🎉 Spring Registration is OPEN! 🎉
00
DAYS
00
HOURS
00
MINUTES
00
SECONDS
REGISTER NOW
Back to Blog Index

Business Negotiating Tips from Chris Do

No items found.

Here are some expert-level negotiating tips from Chris Do.

One of the biggest hurdles that you’ll have to overcome as a Motion Designer is financially asking big boy/girl money when bidding for work. The transition from hobbyist to full-time MoGraph artist is never easy, but as your skills grow, so will the size of your clients and their budgets.

With this new clientele comes new hurdles that will inevitably force you to learn valuable business ownership skills like budgeting, landing gigs, and negotiating rates. We actually talk pretty extensively about these next-level techniques in the Freelance Manifesto, but needless to say, there’s way more to operating as a successful freelancer than can fit in a small book. That’s where our good friend Chris Do comes into play.

Negotiating Tips from Chris Do

Chris Do is the owner of Blind Studios in Los Angeles and The Futur, an online community dedicated to helping and inspiring aspiring studio owners, graphic designers, and creative professionals. Chris’ years of studio experience has empowered him to learn and share valuable lessons in business ownership and design.

Take it from us, the dude’s legit.

Chris Do: Man with glasses.

Chris’ most recent endeavor, the Business Bootcamp, is a 6 week crash course on the ins-and-outs of growing your business and maximizing your time.

It's basically the Lamborghini of business courses.

Gold Lamborghini
The question is not why... It's why not.

We’ve been fascinated with this course and Chris was kind enough to let us take a peek at some of the class content. Needless to say the course looks amazing. The entire thing is full of great, actionable tips for business owners.

Deep inside the course is a section on working with difficult clients. We were so excited about the tips included in this section that we asked Chris if we could share some insights with you right here. And he said yes!

Here’s a few interesting ways to do verbal jujitsu with difficult clients. Chris Do style.

Two Jujitsu fighters grappling.
Force your clients hand until it almost breaks, but you know... In a business kind of way.

TIP #1: APPROACH BULLIES WITH EMPATHY

Unfortunately, not all clients are kind and compassionate. Some clients are angry, overworked, and ready to take it out on somebody. Chris calls these clients a Raging Bulls.

Chris’s Advice: The raging bull is an emotionally charged client. They come in hot and heavy. They’re frustrated and want to dictate terms of engagement. They often say disparaging and dismissive things.

School-aged bullies and victims.
No you can't have my lunch money. Also, I'm telling mom.

The way you deal with them is to acknowledge their emotional state and resist the urge to respond and escalate the situation. For example, if they say, “I need this done fast! It shouldn’t take you more than a few hours right? When can you do this because it’s pretty easy?!”

Your response would be, “I sense that you are upset and stressed out. Is everything okay? Is there anything I can do to help you?” This will typically stop the bull from charging and take a moment to recognize their state of mind and how they’re coming across. You demonstrate empathy and deal with their feelings before talking about the project.

TIP #2: A DIFFICULT QUESTION DESERVES A QUESTION...

In most areas of life when someone asks you a difficult question it’s totally appropriate to say ‘I don’t know’. However, when somebody’s about write you a check for $100K there should probably be a little more certainty. But what happens when a client asks you a really difficult question? Well my friend, may we introduce you to the hall of mirrors.

Woman in hall of mirrors.
I'll just sit here and wait on the rescue party...

Chris’s Advice: The hall of mirrors is when you answer a question that don’t want to answer with a question. For example, “Why should I hire you?” Your response would be, “I don’t know. Why did you reach out? Was there something you saw that intrigued you? Or, did someone refer us? If they did, did they have positive things to say or negative things?”

This will work at home too, right?...

TIP #3: AGREE WITH THE CLIENT BY DOUBLING DOWN

It hurts when someone says something negative about your work, just ask anybody on YouTube. However, what if instead of refuting a client's rude remarks, you agreed? In the Business Bootcamp Chris talks about a strategy called Doubling Down where you can disarm the client by doing the exact opposite of what they expect.

Chris’s Advice: Doubling down is when you reinforce what the client is saying and agree with them. They say, “My nephew could do this work. Your prices are ridiculous!” Your response would be, “Our prices are kind of high aren’t they? I’m sure your nephew would do an excellent job. I’m sure you’d get something amazing from working with him. He probably has some really great work in his portfolio and has worked with some of the biggest brands in the world. Plus, you can keep the money in the family.”

Ready for More?

According to Chris the best thing to do is remember to be positive, optimistic, helpful, fiduciary (trustworthy), fair, and unbiased with every client. As you grow in your negotiation skills these tactics will become second-nature, but in the beginning it’ll be a lot of work, just like learning Motion Design.

If you want to grow in your skills with clients check out the Business Bootcamp page over on the futur’s website. You can get 10% off with promo code SCHOOL-OF-MOTION at checkout. The course has many more helpful tips and techniques for working with clients.

Editor's Note: We got a sneak peek at some of the content in The Futur's new Business Bootcamp... and it's really, really good. We liked it so much we asked Chris if we could share some of the tips from the negotiation lesson, and he agreed. All links to the course are affiliate links, meaning we get a small commission if you purchase the course from our link.

‍

EXPLORE ALL COURSES ➔

Dive into real-time 3D with our Unreal Engine beginner's course by Jonathan Winbush. Master importing assets, world-building, animation, and cinematic sequences to create stunning 3D renders in no time! Perfect for motion designers ready to level up.

Explore this Course ➔

Unlock the secrets of character design in this dynamic course! Explore shape language, anatomy rules, and motifs to craft animation-ready characters. Gain drawing tips, hacks, and Procreate mastery (or any drawing app). Ideal for artists seeking to elevate their craft.

Explore this Course ➔

Elevate your freelance motion design career with our guide to client success. Master a repeatable method for finding, contacting, and landing clients. Learn to identify prospects, nurture leads, and develop a thriving freelance philosophy amidst chaos.

Explore this Course ➔

Rev up your editing skills with After Effects! Learn to use it for everyday needs and craft dynamic templates (Mogrts) for smarter teamwork. You'll master creating animated graphics, removing unwanted elements, tracking graphics, and making customizable templates.

Explore this Course ➔

Stand out with Demo Reel Dash! Learn to spotlight your best work and market your unique brand of magic. By the end, you'll have a brand new demo reel and a custom campaign to showcase yourself to an audience aligned with your career goals.

Explore this Course ➔

Illuminate your 3D skills with Lights, Camera, Render! Dive deep into advanced Cinema 4D techniques with David Ariew. Master core cinematography skills, gain valuable assets, and learn tools and best practices to create stunning work that wows clients.

Explore this Course ➔

Master After Effects at your own pace with Jake Bartlett's beginner course. Perfect for video editors, you'll learn to create stylish animated graphics, remove unwanted elements, and track graphics into shots. By the end, you'll be equipped for everyday AE needs and more.

Explore this Course ➔

Revolutionize your Premiere workflow with customizable AE templates! Master creating dynamic Motion Graphics Templates (Mogrts) in After Effects to speed up your team's work. By the end, you'll craft easily-customizable templates for seamless use in Premiere Pro.

Explore this Course ➔
Your download is in your inbox!!!
Check your email (spam, too) for the download link!
Please check the spam folder if you don't see the message within a minute or two. Google likes to hide your downloads, sometimes.
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

Not sure where to start?

If you’re a beginner, here are some great courses to help you get started:

After Effects Kickstart

Dive into the fundamentals of motion design with our most popular (and recently updated) After Effects course.

LEARN MORE

Photoshop + Illustrator Unleashed

Master the basics of Photoshop and Illustrator and gain invaluable insights in this introductory level course.

LEARN MORE

Design Kickstart

An introduction to the design principles behind all great work.

LEARN MORE

More Advanced?

If you’re a more advanced student looking to up your game, here are some great options:

Animation Bootcamp

Learn the art and principles of creating beautiful movements in Adobe After Effects.

LEARN MORE

Design Bootcamp

Learn to design for motion in this intermediate-level, project-based course.

LEARN MORE

Cinema 4D Basecamp

Learn Cinema 4D from the ground up in this exciting introductory C4D course.

LEARN MORE

Now is the time to learn the skills you need to advance in your motion design career: