The right way to tell clients they’re wrong
Clients come and go, but the good ones often stick with you for your honesty, integrity and efficiency. When your visions don’t align right away, don’t give up. Employ these approaches.
In PR, it’s usually good to be direct with everyone you work with.
Once, however, after I offered unvarnished—and fairly negative—feedback to a prospective PR client about his organization’s branding, an associate cautioned me for being too frank.
The prospect was planning a luxury product launch, but the brand didn’t carry an upscale image. Although my colleague agreed, I was scolded for telling him “his baby” was ugly.
He hired us a month later, and although the branding didn’t change as much as we would have liked, we reached a compromise and helped him achieve a successful launch in a local market.
In PR, honest feedback promotes transparency, and most PR executives would agree that honesty also promotes trust. Both are key to a successful relationship. RELATED: Leadership Communicators — Join our new LinkedIn group and get FREE tips and strategies on executive communications.
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