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Stop Selling Logos

I was an 80’s kid. At the time my favorite action figure brand sold a to-scale aircraft carrier that could hold up to six jets! Santa was visiting soon and I was ready to get my very own aircraft carrier. It had elevators, a command center, secret compartments, four whole pages of self adhesive decals, and came with its own exclusive action figure. It was seven feet and six inches long, six inches shorter than my childhood bedroom. It was glorious! And I was told that we couldn’t afford it.

But that’s okay because that same action figure brand also sold a toy F-14 Tomcat. It had firing rockets, retractable landing gear, a cockpit the fits two action figures, an exclusive pilot action figure, two whole pages of self adhesive decals, and an ejection seat that would deploy a working parachute that would carry your action figure safely back down to earth where he could rejoin the fight on the battlefield. It was awesome! But, it turns out we also could not afford it.

Then, I learned that Santa may just be able to afford some action figures if I could submit a prioritized list to my parents, his ambassadors. I gleefully scribbled the names of my favorite characters. It was a great Christmas morning indeed!

There are some services you offer that you your clients will not be able to afford, and that’s okay. Your goal is to offer something they choose to afford. Clients choose to afford things they value. Offer something they value and they’ll become a paying client. They’ll have already done all the mental justification required to buy your service, all you have to do is ask for it.

Offer something they value and the sale becomes easy.

So, what do they value?

One of your jobs as a creative professional is to uncover what your client values. Most times you’ll be approached because “I want a logo.” Whenever you hear this statement, a smart reply is, “Maybe so, let’s find out for sure.” Then, follow with a series of questions that uncover their motivation to seek you out in the first place.

Your potential client has a business problem they are hoping you can solve. They’ve come to you with a self-diagnosis of a logo when they may need something else entirely. You don’t know what they need or how to help until you both dig further into their problem. Help your client understand why they need you. It’s as important as defining what they need to achieve their goal.

You don’t sell logos, you sell a means to a higher bottom line. You sell money in the form of loyal customers. You sell a plan that helps new customers become loyal customers, faster.

Designers help their clients’ customers to trust them with their money faster.

To become invaluable to your client, articulate this truth using their industries terminology. Use their language to articulate your value.

Once they see the value of your solution, it’s time to talk about how to pay for your solution. Base the price of your expertise on a percentage of the projected increase to your clients bottom line. What!? Yeah, let’s break that idea down.

How much money do they stand to make from the things you create? Charge a percentage of that money. Doing so is called value-based pricing and it makes the most sense for both of your businesses.

Calculating your price hinges on learning how your client makes money. If they don’t want to share that information, don’t work with them. When they get tired of wasting money on pretty things that don’t move the needle they’ll realize your work is worth the price. If they never do, you were probably better off not to work with them anyway.

Once you know how they make money you can project how much more your work can help them earn. Look for ways to help create enormous value and propose to get paid on that value. Work together to determine a target dollar figure you’ll both be aiming to hit. Then, base your fee off a percentage of that dollar figure.

Clients that value branding already know that what you do is worth far more than the fees you charge them.

You’re in the business of fixing client problems by creating solutions that add to their bottom line. Working to create real value for your clients is fun! I’ve heard it said that money can’t buy happiness but happiness can sometimes create money. I want you to have fun, find/create value, and help make happy clients.

P.S. I have plans to make even more things that will help you create value for your clients. Keep an eye right here to hear about it first.

 

I’m Clint, and I want to clear the air.

I’m more interested in selling your product than I am in making my portfolio look cool. Let’s schedule a time to sit and talk about your goals over coffee and a waffle.

I’m available weekdays from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. clint@walkingstickdesign.com | 405 627 1193

 

I’ve been branding businesses, events, and Non-Profits since 2003. If you’re looking for solid branding and clear results, you’ve found the right brand partner. Here’s a few of my brand values:

• I’m a brand partner that co-creates solutions with my clients.
• I love to find people who are doing amazing things and get more people to notice what they’re doing.
• My clients love my risky ideas. Because it’s not risky if it works. After all, risky becomes genius when our weird ideas work.
• Weird ideals welcome. If your weird idea works, it wins.

I’ve been interviewed a few times:

• Passion Behind The Art No. 29
• Creative South Podcast No. 97
• Stories and Work

 

 

Ten quick facts about Clint:

1. Yes, the last name is Native American, I’m a Cherokee.
2. On average, I read one non-fiction book per month.
3. I love Legos… way too much for a man of my age.
4. I can’t seem to shut up about starting, growing, and running a small business.
5. Batman. Every time and always.
6. Almost all food benefits when paired with bacon. I said almost.
7. Personal Accountability, Boundaries, and living Debt Free are some of my favorite topics.
8. Movie popcorn, life’s too short for anything less.
9. I swim for exercise… because of all the bacon and movie popcorn.
10. I own an Indiana Jones hat. Yes, I look stupid wearing it.

Bonus fact: I play my ebony ES-335 through a Mesa Boogie Subway Rocket without the use of ANY effects pedals, on purpose.

 

A Declaration of Value: Walkingstick Design Company

At Walkingstick Design, we begin each new assignment and client relationship with a talk. We chat about the value of the results you can expect from our work. Then, we talk about the work involved to achieve those results.

We don’t keep time sheets because we don’t sell time. Our service is priced based on the the value we provide rather than the number of hours we work. Instead of estimates, we price our works’ value based on the results you wish to achieve.

We don’t have a “standard rate card.” Instead, we invoice according to the desired results of our partner-clients. Our clients want to experience the results we outline together. In turn, they invest in achieving their stated results by use of our strategic thinking and guidance.

We pour our special blend of creativity and craftsmanship onto our partner-clients marketing problems. Using that same thinking we build equitable pricing and compensation arrangements that mutually benefit both our clients and our firm.

We believe the true nature of a partnership is one that shares both risks and rewards. That’s why the Walkingstick Design Company chooses its clients carefully.

We like to have skin in the game. It would be wrong of us to ask out clients to take risks we’re unwilling to take. In that same spirit, our clients believe that sharing the rewards we help them to achieve adds to the nobility of their enterprise and helps to further solidify our partnership. Our partner-clients understand that lowering the price of our service requires us to remove value from the results they want to experience.

We want you to know what it feels like to achieve the goals we set together. Getting there starts with our ability to align our values with those of our yours.

If you’re ready to invest in your business and know what it feels like to achieve the goals you set, Click here.

Making Ideas Useful

We’ve all had a good idea, but what makes it useful? Other people will value it only if it helps them reach their goals.

It may sound harsh, but ideas that don’t get used, go nowhere and help no one. I have tons of ideas sitting in sketchbooks. None of them are helping anyone. So, I’m writing this blog post to myself. Good things seem to happen when I take my own advice.

I’m in the problem solving business. The creative ideas I generate bridge the gap between a problem and a possible solution. The more of them I can put into practice, the better.

Only when an idea is tested can it be refined into something that helps solve a problem.

Those ideas in my sketchbook aren’t being tested, so we can’t know if they’re useful or not. I have to fight back the comfort of having untested ideas. The feeling of safety can sometimes be one of the biggest hurdles to your success.

I have no problem looking stupid or screwing up. All my spelling and grammar errors can attest to that fact. Nothing good happens if I choose to keep my ideas safe from critique.

The more comfortable you are with your bad ideas, the faster you can reach good ones. I’m defining a good idea here as one that helps me reach my goal or one that can help someone else reach their goal.

Nothing bad happens when I hide ideas.
Nothing good happens until I share them.

The good ideas, the helpful useful ones, are those left standing at the top of a pile of crap ideas. You’ve got to be comfortable with outputting piles of junk ideas before you can have a shot at having a few good ones.

When I have an idea that helps ME do something, that’s a good sign that it may prove useful to someone else. Editing the idea for general use and making it available is something I love to do for my design pals and my clients. It’s one way I can add value to what they’re doing.

With that, here’s a list of questions you can use to test your ideas until they’re bulletproof:

• Who does this idea help?
• How does it help them?
• How do they use the idea?
• How can they share it?
• What’s stopping them from using it?

Who does this idea help?

It’s important to get specific about WHO your idea can help the most. Of course not all ideas can help all people. Your idea has the best chance of moving the needle when you can clearly define who the idea helps. List some words that describe the person your idea is for. You may find they’re just like you.

How does it help them?

What problem does your idea help them to solve? What problem did it help YOU solve? Spell it out for folks so they can get a good understanding of what your idea does to help them. You want to give them enough information to decide whether your proposed idea is right for them.

How do they use the idea?

Does your idea involve steps? Most do. Walk through the steps you used to discover and put into practice the idea you’re proposing. Think of this step as the user’s guide to your helpful idea. Numbered lists are your friend when answering this question.

How can they share it?

Sharing is caring. Sharing helps develop the trust required to build solid relationships, like this blog post for example. Ideas are free and their implementation holds great value. Share your ideas without the expectation of reciprocation. Avoid the desire to have a transactional mindset with ideas. It’s a strange phenomenon, but the more ideas you give away, the more ideas you’ll have.

What’s stopping them from using it?

Did something hold you back from using your idea to solve your problem? Was there a negative thought that prevented you from moving forward? Did you hesitate to use your solution because of some sort of fear? Talk about what held you back. Talk about why your fears turned out to be false. Then, talk about what you learned after you used your idea.

It’s okay to have a bunch of ideas that don’t solve a problem, but only if you keep going. Giving up never solved anything. Share what you learn along the way as a problem solver and you’ll align yourself with the right people.

Good things happen when you give people the means to solve problems. Making your ideas useful, and sharing them, gives you a great feeling. It can put you in the position to do more of it in the future.

More on how to adopt an abundance mindset.

The best book I’ve read on generating ideas.

The best book I’ve read on turning good ideas into habits.

Are you using an idea that has brought you success? Tell someone!

Thoughts: Perceived safety, Positioning, and Pricing

The only thing you get from doing business from a position of comfort is the illusion of safety. Or, at best, temporary safety. When the low hanging fruit is gone, you gotta climb increasingly taller trees.

You must continuously challenge yourself, otherwise comfort will choke you out. Nothing bad happens when I push myself toward a goal. Nothing good happens when I don’t.

Are you a freelance designer? Use this in your project agreement: Work begins when the first invoice is paid. No files are transferred until the final invoice is paid.

Getting way too many requests for low paying work? Use this email reply: Availability starts at 10k-20k.

The trick to others valuing your work is to first value it yourself. Or, more plainly, if you don’t value your work no one else will either. Why fight to be the lowest bid? Instead, state what it costs to enter into a project with your firm to attract the right people.

The magic of a high value price is that it attracts the right people. It also politely informs others to look elsewhere for lowball rates.

Have your ever had to pitch to win a project? Did you lose the pitch? The reason why you lost is because you weren’t well positioned. Well positioned firms never pitch for work. Stars don’t audition. Stars get asked to work on projects at the rates they name.

What are you waiting for? Once you become a legal adult, permission is that thing your brain uses to justify your inaction and or your procrastination. Permission is the most sinister form of procrastination.

Claim star status and prove it every day. Start now. You may get attacked but that’s part of the cost. Remember: Critics don’t create.

You will have to turn down some projects. Doing so makes room for better ones.

How do I get better clients?

I’ve talked to you about how to get clients. Now let’s talk about the next step.

For me personally, the whole client game begins and ends with respect. Respectful clients always get my best work because I want to make sure they stick around.

Here are some behavioral attributes of respectful clients:

• They ask for my input early in the project process
• They take action on the advice I give them
• They know the value of my work
• They plan ahead
• They schedule times to talk
• They assume I’m as busy as they are
• They come to the table with money
• They pay quickly
• They say “Please” and “Thank you”
• They’re friendly and professional
• They take responsibility for their part of the project
• They communicate well and answer the questions I ask in full as soon as they can
• They schedule appropriate amounts of time to complete a project
• They’re genuinely interested in my well being
• They’re proud to introduce me as “their designer”
• They take pride in the work I create with them

This list accurately describes most of my clients. This list is the standard, the baseline from which I operate the client selection process of my firm. I choose not to start relationships with “red flag” clients.

Red flags are there for a reason. It means this potential client is not right for you, and that’s okay.

Okay Clint, this all sounds wonderful but I need money. That’s cool. There’s zero shame in serving someone well, getting the job done, and getting paid. Do you want to stay at subsistence level design work for the entirety of your career? If not, it’s time to prune your list.

Do what with my what what!? Remember your ideal client list? Take a look at your list and highlight the clients you worked with last year. Pick the three you’ve liked working with the most and give me a call. Chances are, they match my list at the top of this post pretty well.

Thank them for being a respectful client. Next, spell out exactly what it is they do that you like about working with them. Talk to them about your list and ask for ways to expand your level of service for them.

What do I do about the rest of the list? We prune. I’m going to pause and assume you already know what pruning is. We remove the things that are getting in the way of growing a healthy list of clients. In doing so we make room for more healthy client relationships to grow stronger and bloom.

It’s okay to be “too busy” to take on a project from absolutely anyone that does not meet the items on the list. Especially if they are friends or family. The better you are at graciously deflecting these projects, the better off you’ll be.

Become a practitioner of respectful ruthlessness when deciding who stays on your list.

It’s never too early to keep a close eye on your list of clients. I wish I had known these things when I started my firm so many moons ago. Feel free to use and or modify my list. Use it as your filter when talking to potential clients. That way you’ll be able to grow a thriving list of respectful clients!