RELATE TO CLIENTS ON A BUSINESS LEVEL – 3655C Teacher: Tony Whittingham
Welcome to the subject “Relate to Clients on a Business Level”. Dealing with clients is a common and important activity for workers in the digital content industry. Developing an understanding of the needs of clients and being responsive to those needs is an essential requirement for providing quality products and services. A „designer‟ can have a wide range of clients from different sources. Their will be internal clients from within the company who may require advice, services e.g. the sales department. Their will be external clients who the designer may deal with directly e.g. a restaurant, or indirectly via another business e.g. via an advertising agency. Their will be clients, referred to as suppliers, who the designer will deal with to obtain products and services e.g. office equipment suppliers. The relationships with these clients and suppliers may be based on informal communications e.g. visits, phone calls or a formal agreement, known as a Service Level Agreement (SLA) that specifies what the outcome of the relationship will be and the costs involved e.g. the provision of a series of animations, a monthly update of a website.
This subject will provide you with knowledge and tools to identify and establish a client network and develop and maintain business relationships within that network that will significantly contribute to your success and the success of your company. In the first module you will create a client database, identify communication channels, create a client focused mission statement and commence liaison with your „clients‟. In the second module you will complete a needs analysis for your clients, identify the Critical Success Factors for successful client relations, design an online survey to obtain client feedback and use the Kano model to introduce the wow factor in your provision of client services.
In the third module you will apply negotiation skills in developing a client‟s Service Level Agreement, identify the costs involved in servicing this agreement and prepare a Return On Investment report for the client.
In the fourth and final module you will develop a set of quality assurance procedures that will ensure quality outcomes in all your company‟s dealings with clients and a range of feedback mechanisms to enable your company to maintain effective client relations.