Business

Sell your Value, Not your Work

As designers, it's easy to walk down the street and see a company that you think needs a major brand overhaul, but convincing the client that they need a new brand can be a challenge.

Business owners have every reason to be skeptical about updating their brand.

Most small businesses have a strong emotional attachment to their brand. More often than not you will find out that they made their own logo or a family member helped them with their packaging, creating a very deep bond to the work that they currently have. Telling a business owner that they need to update their brand may be insulting and needs to be treated delicately if you want to land the job.

See it from their perspective

Even if you know for certain that you can help their brand or create a beautiful new logo, you have to be careful about approaching a new business. It may seem obvious, but you don't want your first interaction with this new potential client to be you insulting their current brand. They worked hard to get where they are and even if you don't like their branding, they do. Just remember to have a plan of action before approaching your leads and you will be more prepared to land the job.

Show them the future

When it actually comes to presenting the idea of a new brand, it can sometimes be difficult for a business owner to see the added value in making major changes to their brand. This is where your unique skills will come in to play. Instead of convincing this new potential client that their current brand is outdated or needs improvement, start this conversation by showing them the endless possibilities and increased value that they will get from improving their brand. It's important that you are well prepared before having this conversation. Too many times, I've seen designers, including myself be caught off guard with follow up questions and not being able to answer correctly. This is your time to shine, do the research and make a list of points where you see need for improvement how it can add value to their brand.

Everything is about money

We can all tip toe around the fact that nobody really likes talking about money or we can just accept that everyone is working to make a profit. Your potential clients and business owners are no different. They all want their business to succeed and make a profit. A great brand can very easily translate to improved sales, you just need to show them how.

Adding Value

A great brand identity can add a tremendous amount of value to any business. Not only does it increase brand awareness, it improves customer engagement, streamlined marketing opportunities, more motivated employees and an endless list of possibilities. But even though that all sounds great on paper, it can be a difficult path to convincing business owners that it's the right investment. If you start selling your designs instead of the value that it adds to their business, you are going to mark yourself as a designer and not a credible consultant that is offering financial value to their business. At the end of the day, they don't care about how pretty you can make their brand, they care about the bottom line and improving sales.

Know when to quit

You may not like it, but sometimes the right decision is to walk away. There are a lot of businesses that unfortunately won't see the value in improving their brand and that's ok. Hopefully, using these tips will help you position yourself as a business expert and not just a designer but like any good salesman, knowing when to walk away may land you the job later on.

Posted 
Aug 23, 2019
 in 
Business

More from 

Business

View All

Want more from blk&wht?
Join our newsletter to receive our latest posts and resources
right in your inbox!

No spam ever. We promise.
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.