Why we’re selling risk management not design
Here’s the thing: it’s not just your client. It’s many clients.
You know what most clients are actually worried about when they commission design? That it’ll flop and they’ll be embarrassed in front of their colleagues.
Risk management is the new black. Clients want creative but need safety. They want more sales but sit on their hands.
Some days are like walking through sludge — hesitation and stalling everywhere.
And it’s a catch-22: the more cautious the client, the safer the work gets, and the softer the results.
Reality check
We’ve got to walk a mile in their shoes. Clients aren’t just approving a concept or a direction. They’re staking their own credibility on it — in front of their boss, their board, their team. If it flops, it’s their name on it, not ours.
So when a client hesitates, they’re not questioning your talent. They’re doing the human thing: protecting themselves from a decision that could embarrass them.
Behavioural scientists describe decision-making as an elephant and a rider. The rider is logic — it can weigh up options and build a business case. The elephant is emotion, and it’s a lot stronger. You can present the most rational deck in the world to the rider. If the elephant’s spooked, it isn’t moving.
We’ve written before about the Harvard Business Review research on decision-making — sometimes clients need colours and typefaces, sometimes they need hard data. Knowing which one yours needs is the difference between a fast yes and a stalled one.
So, what’s the answer?
Stop treating approval as the final step in a creative process. Start treating it as its own deliverable.
At the start of a project, ask:
- what does success look like to you?
- what are the main challenges we need to overcome?
- who are the key decision makers in this project?
Build in the reassurance and clarity from the beginning.
Clear next steps.
Proof it’s worked elsewhere.
Phased options, so the decision feels smaller.
So what?
We’re not just selling design. We’re selling our client’s confidence to say yes — and their certainty that yes won’t blow up in their face. Next time a client goes quiet, don’t ask “what’s wrong with the work.” Ask “what are they afraid will happen if they approve it.” Then answer that question before they have to ask it.
As always, happy to discuss further, just email Carol
Carol Mackay
Want more insights like this? Subscribe below. (And tell your friends 🙂)
The Design Business Review is Australia’s only online design management magazine. It’s professional development information written specifically for Australian designers by Australian designers. Best of all, it’s free.
Related articles about clients
When clients don’t get branding
Case study: helping a design agency find their niche
Why your competitors are stealing your clients (while you stay silent)
About Carol
After 30+ years running a design studio, I accumulated a pretty special network of fellow designers. One thing most have in common: a need for more information about the ‘business’ side of design. Most are impatient with any task competing for time spent doing what they love – designing so they wanted more info about how to work more efficiently and effectively.
Not me. I love that intersection between design and business. I built a career working with Ombudsman schemes, the Emergency Services sector and the Courts. My special power has always been an ability to use design to translate the difficult to understand or the unpalatable message.
I now use exactly the same skills with creative business owners. I translate the indigestible into bite-sized chunks of information. I share insights, introduce tools and embed processes to help others build confidence business decision-making skills. More confidence makes it easier to grasp opportunities. More confidence makes it easier to recognise a good client from the bad.
Outside DBC I have mentored with Womentor, AGDA The Aunties, and most recently Regional Arts NSW.
And I’m a proud volunteer and board member of Never Not Creative.
Always happy to chat, I can be contacted here.
