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Ray Hrynkow MGDC is creative director, senior designer and strategist for Herrainco Brand Strategy + Design. He attended the September Design is our Business breakfast event and I asked him to share his experience on what was our first Business Development event. Here's what he had to say:
Like many of us, taking care of business is not the first thing I like to do when thinking about design. For those lucky enough to attend the GDC’s Design Is Our Business series on Sept 17th at the Westin Bayshore, there was some valuable support and reassurance in this prickly area. Business coach Fiona Walsh’s presentation entitled Building Strong Business in Tough TImes gave designers some extremely valuable insight on ways to improve their businesses.
Fiona is the CEO and founder of FM Walsh & Associates Inc. With 20 years experience in both the corporate and entrepreneurial arenas, She provides large & small businesses with the insight, tools and strategic support they need to succeed.
Fiona reminds us that nurturing our of business is a daily task that, when done routinely, can help us yield great results. Most of the 10 steps she mentioned are easy do but require that we be clear in our own mind about what we bring to the table. We need to address business issues consistently and on a routine basis. A few extremely important points are:
Designers need to become very clear on why people buy design
It’s not about making something pretty, but usually about helping a client generate more business, increase the bottom line, or build their brand. The more a client sees design as a necessity rather than a luxury, the greater your chances of getting more and better work from them.
Adjust Your Model
For some reason this is often difficult for designers to do. It may be because, as designers, we are so committed to what design brings to the table, that we have a difficult time seeing how a client could not buy the whole package. Adjusting your model means breaking down a package of items in such a way that parts can be added or removed. Often this is a way to make a project more accessible to a client who just can’t afford all of your services. We did this recently for the first time in many years and it works. Often, what starts as a smaller project grows into a much larger project, letting you add in the other components over time.
A third point which hit home for me, was:
Break Monthly Sales into Smaller Units
We have all at some point set monthly targets but these can be further broken down into smaller units, weekly gross and daily gross. This tends to keep time front of mind and makes us of aware of just where all our time goes. Two hours a day needs to be spent on prospecting and selling. It often takes a 100 or so phone calls just to get one or two leads that develop into a project. Its takes 7-8 contacts with a cold call to generate interest so we are reminded to be persistent.
These events are a great way to build community, share results or experiences and/or just meet some new people. I look forward to the next event and hope to see you there.
For more interesting articles visit Herrainco Brand Strategy + Design's blog. Don't miss our next Design is Our Business breakfast with Blair Enns on November 5th at the Westin Bayshore, more details to come.
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