We've all lived through the experience. A client seeks you out. They give you thousands of dollars in advance. Then, inexplicably, they do everything in their power to ruin your life and make the project a miserable failure. Or do they? What is it that causes clients to lose faith so quickly? Sharing real stories of successes and failures, Carl will walk you through the lessons he's learned managing client relationships over the last 25 years. You'll walk away with tips and tricks to get current projects back on track and keep future ones from going off the rails.

1. CLIENT FROM THE FRONT LINES
WHISPERER
LESSONS
carl@ngenworks.com
@carlsmith

2. Clients Can
Smell Fear

3. Clients Can
Smell Fear

5. Clean Slate

6. Know Yourself

7. Know Your Team

8. Common Pitfalls

9. Know Your Client

10. What Were They Promised?

11. Must Win vs. Checklist

13. Establish Trust

14. Be Honest & Nice

15. Be Familiar

16. Address Issues Early

17. Keep Commitments

18. Tell Stories

19. Respect Yourself

21. A Rationale For Everything

22. Playback Client Input

23. Silence Is The Enemy

24. Clients Don’t Want To Drive

25. Don’t Overcommit

26. Scope Creep

27. Start The Tough
Conversations

29. Rehearse

30. Be Aware Of Emotions

31. Bail Before You Break

32. Separate The Person
From The Problem

33. Focus On Interests
Not Positions

34. The Team’s Perspective

35. The Client’s Perspective

37. Ask Why?

38. Be Firm But Fair

39. Don’t Be A Buzzer Beater

40. Leverage Team Knowledge

41. Test

43. Reply Now,
Answer Later

44. Never Email When
You Should Call

45. Plan Leverage

46. Voices From The Shadows

48. Own Your Mistakes

49. Postmortem Exercise

50. What’s The Story?

51. Ripcord!

53. THANK YOU
carl@ngenworks.com
@carlsmith