Creative Opinions

So last week I asked for creative opinions regarding the question :
In terms of client relationships (whether it is with an agency or a direct client), what do you feel are key factors or ingredients to a good partnership?

Overall theme seems to be keywords like communication, trust, organization and respect.
Here are the responses:

"open and clear communication throughout the job from bidding to final invoice and transparency in billing."

"Clear expectations."

"Respect and organization.
As a freelancer illustrator, I'm on the somewhat powerless side of
things, so it's really nice when a client treats me with professionalism and respect... The three women that I worked with were polite and clear and direct at each juncture in the project. They sent me a check midway through the project without my even asking. They gave me lots of positive feedback when appropriate. They never unloaded on me about their client, they never got too chummy, they were always completely organized before giving me the next part of the assignment. And they were cognizant of the fact that I may be working on other projects simultaneously. That was my dream job!"

"Trust- The more trust the faster and the more creative the work. Understanding where we fit- No carrots, no promises just tell us what role you'd like us to play. Dialogue- Open communication about the job and all the issues you're dealing with. Planning- "preproduction saves lives" Let's take a little time on the front end to save days on the back end. Having Fun- We're not doing brain surgery here. We're lucky to be in a creative field. Let's make some pictures and
have fun doing it.
Key ingredients from our (photography) end.....
From a smaller market perspective developing a relationship pales in comparison to working as hard as you can
to maintain it. Treat everything as an opportunity to demonstrate why they've made a wise decision by hiring us. We keep it simple by continually trying to answer the question, "how can we make our clients lives easier?"

"Treating each other as partners in a relationship... there has to be trust, collaboration, and respect for each other's way of thinking and approach"