How to be Likable (around your client) (when you are not that likable)

 I am not the most likable person. People don’t just come to me and want to be my best friend. But having worked at an agency and dealt with so many clients, I’ve found a way to be more likable when I need to be. So, as the giphy says:

Maybe just a tiny bit more popular than where you are right now. I like being sarcastic but I will try to hold it back in this article. Here goes the tips:

1. Know what your client wants

Put yourself in your clients’ shoes. Think about what matters the most for your client. Is it going into the weeds to find that keyword that drove the conversion growth from last week? Is it a smooth campaign launch free of error? What will be a good takeaway for your client to bring to their boss? Oftentimes it can be all of these or just in a certain area. I’ve worked with people who love how I stay on top of things. When they’re talking about A, I would already have reports or links supporting A ready to screenshare. I’ve also worked with people who like to learn about new betas as soon as they release. So I share the updates with my client, even though we might not be able to test at the moment. 

2. Go the extra mile

If your client asks for A, don’t just deliver A but also B and C and whatever relates to the assignment. It could be alternatives, or it could be additional insights you gathered. A good mindset to have is to think about what makes you unique. What is this unique value you can provide that nobody else can? Why does your client have to work with YOU, and not another person who also knows digital marketing?

Even if you’re not able to deliver beyond what is asked for every time, thinking about how to go an extra mile will make your job more challenging and interesting. You’re not just helping your client to succeed. You’re also unconsciously pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone. To go above and beyond. 

3. Careful about your promises. Set the right expectations. 

This is something I learned the hard way. As an overachiever, sometimes I overpromise on things I am actually not able to deliver. Sometimes I didn’t want to say no to let my client down or I thought I could stretch to get things done, so I committed to projects but failed to complete. Then everyone is upset.

Clients I’ve worked with are mostly quite understandable (as I sure hope all clients are like that). If I had let them know I needed more time or I needed their help to re-prioritize the million projects we already have, then they would have a better sense of what to expect. Whenever I don’t feel confident about a request can be done as requested, I raise my concern as soon as I can. I still need to remind myself of this every once in a while though. 

4. Go with the flow

I was going to put ‘connect on a personal level’. But then it hit me, oh, I’ve never really done it before so can’t speak for it. What I really do is just go with the flow. If the person I work with likes to share about themselves, I listen to him/her. If the person I work with likes to go straight to the business, I start going through the agenda. The key is to be flexible and just do what you have to do. 

These are just several things I learned from my client service experience. But honestly, these can be useful for any work settings. I hope this article provides some inspiration for your workstyle.