Points of Trust

Your creative business depends on your ability to identify, create and manage your points of trust with your client.  Any interaction you have with your clients should have a specific goal of building, sustaining or reinforcing trust, not only in your art, but also in your creative business’ ability to deliver the art. Creative businesses stand apart because of this need to build two levels of trust.  Organizations that deliver a set product or service can focus solely on their process to support the customer and not on their ability to create the product in the first place.  Think Apple, Amazon and Zappos.

Establishing your ability as an artist AND your creative business’ ability to produce the art is very tricky.  Place too much emphasis on the art and not the art of the business, and the inevitable missteps you make (everyone makes mistakes) will likely overwhelm the beauty of the art.  On the other hand, overemphasizing the business can give your client the (mistaken) impression that your art has no soul or, worse, is a commodity.  In the Internet age, where everybody on the planet hears every voice, I am not sure you can take the risk of underwhelming your client because you did not establish and maintain her trust in your art or business.

All of which leads me to the importance of your presentation of your vision to your client.  It goes without saying that this is the key moment for you to cement your client’s trust in you as an artist.  They will either love what you have in mind, feel like you got them or they won’t.  Much more subtle though is that the presentation is also the moment where you have to switch roles – becoming a business owner first, artist second.  How you manage this transition and the flow of art to business and back are what will set the tone for the remainder of your relationship with your client.  A presentation done well makes the hand-off seamless, allows the client to see your business’ path to completion and cements the foundation of trust in both your art and your business.  A presentation done poorly (regardless of how good your art is) leaves your client with doubts of your ability to do what she hired you to do.

Like everything else, simultaneously presenting both creative ideas and the business behind the ideas takes practice, patience and a willingness to be dead wrong.  For instance, I am often guilty of going too fast.  I try to do too much in too short a time and jump to business before my creativity has had time to marinate.  It can leave the person across from me excited, yes, but also overwhelmed, confused and alienated.  Grounding myself, asking questions, engaging in related dialogue is what I need to do more of, not less.  I have to let go of the idea that everything has to be covered in order for the presentation to be a success.  Sometimes it is the single note that speaks louder than the whole song.  Even after 20+ years of presenting my ideas, it is still very much a work in progress.

Improving your skill at simultaneously presenting your art and business process may not be the answer to all of the problems confronting your creative business today, but it will probably go a long way with many of them.