Are you tired of your professional design services getting passed up for the substandard services of other “designers”? Do you find the local market too small? Wondering if it’s time to get out of the design game?
If you’re selling a grocery list of design services like most graphic designers, you’ve already lost the battle of standing out. Prospects more and more are seeking continuity on a deeper level from their designs. They seldom have the verbage to express it, but demand is there. Are you going to bury your heads in the sand towards this problem because subconsciously you don’t understand what visual branding is? It’s a blue ocean for local creative businesses that are selling a solution instead of a product.
How To Stop Selling Logos And Graphic Design
STEP 1: Niche Your Business, Invest In A Website, And Re-evaluate Your Professional Status!
“Everyone offers what I do but no one is me, and my clients specifically like working with me for more than just getting a product.”
Uh-huh? And why is that?
Money is the only reason you'll stop short of articulating ‘the why’ of statements like those. You can’t escape casting yourself as a jack of all trades in the eyes of a prospective client. I’m looking at you services tab! My ideal client consider me very professional, not because of my design degree but because I’ve made what I do and how I do it easy to understand, and respect. So you’re in a rat race by default because you’re scared of niching and investing in a website. Not because “local designers aren’t seen as professionals'' but because through the way they present themselves and execute projects, they work against their own intentions to be seen and respected as a professional by playing it small.
Furthermore, although every local with a creative cloud subscription and their dog seems to be a graphic designer or web designer these days, rather than jeer at it, you can somewhat distance yourself from it by re-thinking how you position yourself. If it wasn’t for local discoverability, the terms graphic designer and web designer wouldn’t be associated with anything I do because that’s not the type of service I provide.
What overarching problem do you provide a solution for, what specific market does that service target, and what are you?
STEP 2: Stop Selling Consultations
The reason why some local prospects roll their eyes at consultations is because “it feels like a money-making tactic when a 1 to 3-man business with no specific reputation to leverage being paid for a consultation implements one.” They also come off as traps when a prospect, not yet deciding to become a client, seemingly ends up in the middle of a project—you can’t charge someone for something unsolicited.
All my clients begin with a $788TTDS design interview called The BrandConductor. It uncovers the notes they need to hit to attract the people they want to work with and by extension, make designing easier for me. At first, it was impossible to sell it because it had no specific reputation on its own to justify charging for it. So for 4 years it was offered as part of another service which allowed it to build a reputation in silence, and by extension, allowed me the opportunity to learn how to position it in the execution of a project when speaking about it.
There are no misunderstandings: a prospect knows the benefit of the service, and there are no sleazy obligations because as per their payment they are no longer a prospect but a client who understands that through The BrandConductor they’ve initiated (in part) the execution of an entire project an important correlation consultations lack.
Now, if we consider the big picture, doing PART OF A PROJECT FOR FREE or “giving a free consultation” wouldn't make sense if we’re relating to that FIRST STEP from the perspective of IT being OUR SOLUTION or the foundation to a client achieving a specific result from their designs.
STEP 3: Turn Your Grocery List Of Options Into Productized Services
Piggybacking on my last point, selling the answers you’re capable of providing your ideal clients (instead of logos and graphic design) will return the leverage you lost, once the agreed upon package is influenced by step 2.
By agreeing to your suggestion, your input (on all aspects of the entire project) was not only respected but it was also paid for. OK, yes, focusing your services will paralyze some people, while others will still ignore the significance of what you bring to the table, but were they even part of your target market in the first place?
Too many local founders aren’t dedicated enough to only work with the clients who add relevance to what they’re building. In 2020 I had a discussion in my group about a class project we all got in primary school where we had to grow a seed between pieces of tissue in a cup for approximately five days, and what I learned from each of their experiences was lack of focus and patience sabotaged the project. It’s said that children develop self-concept during the ages of 3 to 5 years old, so you’re already on a very slippery slope as an adult attempting to exhibit focus and commitment if it doesn’t come naturally for you. Go figure!
But I digress.
Most local packages are left in the hands of the customer to choose. Sounds fair, they’re doing the spending, so, logically they should be able to decide what package is affordable to them. But this is also about the problem they need solved. Imagine what you stand to lose if the scope of the project was initially larger than the boundaries of the package. It’s actually unprofessional to quote a project and come back around for money after payment has been made.
If your projects tend to go out of bounds and as a result you lose a lot of money due to the extra work leaving you frustrated and resentful in the process, your packages aren’t productized and you need to have better control over how they are decided upon.
These three things helped me out a lot as I was transitioning from a 16 year career as a professional Graphic and Web Designer into more of the type of design work I enjoy doing. I hope they can be helpful in some way for you.
I am the Founder and Visual Brand Strategist at TheBrandTUB
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