New
Business Development for Small Design Firms and Freelancers
School of Visual Concepts
Fall 2002
Roadmap
Planning
Planning is all about setting a foundation for business success. In this class,
the purpose of planning is to set goals for getting new business and then create
an action plan you can use to reach your goals. Effective planning works from
the inside out. As you complete the Planning section of the New Business Roadmap,
you’ll begin by stating your personal goals and brand position as the
foundation for setting new business goals that you can track and measure.
Personal/Professional Goals
Before you search for new business, it’s important for you to determine
both your personal and
professional goals. Think about why do want to be in business for yourself and
the kind of lifestyle you want to have. Consider the factors that drove you
to become a designer in the first place. It’s important for you to establish
what you want out of your career and your business so you can target the types
of opportunities that will help you reach your goals.
Write your answers to the following questions:
• What are my short- and long-term career goals?
• How will owning my own business help me reach my personal and professional
goals?
• What is my ultimate career goal?
Brand Position/Business Philosophy
Companies large and small talk about their “brand.” In your case,
your brand is expressed in
everything you do — from the way you describe your unique skills to the
design solutions you create to how well you service your clients. From the moment
you make contact with a prospective client, you want to make sure that their
impression of you and your business is exactly what you intend.
Write your answers to the following questions:
• What do I want to be known for besides good design?
• What are my professional strengths and weaknesses?
• When clients describe me, what words would I like them to use?
New Business Goals/Success Measures
All of us have “getting new business” as a goal, but it’s
easier to shoot for and track a goal that’s
specific. Think about the goals you want to set in getting new business and
establish specific numbers and dollar amounts so you can track your progress.
It’s also important to think about time frames, since some business development
efforts take a while to stick.
Write your answers to the following questions:
• What are my goals for getting new business?
• How often will I measure my goals to check my progress?
• What system will I use to track my new business success?
Positioning
The goal of positioning is to describe what you do in a way so you can stand
out against the competition. There are lots of good designers out there, but
you want to let prospective clients know about your unique strengths and capabilities.
At the same time, you want to target the types of clients and industries where
your competitive advantages will be valued. Finally, you need to develop the
right marketing messages that will reach the clients you want who will then
give you the projects you want the most.
Target Markets/Ideal Clients
When you have limited marketing resources, you want to use them efficiently
to find the most
desirable clients out there. First you need to decide which clients you most
want to work for and why.
Write your answers to the following questions:
• What types of projects are my favorites and why?
• What types of clients do I want to work for and why?
• Which client industries do I find most interesting and why?
• How would I describe my ideal client?
Marketing Messages
You never know when you might have an opportunity to tell a prospective client
what you do and how you do it. Sometimes you have a moment; other times you’ll
need to go into detail. It’s important to develop marketing messages that
tell clients exactly what you do, in terms they will understand and appreciate.
Write your answers to the following questions:
• If I had to describe what I do and who I do it for in one sentence,
what would I say?
• If I had to give a 5-minute summary of what I do for clients as the
opening of a pitch presentation, what would I say?
Promoting
Promoting is all about raising awareness about your business. This is where
the new business action plan begins to take shape. You must decide what resources
— time and money — you can dedicate
to getting new business. Once you know how much you have in the way of resources,
you can then decide how to spend them. You also have to figure out what new
business tools you’re going to use and how you will use them.
New Business Resources
The first step is to determine who will be getting new business for you and
how much time each of you will spend. Here again, it’s important to set
specific goals and measurements to make sure everyone on the team is pulling
their weight. You also need to decide how much money you can invest in developing
the tools to get new business in the door.
Write your answers to the
following questions:
• How much of my time can I dedicate to getting new business each month?
• Who else will be directly involved in getting new business? How much
time do I expect them to spend each month on getting new business?
• How much money can I spend each month on getting new business?
New Business Tools
There’s a huge number of new business tools available to you. Some you
must have, like a portfolio
and business cards. Others are great to have but require an investment of time
and money. In selecting which tools to use, you must determine the costs and
benefits of each in terms of getting new business from the clients you’ve
selected as targets.
Write your answers to the
following questions:
• What tools are essential to me in getting new business? How much will
they cost and who is responsible for obtaining or making them?
• What tools would I like to use or create in getting new business? How
much will they cost and who is responsible for obtaining or making them?
Prospecting
Prospecting means contacting potential clients directly with the ultimate goal
of getting work from them. Here again, you need to decide how to spend your
time and money on the best ways to contact the prospective clients you’ve
selected. It’s critical to have a good system to track your contacts and
ensure your follow-up methods are timely and effective. You want to weigh the
opportunities available to you based on the required investment level and the
potential value.
Contact Tracking System
Being able to capture and track all the contacts you meet is absolutely critical
to a successful new business effort. You need to have a single system that you
use consistently or valuable information can be lost. Having a good contact
tracking system is also important so that you can fully use the new business
tools you developed earlier.
Write your answers to the following questions:
• What kind of system will I use to track potential client contacts?
• Who will set it up and maintain it?
• How will I use the information I’m collecting?
Prospecting Resources/Events
There are lots of ways to identify and meet potential clients. Once more, you
need to select the resources, events and organizations you will use to contact
prospective clients. You also need to be honest with yourself about your strengths
and weaknesses in prospecting and work to improve your abilities in this area.
Write your answers to the following questions:
• What resources will I use regularly to find potential clients?
• What events or organizations will I use to meet and talk to potential
clients?
• What parts of the prospecting do I want to do? What parts do I find
challenging? How will I improve my prospecting abilities?
Presenting
Once you’ve earned the chance to give a presentation to a prospective
client, you want to make the best possible impression. Good preparation is critical,
as are your listening skills. Even if you don’t get the business, you
need to have a plan for maintaining contact and keeping your business top of
mind with them.
While you won’t turn
in this section of the Roadmap, we recommend that you answer the following questions
as part of your ongoing plan:
• What resources will I use to gather information about prospective clients?
• How will I script my new business presentation?
• How will I prepare for presentations?
• How will I follow up with prospective clients if I don’t win business
from them initially?