6 Fail-Safe Tips to Finding New Clients
Taking the bull by the horns: Finding new clients Finding new clients should be easier- in theory – because there’s a recession which means mergers and acquisitions creating plenty of rebranding work. Add to that the fact companies need to sell more which means more advertising and therefore more graphic design work it should be simple. As the saying goes, ‘there are always plenty of fish in the sea’ however if we believe there aren’t or you dont know where to …
Taking the bull by the horns: Finding new clients
Finding new clients should be easier- in theory – because there’s a recession which means mergers and acquisitions creating plenty of rebranding work. Add to that the fact companies need to sell more which means more advertising and therefore more graphic design work it should be simple. As the saying goes, ‘there are always plenty of fish in the sea’ however if we believe there aren’t or you dont know where to look it makes no difference whether you use a net or a harpoon.
Here are 8 Fail-Safe tips to help you find work,
1 Word of Mouth
‘Focus on Referrals. Word-of-mouth is simply the most effective form of advertising’ Dave Navarro
Network with friends and family: Out of your friends and family how many people do you know who you think need a redesign of some kind? If you have four people in your immediate family they’ll each have at least a handful of friends who would gladly listen to your pitch just because you’re related. That’s 40 potential clients already. This is simply using referrals; they’ll be a lot more confident of your ability if a good friend is in the loop. This can be boosted by emailing everyone in your address book.
Another benefit of word of mouth is that it can be done offline, broadening your clients elsewhere to give you more stability. By the law of averages out of all the people in your circle there’s bound to be a few who need work.
1 Cold calling / Pitching
You can either hire a cold calling salesman- if you have the available revenue, this can guarantee a higher profit and more work or you can knuckle down and practice your presentation skills. In sales cold calling is the least favourite thing to do ,its called ‘call reluctance’ but the fact is, if your going to win bigger and better clients your going to need get good at presentation.
Now I’m not talking about calling Steve Jobs and saying Apples old, lets call it Banana. I’m talking about calling all the small businesses in your area who you’ve spoken with before. If the initial contact goes to plan you’ll need to present either your folio or a spec. Some designers would advice against spec work like this, however if it means more work just do it – its all good practice.
The Law of averages in sales says if you call so many people you can guarantee a certain number will get back to you. So if you call 10 companies 6 will say ,’No’ but 4 will say ‘Yes’ to another call or meeting. Another way of seeing it is the more you hear,’No thank you’, the closer you are to hearing a ,’Yes please’. This is an actual rule in sales that is taught and has been proven. So the sooner you pick up the phone or talk to Tim, your baker and the more you expose those brilliant ideas the quicker you’ll land more clients.
‘Only on a cold call can the salesperson complete or get close to completing the sales process.’
3 Cold Emailing
This tactic is easier however it’s not about sending out a dozen of the same emails to different companies. This approach typically works with acquaintances or referrals. You have to research the company and know who you are talking to – it isn’t that much different from a phone call – only you get a lot more time to think about what you’re going to present. It’s about finding a company from your local yellow pages, looking at their current designs and saying to them ‘I think I could redesign your logo and your website’. You basically have to reassure them that by redesigning any of their brand you will increase their return on investment.
4 Revamp Your Folio & Use Social Media
Redoing your folio is always a good idea; it’s definitely not a set it and forget it project. Now that you have a unique selling point(your folio), focus on the skills and services you have and be a social media leader; get out there on all the sites you can think of . Here is a list of all the social media sites around. Twitter is the obvious one, helping people with questions, following the people in your niche and generally having meaningful discussions will eventually land you some work. Linked In is geared towards finding clients, once you have a few connections get some referrals and again speak to people. They have a targeted and professional job section.
5 Classifieds and Local Area Ad Boards
Classifieds such as Craig list and Gum Tree allow you to put up an advert offering services. If you do this for long enough coupled with a great folio you’ll find work in no time. Along with this you can put your company in the yellow pages, advertise in trade magazines or create an impressive and memorable flyer / card then advertise this in your local business centres. Use places you know will attract the right attention to increase the chance of work. You never know when the local police need a wanted poster done; so fill the gap in the market.
6 Build a Popular Blog
Building a popular blog doesn’t mean you have to setup a resource and tutorial site like this one, it can mean a purely personal endeavour that strengthens your network.
An over used term is, ‘content is king’ ,this isn’t entirely true .Without telling anyone about your royal content nobody will even know it exists , so having a strong set of friends will build a popular blog. And the best way to create friends is to do things for other sites; guest write, vote for their content (digg, design bump), leave smart comments, link to others posts.
Once you have a strong enough brand and following setup a folio page, there are always people looking to outsource in the blogshpere and having a blog is a good way to have a transparent and open pitch. – For something to become viral it usually has to be absolutely outstanding or from someone with a strong brand but the same principle can be applied.
Conclusion and other tips:
Try and avoid Bidding Sites
Get paid in kind
Stay organised.
With all these techniques it’s about creating new contacts . A wider client base is strongest and with a set of new work you should get repeat clients. In a recent poll of designers 80 % said there work comes from repeat clients leaving you free to focus on good design. These are tried and tested ways that have been around for many years . By looking after your company and it will look after you, by talking to other designers I know not everyone has tried all of these methods. Remember word of mouth has been noted to be best way to get new clients.
“If it’s not worth talking about, it’s not worth doing.”
Andy Sernovitz
Some Small Changes - Digital Art Empire Update
