As a Client Experience and Brand Strategist at The Spark Mill, I spend a lot of time thinking about how we reach our clients, not only what we deliver to them. In almost every project, one of the first jobs is setting up a line of communication that feels right for the client. For some, that might mean a quick email. For others, it’s a phone call, a standing check-in, or a shared calendar their whole team can see. Getting this right early makes everything after it go more smoothly.
The challenge is that it’s rarely just one person. Most projects involve a client’s board members, staff, strategic team, and community partners, and each of them has their own schedule and their own preferred way to stay in touch. My approach is to work with the cadence each organization already has rather than force a new rhythm on them. That flexibility has to come with structure, though; a project still needs to move forward. So we set clear expectations from the start: when we’ll check in, what decisions are coming up, and who needs to be in the room. Those touch points give everyone something to plan around, and they keep momentum going without adding pressure.
This matters most when we work with nonprofits, which are usually already at capacity. Every extra email or unclear next step takes time away from the people they serve. That’s why we built a one-stop landing page for our two-year capacity-building partnership with the Obici Healthcare Foundation. In one place, nonprofits across Western Tidewater can explore our offerings for the project: one-on-one advising and technical assistance, leadership and governance support, workshops and peer learning cohorts, and ready-to-use resources. Obici’s team has its own access point for reports, referrals, and reaching our staff. Partners can find what they need on their own time, without waiting on a reply.
Being accessible also means offering more than one way in. Some people want to browse before they reach out. Others want to email or call right away. We keep each of those paths open and easy to find, because people engage in different ways and none of them is wrong. The less back-and-forth our partners have to deal with, the more time and energy they keep for their mission.
In the end, this is about transparency and trust. When clients know what to expect, who to contact, and how the pieces fit together, they can make confident decisions about where to spend their limited time. As we say on our Obici page, lasting change happens through relationships. Clear, flexible communication is how those relationships begin, and it’s what keeps them strong over the course of a project.
