Are you “yessing” your clients because you are afraid to give honest feedback? Is it possible you are short changing them by doing this? Is it possible they actually WANT and NEED your honest opinions? In this video I discuss Why, When, and How to deliver constructive criticism so it’s not only heard, but appreciated.
hey everybody welcome backi’m adam clairmont and this is the adam clairmont show where i talk about how tobuildand grow your career in the business ofaudioand i want to give you actionable tipson how to do just thatand before we begin the first thing i’dlike to give youis a free gift if you’ve ever looked atanother person who does what you do andthought man i love their clients i’dlove to work with a client like that orman they get the best projects i don’treally know how to get those projectshead over to adamclairmont.com/clientlist i’ve got a free guide thatwill walk you through step by step andhow to get those clients and how tobuild your client listget the better projects that you’relooking for okay so head over there iwant you to have it it’s free it takes30 seconds it’ll end upright in your inbox today all right sowith this video i want to go overconstructive criticismthe how the when and the why to deliverit and i find this is kind of funnyyou know i’ve noticed that some peoplesort of tiptoe around the idea ofactually disagreeing with their clientwith someone who’s paying them to do ajoband i want to debunk all those thingsbecause i’m a huge proponent oftelling the truth being honest and youknow deliveringwhat you’re paid to do which is you knowbring your expertiseall right so we’re going to talk aboutthe how the when and the whyall right so why don’t we start with thewhywhy should you deliver constructivecriticismwell first of all it’s my belief that ifyou’re paid to do a jobpart of that job is to be honest and todeliver thevery best of you and your abilities aspossiblethat does not mean you sit there and youyesyour client to death i hate it whenpeople do that to mei want to hear honest opinions ii want to get better i want to deliverthe best that i canso when i’m working with someone elseand all they have to say is yeah that’sgreat idea adamyou’re so smart very good very good iget really annoyed very fast because iknowa that’s a bunch of crap they’re notbeing honestand two there’s probably a bettersolution out there i’m not always goingto have the best ideas every single timeit’s a collaborative ever i trulybelievewith the best projects you’re going tocollaborate to get the bestwork out of everyone so whybecause it’s part of the job rightif i have a client who’s doing somethingand they don’t do it to the best oftheir ability orto it doesn’t uh stack up to thepotential of the projecti need to speak up it’s my duty ibelieve actuallyto speak up and say hey you know whatthis is probably not the best way to goand here’s why you know and then givethem a reasonright the reason to give constructivecriticismthe why is because it is our duty if weare being paid to do a jobwe need to do it to the best of ourability all right so that’s the whybecause you shouldright they’re paying you to be theirtrustedadvisor right it’s not just to deliver aservice you’re a partnerright okay so there’s your why let’stalk aboutwhen you can deliver constructivecriticismbefore we talk about when let’s talkabout when not toyou’re not going to start criticizingyour client the moment you meet themthat’s probably going to turn intosomeone who is not your clientoh nice to meet you you know i saw yourlast project i really thought it was apile of crapyou know you should have done this andshould have done that that’s a littleaggressiveright so when when do we deliverconstructive criticismwe deliver it when we’ve gained trustokay so when are we getting the trustwell it’s it’s part of doing yourhomework so you’re going to create agenuine and a positive workingrelationship and atmosphere every timeyou’re with this clientyou’re going to show enthusiasm it needsto be genuine all right people can smellfake people a mile awayit needs to be genuine you need to lovewhat you do you need to be genuine aboutwanting to help these peopleright in this client to serve on thisproject right it’s not ours it’s someoneelse’s we want to serve we want to bringitto the highest levels possible whichshould excite you because that meansthat you’re now attachedto a great project with a great clientwith a great partnerright so do the homework show theenthusiasmshow the investment and the commitmentthat stuff is contagiousright when you kind of bring thatatmosphere when you bring that energyit’s contagious and the people aroundyou want to rise to that energyso now you have a client who sees howexcited you are they get more excitedand they want to do even better andsupport youwhich then you support them it’s a greatcycle right so you got to develop thattrust that excitementand when someone is on your side andthey they see the work that you’reputting into it they’re willingto listen to you okay no one is going tolisten to you if all you bring isnegative energy right if you don’tdevelop that trust if you don’t take thetime to nurture the relationship nurturethe client nurture the projectthen really your word doesn’t have thevaluethat it should right so think about thatfor a minute that is thewhen that’s the homework that you havewith every client to developthe trust to get to the point wherethey’re going to listen to what you haveto say so when you have something to saythatis maybe a little negative you know itcomes from a good place and theyunderstand that they don’t view as anattackthey’re not going to view it asaggressive they’re going to be all earsbecause they trustyou and they’re paying you for this kindof advisementright in this kind of leadershipso that’s what you need to bring to allrightokay so lastly let’s talk about the howall right so we know when right we’regoing to do ituh when we’ve developed the trust rightwe know why why because they’re payingusfor this advisement and for thiscriticism but how do we deliver it in away that it is received and appreciatedfor what it is which is someone who hasa thought abouthow to make the project better thisisn’t an attack on anyone’s ideasor performance or strategies or pastanythingthis is an idea on how to make theproject betterokay it’s called the compliment sandwichtop layer of bread something positiveyou’re leading with something positivethe meat in the middle is your criticismand underneath you’re going to putanother piece of bread which isending on a positive note but alltogether compliment sandwich sosomething like this hey i really lovethe energy you brought yesterday i thinkwe didgreat work the project is really headingin a fantastic direction i’m reallyexcitedyou know what i think about this onespot over here though i think we need tobring it up to that same levelthat we had of the work that we didyesterday so what if we tweaked this toget it up thereyou know because i’m not so sure thatit’s working the way that it isand if we do that then i thinkeverything you know i’m really happywith the direction that we’re headedyou’re doing great i know you can nailthis so i think that we’re in a reallygood position right nowso i started with something positivesomething that reinforced the work thatthey’ve doneand reinforced the the positiveprojection of the projectand then i mentioned i’ve got someconcerns over here and i’m not so surethatwhere that part is headed is going to bethe best for the projectit’s not really stacking up with wherewe’ve beenand then i finished with and i think wecan get it there you know so thepositivityyou know ending on a positive note is ithink if we make that changei think we’re gonna be where we need tobe okay so people are a lot morereceptive to those kinds of criticismwhen you’re just positive around it youknow you don’t want to go heyall right first thing like again it goesback to doing the homeworkyou know um you’re not going to meetsomeone for the first time and go boomboom boom boom justhit him one thing after anothersomething negative no you need todevelop the trustit’s the same thing even after you’vedeveloped the trust you know you want tocontinually reinforceright the positive the positive attitudesoyou know talk about the good stuffthat’s important because we want thatexcitement we mentioned the excitementwe constantly want that excitement at ahigh level all right if we’re alwaystalking about just the bad stuffman your client may never realize thatyou’re actually excited about theproject that you actually think it’sgoing a good directionall they’re hearing is negative they maythey might think you’re not doing yourjob they’re going to think they’re notdoing a good jobthey may think this is not a good fitand they could terminate the whole thingright i would hate for that to happen soanyway you’ve heard you’ve heard thewhole thing now the how the whenand the why and remember the why this isimportant don’t be someone who justyeses people don’tlet well enough lie it can be betterrightif you’re not satisfied chances are theclient isn’t satisfied but if you actlike it’s fine they’re going to be likewelli guess they’ll move on or they’re justgoing to start to lose that trust in youso remember that why why because it’spart of our dutyokay so that’s all i’ve got for youtoday i would love to hear in thecommentswhat you think if you’ve had a client inthe past where you’ve been tentativeabout delivering constructive criticismyou know let me hear about it iappreciate you guys checking this videoout i hope this has beenreally helpful for you and please hitthe subscribe button hit thenotification bell make sure you don’tmissany of the videos and even if you’realready subscribed make sure you hit acomment because every time i see acommentit elevates the whole channel youtubeloves it helps me out and helps othersbuying these videoswho can then you know get some value outof them so please leave a commentlet me know what you’re thinking even ifit’s a hello i’d love to see them allright don’t forget that free gift adamclairmont.com/clientlist and yeah that’s itall right i’ll see you guys next time
Adam Clairmont 