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Client offended after I told her to “be cool” in large deal

I have this client who is an artist. Amazing artist with years of schooling, very prestigious schools, very well respected in the national “art” community. Well I’m doing national sales/bus dev for her new “project”. As a freelancer..And guess what?.. I just got some traction with a big box retailer..huge retailer that I’m sure most of you have shopped at. Well this past week, we had some very positive interaction and they want us to mail finalized samples of her work. Unreal!..when I told her about the traction and that we needed to start getting together samples to send to them, she started sending me lengthy email after lengthy email of all the things we need to say to them, saying the we need to send them videography of the work, we need to tell them she wants to be a lifestyle ambassador, and do huge events in every store across the country, let them know we’ve updated her website etc.. which is all great! However, I said to her that we need to “be cool, calm and professional, and maintain our composure - we don’t want to bombard them, the last thing we want to do is show up and throw up type thing” “In my personal experience this is the best approach. Get them to buy into the artwork first and then we’ll go bananas on other ideas after they commit to having the artwork in their stores”.. well.. she took that really hard.. she was sending me passive aggressive text until 11pm last night saying that she wants to send them stuff but not “silly intellectual stuff”... and that “since I’m so experienced blah blah blah”... I do not know what to do now as I never once implied her stuff was silly, that I disapproved of intellectual stuff, or that she was any of those things or represented that in anyway....but truth be told I do have 15 years of experience closing multimillion dollar years for fortune 200 companies.. and I do know the quickest way to lose a deal is to come on too strong .. it wasn’t a personal shot, and truthfully was in her best interest. However, now, I don’t know how to recover.. she was clearly hurt and offended by my reminder and it looks like she took it personally. Should I just let it blow over? Will it? Or should i address it? Anyone had this happen to them or something similar? ..yikes. She’s pretty much paying my rent right now so it important she’s happy.
4meAndyou · F
Many artists are very highly strung, and it sounds as though she is one of them. It's time for diplomacy with her. You should spread on the butter. Tell her how very grateful you are that she trusts in your expertise, and that you know she hired you because of your professional experience with deals like this, and that her confidence means everything to you. Cite some of your past, successful business deals very casually (can be included in other sentences, ie: "When I closed the deal for Hilton, I received letters of appreciation for the depth of my knowledge...etc).
janhar · 26-30, F
Just tell her "sounds great, we will get that into the proposal, but we'll lead with... [whatever the actual good ideas are]"
JoeyFoxx · 51-55, M
Sounds like you need to have a call or video call if you can’t meet with her personally.

Even though she was being passive aggressive, she seems to appreciate your experience.
xixgun · M
Point out to her that you could lie to her and let her actions and views kill the deal, or you can be honest with her. Your job is to get her artwork sold, not push her views.

 
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