started off with some documents provided by Judy - number crunches of
her staffs hours and productivity and billable hours.
most notable was that Judy said she has a large client , who spends a
qtr. mil every 3 months, and they thought it was great, until they ran
the numbers and realized that they were only making a 3% profit. as a
result they are overhauling the way they work with that client.
another measure they take is to include and call attention to project management fees in the initial contract. --- so when clients require a
lot of hand-holding they either pay for it or use your time wisely.
Dress for the Job you want.
There was discussion about the valleys in the workflow roller coaster,
saying that is the easiest time to market yourself - but really - you
should be marketing all the time. and sending work out that resembles
the kind of work you want to be doing and bring in. praise for design
army's self marketing efforts. emergency cards, and coasters at
christmas. they put their time, their money and their heard into their
personal projects.
(market with your goals in mind)
G has started marketing to businesses as opposed to design. Focusing on strategy related projects and making the decisions.
G also has a sales force - that conducts cold calls. a non employee that is highly trained to be very sensitive to the potential clients.
Also good to have is Pro Bono work - relationships can happen anywhere.
charity work (harris productions)
side note, i think i misspoke towards the end of the salon... i asked the question - what if you are a young shop willing to work whenever to please the client, and i think i seemed a bit emotional. one response was to evaluate the work done in the wee hours, it might not be as good as work done regular hours. also judy said, you need to elevate the relationship so the client sees you more as a partner than a vendor. so
they rely on you.
so there was mention of Focused Networking and Targeted Marketing.
Identify who you want to work for, and go after that business. when you
get to work on stuff you want to work on it inspires you to keep going.
Go OUTSIDE of the regular business AIGA events, and seek inspiration
from all around you.
SCORE - develop a system of scoring for a client before you take a job.
Groom the good clients. -- anecdote, you get a client that was a great
pleasure to work with so you tell them at the end of the job, they came
in under budget, and take $300 off their bills.
another tip was to ask clients for quantifiable results - these build your reputation for further down the road, and bolster your credibility
for the next job, as word of mouth can make or break you.
new DADA?
Gordon McKenzie - orbiting the giant hair ball.
erin had RGA story about how they early on some days and were given the briefs from clients they didn't work on - and were tasked to come up
with new creative.
sometimes when you have your nose to the grindstone you forget to look
up and see what's around you.
just joined the women's presidents association where she met Edie Weiner - who is a FUTURIST. this makes me want to send her the apple movie with the touch-screens.
Price Waterhouse Coopers CD said the pieces she remembers are the thought leadership pieces and the white papers. those are the ones she keeps and shares and shows around.
designers need to have the power of word, and confidence in the word. designing and understanding.
other tips - track and map where your new business comes from. take sales classes... dale carnegie.
