1. The Client is the most important person in any given process. Whether we like it or not, he or she holds the purse strings, and if they're not happy the work doesn't get made.
2. Making the Client happy absolutely does not always mean doing exactly what the Client wants.
3. Sometimes the Client knows best. The Suit (or Agency) that believes the Client is always wrong is a moron.
4. Never, ever lie to the Client. You will never get away with it, and you will look like an idiot. And if you have a relationship worth its salt, you shouldn't need to.
5. Clients are a bit like sandwiches: some will be good; some will be bad; most of them will be fine. Savour the ones that are brilliant.
6. Clients will never understand the BACC. That's one of the main things they pay us for.
7. A Client should look forward to meetings with the Agency - they're the meetings that involve the fewest spreadsheets. ("Picture Meetings", as a Client of mine describes them.) It's your job to earn that.
8. Liking your Client isn't important. Respecting him or her is.
9. With Clients, as with 'normal people', the little things matter - if a Client takes sweeteners in tea, make sure there are sweeteners in the meeting room. (I'm aware this is the most old school of points. But it matters.)
10. Sometimes, Clients will be so infuriating it will make you want to cry. The best way to reassure yourself at this point is by remembering that they are thinking exactly the same about you. Only more often.
11. And the big secret - Clients are normal people (even if they wear red socks), and they want to make great work as much as you do. (What 'great work' means is a post in and of itself.)
This is obviously not an exhaustive list. There will obviously be exceptions. And there are obviously ommissions - please add away in the comments.
