How do I get more of your tips?

I applaud you (Yvette) for taking action and trying to do something positive in the ’slowdown’. In terms of the ‘discount’ you mention though, I’m not convinced it’s a good idea……?

What it sounds like you’re doing in essence is giving away a slice of your profit – not a great thing in the current market – and I think you may struggle to renegotiate your price UP when it comes to the new year. Did you also set an extact date for the negotiation so they are expecting it? Did you define the increase, how much it would be and get ‘buy in’ and agreement from the client that it was okay?

If you haven’t done so, you could well find that the negotiation doesn’t goes as well as you might imagine…….

Anyway, good luck with your future selling efforts! Andy

We’ve already been working hard to keep the clients we have by cutting costs and letting them know we’ve cut back on billing them on something because ‘we understand’ that the economy is difficult. We’ve also gone as far as putting in writing (in new client proposals) that we’re giving a discount that can be renegotiated at a higher cost in the next year when the economy looks better. We just landed a client today by doing this.

Great article overall. But as most successful creatives know, the business minded creatives will weather the storm just fine and the others will just fade away.

I am also guilty of the soft & fluffy approach but recently attended a 2 day Sales Training course with Andy which has given me the skills to be more focused on what I’m saying and how I respond to the client in a sales environment….and it’s working!

Cheers Andy, will be passing this on today!

Kelly

I’m always explaining to new creative firms the risks inherent on relying on a few large clients and you are very right in that it’s common for design firms to slip into this habit.

I too know of firms who have gone under for this reason, it’s so risky. It’s much better to have a lot of smaller clients than a couple of large clients.

It also makes your turnover flow more steadily when you don’t rely on just three invoices a month – ie if someone pays late it doesn’t equal a third of your turnover.

I’ll admit to being guilty of being a bit ’soft and fluffy’ …. I yes don’t want to be perceived as ‘not nice’ and this does of course then hinder one’s ability to sell properly. I mean I do sell, but it’s a very soft sell, lol.

The soft sell is very effective and I do have a constant pipeline of new clients (good habits from when I used to sell mortgages for NatWest), but I think it could be a lot more effective with an improved approach/attitude.

I’ve promised myself to get tougher this year, stop letting my fear of being perceived as ‘a nasty old salesperson’ hold me back as I want to make big profits this year now I finally have both my kids in full time school!

This article is absolutely perfect and I’m going to add a link to in from my blog in the ‘how to be a freelance designer’ section for new freelancers.

Every designer and design firm should read this.

Thanks

Amanda