There are only two ways to grow your design business
There are only two ways to grow your design business. 📈💰🤑
1: Get more clients = focus on lead generation
2: Make your existing clients worth more = focus on the client experience
Here are the tasks you should be doing under each of these two categories to help you grow...
Grow your business: Method 1
Get More Clients
Focus:
Lead Generation
Tasks:
Create a website that converts - i.e. make it easy for them to start doing business with you (e.g. a booking system)
Form strategic partners - i.e. partner with suppliers or trades who are already working with your ideal clients
Tell everyone you know - most of your first clients will be people you know or who have heard of you via friends
Content marketing - e.g. post regular, helpful content on social media or blog/YouTube that attracts your ideal clients
Set up an email list and send them helpful newsletters regularly
Get published in the media or on other design blogs or social media platforms
Run a free webinar that answers commonly asked questions you get about your niche and provides info on what it's like to work with you - e.g. break down your process
Use the DMs to build connections and allow people to get to know you
Show your face in your online content - people want to know who is behind your page and it will build connection
Use paid advertising (but only if you are more established, have already worked with clients and have had good organic marketing traction first).
Get more detail about these strategies in my lead generation short course
BONUS TIP ON LEAD GENERATION:
Lead generation ONLY works if you do it every single day and in lots of different ways.
And most designers I work with aren't doing anywhere near enough lead generation (which is why their business isn't growing)
Grow your business: Method 1
Make Existing Clients Worth More
Focus:
Improve your client experience
Tasks:
Map your client experience - every touch point you have with a client contributes to how they feel about working with you. The goal is to create a consistent (and amazing) experience across the entire journey with of working you
Improve your onboarding process - the moment a client decides to work with you is the most excited they will ever be about working with you. Make the most of it!
Send out a Client Welcome Pack with info about what to expect when working with you (DM me CLIENT for a copy)
Communicate as much as possible - remember you've done this before but your client probably hasn't. When in doubt communicate more rather than less
Keep written records of everything - e.g. an email summary after every site visit or phone call (this shows you've got your s**t together but is also a really important risk protection strategy for you as well)
Make the completion of the project exciting for your client - e.g. house warming gift, special surprise.
Prepare a handover folder (see my blog post about this if you want more info)
Get more detail about these strategies in my client experience short course
Growing your business is simple (but not easy).
It's simple because you now know what to do.
But it's not easy as it takes discipline and consistency to do these two tasks well.
Growing your business ONLY happens when you:
1: Do daily lead generation
2: Obsess over client experience
Thanks for reading and catch you in my next post :)
Clare x
Dr Clare Le Roy
Courses and Templates for Designers and Architects
DO YOU WANT TO….
Improve your professionalism?
Find more clients?
Bring in more revenue?
Create better systems and processes?
Then check out my business courses and templates for designers and architects.
These courses and templates leave you with work done - not just a long list of things you need to do next. We have a really strong focus on taking action and getting things created that improve your business.
