. Are you speaking with a client who is super personable and wants to be your friend? Then you can be a bit more open and relaxed with them. Is it a client that is more buttoned up and professional? Then make sure you’re being more buttoned up and professional with them. There is nothing wrong with being on a “friend” level with clients, but not every client wants that. When it comes to communicating, its not about intent its about impact.
What about when we communicate? I have some clients who work all weekend and don’t mind hearing from me. So if I’m catching up on emails from the week and need to follow up with them I can shoot them a note on a Saturday and not worry about it. But I also have clients who really cherish their weekends and don’t want to think about work from Friday night – Monday morning. For them maybe I’ll draft an email but won’t hit send on it until Monday. Same goes for how we communicate – some clients want you to pick up the phone and call them while others like to keep everything in an email. Try to intuit these things about the people you’re working with – are you picking up the phone to call a client about something that isn’t super urgent and noticing that they sound a little annoyed? Or they asked to move it to an email? Then next time don’t call, email instead.
We’re not psychic and so maybe in the beginning you won’t get it quite right. But try to be aware, mindful and intuitive where you can. It doesn’t mean you can’t “be yourself” or that you have to be inauthentic, it just means you’re meeting people where they’re at and providing a service based on THEIR needs which will only help you foster longer, stronger client relationships.
And today I’ll say, have a beautiful day.
