How to pitch politely

Here's a question I've been asked 3 times so far this week and it's only Wednesday.

Q: How do you approach a client that you think needs serious help, whether it's design, copywriting or something else, and pitch your services without offending them?

A: First, you must find out what they think. Design in particular is very subjective. They may think what they've got is good enough and not that important. Or, they may love it what they have. Or they may know it's horrible but just haven't focused their attention on it and taken the time to find someone they trust to help. That may be you. They may be looking and waiting for you to call.

So before you give your opinion, find out where they stand and then base your response on that. Consider offering a critique of their existing materials or process and you can use that as a more formal way of presenting not only your opinion but demonstrating the value of your expertise.

Comments

[Donna B.]

This is a good point about finding out what they think first. You don't know if the person you're talking to is the originator of the work or not. They could take it personally if you're critical of their work or suggesting something new. Or, sometimes it's a family member or close friend who did the work so it can still be a touchy subject. I've saved myself from foot-in-mouth disease on many occasions by treading carefully around the quality of existing work. heh heh I like your idea to offer a critique.

[Helena Lauriala]

Thank you for your website. I really love it and open it always. I work in Finland in Helsinki and feel at times the marketing atmosphere isn´t as developed what comes to networkmarketing.
I would like to ask you a question:
My business is part of a worldwide company and that way there is a chance to people to join my business and company´s business through me. I find hard to find people to join in foreigen countries. As I do have some friends though abroad and they at times send collective emails for example jokes or chains, where you can see all the emailadresses. The question is, how do you see if it´s proper - ok to send an email/advertisment of my business to all the adresslist even though the friend which sent it - has told long ago that she isn´t interested in my business or the products. I would like to as those contacts seem temptive as leads which I get are difficult to get respond. And what would be good to write to such an email ?
thank you
Helena

[Dani Nordin]

This gets especially challenging when working with non-profits, I find. I do a fair amount of work with non-profits, and I have to bite my tongue on so many counts—because generally speaking, these hideous things that the organization is using to promote themselves were done by the person you're talking to!

I tend to ask questions like "what feedback do you get from donors and clients?" and "what kind of donors/clients are you trying to attract?" to get an objective view of where their needs are—that way, I can use that to tell them politely why their current designs aren't working.