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How do your clients contact you?
I had a client contact me today for small tweeks to a edit.
They first called my office phone for an initial conversation.
They then emailed me a revised script with more direction.
A half hour later, they called my cell phone for another conversation.
And just now, I received a text message to hold everything; the end client is making more changes.I’m holding out as long as I can for a smart phone, but those days may be numbered.
What do your clients use most often to contact you in your business?
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11 Replies
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90% of the time it’s a phone call, the rest of the time it’s an email.
That’s for existing clients we already work with.
With new clients, or those making inquiries for the very first time, I’d say it’s pretty much split evenly between phone calls and emails… with a few feedback form submissions from our website thrown in.
I have one particular client that likes to trade texts with me, but that’s concerning projects with him that are already underway. He’s the only one that ever texts.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Sounds pretty normal to me
Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
2-Sony EX-1 HD .Ask me how to Market Yourself using Send Out Cards
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How do we communicate with clients? Any way they want.
New business often comes to us as a lead we need to call. Sometimes the call comes from the prospective client, but rarely.
In a couple of cases in recent years I’ve been approached in person at trade conferences where we have a fairly high profile.
Contact with present and on-going clients can be in-person meetings at their offices or ours, but more often then not it’s by phone. Sometimes email, especially those in different time zones. Media Batch software has greatly cut back on clients feeling like they need to come see things in our place to give “notes.”
Then there are some people, actually an increasing number these days, that prefer to receive and send short text messages. These are best for things like setting up times for phone calls or requests for small things like, “I need a copy of your ____ division’s logo in an .eps format.”Or from them, “In meeting now. Will call after 2.” Or, “Meet at freight dock, not front door.”
Each form of communication has its strengths and I’m not sure we could ever function again without each of them. For God’s sake, GET a decent texting phone! You will wonder how you lived without it.
Oh… and there’s Apple’s relatively recent “Facetime” very simple and very inexpensive visual conferencing. Have only had one mildly joking request to use this, but politely didn’t accept. Mostly because I don’t feel like taking the time and resources to set-up the lighting, audio and background to get to a standard with which I’d be comfortable. But I see that on the horizon.
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I usually get one of these:
or a call:
But if I want to be SURE a client calls me, even if they haven’t made contact in months, all I need to do is wipe his project files off my hard drive and mark everything “completed”, and I can be sure he’ll call with some new changes within 24 hours. It never fails.
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There’s also facebook, linkedin, skype, and sometimes they just stop in. I do believe you have control over it if you discuss with your client. Phone calls with changes I request an email so I have things in writing.
Steve
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amen to that
Andrew Evans
Lake TV
iMac 2.5G Quad 8GB
FCS 3 -
I had a project sit dormant for three years. Called the client and asked the obvious. “thats in distribution. Wipe it” I waited a week before hitting the key. As I watched the progress bar, they called…………
Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
2-Sony EX-1 HD .Ask me how to Market Yourself using Send Out Cards
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70% email; 10% text; 10% in person; 10% phone. I gave up my cell phone several months ago. I transferred my business # to a Line2 account, so now my phone is on my iPod. Unlimited calling & texting (over Wi-Fi) for $9.95 a month. Sweet.
Jason Jenkins
Flowmotion Media
Video production… with style! -
I usually get booked with a call but after that it’s all emails. I get the script via, email, they often drop off elements then cruise, and today, I email an approval or two, and today, 95 percent of my fullfillment is an upload.
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Mostly emails, a few phonecalls or skypes, here.
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PatrickOrtman, Inc.
Los Angeles Digital Agency and Video Production Company
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