Empowering Your Clients and Be an Advocate for Yourself

@aaronware#wcbos

AND BE AN ADVOCATE FOR YOURSELFPlease put your awesome tagline here

EMPOWER YOUR CLIENTS

AARON WARE

President @ Linchpin Co-Organizer of WordPress RI + WordCamp RI Biz Owner, Plugin Author, Doer of WordPress Nearly 20 Years in the Industry.

@aaronware jetpack.pro/profile/aware

LIL OL' ME

@aaronware#wcbos

WE’RE HIRING 3

HOW MANY WORDS YOU PRESS?

https://linchpin.agency/careers

$

WORDCAMP RI

SEPTEMBER 30TH & OCTOBER 1ST NEW ENGLAND TECH

EAST GREENWICH CAMPUS

TICKETS NOW AVAILABLE! 2016.RHODEISLAND.WORDCAMP.ORG

LET’S GET STARTED

Post Live Relationship Supporting your client and/or

project as needed

Pitch +

Contract Establishing Expertise and

Setting Project Expectations

Kickoff

Putting the plan into action

Doing the

Work Following the plan and

getting all the things done

5@aaronware#wcbos

6

WHY DID THIS PROSPECT COME TO YOU?

@aaronware#wcbos

YOU ARE A PROFESSIONAL + THE EXPERT First and foremost, do not lose sight of this.

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@aaronware#wcbos

SO ACT LIKE ITDress professionally for first meetings, show up on time. Have materials ready before you show up or sceenshare

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@aaronware#wcbos

TRY NOT TO FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE ITtoo much…

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@aaronware#wcbos

YOU ARE NOT LABOR

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@aaronware#wcbos

SETTING EXPECTATIONS STARTS EARLY

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GETTING ON THE SAME PAGE

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deliverables You provide, proposal,

SOW etc..Do A they get B in C time

frame for (D)inero

deviation Effects A,B,C and

potentially D

requirements RFP, User Stories, A

simple email, cocktail napkin, some form of

documentation

What are you and/or your team responsible for

@aaronware#wcbos

@aaronware#wcbos

BUDGET

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@aaronware#wcbos

PITCHING +

NEGOTIATIONshould not be like this

BUT sometimes feels like it

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@aaronware#wcbos

MAYBE MORE LIKE THIS?

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�

LESS FIGHTING AND MORE DANCING

DOLLARS TO DONUTSA non scientific anecdote

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THERE IS A CORRELATION BETWEEN HOW CLOSE A CLIENT IS TO THE DOLLARS THEY SPEND WITH YOU

AND HOW MUCH THEY TRY TO SQUEEZE THE MOST OUT OF SAID DOLLARS*

* DISCLAIMER: I HAVE ZERO DATA TO BACK UP THIS HYPERBOLE

@aaronware#wcbos

Contract You have a contract right?

• Accountability • Protections • Proof of agreement on

deliverables and expectations

A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's written on. - Samuel Goldwyn

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@aaronware#wcbos

CLIENT REQUESTS

CAN ESCALATE OVER TIME

Without expectations*

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How easy is it to?…

Can we just?…

Just one quick thing…

@aaronware#wcbos

IF YOU KEEP SAYING YES

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@aaronware#wcbos

@aaronware#wcbos

IT’S GOLD PLATING

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@aaronware#wcbos

@aaronware#wcbos

KNOW WHO USED TO DO IT A TON?

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@aaronware#wcbos

@aaronware#wcbos

REMEMBER THIS GUY?

@aaronware#wcbos

I WOULD PLATINUM PLATE A TON

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@aaronware#wcbos

@aaronware#wcbos

AND I’M OK WITH THAT

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@aaronware#wcbos

@aaronware#wcbos

EVERYTHING IS NEGOTIABLE

AND IT’S A RELATIONSHIP

Every relationship has give and take

concessions etc

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CHANGE REQUESTS ARE OK

AND IT’S OK TO SAY YES NOT NOW NOT IN SCOPE OR NO

@aaronware#wcbos

DO WHAT YOU THINK IS FAIR & REASONABLE

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@aaronware#wcbos

LET’S RECAPWe spent a bunch of time on just the pitch and if you have a contract

Post Live Relationship Supporting your client and/or

project as needed

Pitch +

Contract Establishing Expertise and

Setting Project Expectations

Kickoff

Putting the plan into action

Doing the

Work Following the plan and

getting all the things done

27@aaronware#wcbos

@aaronware#wcbos

RECONCILIATION AFTER BATTLE!

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@aaronware#wcbos

COLLABORATION OF ALL

STAKEHOLDERSEveryone one

is on the same side

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Marketers

Designers

IT / DevOps

Vendors Copywriters, SEO, Design/Dev

Support, Video Production

Your team

You The expert The Client

Company or Individual

ESTABLISH LINES OF COMMUNICATIONAs set expectations of response times.

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Phone / Text I try to not text too early into a project

unless the client establishes that communication

Slack / Hangouts Hipchat, Campfire, or any of the other

chat can help streamline

Email I’ve tried to cut down on emails with

clients but it’s not going a way

PROCESS LEADS TO CLARITYDon’t have process for the sake of process

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Tasks, Take Aways, Action Items + Check-Ins Everyone involved in the project should have tasks + due dates

goalget to the next

@aaronware#wcbos

EVERYONE AARON?I mean how do I keep track of all that?

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@aaronware#wcbosEVERYONE!

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@aaronware#wcbos

TIME LINE THE PROJECT

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@aaronware#wcbos

TONS OF TOOLS ARE AVAILABLE ONLINE. YOU KNOW GOOGLE

USE ITUse what works for you. Our team uses

Atlasssian Jira sprinkled with google sheets

jira

trello

redboothwunderlist

sheets

asana

basecamp

LET’S RECAPWe’ve established everyone involved, scheduled check-ins. Refined our project plan.

Doing the work is the easy part

Post Live Relationship Supporting your client and/or

project as needed

Pitch +

Contract Establishing Expertise and

Setting Project Expectations

Kickoff

Putting the plan into action

Doing the

Work Following the plan and

getting all the things done

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Familiarity w/ the platform Installed WordPress Have we gotten the client in there?

Create Custom Things Have the client review when stable

Find Bugs Earlier Get some QA

INTRODUCE YOUR CLIENT TO FEATURES

AS YOU GO

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@aaronware#wcbos

There is no need to wait till delivery to do training

GET YOUR CLIENT INTO WORDPRESS

EARLYThis helps gain adoption and

fosters engagement.

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START GO LIVE

AVOIDING INFORMATION OVERLOAD

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“Learning from Aaron @ Linchpin is awesome but sometimes it’s like trying to get a drink from a fire hose. So much information to absorb in rapid fire

Through out the entire process

Mitchel Sliwaphoto by dallas adams

@aaronware#wcbos

REDUCING REPEATED POST

LIVE TRAINING

+ UNFORESEEN USABILITY ISSUES IN

CUSTOM DEV

• feedback earlier

• find bugs earlier

• less gotchas before golive

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0

35

70

105

140

timeline of the project post live

Highest

late arrivalearly adoption

@aaronware#wcbos

GET THE GOT YA BEFORE THEY HAPPEN

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• feedback earlier

• find bugs earlier

• less gotchas before golive

@aaronware#wcbos

EDUCATION DOESN’T HAPPEN OVER NIGHT

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NURTURE THAT SEEDWatch it grow.

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CLIENT SKILLS GROW OVER TIMEClient dependency lowers over time.

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Build Client Skills WordPress Admin (core)

Installed Plugins

Custom Built Plugins

Team work

Theme Adjustments

@aaronware#wcbos

YOU AND YOUR

CLIENT ARE READY!

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START GO LIVE

@aaronware#wcbos

GO LIVE WAS EASY

PROJECT WAS NEGOTIATED, PLANNED, EXECUTED AND LAUNCHED WITH OUT A HITCH

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LET’S RECAPWe’ve established everyone involved, scheduled check-ins. Refined our project plan.

Doing the work is the easy part

Post Live Relationship Supporting your client and/or

project as needed

Pitch +

Contract Establishing Expertise and

Setting Project Expectations

Kickoff

Putting the plan into action

Doing the

Work Following the plan and

getting all the things done

47

@aaronware#wcbos

THE POST LIVE RELATIONSHIP IS UP TO YOUIf you’ve established your expertise, trust and a good working relationship.

Keeping that ongoing is easy

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@aaronware#wcbos

QUESTIONS?

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@aaronware#wcbos

•PROCESS

•TOOLS / APPS / SERVICES

•RECONCILING PROBLEMS

•PROPOSALS AND PITCHING

•WHATEVER

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$

WORDCAMP RI

HOPE TO SEE YOU SEPTEMBER 30TH & OCTOBER 1ST

NEW ENGLAND TECHEAST GREENWICH CAMPUS

TICKETS NOW AVAILABLE! 2016.RHODEISLAND.WORDCAMP.ORG

THANK YOU!