Term
Where can you find work?
how do you go about finding a good source of business? What are the three broad categories and their strengths and weaknesses |
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Definition
Publications- Low pay, high prestige
Newspapers, books, magazines, and newsletters-- generally offer
the least lucrative pay for assignments
Ad agencies- Buyer’s market
Lots of pressure to perform--
Corporations- Better pay, fewer hassles
Many companies, with so many needs-- |
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Term
Where can you find work?
What are some buisness categories that you can join? |
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Definition
| retail, publishing, not-for-profits, hospitality, ad agencies, PR/SP agencies, design studios, health care, real estate, entrepreneurial firms, direct marketers, financial services. |
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Term
How do you find prospects?
What do you need to do in order to find your prospects? (the list) |
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Definition
As Kim Gordon says, the best prospect lists aren’t found—they’re constructed name by name.
Develop your list:
1. Identify by category the types of prospects you want to target. What kinds of businesses are they? Keep the categories manageable-- no more than about six.
2. Narrow your focus. Consider other qualifying criteria that works for you.
3. Use research to identify the names of at least a dozen prospects for each of your categories.
4. Call each prospect to get the name of the person closest to making the buying decision,and add that name to your list.
5. Call the prospect. This way you can establish some rapport while you qualify them. |
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Term
How do you find prospects?
What is the order of the stair sequence? what is the meaning of each one?
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Definition
1.Suspect-anybody who is using the design
2.Prospect-where you want to go work wise, what works best for you
3.Assignment- 2 assignments make a client
4.Client- who you work for
5.Advocate- people that support your work and you take care of them they --show appreciation for you…and clients in return do business sales for you. Provides referral.
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Term
Where do you find prospects?
what are some of the best avenues for developing your prospective client list? |
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Definition
-Friends, colleagues, acquaintances.
-Trade journals and associations.
-Community service/business groups (Chamber of Commerce,
civic service clubs, leads clubs).
-Web sites.
-Industry listings (Thomas Register, etc.).
-Former clients. |
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Term
Where do you find prospects?
The best way to impress a prospective client is to be knowledgeable about and interestedin their business. Get some background information on the company, their product profiles,prior design styles used, and names of key contact people. Before you meet them, what do you try to investigate? |
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Definition
- Annual reports (available at the library, stock brokerage firm, or online)
- Local news items
- Trade magazines |
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Term
Where do you find prospects?
If you plan to market to a certain industry, it is essential that you know that industry well.What are kinds of questiosn that you can ask the industry?
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Definition
How is it doing in the current economic climate?
In what ways do firms in the industry use design?
What personality traits are admired in the business?
Do most people in the business share similar values and attitudes?
If so, what are they?
Who are the customers in this industry, and what are they like?
Try putting yourself in the potential customer’s shoes. When trying to market your designs, you should be able to show such an in-depth understanding of the prospective client and its industry. |
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Term
Develop your marketing plan
Once you’ve decided which companies you plan to market to, you should form a plan
of action for developing them into clients. What are the two steps you need to take? |
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Definition
Step 1. Revisit your business plan.
What have you set as your broad, strategic goal?
Whether you use annual sales figures (Goal: $90,000 this year), or just a description of how you’d like your business to develop (Goal: At least 50% print advertising this year), put your strategic goals in writing, and constantly refer to them when you develop your marketing plan.
Step 2. After setting the broad goals, establish short-term steps to take
to move you toward your objectives.
Example: If you want to design health care provider annual reports,
you could set a broad goal of getting two new corporate identity clients
in the health care sector next year. To that end, your short-term steps
might be to send out an industry-specific letter to the public relations
department of 25 health care providers, and mailing follow-up promotional
pieces every two months for the next eight months. |
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Term
Develop your marketing plan
Setting small, tactical goals to help you reach a larger, strategic marketing goal is basicallywhat “formulating a marketing plan” is all about. What are the 3 goals? What is the 3rd step to developing your plan? |
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Definition
- who you’ve contacted,
- what was their response,
- what is your next move as a follow-up.
Step 3. Get two basic tools: a marketing calendar, and a PCRS*
*(Prospective Client Record-keeping System) |
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Term
Which self-promotion tools are right for you?
There are many ways you can represent and promote the work of your studio. Whats the list of some of the usual self-promotion tools, and some advice on how to use each one effectively? |
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Definition
- Business cards and stationery. These could be the first and only contact many prospects have with your design work. For this reason, both the design and the printing should be impeccable. First impressions can be lasting impressions; it is important that yourlogo and the design of your corporate identity materials reflect your design style and creativity. Those are the skills you want people to know about and come to you for.
- Studio web site. Not to be confused with promotional mailers, your website should profile your studio in detail. In addition to being a showcase for your talent,
the site should reflect your design philosophy, provide a list of your services,
describe your process, and mention your areas of expertise, former and
present clients, and any design awards your studio has won.
- Promotional mailing pieces. These can range from simple postcards to three-dimensional extravaganzas. The possibilities are endless, but whatever form you take, be sure thedesign reflects your best work. Regular mailings of funny and clever promo pieces is an effective way to gain attention, and be remembered the next time a designopportunity arises. |
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Term
Which self-promotion tools are right for you?
Just as it’s important for you as a designer to produce cost-effective designs for clients, it’s important for you to consider cost of production for your own promotional pieces. It’s easy to get carried away when you want to show off your creativity, but it’s important for you to work within a reasonable budget you establish for the project. You must consider the costs of reaching potential clients. Directories and contests are effective ways of reaching prospects, and cooperating with other colleagues to create direct mail pieces can help you cut expenses. What are a few more suggestions? |
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Definition
- Creative services books. These books target the buyer of creative services. Because oftheir targeted focus, advertising in these books can be expensive. Before going into a book, be sure your work is top-notch, and that the book is going to the kinds of companies you wish to work for.
- Design contests. This is a great way to get your work in front of a wider audience, and any design awards you win should be mentioned in your promotional literature. Look for contests sponsored by design magazines, industry guilds, and organizations.
- Promotional Collaboration. Hook up with your colleagues — a writer, illustrator,
photographer, or another designer. Promote the services of the group — a collaborative design on one side and examples of each person’s work shown separately on the other, with name, address, and phone number under each design. It’s a great alternative to the same old postcard mailer, and, in addition to splitting the cost of production, it’s a way to add names to your mailing list. |
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Term
How to say exactly what you want to say
Remember that your designs can only do a certain amount of communicating for you;
although your best method of communicating may be visual, it can’t be your only method. EWhat do you do for more effective written and verbal communication? |
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Definition
• Make sure both your written and spoken grammar is impeccable.
• Do your homework, and remind yourself that you are well-prepared
before speaking publicly.
• Don’t rush.
• In written communication, don’t try to make the first draft perfect.
• Write to express, not impress.
• Avoid tentative-sounding or passive language.
• Make sure there are no typos.
• Don’t be perfect — be yourself. |
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Term
The fine art of consultative selling
What is consultive selling? and What are open and close ended questions? |
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Definition
- Consultative selling is what you should practice when you meet a prospect at a business function, or for an appointment, or every time you speak with prospects (or customers) on the phone. So before you ever meet with a prospect or make a warm or cold call, you need to fully understand the principle. Consultative selling is about uncovering and filling needs in a way that makes the prospect or customer feel supported and understood. It’s vital to practice using both open- and closed-end questions in business conversations until you can use them easily, whether you are on the phone or in a meeting.
To properly fill your prospects’ needs, you must uncover what those needs are. The most effective way todo this is by asking the right questions and listening carefully to the answers. Now, it starts to get a littlecomplicated when you consider there are actually two kinds of questions —‑closed- and open-end.
• Closed-end questions are fact-finders. They can be answered with “yes,” “no,” or a fact.
• Open-end questions reveal the emotions behind the answers. They are thinking, feeling,
finding questions.
Closed-end questions can draw out a reticent person. They’re handy for beginning and ending conversations, while open-ended questions may be used for just about everything in between.
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Term
The fine art of consultative selling
What information will you need in order to decide if the prospect is a good potential customer or client for your business? |
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Definition
Make a list of the kinds of information you’ll need (annual sales, name of present
vendor, budget for design services, etc.), then form closed-end questions. After that, practice turning the closed-end questions into open-end versions. |
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Term
How to handle objections
what is the list of six common objections, along with appropriate responses? Use them as a guide to work out your own set of positive answers to negative questions. |
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Definition
• I like your work, but I’m not sure we can afford you.
Answer: I’m actually inexpensive for work of this quality, and quality usually returns far more in (sales/impact) than the little extra it initially costs.
• I like your work, but you don’t have any (industry) experience.
Answer: Actually, its better I don’t, I’ll bring a fresh perspective. Also, my demonstrated problem-solving ability and communications skills are more far more important than specific knowledge. I learn very quickly.
• We’d like to try you first. Will you accept a job on speculation?
Answer: As much as I’d like to, I can’t. All I have to sell is time and once its gone it can’t be replaced. I believe my portfolio demonstrates my ability to do a good job.
• Do you always work alone? (Often masks a concern about working with a single-person company.)
Answer: I find I can give better creativity and more personal service this way. However, when necessary I bring in people to help me out. I haven’t missed a deadline yet.
• We’d prefer a larger company with full-service capability.
Answer: I provide full service, but I do it though assembling modular teams rather than relying on in-house staff. This way I can get the very best talent for each assignment and you don’t have to pay for a lot of unutilized overhead. And I personally oversee everything, so you don’t have to worry about your job being directed by an unknowledgeable account executive.
• Why should I hire you, rather than an agency?
Answer: I’ll give you better repsonse and better work. With me you get creativity without the overhead that adds to costs and without the layers that add delays and misunderstandings. |
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Term
The fine art of consultative selling
What do you need to remember about rejection? |
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Definition
Always remember this: rejection is a state of mind. Nothing else. When you show your work you can be turned down, inconvenienced, and irritated. But you can never be rejected unless you want to be.
If a client decides not to hire you, at worst they have made a costly mistake. At best, you haveeluded what might have turned out to be a bad situation. Either way, put it behind you, and go on to thenext appointment. The good clients are out there. They need you. It just takes time and a little effort to
find them. |
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