Part Three

Getting Focused

Great strategies are based on simple ideas. Simple ideas are the product of cutting fat and focusing on the one thing that will give you a head start on everyone else. To do this you need to use Pareto’s Rule of 80/20 to decide which activities can get bumped and which are producing the greatest return. Be ruthless about your time and how you use it.

Cut out all unnecessary prospecting activities. The best way to meet prospects is to get out into the real world and talk to people. Talk to your existing clients and ask them who else they would recommend you talk to. Talk to your vendors and ask them about their clients. Go to industry meetings, not your industry – your client’s industry, and ask the people there what they are working on.

Cut out distractions so you can be clear and focused. Reduce the amount of time you spend in front of your computer. Set expectations about how you will be checking email and voice email. Allow email to accumulate into batches and check email twice or three times a day. Set an auto-responder to tell your clients that you will not be available 24/7 and you will only be checking email twice or three times a day.

Ask yourself, am I being productive or am I being busy. Am I doing a crutch activity to distract myself from doing what is really important? You only do the important things each week and ignore the unimportant things.

Ask yourself; is it measurable and can I keep score of its progress? If it can’t be measured then it’s not important. What are you measuring? Is it number of new clients, profitability of a project, and number of bugs? What is my desired output and what are the critical things to getting there?

Setting the Tone of Your Sales Efforts

Use these precepts to get yourself into the right mindset:

1. Our clients are not stupid or irresponsible
2. They are valuable members of the growth process
3. Leverage of existing assets is the best way to create wealth
4. Throwing money or people at a problem will not make it go away
5. All business problems begin with the basics. Solve the basics and you solve the problem

The Selling Cycle
Remember, you want to sell without selling. Leads are generated through warm or direct referrals. The nature of the sales process is defined by the fact that you receive referrals and do not actively seek out new business by banging on doors. Remember the client has to also be a positive force in the life of the people at your firm or studio. Negative clients will not be tolerated and will be fired.

Specifically the process looks something like this:

• Lead comes in from friend or partners
• Initiate introductory call to establish what the client needs and if the client is a good match for your company. Use a client questionnaire to identify client’s goals.
• If client’s needs match capabilities and can be filtered through The Lens then set a date and time for a requirements gathering meeting or conference call.
• Use the gathered information to create proposal in consultation with design, marketing or development team.
• Review proposal with creative director or lead developer before submitting it for client review.
• Make changes to proposal if necessary based on client feedback.
• Get final proposal to client.
• Get signature and check or credit card number.
• Add signed copy of contract to client folder and return second copy to client.
• Send W9 form to client.
• Add client to project management tool and accounting tool. Ensure all necessary people from client and your teams are added to management systems and client has access to project management system.
• Set up a briefing and kick-off with project manager and client.