Occasionally I get a request for references, but I find out later that most of the time those references are never checked (my willingness to provide them being proof enough, I suppose). But what surprises me is that while I hear many clients complaining about designers and firms that they’ve been burned by in the past, so few of them attempt to verify the reliability of the firm beforehand.

Why is reliability so important for a design firm? The simplest and most obvious answer is that most projects are not one-off isolated events. Many times, a project is simply a first phase in a longer campaign. If you turn out to be a flake, and don’t deliver what you promised on time and within the agreed-upon budget, you are likely not to be retained for the remainder of the campaign, regardless of the quality of your work. A stunning portfolio might bring a client in the door, but consistency and reliability will keep them coming back.

Your reliability is also directly connected to how often and how strongly your clients will recommend you to their colleagues. I get probably 90% of my new business through referrals, and if I started delivering late or going over budget, those referrals would start to dry up. I might not even know the reason why. The phone would just stop ringing.

And thus being consistently unreliable can cause a designer to develop a reputation as a flake, which can haunt them for a long time. In a field as crowded and competitive as graphic design and marketing, a good reputation is vitally important. If you feel you’re developing such a reputation, the best remedy is to become reliable fast. Here are three ways:

1. Schedule Realistically: Only you know how quickly you can turn things around, so be realistic about schedules that you develop. Clients are often impressed when I push back on a timeline that I feel is too aggressive. I’ve turned down lucrative projects that I knew I couldn’t get done it time because ultimately I would be blamed for missing the deadline.
2. Estimate Honestly: If you bid low to win a project and then hit the client with changes in scope and extra fees, they’ll usually pay it, but that will likely be the last money you see from them. Give your clients a realistic bid; try to work within their budget; and don’t accept projects that are below your threshold. You may lose a few to competitors who underbid you, but the ones you do get will be more likely to lead to grateful clients and more work (and the prospect may come back to you after the low-bidders flake out).
3. Do Whatever It Takes: Finally, once you’ve settled on a price and a schedule, do whatever it takes to get it done on time and within the budget. If that means, you have to stay up all night to meet your client’s deadline, then that’s what you do (and you’ll be more likely to plan better the next time). If it takes you longer than you estimated and you end up spending more hours than you’re getting paid for, chalk it up to experience and bill the client what you promised.

Reliability is not a substitute for ability, but ability by itself is not enough to establish a great reputation and keep clients coming back. How you deliver what you deliver is just as important, if not more.

It’s a project that lingers in limbo, neither alive or dead. For whatever reason, the work has been completed (or mostly so), but the final product has not been launched, printed, presented or used by the client.

We’ve always had a couple zombie projects in the works at any given time, and bringing them back to life (or killing them forever) is always a challenge. Whether it’s a Web site that’s been built and coded, but never launched by the client, or a brochure that’s been designed, but never released, these projects lurch around half-alive, costing mental energy and project management resources, waiting on the day they will come back to life, or die forever.

The first question is the most basic: Why Do We Care About Zombie Projects? Assuming we’ve been paid for our work by the client, why should we care whether the project is ever launched? We care for two reasons: First, we care about our client’s success, and getting a new, well-designed site launched or direct mail out will help their business (else why have us design it?). More business for our client generally equals more business for us.

Second, it’s a point of pride. Every designer likes to see his or her work out in the world, doing what they were designed to do, and it’s a bit frustrating for clients to sit on a final product for months, and sometimes even years, without releasing it.

There are three tactics we use to deal with zombie projects:

1. The elixir of life: The best method we’ve found is to schedule a “re-kick-off meeting” with all stakeholders in the project. Either in-person or via conference call, we gather everyone together and discuss what can be done to get the project to the final stage. Often this is enough to spur the client to finish and release it.
2. Dismemberment: If we are unable to bring a project to life via a re-kick-off meeting, we will try to make use of the design components from the project in other work for the client, offering to achieve the initial objectives of the project with another deliverable. If the project can’t live as it was originally conceived, maybe it can be re-born as a new project. Warning, this sometimes leads to additional zombies!
3. The shotgun: If a project can’t be resurrected or re-used, sometimes the only answer is a quick death. We zip up the files and send them to the client with our condolences and try not to expend any more energy or project management time on it after that. Some projects just can’t be saved.

Do you have any zombie projects roaming around your computer? Let me know in the comments.

I refer to this dog-and-pony show as “Selling the Design.” Each concept is given it’s most flattering treatment and then paraded in front of the client, while the designer explains the subtleties of the design. Designs that might have at first seemed obtuse or unattractive are given new life when the designer can explain the reasoning behind the design choices. It works wonders. Clients who are “sold” a design are much less likely to reject it.

There are two reasons that I don’t take this tactic with my work. The first and most obvious is that designs need to stand on their own. I’m not going to be available to explain the nuances of the logo design to my client’s prospects. If part of the logo forms the shape of the first letter of the client’s company name, it better be obvious on the first or second look. Otherwise, what’s the point? I’m not saying a design can’t have subtlety or depth, but that depth better not be essential to conveying the brand qualities, or people are going to miss it.

The second reason is that I don’t have the time to do this for every concept or logo that I have to deliver. I wouldn’t be able to get anything done. That said, I do believe there are a couple of cases where presenting in person (or via conference call) and explaining the design is a good plan. The first is for PowerPoint graphics, which will have someone there explaining the design to my client’s prospects (their sales staff). The second is company names, which usually requires an interactive session, whittling down a large selection of names to just a few candidates. Often, the client does need to know the thought processes that went into selecting each name idea.

Ultimately, selling the design is done for one of two reasons: to make a bad design look better or to impress a client with personal attention. The first is a bad reason, and the second can be accomplished another way. Take them to lunch, and talk about their business.