It’s common for people to enter into communications and meetings with preconceived notions of what the solution should look like. That’s human nature, and frankly, forethought should be expected. Unfortunately, during those communications, too often people listen to respond — to defend their own preconceived ideas — instead of listening to understand the individualized needs of the client they are communicating with.

At Something Smart, we recognize this and diligently work to remove “listening to respond” from our mindset. We understand that putting ourselves in the client’s shoes, understanding their perspective, and having a genuine concern for their individual needs or frustrations is the only way for us to provide superior service and truly meet their needs.

How many times has it seemed that companies you’ve dealt with have gone at their own casual pace when you need results ‘now’? That will not happen with Something Smart.

At Something Smart, we have a well-developed sense of urgency. And we only hire people with well-developed senses of urgency. We understand that our clients want results, and they want those results as quickly as possible. We know they have a checklist of a hundred things to do, and if we can check off our to-do for them, they have one less thing to worry about.

We also understand the difference between work being done with a sense of urgency and work being rushed. And that difference is quality. While we work with a sense of urgency, we maintain excellence by double-checking and peer reviewing our work to ensure that all the ‘t’s are crossed and ‘i’s are dotted on our deliverables.

We at Something Smart recognize that the small to mid-sized businesses we provide services and materials for may not have fully developed marketing departments. We realize we need to act as if we are a part of their business and that their success is our success. With that in mind, we must act and react like we are partners.

In doing so, we will treat our client partners with respect and professionalism. That involves being courteous, respectful, and maintaining a positive attitude while interacting with them.

While we actively listen to understand our client partners, the first thing we recognize is our clients know their businesses much better than we do. What we bring to the table is our advanced knowledge of marketing. We feel the best chance for success is to combine our clients’ expertise and our expertise, working together as partners.