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One of my first jobs out of college involved direct customer sales where I got a crash course on how to be a salesperson. Not a salesperson like I had been when I worked at random retail jobs in the past, but getting professionals to throw down thousands of dollars and feel really excited about it.
At the time, I saw this job solely as a way to get my foot into the door of the companies design department (it worked) but as I look back now on that time it was probably some of the most valuable work experience I have ever had! Every bit I learned that year about selling I have applied to my design business in talking with clients about their projects.
It’s All About the Product (Services)!
The most important part to selling, is believing in the product, if you don’t — you’re going to come off sleazy… no one is going to trust you. While you may finagle someone into shelling out the doe, they are likely to feel more nervous about the transaction than excited.
I see this with freelancers all the time, they are not confident in their work (some with reason, some without) and this comes across when they talk about their services. I am surely not going to throw down my hard earned cash and gamble my businesses reputation on someone who doesn’t feel confident about the product they’re supplying! Would you?
The harsh truth, this can’t be faked. You either believe you can offer your clients top quality services or you don’t. If you don’t you can still try and sell it — but it’s not going to be so easy.
It’s All About the Customer (and how you treat them)!
So you are 100% behind your product? Good. Now here is the hard part, get behind your customer.
By this I mean… it’s not just about selling the goods, it’s about honing in on what your client needs and delivering that to them. Your interaction with the client is PART of the product when you are a freelancer. Be a good person, care about your client, listen to them and tell them what YOU would do if YOU where them.
A 20 page site with a full company owners biography and photo gallery of their office space would bring in a lot more money to your business, but this guy’s plumbing company would get a better return on his investment with a concise one page. Do you tell him this? YES, you do!
When you focus on delivering the right solution to your clients and getting the best results for them – you’re delivering a superior product.
I truly do believe, we are sales people. We are selling our abilities to help grow our clients businesses. It’s funny that I didn’t see this connection back then, but I am so glad that I paid attention to those sales lessons and was able to draw upon them and make this connection later down the road!
Did you ever have a job that isn’t design related that taught you a valuable business lesson? Leave a comment and tell us about it!
I noticed this about 3 weeks ago on a trip through the grocery store and it caught my eye. Crystal Light has updated their packaging and I give it a thumbs up! What do you think?
Obviously, this blog doesn’t cover pop culture news or anything like that, but the recent Conan O Brien V Jay Leno hoopla has really been something I have GOT TO talk about.
Over the last couple weeks, we all experienced what has now been coined “the Late Night Wars,” it was a whirlwind of drama that sparked a large response from Conan fans on and offline all over the world.
As I watched hashtags on Twitter like #TeamConan pop up and the “I’m with CoCo!” proclamations in Facebook status updates I realized how our experience of this is something that was impossible just a short time ago.
The internets evolution and the stage of social platforms at this moment in time has made community formations like Team Conan a reality that wouldn’t have occurred on such a large scale level if this “war” had occurred just a few short years ago. How awesome is THAT!?!
On top of this uprising of internet support that came out for Conan O’Brien, something else that really stuck with me has been O’Briens reaction to the whole thing. All joking aside, Conan’s final words on his last show that aired this past Friday, January 22nd were so honest, humbled and gracious. Conan really showed what it is to love your audience. Conan has a community around him of millions and yet he constantly seems amazed by their devotion. He’s been a shinning example of being transparent, having true passion for your work and embracing your community.
Conan really summed this up in his final word on Friday night, where he gave great thanks to NBC for the 20+ year career he has had with them. His voiced wavered a bit and it brought a tear to my eye when he talked of how his fans have made this unfortunate situation a celebration… and then sent out a special message to the young people in his audience,
If you work really hard and are kind, amazing things will happen.
What perfect words to end on, they’re so true — and I am going to have to add this quote from Conan in my arsenal of inspiration. I know this is a little bit unconventional for me to be writing about, but it’s been on my mind and I’d love to hear all of your thoughts on the whole thing!
Don’t get freaked out, you don’t have to have a fine printed document full of legal jargon to set company policies! Just think simple here, I’m talking about setting some standard practice rules for your business that make it clear to both you and your client what you can expect from each other and how things will run.
Things like, all invoices are due within 30 days of receipt. There. That’s a policy, simple, right?
How about all projects require an initial 50% deposit to begin work. There, see! There is another one!
These can even be rules you set for yourself. instead of your client. You can have a policy for how you name and organize your project files, how you hand things off to a printer or how you organize your code.
Policies aren’t hard to come up with, many of us probably have similar rules in place for our businesses. The part where I see most freelancers trip up is, sticking to the policies they set in place. Sure, it is fine to bend the rules from time to time.. you can do that, it’s your business. But, there is no point in setting a policy if you aren’t going to stick to it. Your client s will appreciate these guidelines because they show that you are serious about running things properly and if you can manage your business in a professional way, it’s a good indicator that you’ll manage their project in a professional way.
Client: “This contract looks OK, can you just take this email as an approval?”
Freelancer: “It’s policy that projects cannot begin until a signed agreement is received. You can send it in by mail or fax, let me know which is most convenient for you!”
Do you have any special policies that have helped your business run smoother? Have you ever got into hot water by not having a policy in place when a situation arose?
Is there a quote that get’s you inspired in business? Something you think about when you need a little kick or when you are trying to give someone else a little kick?
The word “freelancer” has a bit of a stigma attached to it for the people outside of the freelance world. There’s a number of misconceptions about what kind of people we are and kind of business we do. True, I don’t have a time clock to punch when I start my work day and I don’t even own a pair of panty hose, but I am not just a free-agent design nomad. I’m a business owner! My business may only have one employee (that one being me,) but that makes it no less a business.
Starting out, it can be difficult to wrap your head around this and really embrace it. Being a “free agent” is so much easier, you are still like you used to be when you were an employee, only now – your clients are your boss! Right? WRONG! I think this attitude can be detrimental to a one-person business and as I’ve come to terms with my own entrepreneurship I’ve learned a lot about being a business owner and not just a freelancer.
Something I see as an important part of defining your operation as a real BUSINESS? Setting normal business hours.
I know! One of the benefits of being an independent professional means you DON’T have to do a typical 9 to 5 day — but it is still very important to have regularly scheduled business hours. Depending on your clients needs and your industry you can set these to be the most productive for your business.
We do have more freedom to modify our schedules when things come up or if you just need to take an extended lunch on a random Wednesday. What’s important that your clients have a frame of reference to know when they can get a hold of you. I keep pretty typical hours in my studio of Monday to Friday 9am to 6pm. The reason I chose this because most of my clients work traditional hours and I want to be available to them when it’s going to be of the most benefit to them.
You don’t have to think of this as being at the mercy of your clients sleep cycle. Setting a regular schedule can be liberating! If you have set hours of operation – this frees you from feeling obligated to jump on the random email question you might receive from a client at 2am on a Saturday night. Your clients accept this, because they view you as any other business. We all know that if we want to talk to our dentist, we call during his office hours. We don’t show up at the yoga studio at 2am and wonder why all the lights are out! Businesses have normal hours of operation, so set some for yours! Of course, I work outside of my business hours — I just can’t help myself! But, having that guidelines sets boundaries for both you and your clients.
What are your hours of operation? Why did you set the hours you have?
Happy New Year everyone! The last weeks been a big mess, so I just thought I’d check in and let you all know what’s happening. After the last month of endless holiday and end of year obligations, I returned home last week with a little more than a few gifts, I had a nasty cold that knocked me on my butt for the whole week and the homepage of my portfolio site had been interjected with some malicious code and blacklisted by Google.
*SIGH*
Well, I was able to get my site back on Googles good side. I found and eliminated the code — which luckily was only on ONE page of my portfolio site and hadn’t effected any of the Wordpress blog. Since none of the other sites hosted on my server were effected, I believe the attack was most likely allowed through by a weakness in a certain 3rd party statistics service I have been using. I’ve quit using the suspected service and am keeping a close eye on things around here. Changed my account passwords, etc, etc. For all the stress and headache of having my site offline was, once I logged into Googles Webmaster’s Tools and alerted them that the issue had been resolved, it only took about 6 hours for my site to be out of quarantine. (Not too bad.)
After all this, today I am back to work. I have a new office chair which is proving to be very comfortable! (I wish I had invested in this a long time ago!) Later this week I’ll start back up on more regular posting… maybe even a video (since I got a new snazzy camera now too!)
Thank you for making 2009 so memorable, and best wishes for 2010. I’ve designed a 2010 Calendar series of 12 desktop wallpapers that are now available for download, enjoy!
2009 is coming to a close and it’s been a great year! I have successfully survived my 2nd year of freelancing and blogging. I want to first take a moment to thank all of you for reading and subscribing, thank you to my sponsors and to the companies that hosted some of the awesome giveaways on the site this year. I feel truly honored to have you all as a part in my life! Thank you!!! Thank you to all my clients (i love you all) and fellow designers, developers and internet nerds! I wish you all the best in 2010.
I thought i’d take a look back at some of the posts that made this year such a memorable one. Fell free to leave a comment and let me know if there is anything you would like to see me work on for the blog in the next 12 months!
I am a web designer, blogger, internet nerd and crazy cat lady. I run a one-woman web studio in Seattle, WA. and this blog is mostly about web design and freelancing!
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