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Secrets to Protecting Your
Creative Ideas
Many creative professionals such
as event planners, interior designers, and
decorative painters are frustrated when
potential clients steal their ideas and take
them to cheaper companies. They present their
ideas in a proposal or presentation and later
find that they didn’t get the client and their
designs are being used by someone else.
Learn how to protect your creative ideas and
still get the client through the three specific
areas mentioned below.
PROTECT YOUR IDEAS
In order to protect your ideas and still get the
client, you have to change how you deliver your
concepts and specifically what you present. Keep
in mind, your creative ideas are the most
valuable part of what you do, so stop giving
them away for free.
The first thing you need to do to protect
yourself is to focus the initial meeting with
the prospect on her ideas and her needs, rather
than on your ideas and your suggestions. Spend
at least 95% of the meeting asking questions
rather than presenting solutions and ideas.
Find out what the client wants and what she
envisions. Discover why she wants what she wants
and uncover what her experiences have been in
the past with this type of project. Focus on
her, not on you and your services.
Build a relationship with the client and let go
of the idea that you have to put on a big show
of creative ideas to impress her. Contrary to
what most people think, the client would rather
talk about what she want then listen to your
ideas. Really.
PRESENT THE WHAT
BUT NOT THE HOW
Next, present the potential client with a
proposal that becomes a contract once the
prospect signs it. The proposal should include
goals that the client told you she wanted in
your first meeting. It should include payment
terms. The proposal should include what you will
do, just not HOW you will do it.
Let’s look at examples of how and what:
Event Planner:
WHAT:
“Incorporate an island theme in event
decorations, music, catering, and
location.”
HOW: “Use
pineapple centerpieces, bamboo tables,
island shaped invitations, coconut
flavored cake, and an entry way filled
with palm tree leaves and bananas.”
Interior Designer:
WHAT:
Design a functional and easy-to-tidy
space for use as a family room where
there is ample storage for children’s
games, a television, and other
entertainment.
HOW:
Rubbermaid storage containers will be
used in a specially designed 17-piece
wood cabinet that can be converted into
a television stand, a workspace, and
table.
Wedding Consultant:
WHAT:
“Create an intimate, upscale, evening
reception for approximately 40 guests.”
HOW: “Decorate facility with purple flowers
and linens, a four-tier chocolate and
raspberry wedding cake, and a 6-piece
band.
Decorative Painter:
WHAT:
Create a jungle-themed mural for child’s
bedroom.
HOW: Paint
walls with “garden room” green, add 25
rainforest trees throughout walls and
incorporating ceiling space, paint 5
Colobus monkeys, 7 chimpanzees, a gray
parrot, 9 green tree frogs, and a stream
running across the door.
WHEN AND HOW TO PRESENT
YOUR IDEAS
You can present your ideas in several ways and
still protect them.
First, you can present your ideas in detail
after the client has signed a simple proposal
with you. You should work together with the
client to create what he wants through your
creative talents.
Another way to present your ideas is through
sample boards or renderings, but only after the
client has either signed a proposal for the
project or paid you for your ideas. If you chose
to charge the client for the samples, agree to
put the payment towards the amount of the final
contract amount should the client agree to hire
you to do the project. If the client chooses to
use someone else for the project, then at least
you were paid for your ideas and your
suggestions.
Never present specific ideas, sample boards, or
drawings to a client unless you’ve been paid for
that part of the project or the client has
signed a contract. By continuing to submit ideas
and formal suggestions to potential clients, you
are short changing yourself and your creative
talents by lowering the value of your concepts
in the mind of the buyer.
By learning how to effectively manage the first
meeting with a potential customer, how to
protect your ideas, and when and how to present
your ideas will help you gain better clients,
better projects, and have a better income!
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