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What really impresses me most about what Robert's done is that he's realized that by selling the outcome that most clients want to hear (higher conversion rates
by bdunn 13y ago
What really impresses me most about what Robert's done is that he's realized that by selling the outcome that most clients want to hear (higher conversion rates, more leads) instead of what designers tend to emphasize (clean design, HTML5 compliance, etc.) he's pitching himself as an investment, not an expense.
"Clean design" doesn't mean "I'll make more money in the long run than I'm spending on this engagement." Sure, better design can lead to that, but it's a proxy.
Many designers and developers can learn a lot from what he's done. Focus on those outcomes that position ourselves as investment vessels, not expenses. This means realizing that — no matter how passionate we are about our hard-earned skills — it usually means diddly squat to our clients. They just want a positive ROI at the end of the day.
So don't think of proposing to a potential client that you'll write "Ruby code." Rather, figure out how writing Ruby code can get your client more customers, more profit, decreased overhead, whatever and sell THAT.
- e28eta 13y agoAgreed, and it goes beyond just clients. This is great advice for life: Know your audience, know what's important to them, and use that to guide your discussion with them.
- ryusage 13y agoReminds me of the book How To Win Friends And Influence People. All the way back in 1936, Dale Carnegie was trying to teach people that explaining why they should want something gets far, far better results than explaining what you would like about it.
- kintamanimatt 13y agoThis boils down to the very old sales axiom, "sell benefits, not features". It would stand to reason that the more successful designers are good salespeople too.
- fmavituna 13y agoThis is not only "sell benefits, not features" thing. There are tons of designers out there who doesn't know what "conversion" means. Hence they don't or care about the conversion. Why would you get your website designed by someone like that, unless you know conversion very well and design and micro manage the design process?
- camus 13y agoMaybe because marketing is not the job of a designer ? should a system admin know about typography and color theory ? that's plain stupid...
- MaulingMonkey 13y agoAre you making the claim, then, that there's absolutely no overlap between the fields of marketing and design, that conversion is solely the responsibility of marketing, that conversion is completely uninfluenced by design, and that being able to fill multiple roles is a waste of time for everyone involved? Otherwise I'm having difficulty following your train of thought here.
- kintamanimatt 13y agoIt is when you're running your own show and are responsible for getting your own clients.
- alex_doom 13y agoExactly. I don't do twitter, dribble or other distraction. My site isn't a portfolio, just a quick pitch that I can do the work that you need and that'll you be excited about. If you need samples I'll send something over. It's worked out well for me. But like all styles, it's not for everyone, you have to find what works best.
- jotux 13y agoCould you link to your site? I'm interested to see what your site/pitch looks like.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]