How to Talk to Non-Tech Savvy Clients
Learning how to carry out a compelling conversation with your non-tech-savvy client is a crucial skill that all freelancers must possess, especially if you want to keep a steady cash flow.
This article will go through some strategies on how to talk jargon with your clients in such a way that you can maintain their attention and give an accurate picture of what they really need to understand.
Fish for an estimate of their expertise
So you know how much explanation is needed for certain terms, you must first try to determine the client’s starting knowledge. This can be done indirectly by using “fishing techniques”.
For example, you could bring up a generic question in one of your earlier conversations related to your industry. If you worked in the web design industry you could ask your client in passing “Hey, what is your preferred web browser?” or “What operating system do you use?”.
What you are trying to find out is whether or not they know the basic terms of your industry, if they have a knowledge of the industry, if they have any experience with it, how comfortable they are with technology and whether they can engage with the topic at hand.
Some more questions could be:
- If you worked in graphic design industry: “Do you use Adobe Photoshop or any other image editing software?
- If you worked in the programming industry: “Do you subscribe to any RSS feeds?”, “How familiar are you with the programming process?”
- If you worked in the writing industry: “What are some websites / authors you read regularly?”
- If you worked in the illustration industry: “Have you ever worked with an Illustrator before?”
Don’t Underestimate Their Knowledge
Let’s imagine that you are a blogger and you’ve just asked another blogger if they know what RSS feeds are. They would most probably laugh in your face or worse, get offended. That is what you’ve got to avoid. You can do this by not underestimating your client’s knowledge. Don’t patronise them.
As quoted in Freelance Switch’s 12 breeds of clients and how to work with them, make sure you balance the playing field by asking for their input in the areas they know about, i.e. their business. This will keep them happy and stop them feeling the need to weigh in on your area of expertise, which can waste everybody’s time.
If you’re unsure of their grasp on a particular subject, don’t assume they know nothing. Ask fishing questions and judge by their reactions whether or not you’ve explained enough. This is even easier if you are in a face to face interview.
Keep It Simple & Slow
Once you know their level of knowledge you’ll start to gather an understanding of how deeply you need to explain the job at hand. Explain in plain English, use examples, keep it simple, keep it slow and don’t overwhelm your client with technical jargon or over-the-top explanations. There is no reason to explain how you are going to do something, you should be telling the client why you’re doing it and what it will do for them.
When you visit a doctor and he uses unfamiliar medical terms, don’t you hate that? But when he slows down, provides a good explanation in plain English and shows you diagrams from a book, he accomplishes his task of communicating with you more effectively. This is what we need to do as freelancers: slow down, provide examples and talk in familiar terms.
Talk In Terms Of Results
As mentioned above, explain to the client why and what you are doing for them, not how you are doing it. Talk in terms of results — this will keep them listening and they will be more appreciative of the job you are
doing for them.
For example, when trying to describe the importance of standards-compliant XHTML, you could say: “Standards-compliant XHTML ensures that the website’s code is valid and supported by most modern web browsers. In the end, that means less maintenance and fewer customer support enquiries due to elements of the website not working on certain browsers.” It is still technical but it gives them the results of your efforts.
You could also go for a more simple approach and say “I will optimise the code so that you will get the best Google rankings possible and make your site viewable for as long as possible into the future, by the widest possible array of users.”
Pause or Ask for Questions
If you leave pauses in between your explanations this will encourage your client to clarify or ask a question. Behave as if you’re always willing to answer any question, no matter how simple or stupid it may sound. If they ever seem confused or remain silent, ask them “Should I explain further?” or if you’re writing via email, tell them that you’re “happy to answer any question that you may have”. (I had a similar experience a couple of days ago where the shop attendant at a bike store treated me in the most condescending way imaginable for not knowing whether my bike took short valves or long valves. The only result of the exchange was that he lost a customer. Never make your clients feel stupid, even if their questions are! — Ed.)
Put Things In Writing & Share Resources
Non-Tech-Savvy people like things in writing as they can read and re-read it at their own pace and get familiar with the terminology and even research the topic themselves. This is a great time to share with your client any resources that may be relevant. For example, you could provide a link to the Wikipedia explanation of unfamiliar terms or even provide an eBook on the topic at hand.
Use Familiar References
A great way to relate information to clients is by using scenarios and situations that are pertinent to their background. Be creative, make analogies funny, and most of all, use them to relay complex concepts. To illustrate with a satirical example: if you were talking to a photography enthusiast, you could say “using tables instead of div’s for a page layout is as bad as a decision as using Photoshop filters on your photos!”
Be Honest
Being honest with your client is a no brainer so try to be honest, sincere and upfront with everything that you do. If they ask you a tricky question, don’t pretend you know everything. Your client will appreciate it if you tell them the truth and say that you will “get back to them later with a full solution.”
Conclusion
You may want to impress your client with the vast amount of knowledge that you have. However, if they do not understand it, then all of your effort is lost. Try to think of the doctor analogy I mentioned earlier… when explaining a concept, slow down, provide examples and talk in familiar terms.
Have you got any other tips on how you effectively communicate with not-so-tech clients?
Jacob Cass is a 20 year old passionate graphic designer from Sydney, Australia. He runs a popular design blog by the name of Just Creative Design which provides graphic design tips, articles and resources.
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This is just what I need. I have just gotten a client who is unsure of the whole website building process, and this post has given me some nice ideas to better talk with him.
I’m not really a freelancer, just merely a worker-in-the-trenches in a small-sized company. From my experience, not only clients need to be talked to in a careful manner, but also peers and people from other departments. Sometimes one has to elicit their knowledge without offending them, same as the freelancers’ clients. Another way of getting that knowledge could be asking the other person open questions and letting her speak. So, instead of asking “Do you use Photoshop or any other image editing software”, ask “How do you think we should edit that image”? This may get you an idea of the client’s familiarity with the industry you operate in, and may as well get a discussion about implementation details started. Be aware, that It’s just an idea, I haven’t had any chance to try it myself.
I needed this. Thanks.
Well , I got to admit this will make me change some of my stratigies …
I liked that fishing techniques and the way the questions should be asked
Sometimes going deeper into technical details give the client more confedence on the freelancer… but this should be limited or he will get lost and feels like he lost communication.
Great article as usual!
Thanks!
Great article. The principle can apply to print designs and commercial publishing too. Thanks for sharing.
i just recently had a prospect to fill out a word file and email it back to me. He claimed he was not able to figure it out yet he uses the internet and can email. Excuse or truth I can’t care less.
I always try to use analogies whenever possible … preferably relating to their business.
My favorite has to be when I have to explain what a domain name and hosting are:
Domain – your street address
Hosting – your house on that street
Web Design – we decorate your house / furnish it / paint it
I run across this situation all too frequently, it took a while before I knew how to handle these type of clients properly. Thanks for the pointers.
very helpful I got some nice ideas in this article, I do some of this tips…thanks for the info. Jacob
Great article Jacob!
“Never make your clients feel stupid, even if their questions are!” That’s incredibly true.
Yeps, I will use the analogy made by lurch70 about domain name and hosting.
@marcin: “How do you think we should edit that image”? nice suggestion. Will give it a try…
..hit the nail on the head..
I develop sites using Coldfusion and have often found myself singing it’s praises in detail to convince the client that their hosting is going to be more expensive, but that the pros are worth it.. A client isn’t interested in Coldfusion functionality; that’s something which affects my working process, not theirs.
They want their website to work well. That’s it. I’m always better off talking about what it will do, not jibbering on about how…
My favorite thing to hear someone non-tech say is when they ask me to move their CPUs around when they want their computers relocated.
@lurch70 – I like analogies also. I use a phonebook one for domain name/IP explanation.
another way to tell the savvy-ness of your client is by their actions. if a client CALLS you on the phone to tell you that they’re going to send you an email, then maybe they’re not as comfortable with technology as they claim they are (and yes, i’ve have many a client do this).
lurch70 – i like your analogy!
Agree w Lurch, analogies are incredibly useful and I’m going to use the one you posted that is great!
I always assume zero knowledge and tell them that – no one has ever been offended and people are always appreciative. Sometimes people will read bits and pieces online but don’t really have a clear picture, they really appreciate someone starting at square one to bring everything together for them.
One thing that can be difficult is that some people want everything explained and some people feel that it’s a waste of time. You have to get a gauge on how much people want to know, or if you are just boring them.
Great suggestions. I especially agree with the idea that providing information in writing is a good idea. I work with a lot of physicists, and I know it certainly helps ME when they write things down and/or draw diagrams so I can refer to the material later when I forget what my notes meant.
Good stuff. Nowadays people find out for themselves what things are – but don’t really know why. For instance, I once had a client tell me wanted (insert name here).com – to which I told him it was taken, and so were .net and .org so I suggested we find a different domain or fork over the cash for the premiums. He was steadfast on the name, and ended up convincing someone else to get him (name).random extension. It goes without saying, that makes professionalism and Search Engine rankings much more difficult when you have foreign looking domains.
It can get tricky when the client isn’t really interested in knowledge transfer or what goes on “behind the scenes” especially when it comes to the Web. If you’ve ever tried to explain 301 redirection or DNS propagation you now what I’m talking about.
I’ve definitely agree with the results approach. Generally when I did more technical web work, my clients responded best when they knew what their options were, and what potential results or challenges they’d encounter as a result of those options.
Analogies are great as well. I used to talk about selecting SEO keywords in terms of “pantaloons” vs “jeans” and why you wouldn’t optimize for “pantaloons” because it’s not a keyword people often search for.
Or perhaps it’s because I think we should wear more pantaloons.
Great Article!
I always find it best to start with a moderate level of tech talk. By aiming somewhere in the middle, you won’t offend or talk down to the potentially tech savy or intelligent clients. The Luddites will recognize you have expertise in this area. As soon as you start seeing eyes glaze over or hear hesitation in their voice. Start toning it down! That’s the perfect time to start using analogies. Regardless there are two very different clients and each will try to stake a territory of knowledge. The Luddite will over-compensate by trying to show off their special brand of “design expertise” or start weighing in on things they shouldn’t to make them feel important. The tech savy will second-guess your motives and try to move in on your technological ground. Each will try to put their thumbprint on the project.
In both of these cases, show them you know what it takes to get the job done and done right. Stand your ground on either front! You will find, however, that if you let them be the experts in their industry, they will leave you alone when it comes time to weigh-in on yours. Ask them plenty of questions along the way. Make them feel as if they are contributing to the project through every step. I often find that ignoring the client’s expertise can awaken a sleeping giant at the end of the project. Make them feel like it’s their project too.
Nice article Jacob. Hope you’re enjoying your trip.. Nice to see some fellow ozzie blood writing decent stuff online
This is something i learned really early in the piece (working at a web design firm in sydney).. my boss at the time was a wizard when it came to “dumbing things down” as she liked to call it… and spending 3 years working there REALLY helped me master that technique.
Since then it’s been invaluable, being able to talk design with designers, code with programmers and both topics with morons(or technoweenies – depending on which you prefer) is really important to my day to day life as a freelancer.
i have to say i rarely have trouble with the really un-savvy clients – the one’s i find hardest to manage are those summed up by the phrase ‘a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing’! i have had a few now who THINK they know what they are talking about but don’t really have a clue…
right on to this. i got one, very un-tech-savvy, like, i had to walk him/her through checking email. how do you explain Flash when they didn’t know what a text message is…
well, education works. sometimes still, they don’t care. Business types i feel are more geared towards results oriented explanations. If A then B, or if C then D… that whole thing. Some people are really surprising still…
I just tell them the real facts and if they don’t get it, I think at least they understand that I do.
I totally agree on this and what I think is the most important is be patient with whoever non tech savvy person you are talking to. If you grow impatient with the person, its sort of like being arrogant and like you know it all. If you are talking/helping him/her, then put the effort to do so.