When creating a custom eLearning course, your client is not just the decision-maker or the negotiator. Ultimately, the participants are the clients. Will the participants pick up the phone and give you feedback? No. Their feedback will go up the ranks to their supervisors, managers, curriculum coordinators, and finally to your liaison team.
Feedback is a neutral word. You want positive feedback; we all do. Negative feedback is intrinsically valuable because it drives focus, resolution, and success. After resolving those feedback issues, ask yourself what you learned. Perhaps all of your future eLearning courses will be more enriching. Perhaps your operational processes are improved for all clients. In the eyes of your client, your ability to improvise or innovate quickly makes you a valuable partner. That's a win-win.
Support your client at every stage, especially their designers and Subject Matter Experts. They are as essential to the vision and content as you are. Listen, learn, and enjoy mutual respect. Who is loading your custom courses into their company's LMS catalog? Who is their resource who knows all about SCORM, AICC, Tin Can API, and xAPI? Who is confirming that each course is available? Your client. You can even build a relationship with the accounting staff by confirming that your invoices meet their needs and are easy to process.
You can't do it alone; empower your team to provide customer care, too. The knowledge gained by empathy will build exceptional eLearning courses. By satisfying all of your clients, you will retain your client for many projects in the future.
Five Tips To Build A Long-Term Relationship With Custom Clients
1. Ask For Five Samples Of Content
With one sample, they will likely choose the easiest one that they can access to share with you. With a wider sampling, you may find content that requires different handling. You need to be sure that you can create what they want, without any surprises, while accurately estimate your time to meet deadlines and making a profit.
2. Pamper Your Subject Matter Experts
Their expertise is needed, not their knowledge of formatting, style guides, or grammar.
3. Avoid The Lead-In Phrase: "I Think''
"I think" should be avoided because it can be interpreted as judgmental or contentious. Try "I believe", when introducing a suggested change.
4. Design Smart Goals
This involves any goal (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based) that you can share with your client. Their deadlines may be very tight for delivery, which requires them to coordinate and share their status quite often. Sharing the progress will reassure them that they can reach their goals, too.
5. Don't Oversell
Even if you are confident. Otherwise, your spectacular results will become the baseline. Give your team a chance to exceed.