How to get web design clients

i have been in the marketing line for the past 9 years of my life working exclusively in I.T. related products and services, and i have learned a thing or two about the psychology of the species of mammal known as the Clientus Most Supidus, and i am here to share my findings on my utopian method of procuring website projects from the said species.

the web design frim that i work with has the complete mechanics, web designing is specialized with a wholly seperate design team, the PSD to HTML process is carried out by a seperate team altogether, and the Core Development Team provides Dynamic Development Solutions on Open Source CMS such as Wordpress and Open Cart or even Develop PHP based customized projects, now that you know what mechanism is in place, allow me to enlighten you as to how to make it work.

Firstly i would like to inform you that i myself Being the Team Leader of all these functional teams as the Head of Business Procurement, meaning i am quite technically sound when it comes to design , HTML and WordPress and other CMS platforms, and i can hold intelligent conversations with development teams. which is the key element that really helps me out in securing the projects in the first place. remember , you can never send a boy to do a man's job, you can never have a non technical grunt gain the client's attention ( Trust me i have tried and have had to fire entire teams ).


This is my Method of Interacting with the open Market.

1 ) Doing Homework.

Fist thing i do is actually create a target for myself abour some specific industry and specialization, meaning to say i build my own niche, doing some in depth research, for E.G if i were to pick up "Vetrinarians" as a project i would actually make it a whole folder on my system , and start searching for all the vetrinarians in my geographic range, using classifieds and other resources,  i would break my data off into two chunks, those that do not have websites, and those that do have websites, then i would further break off the section into two chunks of people who have good websites and people who have not to good websites, once the grunt work is done i will start developing my product.

2 ) Creating a Product.

This method is totally different from the usual methodology of actually going to the market and making cold calls case to case and offering web solutions and asking the clients what they want, this is the part that makes you stand out as a web design agency that has it's stuff all togehter.

Remember the homework we did in the previous step ?.. we take that same homework and actually learn the functionality and the types of navigation that other Veterinarians have and the kind of user interface that other veterinarians have deployed on their websites, we take the best of the best features from the websites and list them out on a piece of paper, and put a lot of time intensive effort into improving on the existing concepts with our ability and experiences from other industries.

once we have our idea, we create a design framework we have created the basic elements of a website design, we take this idea that we have created and develop a mockup of the project meanwhile the mockup options are being prepared ( Create a total of 5 to 6 options each with totally different concepts like horizontal scrolling, vertical scrolling, parallax scrolling and 3 column and 960 grid design ) we move on to step 3

3 ) Initiating contact

Opening up an avenue of communication is a crucual step at this point. so now is the time to pick up that phone and gas that car and have that suit ready, because we are now going to conduct some meetings ,introdcing yourself as a typical sales person would be stupid, using flashy terms like Key account manager for their specific industry, or business promotion expert, that kind of thing ususally goes well with clients, basically you want them to feel that you are coming to them to help improve their business scenario, which is what you will ultimately doing in the long run by providing them a better face to present to clients, and functionalities that help optimize some crucial business processes.

tell them that you are specifically working on the local market in that particular industry, and that you have some observations you want to share with them, assure them that the consultation will not cost them anything if they have any reservations and be as helpful as you possibly can be sharing your ideas about how important a strong online presence can be for their business and showing them those websites that are well designed based on your experience on searching online.

this will potentially help in showcasing you as a professional and a relavent person for their need. tell them you will email them your findings and once you feel the client has had a realization dawn upon them that they do need a good website, ( this you will feel when they usually lean back and start listening to the things you are saying ) go ahead and tell them that your team is creating some designs for this industry to be shared with all businesses that require an updation of design, and that you would be more than willing to share those designs with them in a second meeting , inform them designs will not cost, but if they decide to work our the project you will charge them for the development services.

go back to your office with a lead in your hand and send your research off in an email to your client, talk about what they liked and did not like in those websites you sent them, get a feel for what they want, and adjust your designs in process accordingly.

3 - B ) Catching up on the laggards

sometimes you will have some great meetings and they will like the designs and need something to tip them over the edge, for these kinds of clients , have your team actually create 1 or 2 excellent designs into HTML and upload them on a demo URL on your server to showcase the same design to that client that just wont say yes and hand you over the cheque.

in my practical experience most of my clients have crossed that barrier of making a decision to moving ahead as soon as i showcased my live mockups.

4 ) submitting your proposal

once you have all design options prepared just arrange a second meeting with your client, and go on and showcase your designs, do remember to show them in parallen to the good and bad designs of the same industry. so that they have a measure of your design proficiency.and once the discussions have tapered off from what they like and dont like towards the moment when they start talking about how to start work, whip out your proposal and start talking.

( now on making the proposal i have to share my thoughts, usually what i have seen is that just webiste clients are kind of boring and too much of a hassle, so i basically have a large design team and a social media team as well. when i offer services i go ahead and give the complete package of web design with social media and seo which usually goes very well with my clients. )

5 ) Negotiations.

remember to quote high and leave a margin, the average Clientus Most Stupidus has the tendency to negotiate to at least 40% of the listed price, so try to hit this in the sweet spot and you will score, if you have not given the client a margin enough to be comfortable for you, make sure that you offer add on services in the same price so as not to go below asking price, or offer to break the payment in installments to make them comfortable for the client.

these were my steps in securing the perfect client, i have had a lot of success in working in this manner and i hope all of you who follow this process will achieve success

have fun and happy hunting. :D

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