While many designers are known particularly for being quite creative, they can also be extremely flaky and unreliable. Now I know we are creatives and live on a different planet, but if you want to grow your design business, you need to deal with the business end of things — especially if you want to land clients who are going to pay top dollar for your services. So, how do you do it?
Based on several client testimonials and hours of conversation, I have gathered this list of seven tactics that have helped me grow my design business from nothing to a full-time income in three short months.
1. Answer your inquiries within 24 hours during the business week
If some of you are looking at this tip and thinking, DUH!, then you are ahead of the curve. I’ve had plenty of clients tell me that they were surprised by how fast I responded to email, which, in turn, surprised me. Honestly, if you can’t answer your email within 24 hours, then hire someone to solely do that. Losing future business because you are too busy working on present projects is just poor business sense and inefficient planning. Since your first impression is, most likely, email, this quick reply will show just how on top of your business and workload that you are. Immediate brownie points.
2. Furthermore, answer your client’s emails/calls within 12 hours
And 12 hours is pushing it. I answer my emails on my iPhone while I’m hanging out with my friends. I step away to take calls from clients, no matter what time it is or where I’m at. Easiest way to ensure someone is skeptical of your reliability? Don’t answer emails or phone calls. Easiest way, hands down, to make your clients start questioning, really, what the hell you’re doing all day. Even when someone emails me with a file I might need, I email them back and say thank you and that I received it. These small things add up to a huge advantage and will make you serious scrill down the road. Yeah, I said scrill, so what?
3. Ask to talk on the phone before giving a quote
You know what most of my clients tell me designers suck at? Interfacing. So, if you work on your social skills and get comfortable with talking to clients on the phone, you will see an increase in business, no doubt. If your competition isn’t willing to get on the phone with people who are used to doing business over the phone, then you are already ahead of them. Plus, you get to show off your personality, which will help you to land the job and, furthermore, help you to establish a relationship that will lead to more referrals. Better increase the minutes plan on that cell phone, eh?
4. Follow up with every single person that has ever asked you for a quote
People forget. They get busy. Things happen. Just because someone isn’t contacting you after you’ve given them information doesn’t mean they aren’t interested. Following up is absolutely imperative in this business (hell, in ANY business). Maybe it’s just a quick email that asks where they are at in their process or asking them if they have any questions. Following up establishes you in a way that other designers aren’t typically known as: reliable and organized. Which, you know, KIND OF HELPS.
5. Once you secure the job, keep the client informed on their project status
I’ve had clients ask me, “So, will you just work on the project, come to me with a finished product and then I have to like it?” WHAT! I have to assume that other designers actually work like this in order for someone to get that ludicrous idea in their head. Never, ever, EVER, would I spend time working on a site, finish it, and then hope a client likes it. That’s crazy talk. Keep them informed throughout the process, ask their opinion, send mock ups, get revisions. The best way to satisfy a client is to keep them in the know, which is what a lot of designers tend to forget about.
6. Do competitive research and then adjust your rates accordingly
This is a given, right? Wrong. I did some competitive research and one of the best design companies out there was charging such a low rate that it was blasphemous! Charging way below your competitors may help you to secure more projects, but it’s not helping you in the long run. And, it’s ruining our profession as designers. If you devalue your work by charging such a low rate, then non-designers and potential clients learn to devalue our work as well. If we all increase our rates accordingly, then we all make more money and our profession gains more stature. I’d say that’s a complete WIN all around, agreed?
7. Show more of your personality
Lots of designers are just people behind the curtain. Usually, work is done through email and all the deliverables are given online, so face to face interaction isn’t an option. Then, how do you establish relationships, which will lead to continued business and referrals? Talk on the phone, add your personal flair to emails, be yourself on Twitter. People will hire you and refer you not just based on your work ethic, but based on who you are. If you are likable, along with being a great designer, then you basically will never have a problem securing clients, generating leads, and having tons of happy clients referring you like crazy. What I do that helps? I smile while I talk on the phone or while I email a client. It makes a huge difference. Sure, it’s cheesy, but it works.
