Funneling your clients! Controlling the conversation.
Step one- Hi how are you? Join a community or group or create one.
You need a plan! Create a timeline and stick to it. Create your data base and constantly add to it. If you have 350 personal contacts, (first level connections) then those personal contacts have as many and that can compound to thousands (becoming second level connections)
Step two- Share and Give Breadcrumbs to develop a repoire! Create and engage in conversations. Move your conversations to your own blog. Create a video and put urls and verbiage in the tags. Brand your opening page of your facebook account. People buy people, not goods and services. Take your conversations to conversions.
Step three- Develop events and invite online contacts! Conversations within communities and groups build the data bases, and builds trust. Direct contacts to view your online video. It’s 50 times more successful than keyword googling to get on the first page of google. The value of groups is connecting buyers and sellers on a monthly basis. Read the books by Seth Goden he is the pioneer of social media. Another good book is Trust Agents.
Step four- Send reccomendations! Show support to others and build loyalty. Create eyeballs or banners in sites such as (mofia wars and Farmville use repeating links and have increased sales to those links 10 fold because they get the eyeballs, repetition brings about acceptance)
Step five- Send email directly to contacts that have engaged with you! Create a friendship partnership and engage the contact to be a member with you.
Cross reference all your social media sites with your links to your website and your blog. Load up Prosperous.com and it will syndicate it to all of your accounts, twitter, linked in (your rolodex and resume), facebook (your first level funneling site), etc… This way the branding you create for your personal site will be duplicated and anyone on any particular media site will see that all the others are like branded. Brand polished backgrounds on all these sites and list all your networks and groups as a summary.
Step six- Move your online to offline for a personal meet! Create a reason to meet up and use the personal bread crumbs to build more on your relationship.
Step seven-Pitch your client softly! Talk about your company and what you do and the bread crumbs that show how passionate you are about what you do. They will extend the offer of you doing something for them if they are interested in your passion.
Step eight-Close the sale!
Friday, July 23, 2010
10 tips for working with clients remotely
10 tips for working with clients remotely
By www.FullSail.edu
Collaborating with clients you never meet face-to-face has become normal for most web workers. Ours is an industry where working remotely poses very few real obstacles — nearly every part of the web design process can be done from the comfort of a home office or coffee shop.
We’re lucky to have this flexibility, especially in tough economic times when a swanky office doesn’t fit in the business budget. Even if you do have an office, chances are you will land a few clients who aren’t located around the block. But you quickly discover that working remotely has its downsides.
Without face-to-face interaction it’s easy for major communication issues to develop… often without you knowing until it’s too late. Avoid a major meltdown with these simple tips.
1. Build Trust From The Start
A client’s trust will make or break a project. Without it you’ll spend endless hours explaining and defending your ideas. It’s easy to build trust when you’re meeting once a week to present your work and report your progress, but how do you do it with someone 10,000 miles away?
First, introduce yourself – and I don’t mean send them a link to your portfolio. I see designers skip this step all the time, but it’s essential. Before you dive in to any work, schedule a quick kickoff meeting. A video conference is ideal – I recommend Skype – but if they can’t manage it, a phone call will work almost as well. If you’re in different time zones, wake up nice and early (or go to bed very late) to accommodate them.
Going the video route? Make sure you’re dressed appropriately and your environment looks professional. When you get on the call, take a few minutes to introduce yourself and highlight your accomplishments the way you would if everyone was gathered around a conference table and you were standing at the front of the room. Even if they know you and your work, it’s a good reminder that you are a professional who does this for a living… someone who should be valued and trusted.
Another way to establish trust early in the process is to make the client feel involved. Ask probing questions and brainstorm with them before you propose any solutions. If you’re short on meeting time, send out questionnaires for them to fill out. When it comes time to present work, make sure your solutions reflect at least a few of their ideas and explain to them how the idea was incorporated. This shows that you’re listening. Like any human relationship, that is half the battle.
2. Write A Bulletproof Contract
I know way too many freelancers accepting work without a contract because there is nothing fun about crafting up that type of documentation. It’s stupid no matter what, but when you’re working remotely this is extremely dangerous. You might get away with it for years, but sooner or later you’ll run into a disaster that could have been avoided had you bothered to get sign-off on a few key points.
As a general rule of thumb, if I estimate spending more than 10 hours on a project I will craft a contract and get a client signature before I start working. It doesn’t have to be complex, but it should always include:
• A detailed scope of work. What exactly are you planning to provide the client? What isn’t included? Spend some time and make sure that it’s clear what they are paying for. When the client asks you where the forum is (you know, that one they forgot to mention they needed) you can simply show them that it was never part of the original scope they signed off on. Then you can add it on and charge accordingly.
• A list of deliverables. Will you be creating IA documents, wireframes, style guides, and user manuals for that slick new CMS? Will they get ownership of layered PSDs and all your original artwork or just the HTML, graphics and source files? Make a list to avoid miscommunications.
• A limit on revisions. When I first started freelancing, I failed to set a limit on revisions. 12 updates later it was clear what a big oversight this was. Clearly state how many revisions are included in your proposal and what your definition of “revision” is. (If, God forbid, they hate everything about the design and want you to start over, will you call it a revision?) Include an hourly rate for extra revision hours so that clients understand it doesn’t mean you won’t do them, it just means they’ll pay more.
• A plan for client delays. It’s not uncommon to finish a site completely on your end, then wait 4 months for the client to provide the content. If you’re contract says “final payment upon completion” you’re stuck in limbo until they get their act together. To avoid this, set deadlines on content and any other milestone that requires client approval or sign-off. State in the contract that if content (approval, etc.) hasn’t arrived by the deadline, the site will still be considered finished and payment is due.
• Payment terms. This one is a no-brainer! Half up front and half upon completion is common. If it’s a bigger project, tie payments to milestones so you’re not waiting months and months to collect a paycheck.
Not sure where to start? AIGA provides a Standard Form of Agreement for Design Services that you can customize for your needs.
3. Set Deadlines (And Enforce Them)
This is important for both sides. You already know you need deadlines to keep yourself on track, but you need to set them for the client as well. Asking for timely feedback keeps the project moving forward. Every time you produce something that requires feedback or sign-off, set a short-term deadline and make sure it’s documented in writing somewhere. If the client lets the deadlines slip repeatedly, they can’t complain when the project is delivered.
Having deadlines motivates clients to focus on your work, which may be one of a zillion projects sitting on their desk needing attention. It is also a subtle way of asking for (and getting) respect.
4. Communicate Clearly And Often
Since you’re not meeting face-to-face (and probably aren’t calling too much either) the limited interactions you do have are incredibly important. Make sure you craft your emails and messages carefully; realize that every word you write is amplified and your dry sense of humor isn’t going to come across very well. Best to just be straightforward.
Don’t inundate your clients with needless emails, but make sure you communicate enough to keep them feeling comfortable with your progress. Quick, regular check-ins help set everyone at ease. If you think the client is confused, pick up the phone and have a real conversation. You’ll be amazed how much can be cleared up in 2 minutes when you’re not trying to explain it over email.
Keep a copy of all your correspondence for future reference – you never know when you might need it.
5. Use Web Apps To Facilitate Communication
There are tons of great tools out there for online client collaboration. Pick the ones that work best for your process and use them religiously. Insist that your client uses them too.
I’ve run into quite a few clients who don’t want to be bothered logging in to a new tool – they would rather flood your inbox with email after email after email. Trouble is, email does little to keep everyone on the same page. Unless you have a dedicated project manager, get yourself a web-based project management tool. Make to-do lists, set milestones, and keep discussions in a public space where you can easily point back to them.
Basecamp is one of the most widely used web-based project management tools out there, and for good reason. It’s cheap, it’s easy to set up, it doesn’t have a bunch of extra whistles you don’t need, and clients find it intuitive which means they’ll actually be inclined to use it. It has to-do lists, milestones, a message center and a file repository and even time-tracking. Chances are it will cover most of your needs. There are plenty of other online project management tools out there if Basecamp isn’t your thing. Try huddle.net or wrike.com.
Additional online collaboration tools that you may find useful include:
• ConceptShare – Get feedback on your designs and live web pages. You can add notes to the concept pieces and so can your client.
• Adobe ConnectNow – A free, easy way to hold a virtual meeting. Screen share to present a PowerPoint, share concepts with your client or walk them through a live website. Use the video, audio or chat features to communicate while you’re presenting.
• BlinkSale – Send out bills and reminders in a more formal way. Takes some of the awkwardness out of hounding clients for money.
Follow these steps and you’re well on your way to avoiding major conflicts and keeping your project on track. Stay tuned for the second half of this article and 5 more ways to successfully work with clients remotely.
By www.FullSail.edu
Collaborating with clients you never meet face-to-face has become normal for most web workers. Ours is an industry where working remotely poses very few real obstacles — nearly every part of the web design process can be done from the comfort of a home office or coffee shop.
We’re lucky to have this flexibility, especially in tough economic times when a swanky office doesn’t fit in the business budget. Even if you do have an office, chances are you will land a few clients who aren’t located around the block. But you quickly discover that working remotely has its downsides.
Without face-to-face interaction it’s easy for major communication issues to develop… often without you knowing until it’s too late. Avoid a major meltdown with these simple tips.
1. Build Trust From The Start
A client’s trust will make or break a project. Without it you’ll spend endless hours explaining and defending your ideas. It’s easy to build trust when you’re meeting once a week to present your work and report your progress, but how do you do it with someone 10,000 miles away?
First, introduce yourself – and I don’t mean send them a link to your portfolio. I see designers skip this step all the time, but it’s essential. Before you dive in to any work, schedule a quick kickoff meeting. A video conference is ideal – I recommend Skype – but if they can’t manage it, a phone call will work almost as well. If you’re in different time zones, wake up nice and early (or go to bed very late) to accommodate them.
Going the video route? Make sure you’re dressed appropriately and your environment looks professional. When you get on the call, take a few minutes to introduce yourself and highlight your accomplishments the way you would if everyone was gathered around a conference table and you were standing at the front of the room. Even if they know you and your work, it’s a good reminder that you are a professional who does this for a living… someone who should be valued and trusted.
Another way to establish trust early in the process is to make the client feel involved. Ask probing questions and brainstorm with them before you propose any solutions. If you’re short on meeting time, send out questionnaires for them to fill out. When it comes time to present work, make sure your solutions reflect at least a few of their ideas and explain to them how the idea was incorporated. This shows that you’re listening. Like any human relationship, that is half the battle.
2. Write A Bulletproof Contract
I know way too many freelancers accepting work without a contract because there is nothing fun about crafting up that type of documentation. It’s stupid no matter what, but when you’re working remotely this is extremely dangerous. You might get away with it for years, but sooner or later you’ll run into a disaster that could have been avoided had you bothered to get sign-off on a few key points.
As a general rule of thumb, if I estimate spending more than 10 hours on a project I will craft a contract and get a client signature before I start working. It doesn’t have to be complex, but it should always include:
• A detailed scope of work. What exactly are you planning to provide the client? What isn’t included? Spend some time and make sure that it’s clear what they are paying for. When the client asks you where the forum is (you know, that one they forgot to mention they needed) you can simply show them that it was never part of the original scope they signed off on. Then you can add it on and charge accordingly.
• A list of deliverables. Will you be creating IA documents, wireframes, style guides, and user manuals for that slick new CMS? Will they get ownership of layered PSDs and all your original artwork or just the HTML, graphics and source files? Make a list to avoid miscommunications.
• A limit on revisions. When I first started freelancing, I failed to set a limit on revisions. 12 updates later it was clear what a big oversight this was. Clearly state how many revisions are included in your proposal and what your definition of “revision” is. (If, God forbid, they hate everything about the design and want you to start over, will you call it a revision?) Include an hourly rate for extra revision hours so that clients understand it doesn’t mean you won’t do them, it just means they’ll pay more.
• A plan for client delays. It’s not uncommon to finish a site completely on your end, then wait 4 months for the client to provide the content. If you’re contract says “final payment upon completion” you’re stuck in limbo until they get their act together. To avoid this, set deadlines on content and any other milestone that requires client approval or sign-off. State in the contract that if content (approval, etc.) hasn’t arrived by the deadline, the site will still be considered finished and payment is due.
• Payment terms. This one is a no-brainer! Half up front and half upon completion is common. If it’s a bigger project, tie payments to milestones so you’re not waiting months and months to collect a paycheck.
Not sure where to start? AIGA provides a Standard Form of Agreement for Design Services that you can customize for your needs.
3. Set Deadlines (And Enforce Them)
This is important for both sides. You already know you need deadlines to keep yourself on track, but you need to set them for the client as well. Asking for timely feedback keeps the project moving forward. Every time you produce something that requires feedback or sign-off, set a short-term deadline and make sure it’s documented in writing somewhere. If the client lets the deadlines slip repeatedly, they can’t complain when the project is delivered.
Having deadlines motivates clients to focus on your work, which may be one of a zillion projects sitting on their desk needing attention. It is also a subtle way of asking for (and getting) respect.
4. Communicate Clearly And Often
Since you’re not meeting face-to-face (and probably aren’t calling too much either) the limited interactions you do have are incredibly important. Make sure you craft your emails and messages carefully; realize that every word you write is amplified and your dry sense of humor isn’t going to come across very well. Best to just be straightforward.
Don’t inundate your clients with needless emails, but make sure you communicate enough to keep them feeling comfortable with your progress. Quick, regular check-ins help set everyone at ease. If you think the client is confused, pick up the phone and have a real conversation. You’ll be amazed how much can be cleared up in 2 minutes when you’re not trying to explain it over email.
Keep a copy of all your correspondence for future reference – you never know when you might need it.
5. Use Web Apps To Facilitate Communication
There are tons of great tools out there for online client collaboration. Pick the ones that work best for your process and use them religiously. Insist that your client uses them too.
I’ve run into quite a few clients who don’t want to be bothered logging in to a new tool – they would rather flood your inbox with email after email after email. Trouble is, email does little to keep everyone on the same page. Unless you have a dedicated project manager, get yourself a web-based project management tool. Make to-do lists, set milestones, and keep discussions in a public space where you can easily point back to them.
Basecamp is one of the most widely used web-based project management tools out there, and for good reason. It’s cheap, it’s easy to set up, it doesn’t have a bunch of extra whistles you don’t need, and clients find it intuitive which means they’ll actually be inclined to use it. It has to-do lists, milestones, a message center and a file repository and even time-tracking. Chances are it will cover most of your needs. There are plenty of other online project management tools out there if Basecamp isn’t your thing. Try huddle.net or wrike.com.
Additional online collaboration tools that you may find useful include:
• ConceptShare – Get feedback on your designs and live web pages. You can add notes to the concept pieces and so can your client.
• Adobe ConnectNow – A free, easy way to hold a virtual meeting. Screen share to present a PowerPoint, share concepts with your client or walk them through a live website. Use the video, audio or chat features to communicate while you’re presenting.
• BlinkSale – Send out bills and reminders in a more formal way. Takes some of the awkwardness out of hounding clients for money.
Follow these steps and you’re well on your way to avoiding major conflicts and keeping your project on track. Stay tuned for the second half of this article and 5 more ways to successfully work with clients remotely.
6 Tips for Pitching to Major Clients
6 Tips for Pitching to Major Clients
By www.FullSail.edu
Almost every major web designer faces this dilemma at some point: either continue working with “mom-and-pop” style businesses, enjoying effortless marketing and relatively simple projects, or transition to working with larger businesses and reap the benefits of bigger budgets.
It’s a question of experience, and with enough design work under your belt, new opportunities start to present themselves.
The most difficult part for many is making the transition. The comfort of simple work and the ease of marketing yourself can make maintaining a small client network very tempting.
You see the effort involved in pitching to a major client and you slightly recoil, worried that you’re not quite skilled enough, you’re not quite experienced enough and your business is not quite big enough.
That insecurity leaves so many designers bidding for tiny projects, working for local clients and missing out on lucrative long-term opportunities. That insecurity can grind a business to a halt and stall a career.
The six tactics below don’t guarantee long-term success with major clients, but they will help you get your foot in the door, get a contract on the table and make the possibility of major business relationships very realistic.
1. Never Compete on Price
Big companies have big budgets, especially companies that are focused on fields with as huge a potential for growth as the online world. Marketing yourself on price might work when you’re fighting for micro-clients and short-term projects, but it’s counter-intuitive when trying to appeal to major clients.
Why? Because major clients expect a certain level of size, overhead spending and expenses. They expect you to have infrastructure, employee salaries and office space. They expect you to be able to manage them, and that management begins with a per-project quote that accounts for extra time, minor outsourcing and long-term work.
So quote high—higher than you normally would. The list of corporate deals passed over because they were too expensive is relatively short; the list of proposals passed over because of low pricing and a mist of inexperience is significantly longer.
Of course, be realistic in your pricing (you’re not pitching to Berkshire Hathaway), but remember that large companies value professionalism and ability a lot more than competitive pricing.
2. Pitch on Results, Not Potential
Designers do burn people. Visit a local Chamber of Commerce meeting, and you’ll be surrounded by business owners who have been burned by would-be designers: inexperienced “experts” who have mastered Photoshop in their bedrooms and who market in their afternoons. The design world is full of self-styled experts, an unfortunate reality that it shares with the marketing and publicity industries.
This has bred an unfortunate environment for genuinely good designers. Not only are business owners skeptical of designers on the whole, but many are completely turned off by the prospect of having to update a website that another designer has put time into. The endless promises and presentations touting “progress” and “results” have turned them off, and so the chance of a senior manager assigning a large budget to your design project is low.
Fight this resistance to design by pitching results instead of potential. If you can walk into a meeting with a portfolio of websites that aren’t just pretty but highly effective, you’ll increase your chances of landing lucrative projects and long-term contracts.
Find people who have been burned by rhetoric, and give them real results, establishing yourself as the lone expert in the process.
3. Minimize Risk by Preparing Samples
In today’s economy, risk is a significantly bigger factor than it once was. Companies that had multi-million dollar design budgets have run into rough territory, now sparing only enough money to invest in cosmetic updates and the occasional usability study.
An industry that once felt entitled to massive budgets because of its complexity has run into a cost-cutting drought. Companies are keen to invest in low-cost websites, fearing that an expensive project might end up losing money.
That’s why you need a stack of samples ready beforehand, samples that prove not just your competence and ability but the way you’ve helped other people in their position. Show how your websites have improved conversion rates, how they’ve boosted customer interest and how they’ve reduced customer service costs. Then you’ll gain contracts and long-term interest, even in a troubled economy.
4. Bleed Professionalism in Your Team, Plan and Approach
They’re big, successful and influential. At this point, you’re not. So, make every effort to appear as though you are. Hire a virtual assistant to handle your phone calls. Build a paid-for-results team that functions as different divisions of your business. Treat projects as though they are routine work, not one-off events that you’re unfamiliar with.
Hundreds of small businesses pitch to major companies every month. Most fail, usually not because of incompetence, but because of a lack of managerial resources and size.
To even appear on the radar of Coca-Cola, Apple or Walmart, you need a certain size and degree of complexity. Expand, even if just by illusion, and you’ll appeal significantly more to large companies.
The bonus of this approach is that after you’ve found success with one major company, you’ll gain the security and visibility to be able to approach others. Find a formula that succeeds with one major company and replicate it, not just in your presentation and pitch, but in the way your business approaches new clients.
5. Know Exactly Who to Pitch and How to Do It
Small businesses have an advantage: they’re small, they’re mobile, and they adapt very quickly to change. Big companies, unfortunately, are not like this.
The amount of time for a decision to move down the managerial chain often creeps into the months, and the amount of effort required to even speak with someone at the top can drive employees crazy. When it comes to speed and flexibility, the decentralized micro-businesses of the world have the advantage.
But finding the decision-makers at all is a substantial victory. Hundreds of businesses fail to get the attention of major companies because they pitch to the wrong people. Ignore claims that proposals must always be submitted through entry-level employees, and aim straight for the top. Cultivate links to senior managers, CEOs and managing partners; their recommendations will mean a lot more to marketing, design and online departments than yours will.
6. Think Long-Term
Small projects, one-off assignments and low-paying gigs are of little value to a design business. They’re useful for filling in the blanks and strengthening your portfolio, but they offer barely any long-term opportunity.
Great designers and successful marketers know not to treat their major projects as they would one-off assignments. They understand the value of relationships, and they treat their valuable ones appropriately.
Whenever you submit a proposal to a major company, you’re pitching not just for that project, but for the company’s future business. Approach major clients with a long-term plan, a plan to deliver quality and to prove that sticking with you for future projects is worth the company’s while.
If you can ensure that your first major project goes smoothly, you’ll open your business to huge projects, major ongoing work and professional relationships that would otherwise take years to build.
By www.FullSail.edu
Almost every major web designer faces this dilemma at some point: either continue working with “mom-and-pop” style businesses, enjoying effortless marketing and relatively simple projects, or transition to working with larger businesses and reap the benefits of bigger budgets.
It’s a question of experience, and with enough design work under your belt, new opportunities start to present themselves.
The most difficult part for many is making the transition. The comfort of simple work and the ease of marketing yourself can make maintaining a small client network very tempting.
You see the effort involved in pitching to a major client and you slightly recoil, worried that you’re not quite skilled enough, you’re not quite experienced enough and your business is not quite big enough.
That insecurity leaves so many designers bidding for tiny projects, working for local clients and missing out on lucrative long-term opportunities. That insecurity can grind a business to a halt and stall a career.
The six tactics below don’t guarantee long-term success with major clients, but they will help you get your foot in the door, get a contract on the table and make the possibility of major business relationships very realistic.
1. Never Compete on Price
Big companies have big budgets, especially companies that are focused on fields with as huge a potential for growth as the online world. Marketing yourself on price might work when you’re fighting for micro-clients and short-term projects, but it’s counter-intuitive when trying to appeal to major clients.
Why? Because major clients expect a certain level of size, overhead spending and expenses. They expect you to have infrastructure, employee salaries and office space. They expect you to be able to manage them, and that management begins with a per-project quote that accounts for extra time, minor outsourcing and long-term work.
So quote high—higher than you normally would. The list of corporate deals passed over because they were too expensive is relatively short; the list of proposals passed over because of low pricing and a mist of inexperience is significantly longer.
Of course, be realistic in your pricing (you’re not pitching to Berkshire Hathaway), but remember that large companies value professionalism and ability a lot more than competitive pricing.
2. Pitch on Results, Not Potential
Designers do burn people. Visit a local Chamber of Commerce meeting, and you’ll be surrounded by business owners who have been burned by would-be designers: inexperienced “experts” who have mastered Photoshop in their bedrooms and who market in their afternoons. The design world is full of self-styled experts, an unfortunate reality that it shares with the marketing and publicity industries.
This has bred an unfortunate environment for genuinely good designers. Not only are business owners skeptical of designers on the whole, but many are completely turned off by the prospect of having to update a website that another designer has put time into. The endless promises and presentations touting “progress” and “results” have turned them off, and so the chance of a senior manager assigning a large budget to your design project is low.
Fight this resistance to design by pitching results instead of potential. If you can walk into a meeting with a portfolio of websites that aren’t just pretty but highly effective, you’ll increase your chances of landing lucrative projects and long-term contracts.
Find people who have been burned by rhetoric, and give them real results, establishing yourself as the lone expert in the process.
3. Minimize Risk by Preparing Samples
In today’s economy, risk is a significantly bigger factor than it once was. Companies that had multi-million dollar design budgets have run into rough territory, now sparing only enough money to invest in cosmetic updates and the occasional usability study.
An industry that once felt entitled to massive budgets because of its complexity has run into a cost-cutting drought. Companies are keen to invest in low-cost websites, fearing that an expensive project might end up losing money.
That’s why you need a stack of samples ready beforehand, samples that prove not just your competence and ability but the way you’ve helped other people in their position. Show how your websites have improved conversion rates, how they’ve boosted customer interest and how they’ve reduced customer service costs. Then you’ll gain contracts and long-term interest, even in a troubled economy.
4. Bleed Professionalism in Your Team, Plan and Approach
They’re big, successful and influential. At this point, you’re not. So, make every effort to appear as though you are. Hire a virtual assistant to handle your phone calls. Build a paid-for-results team that functions as different divisions of your business. Treat projects as though they are routine work, not one-off events that you’re unfamiliar with.
Hundreds of small businesses pitch to major companies every month. Most fail, usually not because of incompetence, but because of a lack of managerial resources and size.
To even appear on the radar of Coca-Cola, Apple or Walmart, you need a certain size and degree of complexity. Expand, even if just by illusion, and you’ll appeal significantly more to large companies.
The bonus of this approach is that after you’ve found success with one major company, you’ll gain the security and visibility to be able to approach others. Find a formula that succeeds with one major company and replicate it, not just in your presentation and pitch, but in the way your business approaches new clients.
5. Know Exactly Who to Pitch and How to Do It
Small businesses have an advantage: they’re small, they’re mobile, and they adapt very quickly to change. Big companies, unfortunately, are not like this.
The amount of time for a decision to move down the managerial chain often creeps into the months, and the amount of effort required to even speak with someone at the top can drive employees crazy. When it comes to speed and flexibility, the decentralized micro-businesses of the world have the advantage.
But finding the decision-makers at all is a substantial victory. Hundreds of businesses fail to get the attention of major companies because they pitch to the wrong people. Ignore claims that proposals must always be submitted through entry-level employees, and aim straight for the top. Cultivate links to senior managers, CEOs and managing partners; their recommendations will mean a lot more to marketing, design and online departments than yours will.
6. Think Long-Term
Small projects, one-off assignments and low-paying gigs are of little value to a design business. They’re useful for filling in the blanks and strengthening your portfolio, but they offer barely any long-term opportunity.
Great designers and successful marketers know not to treat their major projects as they would one-off assignments. They understand the value of relationships, and they treat their valuable ones appropriately.
Whenever you submit a proposal to a major company, you’re pitching not just for that project, but for the company’s future business. Approach major clients with a long-term plan, a plan to deliver quality and to prove that sticking with you for future projects is worth the company’s while.
If you can ensure that your first major project goes smoothly, you’ll open your business to huge projects, major ongoing work and professional relationships that would otherwise take years to build.
5 things your clients should know
5 things your clients should know.
By www.FullSail.edu
Do you ever feel like you are endlessly repeating the same day? I do, every time I attend a kickoff meeting with a new client. Each time I find myself covering the same old issues from explaining the client’s role, to encouraging investment in content.
This is not a criticism of clients, however. There is so little information that clearly defines their role. Sure, there is no shortage of material on usability, accessibility, online marketing and copywriting, but who has the time to read all of it?
The problem is that the client does need to have a very broad understanding (certainly more than can be communicated in a single article), however I have found that understanding certain key issues can make an enormous difference to the efficiency of a client.
What follows is a list of the 5 things that I believe will have the biggest impact on a client’s site. At least they should, if the client understands them and chooses to implement them.
1. The client is the secret to a successful website
I have worked on hundreds of websites over the past 15 years and each site’s success or failure has always been attributed to the quality of the client.
As web designers we, of course, like to emphasis our role in the process. This is what justifies our fee, however we can ultimately only point our clients in the right direction. It is their decisions that shape the site and their commitment that defines its long term future.
As web designers, I believe we need to clearly communicate to the client the importance of their role and dispel the misconception that they can hire a web designer and walk away.
Not only do we need to emphasis the importance of their role, we also need to define the extent of it.
2. Clients have a diverse and challenging role
I believe that the role of the client is by far the most complex and challenging in web design. Sure, dealing with IE6 is a pain, but that pales in comparison to the shear extent of issues that most clients need to handle.
A client has to be a:
- Visionary – capable of establishing the long term direction of their site
- Evangelist – able to promote the site both internally and externally
- Content guardian – responsible for ensuring the quality and relevancy of content
- Project coordinator – overseeing all aspects of the site as well as dealing with suppliers
- Referee – making final decisions between conflicting priorities
What is even more is that the client is supposed to know enough about a broad range of disciplines (from marketing to interface design), in order to make informed decisions. It is hardly surprising that, as web designers, we sometimes feel our clients “just don’t get it!” They are simply expected to understand too much.
Unfortunately their role is also often massively under resourced. Most of those responsible for websites are not dedicated website managers. Instead, they run their websites alongside other responsibilities in IT or marketing.
It is our responsibility to explain the role of the client and ensure that they understand how much work is involved. We cannot assume that they instinctively know this.
The danger is that if you do not clearly define the clients’ role, they will end up trying to define yours instead.
3. Clients identify problems, designers provide solutions
One of the biggest problems in most web projects is that the client starts making the decisions that are best left to the web designer. Not only does this lead to bad decisions, but also inevitably leaves the web designer feeling undervalued and frustrated.
This problem can manifest in a variety of ways, however ultimately it comes down to a single issue – the client is trying to find solutions to their problems instead of relying on the web designer.
Let me give you two examples. The most obvious occurs at the design stage. After seeing your design the client comes back with comments such as ‘make the logo bigger’. This is their solution to a problem that they have with the prominence of the branding. If they had expressed the problem instead of the solution, it would have enabled you to suggest alternate approaches. Instead of making the logo bigger, you could have possibly added more whitespace or changed its position.
Another less obvious, but more significant example, is in a client’s invitation to tender. These documents are inevitably a wish list of ideas that they have for the site. They are the client’s attempt to solve an underlying issue. For example, their problem might be a failure to engage with customers, therefore in their invitation to tender, they suggest adding a forum. Of course, in reality there are many other ways to engage with customers, however unless they express the problem to you, you will never have the opportunity to suggest a solution.
At the beginning of every project, encourage your client to focus on problems and not solutions. Whenever the client suggests a solution ask why. This will enable you to understand the underlying issues.
Unfortunately by the time we have been engaged as web designers, the scope of a project has already been set and it is hard to contribute ideas. This is because the way clients commission websites is fundamentally broken.
4. Sites should evolve
A typical website goes through a constant cycle of redesign. After its initial launch, it is left to slowly decay. The content becomes out of date, the design begins to look old fashioned and the technology becomes obsolete. Eventually staff stop referring customers to the site and it is perceived as a liability rather than an asset. In the end, senior management intervenes and assigns somebody to ‘sort out the website’. This inevitably leads to the site being replaced by a new version, and the cycle repeats itself.
This problem primarily occurs because there is no real ownership of the website within the organization. Often the client you deal with is only assigned to it for the duration of the project. Afterwards, the site is left to stagnate.
This cycle of redesign is wasteful for three reasons:
- It wastes money because the old site is replaced, and the investment put into it is lost.
- It is bad for cash flow, generating large expenditure every few years.
- For the majority of its life, the site is out of date and not being used to its full potential.
We need to start encouraging our clients to invest regularly in their websites. They need a permanent website manager and an ongoing relationship with their web design agency. Together they need to keep content up-to-date, improve the user interface and ensure that the technology keeps pace with change. Ultimately this is more cost effective than replacing the site every few years.
The ongoing management of content is an area that needs particular attention. Unfortunately it is often massively under resourced and generally neglected.
5. Content is king – Act like it!
I am constantly amazed at the difference between what clients says and what they do. Take, for example, content; most clients fully accept that content is king, yet few are willing to spend money on ensuring its quality. This is all the more absurd considering the amount they spend on implementing complex content management systems.
Most clients that I encounter feel that hiring a copywriter to ensure the quality and style of their content is unnecessary. Perhaps this is because they feel they are capable of writing copy themselves, however writing for the web is not like writing for any other medium. It presents some unique challenges that cannot be under estimated.
It is strange because clients are perfectly happy (well… maybe not quite ‘happy’) to pay for design. They realize that they cannot do the design without a professional designer, so why then do they believe that they can write good copy themselves?
Often when clients do write copy, it ends up being verbose and inaccessible. Stuffed with sales copy and jargon, which is largely ignored by most visitors to the site.
However, in many cases the reality is even worse than poorly written copy. In my experience, clients under estimate the time involved in producing copy for the web and resort to copying and pasting from a wide variety of offline printed material. This leads to Frankenstein copy, using a mix of styles that are often entirely inappropriate for the web.
It is our role as web designers to educate our clients about the importance of copywriting and explain the size of the task, if they choose to take it on themselves. Without previous experience most clients will significantly underestimate this task.
Conclusions
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