😃 Listen for the p__

The year was 2010. I was chatting with my creative team about our upcoming client review.

I heard myself utter the words, “If we do a great job presenting our pitch, the client’s going to literally PEE THEMSELVES with glee. Even if you’re on a call and not in person, you’re going to HEAR them PEEING THEMSELVES over your work. You need to LISTEN for the PEE!”

The designers giggled. Maybe they were just being nice to me, laughing at my nutty analogies. Who knows.

Except, it made me giggle too, and it KEEPS making me giggle every time I think about it.

The thing is, you know what I mean.

You want to hear that breathless excitement where the person forgets their dignity a little bit because they suddenly SEE possibilities that aren’t even on the screen and they are actively into it.

I don’t necessarily hear this EVERY time I present to a client. But I’m always listening for it. I’m always asking myself - how can I present this in such a way that people will literally become incontinent with excitement? What idea or execution will “bring the pee”?

If you “hear the pee” - you’ve got a big giant stamp of approval coming your way.

If you don’t hear or see any kind of happy physical or verbal reaction that could be an indicator of glee - then you need to work on it for the next time.

Pay attention to the tiny visual and verbal cues because often that’s the most honest, direct feedback you’ll get. If you really don't get anything, or sense a "cooling off", your client relationship might be in trouble.

When you get to overjoyed-with-glee status, you have approval/trust from the client to go to all the places you think are interesting. It makes a huge difference in how the project goes down.

Sometimes you have to show them your “PEE” first, before they show you theirs. You gotta let out your natural enthusiasm for things, so that they trust that their enthusiasm won’t be out of place. (too far?)

Of course, sometimes you “PEE” all over the place and it still doesn’t produce a tangible reaction from your client. (It’s an analogy. Please don’t urinate on anything.)

You might not have done anything wrong, per se. I’ll get into that in a different email.

Friends, before I close this one out, I have a question for you - and that question is - how can I help you? Let me know in the comments!

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