Normally I write for the creatives, but this one…this one’s for the clients. Print it out and staple it to some foreheads…maybe even your own. Leave it randomly in the foyer of random offices, or tape it to the toilet paper dispenser in the bathroom.

Hello Clients. How are you?

You’re probably standing in the doorway of your in-house designer or at the workplace of a design firm, and you’re holding a post-it note saying something like:

“Need website with shopping cart,” or “Need complete business identity: Be creative!”

Hot tip: With a sadly lacking creative brief, you’re setting yourself up for a bad bad bad bad bad bad bad situation.

Just like asking God for a hairy chest when I was 11 years old.

I prayed to God that I might have chest hair like Tom Selleck. All the ladies loved the chest hair, so I said “God?”

“Yes, Tom?”

“I want body hair; I’ve been a good boy.”

“I know, Tom, and verily I say unto thee, that thou shalt have thy wish in abundance. Let there be a whole forest of hair, sprinting nimbly up and over your shoulders, down your back and deep into the crack of your hiney….”

“Um…wait….God…wait, um…”

“And let this back hair be patchy and weird-looking. And so that you may always enjoy it, I grant you extremely sensitive skin so that any attempt to remove the hair will be met with waves of viciously nasty hair bumps.”

“Whoa…whoa there, God…settle down…”

“And may the hair on the back of your neck connect with your beard, so that you may wear a helmet of unsightly fuzz with two convenient ear-holes.”

“Okay, maybe I should be a little clearer when I…”

“And so that you may hear the sound of your hair growing, I give you tufts of hair in your ears, too. Am I not a giving God?”

“Um…technically, yes…”

“Well good. I have a squash match in ten, so I’ll catch you around. Have a good one and..uh…stay warm!”

*sigh….

The point is, clients…creative briefs are not meant to be THAT brief. So pretty please, start writing more stuff on your post-it note. Use both sides even.

Graduate to a whole sheet of paper. Include things like due dates and ideas of your own, maybe a company overview, a history, a few samples of your existing stuff.

Because if you don’t…well, let’s just say that if you’re not clear enough in saying what you want, your designers will try valiantly to fill in those blanks for you.

Now, it might end up fantastic and wonderful and life-affirming, or … you too could end up waxing hair out of your ears for the next 50 years.

Thomas (Tom) Stephan | Director of Something Clever
BoDo Author | Dyer Straits | Working Pro bono

Here’s a typical scenario. A designer gets a call. The person on the other end of the phone needs a [insert gig du jour]. After a wee bit of a scramble, a proposal or estimate is whipped up, the project is confirmed, money moves and things get to rockin.’ The project moves along and is finally finished. The client is pleased as punch. Our designer gets paid. Everybody’s a happy camper and move on to the next thing on the list. All is well with the Universe.

Or is it?

Although this is the way most independent designers work, it tends to be a first cousin to the notorious “feast or famine syndrome.” Our little scenario is project-based thinking and not necessarily a good idea for you or your client.

Why?

Glad you asked. It’s not a great working model for you because it centers around the one-shot deal. When things dry up you might find yourself flipping burgers to meet your overhead. Although you might look simply smashing in a nifty fast-food uniform, odds are, it’s not what you had in mind.

It’s not a good deal for your client because, frankly, you’re doing a disservice by providing only what they ask for and not using your gray matter to root out what might be of value to them.

I’d like to offer a better idea. Ask a boat load of questions. Get to know your clients’ businesses, their competitive arena, their industry, their audience. In essence, learn all the gory details and become a partner in their success. Then, put on your consultant cap and get to thinking. What would help them out? What ideas can you offer up?

The thing is, just because a client asks for a whatever, it doesn’t necessarily mean that’s what they really need. By asking questions and digging deep, you can offer ideas that will help your clients meet their goals. You add value to your relationship. You become a needed resource. You separate yourself from your competition, because they’re not doing their homework.

As you learn more about each of your clients’ businesses, you can position yourself as a consultant and offer up suggestions. Now you’re getting somewhere. You’ll find you no longer live project to project. You begin to create projects.

One of the best times to map things out is during an annual client review. December and January are good times to do this. Set up a time to get together with each of your clients. Lunch is a nice idea – on your dime, of course. Review what’s been done during the previous year. What worked well, what could use some improvement and such. Ask them about their goals for the upcoming year.

Take what you learn and give it some thought. What can you do to help your client meet their goals? Put together a proposal and present it to your client.

If you handle this right, you’ll find you can schedule much of your workflow for an entire year, or at least several months out. You’ll know what needs to be done and when. You’ll decrease or eliminate those nutty rush gigs. Your clients can accurately budget for upcoming projects and avoid rush fees. You’ll both sleep better at night because you’ll know what needs to be done, when and how much it’ll cost. No surprises.

In addition, raising yourself to a valued consultant status can justify higher fees. Plus, you become proactive by generating projects rather than sitting at your desk waiting for the phone to ring.

Until the next
Marketing Minute
all the best,
nt

Have you ever run into something like this? You get a call from a prospect. They want you to come in for show and tell and discuss a project. You go to the meeting and they love your stuff. As you leave they’re telling you you’re the next best thing to sliced bread and they’ll call shortly to get things started. You’re thinking, “Woo hoo! They like me. They really like me.” You send over your estimate and then …

… nothing. Nada. Zip. Not even a peep.

So, there you sit at your desk thinking. “Sheesh, I thought it was a done deal. Were they just feeding me a line of hooie? What did I do wrong?”

Chill out. Sure, maybe they did get someone else. As my art school teacher used to say, “If they don’t want you, it’s their loss, not yours.” Often though, it’s a matter of changed priorities. In as much as the gig is on your front burner, something may have come up to put it on your prospect’s back burner. They may have been called out of town. It might be that another project took them by storm and their boss is on their back. Etcetera, so forth and so on.

What to do? Well, there’s not much you can do to get your prospect moving in your direction if they don’t want to play. A follow up phone call is in order, of course. If something else has come up, ask when you should call them back. For example, I’ve been working on a prospect, a Marketing Manager with a fairly large company. She contacted me looking for a site for one of their divisions. We met a couple of times and everything seemed to be moving forward. Then I didn’t hear anything. So, I picked up the phone and found out that the division head had put things on hold pending some legal issues and she was simply too busy to get back with me. I asked when I should call her to touch base. She said the mid part of Spring. So, down it goes on my calendar and I move forward with other prospects and projects.

It’s important not to put too much weight on any prospective project until the client signs in blood and the deposit check clears. It’s easy to start counting chickens before they’ve hatched and count on money that’s not in your account yet. Don’t fall into the trap.

You’ll get your fair share of tire kickers along the way, so you’ll want to keep up your marketing and promotion efforts to ensure you have several prospects in the pipeline at various stages of the sales cycle. You won’t close them all and there will be some you shouldn’t even tackle. But, the idea is to juggle several prospects at the same time, rigorously qualify them and focus on the ones you know you can win and will be a good fit for your practice.

Until the next
Marketing Minute
all the best,
nt

If you’ve been following the Marketing Minute, you likely know that in my spare time I’m the Senior Account Manager with Odell Advertising/Marketing, Inc. “Senior Account Manager” is a fancy way of saying I’m a suit … a sales guy … a rainmaker. Although I still keep my fingers in the creative end of things, a big part of my job is getting new business. And, I’m happy to report, I’m rather pleased at the way things have been going.

As you might have guessed, one of the first things I did when I started with the firm was getting in touch with my existing Tortorella Design clients to let them know what was up. That was an easy inflow of “new” clients for Odell. If you keep your clients happy, attend to their needs and do good work, they’ll usually follow you wherever you go.

Next, I started contacting clients I hadn’t worked with in a while. Several of them came onboard the Odell ship, as well. But I didn’t hear back from one.

In the day, I had done quite a bit of work for this client – ads, trade show stuff, brochures, identity design and such. I got along with my main contact quite well and he seemed pretty happy. I was concerned why he hadn’t emailed me back. The last we had talked, a few years earlier, things weren’t gong so well for the company and they didn’t have any dough to spend on marketing. That’s kind of a bad idea, but that’s another post.

I could have stopped there and given up the [contact] ghost. Lots of designers do. I could have figured that he just wasn’t interested, they were using another shop, yada, yada, yada.

After emailing him twice, I picked up the phone. “Hi, this is Neil with Odell Advertising in North Canton. Is Joe Contact available?” “Sorry, Joe’s not with the company anymore.” Ah ha!, me thinks. “Who would be the person to speak with about your marketing and promotion?” “That would be Jack Deep-Pockets. He’s not in right now. Would you like his voice mail?” “Thanks. That would be great.”

So, I left a voicemail telling him who I was. A few years back, they renamed the company to be one of their main product names. I had done the logo for the product. I figured this was a good angle. “Hi Jack, this is Neil Tortorella with Odell Advertising up in North Canton. I’m the guy who designed your company logo several years back. I’d like to talk with you about your marketing and promotion plans for the remainder of 2007 and into 2008. You can reach me at …”

And that was that.

Our office opens at 8:30 AM. I tend to get there around 7:15 - 7:30 AM. Okay … I’m an overachiever. So sue me. The next morning around 7:30, the phone rings. It’s the president of the company I had called the day before. It seems they’d been looking for me, but when my previous contact left, so did my contact info. We set up a meeting.

Since then, this client has turned into, arguably, my biggest client at Odell. We’re doing trade show displays and support materials, ads all over the place, photo shoots, etc. Today they emailed needing us to design a system of product logos. Cha ching!

And all this is a result of simply keeping in touch.

Until the next
Marketing Minute
all the best,
nt

A Clients Guide, wishful thinking? Perhaps. But, perhaps a consideration.

In 2005 I researched design orgs for Proscodi, and pretty much bored everyone around me to tears with the information I found.

(When you’ve been around BoDo for awhile, you’ll find that research is one thing I do. A lot. Sometimes fruitful, sometimes not. And I imagine boring comes into it too. A lot).

BoDo author Alina Hagen of Alina’s In-sights (with her usual clear insight), asked:

If designers need a code, then what about our clients? Shouldn’t they have a code for working with designers?

Alina took the initiative and created a discussion on the about.com design forum. While she was occupied, I posted elsewhere to request additional help. Designers from various forums added to the list. The list grew. And grew. When it became a decent size, I pulled it together into ‘official speak’ using the Icograda code. But it didn’t polish up until Thomas (Tom) Stephan, now of BoDo’s Dyer Straits, (bless him) took my efforts and created what you see below, a readable Client’s Guild to Professional Conduct in the Design Industry. After it was refined, we posted it back on the forums, some of who pegged it.

(A special thanks goes to all who helped put together the pieces. The list is too extensive, but you know who you are).

So I give you, the …

Clients Guide to Professional Conduct in the Design Industry

Definition

“Client” means an individual or company purchasing skills and talents from an individual or company practicing in design industry

Professional Conduct

We expect our clients to follow the professional obligations of their own community and the business community as a whole. This includes all legal obligations of the city, state or nation under which they operate. Designers have the right to refuse to do service with a business which they feel is not adhering to these obligations.

Do not ask your designer to apply concepts, images or ideas from another source. Remember: you are trying to stand out of the crowd, not blend in. Plagiarism and concept theft is a criminal act that will damage the designer and your business, and makes it difficult for both of you to reestablish public credibility.

The Designer/Client Relationship

The digital world has vastly improved the speed of design. Proofs can be sent electronically and a great amount of design can be accomplished on computer in a much shorter amount of time than ever before. However, technology has not made the design process simpler. Designers still need time to work with your company to decide the best way to represent it to the consumer. Deadlines and project scope must be realistic and flexible enough to deal with the unexpected. Remember that you are buying a public face to your business, and value it accordingly.

When you hire a designer, make sure that you make them part of your business day. Keep in touch at a frequency acceptable to both of you, and the design process will flow smoothly in both directions. Designers, like all business contacts, appreciate returned messages, even if it is only an acknowledgment of receipt.

Spend an extra hour with your designer at the beginning to outline your needs and interests, and you will save hours of time down the road in regards to deadlines and project scope. Taking the time to deliver a sufficiently in-depth project brief ultimately serves as a cost-saving device for both parties.

A qualified designer is trained to analyze your professional needs and, with your input and guidance, craft visual expressions of your business. The client should understand that this skill goes beyond the personal aesthetic and often deals with the psychology of branding and public perception, and is as individual to your company as a fingerprint.

A designer’s suggestions and recommendations on the project are not simply what clients or designers find appealing or pleasing. Good quality design is engineered to appeal to your customer. Be fair in your criticism. Ask questions instead of making statements. If something does not work, explain your misgivings fully instead of simply. Remember that your designer is a professional collaborator and not an employee, and brings a set of skills to your company that is geared towards expanding your business.

In addition, the concepts and ideas generated together represent a contractual agreement of confidentiality/exclusivity between the designer and client. Just as the Designer will not divulge your business operations, you and your staff are obligated to do the same for our business.

Design is a business, just like yours

Designers are business owners and have set hours like any business. After hours calls may not be received until the next working day. Rush requests or overnight orders, like any business, are subject to increased or emergency fees. In return, a designer is obligated to inform you in a timely manner of any increase in cost to you.

Deadlines for materials the designer needs are not arbitrary. Designers cannot design around blank spaces where text should go, nor can they build around pictures that are not there. Any delay on the delivery of photos, text or dimensions of the project results in a slowdown of the production process. If you experience an informational gap, contact your designer immediately to explain the delay.

On a related note, make sure your copy is free of errata, both grammatical and factual, and that you images are of the quality needed by the designer. The designer should give you a list of specifications of print, media or Web materials. They are not guidelines; they are rules by which the final project must go to press.

Design Contracts/Billing

Designers’ contracts guarantee their clients the right to high quality design in a timely and efficient manner to represent to goods and services your business has to offer. Take the time to read them thoroughly. If a designer does not provide a contract dealing with the scope of the project it is your right to ask for one before you begin working together.

A good designers’ contract outlines realistic deadlines, estimates the true scope of a project and the obligations of a designer before, during and after the project timeline. If any of these areas are lacking, it is your right to ask the designer about them.

It is the designer’s duty to a client to provide a detailed list of services provided in the final remuneration. This bill will include all services provided, including, but not limited to the services outlined in the original contract. Overtime, rush fees and emergency work will be billed accordingly, as well as any additional services requested by the client. The client has the right to inquire about additional costs when requesting additional work. A client will pay on time as agreed in the contract

Requests for working on spec - You might have heard of business owners who have asked for multiple designers to submit a finished product, and paid only the designer whose work they chose to use. On the same note there are designers who state a willingness to work for free to secure a later contract. This is known as spec (speculative) work, and is one of the biggest gambles you can make with your time, money and corporate image. Clients who ask for spec work waste time and energy weeding through multiple designs, most of which do not reflect your company’s needs. Designers who work on spec are not bound by contractual obligation to deliver anything, even if you want to use their designs. In short, it’s better, safer, and more cost-effective in the long run to work with a hired designer who is able to dedicate themselves to your project than it is to delve into spec work.

Publicity

Publicity helps designers and clients build an image and gain even more work. Naturally, a designer should be allowed to present samples of their work with your company as an example of what good collaborative design can accomplish. Designers are obligated to present your company in a positive, factually correct manner, and any samples will not violate the confidentiality agreements in the design contract. A client may allow the designer to use the client’s name for the promotion of articles designed or service provided, but only in a manner which is appropriate to the status of the profession

A client who is asked to advise on the selection of designers shall accept no payment in any form from the designer recommended

Also, a client should not publicize the designers name to be associated with the realization of a design which has been so changed by the client as no longer to be substantially the original work of the designer.

So, what do you think? Is it a go? Or, not?

until the next
Designers WW,
cat