Clients Judge Your Work by What They Can See

Imagine a personal trainer named Dominic who has spent 12 years helping clients get strong again after knee surgery. Renata, a trainer in the same town, has worked with clients for two years.

Mrs. Halvorsen has a new knee, and her surgeon has told her to find a trainer. She emails Dominic and Renata, and she asks each of them how they would work with her.

Dominic replies that night from his phone. “Hi Mrs. Halverson, thanks for your email,” he writes. “I have Tuesday and Thursday mornings free, so let me know which one works for you.”

His reply spells her name wrong. It does not answer her question, and it gives no price.

Renata replies the next morning. She spells Mrs. Halvorsen’s name right and describes the first month of training in three short paragraphs. Then she gives her price and two times she is free that week.

Mrs. Halvorsen has not watched either trainer work. She cannot tell that Dominic knows far more about knees than Renata does. She can only compare the two replies.

She books a first session with Renata, and she does not write back to Dominic.

Every client is in the same position as Mrs. Halvorsen before they hire a professional. The work they are paying for has not been done yet, so they judge it by what they can see.

So make everything a client sees before they hire you as careful as your work.

People expect what looks good to work well

In one experiment, people used a computer program that worked like a cash machine. Some versions of the program looked better than others, and some were easier to use.

Before they used the program, the people who thought it looked good also thought it would be easy to use. After they used it, people still rated the better-looking versions as easier to use. Whether a version was easy or hard to use made no difference to their ratings.

A client who is choosing a professional often judges the professional in a similar way. Before the job, the client cannot tell whether your work will be good. The client can tell in a minute whether your reply is careful and whether your jacket fits. So the client is likely to expect careful work after a careful reply, and careless work after a careless one.

Some professionals can show a client photos of past jobs. A florist can show last month’s wedding, and a photographer can show a whole album. Those photos give the client something more to judge by.

A tutor or a coach has no photos of results to show. So their reply, their website, and the first meeting are almost all the client has to go on.

The less of your past work a client can see, the more the client relies on everything else.

People like what is easy to take in

Psychologists have proposed that the easier something is to see and understand, the better it looks to the person looking at it.

So looking good to a client does not have to mean looking expensive. A plain page that is easy to read is likely to look better than a fancy page that is hard to read.

Suppose a private chef sends a sample menu with five dishes and plenty of space around each one. That menu is easier to take in than a page crowded with 20 dishes. A home organizer’s estimate is easier to take in when the total is easy to find.

The same goes for a room where you meet clients. A studio with a clear table is easier to take in than a studio stacked with boxes.

So before you add anything to a proposal or a room, take out what the client does not need.

A wedding photographer tells others to dress well before the wedding day too

Catherine Guidry, a wedding photographer in New Orleans, coaches other wedding photographers. In a post on her blog, she tells them how to dress. “Do not show up to a wedding in a t-shirt and blue jeans,” she writes. “Wear nice slacks, a dress, or a suit.”

She tells them to dress professionally for the early calls and meetings with a couple too, “whether that’s in person or via Zoom.”

She also writes that a client makes up their mind fast. The way you present yourself tells a client “instantly” whether to think of your service as a luxury one. The client often does not know they are doing it, she adds.

So for a first meeting, she tells photographers to “show up prepared and on time (if not early).” She also tells them to speak and write “with full sentences and clear language.”

On the wedding day, she tells photographers to arrive early and introduce themselves to the whole wedding party. She and her team have often had a good conversation with the mother of the bride or the best man. Later, she writes, they have “gotten a call years down the line with a referral from them.”

A wedding’s photos do not exist until the wedding is over. The mother of the bride and the best man can see how the photographer dresses and how she talks to them.

So before a client hires you, take the care Guidry asks for. Dress well for the meeting, arrive early, and write to the client in full sentences, even when you type on your phone.

A wedding adviser says wealthy clients care more about fit than about labels

Liene Stevens, who founded a firm that advises wedding businesses, writes about a common belief. The belief is that you have to “look luxury to sell luxury.” She calls that belief a myth.

Wealthy clients are not fooled when someone tries to pass as one of them, she writes.

Her advice is that you do need to look “well put together and well groomed,” whatever your personal style is. If you must choose between a designer dress and tailoring a cheaper one, “spend your money on the tailor.”

“When hiring, wealthy clients will notice a chipped manicure or an outfit that doesn’t fit,” she writes, “but they typically are not swayed by the Prada or Loewe label on your bag.”

So spend on fit and grooming before you spend on a label. Have one jacket tailored, press your shirt, and check your nails and your shoes before a first meeting.

A Hamptons broker takes charge of how every house he sells is photographed

Tim Davis, a real estate broker in the Hamptons, has more than 40 years of experience. Robb Report named him one of the 21 best real estate specialists.

He is so hands-on, the magazine writes, that he practically directs every photo shoot himself. He is also “picky about listings he accepts,” so that the houses he sells are consistent with each other.

The magazine adds that he has sold more than $5 billion of property and is known for his marketing.

A homeowner who is choosing a broker cannot see how their own house will be sold. The homeowner can see the houses Davis is selling now and how each one is photographed.

If you show photos of past jobs, look at them as one set, the way a client might. Keep the photos that are well taken and that show the work you want to do next. Take out the rest, even when the job itself went well.

Why spending on a logo first goes wrong

Imagine an event planner named Corinne who pays a designer for a new logo and orders thick business cards with gold edges. She writes each proposal by copying her last one and changing the details.

Mr. Abara is planning a party for his parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. He meets Corinne at a friend’s dinner, and she hands him her card. He puts the card in his pocket. Before he leaves, he asks her to send a proposal.

Two days later, Corinne emails her proposal. Mr. Abara reads it that evening. On the second page, the proposal calls the party “the Whitaker wedding.”

He shows the page to his wife. “If she doesn’t check her own proposal,” he says, “will she check the caterer’s order?” The next week, he hires another planner.

Corinne has spent her money on a logo and business cards, and she has left another client’s name in her proposal.

So fix every mistake a client could find before you spend money on a logo or business cards.

Taking care over what a client sees is not pretending

Paying attention to how your reply and your clothes look can feel shallow. It can also feel like pretending to be richer than you are.

Looking careful is different from looking rich. Wealthy clients know that the people they hire are not as rich as they are, as Stevens points out. A jacket that fits and a reply with no mistakes show a client that you pay attention to detail.

A careful reply is also more honest than a careless one. Dominic is careful with his clients’ knees, and his reply tells Mrs. Halvorsen the opposite. If he spells her name right and answers her question, she sees something true about him.

Most of these fixes cost time instead of money. A reply in full sentences takes a few more minutes, and a tailor costs less than a designer bag.

How to make what a client sees as careful as your work

1. List everything a new client sees from you before they hire you, in the order they see it. A tutor’s list might be her website, her reply to a parent’s first email, a phone call, and a trial lesson.
2. Next to each item, write down any mistake a client could find in it. The mistake might be a misspelled name, a sentence left over from another client, or a price that is hard to find.
3. Fix every mistake on the list before you spend money on any item. A logo or a business card comes last.
4. For anything a client reads, check five points. The client’s name is spelled right. Every question the client asked is answered. Every sentence is a full sentence. No wording is left over from another client. The price and the next step are easy to find.
5. Reply to a first message the way you would write a short letter. For example, a private chef can write, “Dear Mrs. Bennett, thank you for your note. I would be glad to cook for your dinner on the 14th. My fee for 12 guests is $2,400, and I will send you a menu by Thursday. Is there anything your guests cannot eat?”
6. Before a first meeting, put on clothes that fit and look yourself over in a mirror. Then leave early enough to arrive before the client does.
7. If clients come to you, stand in the doorway and look at the room as a client would. Take out everything that has nothing to do with that client’s visit.
8. If you show photos of past jobs, look through them as one set. Take out the photos that do not show the work you want to do next.

Next: You will see why some clients hire you to reward themselves, and how to serve them without mentioning the reward.