Gridlock - SEO News: Six Revisions on Talking to Your Clients

A fantastic article from Six Revisions:

We know all too well the common and frustrating design scenarios clients present us with, such as wanting us to stretch images disproportionally, cramming as much information as possible in a small space so that you need a magnifying glass to read the text, or brushing off design best practices. Yet we seem to always have the same flat rebuttals to throw back, and furthermore, we repeat them time and time again.

I’d like to share with you two quotes that have helped me deal with getting my ideas across to clients.
"Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I might remember. Involve me and I will understand."

- Chinese Proverb
"You only need three guiding principles: show up, tell the truth and be on time."

- Brian Matt, Founder/CEO, Altitude, Inc.
I’ve come to realize that in order to drive the point home, you have to evolve your method of communication. From the two quotes above, I have narrowed down four key points that we should always keep in mind when briefing and dealing clients.
Be Honest, Brief and Direct

Be Honest, Brief and Direct

Your relationship with a client can be compared to any other relationship: if there is no trust, you will not be able to communicate effectively. I urge you to let clients know before signing a contract that–as a professional designer–you have boundaries, that you will be very candid in your responses, and most importantly, that you are offering design consulting as a service, not as a thoughtless product factory.
Say something like this:

"I don’t believe this will be effective to reach your goal, it will actually hinder it – I’ll tell you why, and then show you how we can improve on your concept."
Instead of humoring your client like this:

"Um… yeah that won’t be a problem, I’m sure I can get it to work…oops, no it didn’t work, let’s go back and maybe try something else?"

You grab their attention by stating your point first, elaborating on it briefly, and then summing it up with a positive note. By doing this, you get your main concern or idea across without wasting your breath on details or redoing a mock-up because you were too passive.

Identify a problem and present alternative solutions and ideas.