The Importance of Open Communication with Clients

About 5 years into Kevin’s first business, he started to take on bigger projects outside of his wheelhouse. In episode 219 of Journey to $100 Million, listen in to Kevin as he shares how one of these projects didn’t go as planned, and how he went about handling this situation. One of Kevin’s projects was for a large organization and required designing a website, which posed a challenge for Kevin as it was more complex than other work he had done. However, based on his research, proposal, and eagerness for a challenge, he took on the project. The desired website required things such as a membership portal, a classified section, and advertising. The project was successful at first as the requirements were met and the design was receiving positive feedback. However, soon after, Kevin ran into a few problems. When Kevin got into the complexity of the membership portal and setting up different systems needed for the site, he found the workload to be overwhelming. There were various requests from the client regarding the website during this time as well. Kevin, being young and not an expert project manager, found himself in a predicament as he did not want to reach out to the client and say “No, this is out of scope” and seem unprofessional. This was a stressful situation as he and his team had been working extremely hard in order to keep this client happy, but realized they were not being as profitable as they’d hoped. Eight months into this project, Kevin made the decision to go to the company’s board meeting and communicate about the status of the project. When Kevin arrived, he was told that the board members were surprised he had the guts to show up, knowing that the client was unhappy with the progress being made. Regardless, he knew he had to go to ensure that everyone was on the same page and gain a further understanding of what could be done in order to make sure this project would get finished. After the meeting, this project was back on track; some aspects were cut out and fine-tuned which allowed them to come up with a final scope that made sense and worked. All in all, when problems arise during a project, you must own up to mistakes and be open with the client, company or individual. It is important to always be communicative and keep focusing your energy on completing the project to the best of your ability. If you have a project that isn’t going as planned, communication is the best thing you can do to help the situation and come to a resolution. — Erik J. Olson is an award-winning digital marketer & entrepreneur. The Founder & CEO of Array Digital, he is also the host of the Journey to $100 Million Flash Briefing and daily podcast, and the organizer of the Marketers Anonymous monthly meetups. — Kevin Daisey is an award-winning digital marketer & entrepreneur. He started his first company when he was just 23, and is the Founder & CMO of Array Digital. Kevin is also the co-host of the Journey to $100 Million Flash Briefing and daily podcast, and the co-organizer of the Marketers Anonymous monthly meetups.