PP 279: Step Up Your Communication, Step Up Your Success

Kim Sutton This past weekend, I got a new client who asked me to do an integration between Click Funnels and Infusionsoft and also Facebook ads and Click Funnels. Now this is somebody that I had never worked with before. And I have dealt with communication issues in the past. And based on my work with this client, I thought it was really important to come on today and talk about communication. Before I started the project, I asked the client, do you have your Facebook ad developed? Do you have your picture ready? Do you have your text ready? And the client had responded? Yes. So I figured it was gonna be a really fast job. I am really good at setting up Click Funnels and Infusionsoft and also Facebook ads. But when this is the first time that I’ve worked with this client, I knew that having to add a graphic and text would add a considerable amount of time to the project and I wanted to prepare the client if that was going to be the case. However, after being told that they already had all those developed, I felt good going in knowing that I would be able to get the project done fast. Right away working with the client, there were issues with passwords, the passwords weren’t working. And I don’t know about you, but sometimes when passwords aren’t working, sometimes I feel like I’m doing something wrong even though I know I’m not. It’s really important that we keep our confidence level high and know that we are entering in the information that has been given to us. So three times I had to go back and tell the client that the password wasn’t working. I was a little bit amused when I was sent the same password another time. And again, I had to go back and say this password is not working. Now, regardless of whether you’re a client or a contractor, you have to realize that you always have to do the best at communicating. Yes and no and okay answers may be good in some circumstances. But in my experience, those circumstances are few and far between. Well, I’m not asking you to write out an entire paragraph every time you send a message to somebody, usually more than yes or no is required. After I finished setting up the Click Funnels and Infusionsoft integration, I asked for the picture and for the text for the Facebook ad. What I received was not what I was expecting. If you haven’t set up a Facebook ad in the past, there are certain size requirements, as well as certain text requirements for what can and cannot be included in that. In this case, the client sent me a flyer for the event that was being held and told me to use that for the image. You can’t do that. Images on Facebook ads can have no more than 20% text. So immediately, I realized that I was going to have to create the graphic. When I asked for the text, the client simply told me to use the text that was included in another document that they sent. So that’s what I did. I found an image that would work with the theme of the ad and I pulled the text out of the document and I put the ad together. I made a few suggestions on the audience that I felt would help and I asked if it would be all right to submit the ad. Actually, what I said was, please review the ad and when it’s okay with you let me know and I’ll publish. What I received back was “okay.” Now, okay in that circumstance can mean so many different things. It can mean, okay, I will review the ad or can mean, okay, it’s good. So I went back to the client, and I said, “At the risk of over communicating what does okay mean?” And I laid out the two different descriptions that I just shared with you. Does this mean okay, you’re going to review the ad, or does this mean Okay, it looks good. Go ahead and publish. I don’t think I received a response for six to 12 hours.

 I forgot to mention earlier in this episode that this was a project that had a deadline of that same day. The client wanted this whole integration setup and the Facebook created and launched that day. When you’re setting deadlines like that, you need to make sure that you are accessible and communicating with all your team members and that you are providing the best information that you possibly can. And okay response, in this case not only slowed me down, but then there was the lack of response for another six to 12 hours that slowed me down even further. Unfortunately, we had a couple more glitches along the way, and that Facebook was not liking the content of the ad itself. There were no cuss words, there was no discrimination or segregation. And it was really hard to pinpoint what exactly was making this ad fail their tests immediately. When I suggested to the client that we needed to switch up the ad a little bit, perhaps change out the picture and change up some of the text. I asked them if they had another picture that they would like to try out. And the response was, I don’t know you’re the expert that’s why I hired you. I just laid out a big long sigh. There’s so many things that you can say in circumstances like this, you can blow the lid off and let go all of your frustration on the client or you can simply take a deep breath, compose something that’s not erate and send the client that instead. And that is what I did. A couple more days have gone by since the client initially wanted that ad out and the last message I received was wondering if we should change up the audience a little bit further. I sent back my suggestions and asked the client to let me know if they would like me to change the audience up. I haven’t received a response back yet. I guess my point on this whole episode is always make sure that you’re communicating at the highest level that you possibly can. Sometimes your highest level of communication will mean more words, sometimes that won’t, but be succinct, get your point across, give direction, and keep the project moving forward. If your lack of words is going to hold up progress, then add a couple more. Now with all this said, go forth and make it a positive and productive day.