I know what you're thinking..."I can totally focus on the client"!
But let’s face it, if you’re feeling dissatisfied with the project after, then your problem wasn't being overbooked within a given day, but lack of time to research, plan and execute the project.
That’s my personal struggle with appreciating VIP-days. It’s not thorough!
What Is A VIP Day?
A day that's scheduled by a client to have their project executed.
So someone pays you for a project, and you give them a list of deliverables and a set time to deliver those deliverables in order for you to execute their project on the scheduled date.
What that means for you is on that day you're basically cramming the research and planning parts (if they exist at all) of the project into an 8 hour day that was initially intended to only be about execution. While secretely hoping and praying the client will love the work (which they never do), so there's always revisions.
Of course you’ll be left feeling dissatisfied with the work after!
Plus, considering you've already been paid for this job, these blind spots are also making the project less and less profitable for you.
Now don’t get me wrong, I could see how implementing a VIP day experience can free up your time to focus on 1 client and by extension, improve the quality of attention you give said client. But you can also accomplish that by learning to use your calendar better.
...What about the project?
There's more to a project than just speed, so there are productive ways to give your full attention to a client and the work that doesn't leave you feeling like as it relates to the work, you've just lost your soul. Believing that first, is what will unstick you from selling VIP days and move you towards selling intensives instead.
How I Do A Website In A Day
I’ve had clients simultaneously marvel at the amount of work that gets covered in a branded one-day project and how smooth the process is. What they miss is how I do the work ahead of time.
The idea here is rather than trying to cram a bunch of work into an 8 hour work day, take that entire process and divide it into key parts that incrementally lends itself to the final product.
How do I do that?
Well, for starters my goal initially was to not feel like I was rushing the project. But the journey to discovering what that process now looks like, really started with understanding how much time it takes for me to complete (at the time) 2 individual parts of the entire project. Over time working with more clients, it evolved into 3 with 12 overall internal parts, all important to the smoothness of the project.
So if you’re taking notes, you can't afford to leave anything out! Once you know the inside and outside of each part, you can then appropriately batch that work and decide when you want each step of that larger process to be accomplished.
This not only frees up my time, and improves the quality of attention given to each client, but it ensures that I have all the time I need to research, plan and execute the project as well. And the cherry on top? Be 100% satisfied with not just the result but also the outcome. And, if it's not yet obvious, one of the benefits to intensives is also having a clear cut way that you work.
Going back to VIP days. If, for example, a customer wants to expand on the first iteration of their project and you lost the business because there were no clear next steps for them to follow, that's on you. With intensives, the plan that moves the person from prospect to customer and then to client is built in.
To illustrate, let's see it on a simpler example.
The Relationship You Don't See
What are the main steps involved for a someone thinking of doing a project with you?
Consider every possible senario.
Is there a clear benefit to each step? If there is a clear benefit to each step involved, you can productize those steps such that it's understood (by the client) what they can expect, and how together, all steps play a part in the final product.
For eg. step 1 for all my clients is The BrandConductor™, it's the foundation of step 2, their One-Page Project. The BrandConductor™ reflects (for the client) what the look and feel of their design would be, and The One-Page Project tells them what they get.
Each individual phase in the process of selling then executing the service supports each other. I just closed a 15K project with this way. I found it easier to establish trust with someone when they can see a plan in place.
Now before you rush off to implement an intensive, note that if you’re not willing to be patient with yourself first, believing the path (for you) will reveal itself, or even change your thinking about branding your services and putting it online….ummmm, intensives won’t serve you. I see intensives as a systemic approach to branding, that unlike the tools installed on our website to help us transact business more efficiently, intensives are inserted into our services to help us connect more effectively. So give yourself grace, some of this branding and intensive stuff you won’t know unless you’re selling your services and consciously looking for those magical moments that you can capitalize on.
To quote Michelle Obama, “Great change happens in small bits…small actions.”
So start there. And if you must implement, remember two characteristics of an intensive: a client should never walk away feeling cheated of value, and you should never feel dissatisfied with the work you’ve done.
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