How to sell service design
How to sell design services
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we all know design is important and if
your designer looking to sell design
services or if you're an entrepreneur
looking to add design elements to your
product or service you could be selling
yourself short my name is Greg rays and
this is half ideas we all know that
design is a key product differentiator
well design products are easier to use
they're from there and they have less
customer support issues but if you're a
designer looking to try to sell design
services to a company you may often hear
but design is so expensive can't we cut
that design phase down do we really
really need a research phase what we're
doing and of course the dreaded I
sketched out some ideas if you just just
make it pretty pretty designers and
entrepreneurs aren't always speaking the
same language well we know that design
is valuable designers often tend to
speak in design principles aesthetics
visuals or user experiences the fact is
that people don't by design no
entrepreneur wants design no
entrepreneur is thinking man today I'd
really love to get some great design in
here three things to keep in mind number
one don't sell design when I first
started my agency I really thought about
design user experience usability and it
really tried to convey the value of the
design to the clients and the folks who
I was working with the fact of the
matter is nobody wants to buy design
people are looking to buy the product
they're looking to buy the outcome the
result of what that design will achieve
no one wants to buy the design of an
iPhone they go to the store and they
want to buy the iPhone itself
most people don't separate design from
the thing itself we were designing
products websites mobile applications
and at the end of the day people wanted
that app they didn't want the design of
the app they didn't want the wireframes
they wanted the final outcome they
wanted the result in they wanted the
product and so if you're selling design
you're trying to convince people that
you in your design team or your design
skills can make a difference it's not
really about the design it's about
the impact that that design will have on
the ultimate products and the ultimate
customers as well design is just one of
the ingredients you need to make a great
product it obviously takes design
engineering and a whole team to often
bring a product together to have a
cohesive user experience so it's not
really about the ingredients it's about
the end result
it's about all those ingredients working
together and if you're an entrepreneur
or business owner thinking about
incorporating design elements into your
product try to really be specific about
the results that you're looking to get
is it
improvements in conversion rate is it
reduction in the bounce rate is it
retention it's a lifetime value what are
the things that are most important in
terms of results that you really want to
achieve try to spend less time thinking
about the fonts and colors those things
are important but really understand what
actual results you want the design to
achieve results can be based on
aesthetic qualities you may want it to
look professional quirky natural
friendly intuitive try to be specific
about what you want in terms of both the
aesthetics and the functional aspects
oftentimes the functional aspects can
have a much greater impact on the design
of your product and make sure if you're
talking to a designer or hiring a
designer you're conveying those values
that you really care about a lot of
things in design also happen not on the
screen but behind the scenes and as a
designer you want to convey the value of
those things you know are you thinking
through the setup experience are you
thinking through the onboarding
experience are you thinking through all
the error cases of someone setting up a
product or service those elements that
happen behind the screen or behind the
elements that happen visually are just
as important and oftentimes even more
important than the things that happen
and the color or the font of a
particular logo number two don't sell
design as a phase oftentimes they hear
designers incorporating a design phase
upfront a wire framing phase I used to
do this with my own projects as well and
it's really problematic ultimately when
you're building a product the product
ends at the end when you ship it to
customers and if there's an opportunity
to mess up the design or have something
of not quite right
at the end of the product you want to
make sure that there's designers that
are part of the team all the way through
the ship date so think about how you can
incorporate design not as a phase but as
a continuum again since people don't buy
design they buy the ultimate product you
want to make sure your design your team
is cohesive secondly it's important that
designers and engineers are working
together
if you incorporate design not only does
it make it easy for the client or
customer to diminish that phase or make
it smaller but you're creating the
opportunity for engineers and designers
not to actually overlap very much or at
all setting up phase design really sets
you up for a waterfall approach and you
really don't want that you want
engineering and design to work
cohesively together to deliver impactful
products by treating design as a
continuum you're less likely to be
without a designer when you really need
one by creating opportunities for
engineers and designers to be overlapped
you're increasing their ability to solve
really hard problems ultimately that
leads to better products and ultimately
that leads to better results number
three
great design is really about solving
business problems if you're a designer
showing your portfolio or your work it's
great to show the pixels but it's just
as important to put emphasis on those
business results that you're driving
were you able to improve the conversion
rate were you able to drive adoption
were you able to improve customer
satisfaction by focusing on the business
results as opposed to the pixels you're
really speaking the language that
business buyers are interested in that
will ultimately allow you to have a
greater impact through your design work
and through the industry at large and of
course when someone is buying design
services from you they're buying design
from a person so think about your
charisma the way you present yourself in
a room the confidence that you're
bringing to a situation it's really
about you the person and your ability to
impact a business result so make sure
you really understand the business
problems that you're trying to solve not
just the visuals and the pixels and the
aesthetics which are certainly important
for a designer but really what is the
ultimate outcome that this person cares
about and how can you really make a
difference in customers lives
I'm Greg Reyes thanks for joining me if
you like the sort of content
please hit the like button leave a
comment tell me what you think I'd love
to hear from you thanks so much
til the next week
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