Many designers I have spoken to in recent months have suggested they should cut prices to retain clients. I think it’s the opposite. We should look to increase prices.
What motivates clients? Understanding what motivates clients by using an empathy map to uncover what they feel, say, do and see.
Managing a creative business is about constant change of direction, overcoming obstacles and reinvention. The skills is keeping clients and employees onside.
Why are some clients loyal while others just flit from design agency to design agency on a whim? Onlyness equals client loyalty when you explain the personal attributes…
From recent discussions with designers and their clients it’s obvious the majority of businesses are looking at where they are, where they were and where they want to go.
Australia is just coming out of lockdown with all the pundits predicting we will never go back to the old way of analogue communication. The virtual decade is upon us!
Or is it?
It seems everywhere we read, watch or listen there’s advice to adapt to the new normal. Problem is there’s very little consensus about what this new normal will be. Economists see a recession, business gurus see opportunities. Here’s what I think…
In ’normal’ hard times, the traditional process is to reduce fixed costs; refine and reduce your service offering. But in crisis times like this, you must rethink the business model. Companies that survive and go on to prosper look beyond costs and services to the weaknesses that existed in the business operations.
We had the good fortune to have worked through the 1987 market crash, the dot.com boom and crash and the global financial crisis. I say good fortune because it taught us how to pivot.
This COVID19 crash is going to be far worse.
This has been a tumultuous few weeks and we are looking at another 4-5 months of it. We have spoken to more than 100 designers over the last few weeks and we are starting to get a picture of how the industry is faring.
Now is not the time to take your foot off the pedal. Besides, for most design business owners there’s no option but to plough through the plain. The key is to plan short term, mid term and long term goals and strategies.
I have long been a believer in the need to have designers in the C suite. However some recent research has made me wonder if we need to work differently to reach that level.