How My Dog Taught Me How to Work With My Clients.
How to be a provider to those who need you most.
It is my sole belief that “man’s-best-friend” only gives one possible thing, love. I sincerely believe your faithful dog is solely seeking your unconditional love and support. Even if your canine pal isn’t cuddling up close to you, gently licking your radiant face with pure joy, or lazily sleeping in your protecting arms. In some form or another, they typically see you as a provider.
When I acknowledged myself as the provider, this helped me communicate and become an asset to my clients.
If you’re working in a team environment or paying for a service, The last thing you genuinely want to think about is fierce opposition; working against a wall of critiques and warning signs that cause you to give up. These oppositions and critiques people experience daily, not only in design but business and mutual transactions in general, are a highway to miscommunication and loss of business. We express a want or a need and reach-out or offer our help. We communicate, and somewhere in this communication, there’s a seared tear. Instead of shared mutual trust and partnership, the working relationship becomes a he-said-she-said that continues to overwhelm us in the flames of misunderstanding. By the end of our project, we vow never to work with this client or business again.
My dog Mama (She had had a litter of puppies before I adopted her, this is the sole reason for her name.) would come to me. She would beg, intensely stare (I’m fortunate she isn’t one to bark.), or whine in the most annoying of ways. I was puzzled. I provided food for you, and I gave you your water, we had just gone to the bathroom, I had just snuggled you! While my dog can’t talk to me, she became frustrated but I couldn’t figure her out.
Does this miscommunication sound familiar?
You offer your essential services, or an individual reaches out to you as a gateway to a better anything. A promise builds merely to turn into miscommunication and misunderstanding. Much like I was devoting my dog the attention and essentials I THOUGHT she wanted, the communication still failed.
Where had she messed up?
Where had she miscommunicated?
Was she doing something I had never seen her do?
I redirected my frustrations onto my dog. I internally screamed these frustrations, MY DOG SHOULD LISTEN TO ME! SHE SHOULD KNOW BETTER!
I was offering her a better life. I was willing to be the provider and offer something better than the streets.
I harbored these similar internal feelings with my clients. My client should listen to me; they should know I’m the expert; this process shouldn’t be so complex.
I offered my clients a more valuable business and a better product.
I redirected my pain, my misunderstanding, onto my dog.
I redirected my miscommunication, my frustrations onto my clients.
It wasn’t until I realized my persistence and hard-headedness carved a hole for me that only got deeper. In the depths of this hole, I understood. My dog, although very indirectly, asked for my patience. We can’t communicate directly, but through trial and error, I understood her mannerisms and actions.
I had made a reality in my head of what she wanted. I went through a checklist and marked off every possibility that I THOUGHT was right. My dog had placed this trust in me to be her provider and listen to her. I understood that these clients put their trust in me to be their provider and listen to them. I wanted this project or situation to go my way. When questions, opposition, or confusion came my way, my reality shattered.
I identified my clients as working against me instead of with me.
When I accepted my responsibility as a provider, I understood they were as helpless as my dog.
These people aren’t design experts, or marketers, or whatever as much as you. But this business is not your baby, your business, your property. Although I want every project in my portfolio, it shouldn’t be.
When I accepted my role as a provider and the opposition headed my way, I gathered my strategies and explained my decisions. I didn’t let my client walk on top of me like some paved brick road. By contrast, we walked on this path together. I implemented changes to how I presented and explained options. I walked through decisions and proposals with them. I laid out a map with patience as my guide and understanding as my way north. We set sail for mutual respect and assurance, and I captained them as a provider.
I started transforming my undesirable clients into returning investments. Not every project will progress my way, but projects can include patience and understanding.
What once was disconnect became a rejuvenation of support and love with my dog. I received more support and recognition from her that I was making a difference.
Allow yourself to learn and take a step away from being the opposition. You might learn to listen to your dog.
