How do you find new clients when starting a design business?
I’ve just put pen to paper on a new contract with publisher Peachpit. This book will focus on the business of design, answering the most frequently asked questions about starting and running a successful design business. The copy deadline is October, so the release-date should be just before the end of the year.
Many of you will run your own studio, be in self-employment, or freelance in your spare time. I’d love to share your experiences in the book, and for now, there’s one topic I’m particularly interested in:
How do you find new clients when starting a design business?
Alternatively, perhaps your approach didn’t work and taught you a valuable lesson.
Thanks to your incredible support, my first book is in eight languages, and I hope to double that with this attempt. So if you have a specific story you want to share with the world, it’d be superb if you get in touch.
—
Update: 18 November 2012
The book’s available now: Work for Money, Design for Love.
—
World times image credit
Related posts
54 appreciated comments on “How do you find new clients when starting a design business?”
Anything to add?
All comments are moderated so you may experience a short delay before yours appears. Comments should be respectful of other voices in the discussion, and I reserve the right to edit or delete comments at my discretion.
Please use your real name. Keywords will be removed.
Congratulations on your new book deal, David.
Talking to people and telling them what you do (networking) is the single most effective way that I’ve found clients, either directly or through word of mouth referrals. This was true when I started out and has remained so ever since. If you want clients in a particular field, talk to people from that field.
It’s essential to have a body of work you can show to people straight away, either as a hard copy portfolio or online (some prospective clients want to see both). I started freelancing while I was still studying, which helped immensely when I finished my studies.
Congratulations on the new book. Can’t wait to get my hands on it :)
How do I find new clients when starting a design business? Hmm, the first thing is that i worked on myself. I read books on sales and service marketing. I also met with mentors. Then i started doing the following,
1) I major on good communications which works big time for me.
2) I sent a written proposal
3) I went ahead with designs and when I’m sure that it can fly, i will send it in. Guess what, some times i get calls from them within a week.
4) People!!!
and many more.
Thanks
You could use a service like ours :)
There are lots of ways to find new clients though, but designers face the problem that they are busy and not sales people, so need to either set aside time for lead generation or to get a sales person to do some prospecting.
Unfortunately there is no simple, succinct answer to that question. It’s a case of trying various approaches and seeing what works.
However, the best way to get new clients is always recommendation by current clients. Your best new business people are your current clients.
In addition to my previous comment, obviously if you are starting a design business then you won’t have lots of clients, but in my experience most design studios are set up with the support of one key client and grow from there.
Thanks very much, Tracey, Jon. Nice tip for students. I didn’t do that, but can only imagine it would’ve helped.
David, I disagree. Designers need to be salespeople. Even those who are in employment need to sell their ideas to the boss. You could stretch it and say every one of needs to be. We sell ourselves on a daily basis, whether it’s applying for a job or just putting on make-up (as my wife would… obviously). So we all sell. Just some better than others.
Paul, the answer might not be simple to reach, but there are definitely answers that help. The retainer client approach to starting-up is one I went through, and no doubt it was a clincher.
When I first started freelancing I lowered my rates and offered a ton of pro bono work…
Six months later I was contacted by several recruiters as well as private companies to do work for; ever since then, there was no shortage for work, mainly shortage of time.
1. Take pride in your work, good work leads to good work.
2. Network with people outside your industry. If the only people you give your card to are other designers then you need to be networking elsewhere.
3. Take a genuine interest in and make time for your current clients and they will become your best marketers.
4. When starting out don’t be afraid to take on smaller jobs, see the smaller budget as just another design constraint. This is for clients who genuinely don’t have a large budget, don’t be taken for a mug.
5. Let other designers know of your existence, even if they seem like competitors. You may be able to work together.
6. I started my business in final year of University, juggling clients and coursework. I didn’t have a lot of free time left but it left me in a much better position once I graduated.
I agree, I would say that there are a number of approaches but no answers. The word ‘answer’ is all little definite for me.
It certainly helps to narrow your focus when looking for clients. Aim at a certain sector and it certainly helps. Simply thinking ‘right, I need to find clients who need design’ will lead you nowhere as there are too many people to approach. I’d certainly recommend the approach of specialising, either in client sector or offering, when starting up.
Also, design is all about people. Designers HAVE to be able to sell themselves and what they do, in the sense that they need to be able to explain the value and the worth of what they can bring to a client. Not all designers can do this, and this is shown by the fact that great designers don’t necessarily make great studio bosses.
Congratulations on your new book!
Mostly I find new clients by two factors:
1. Being lucky enough, currently, to know a few people in the design industry that are willing to let the customer have my name so that way I get more experience.
But that won’t be that way after a few months, so that leads me to…
2. The most important one: I actually go out and look and search for potential clients. I talk to people, ask them about what they would like, and then I solve their design issues accordingly.
Though I have had a few people come up to me as well and ask me to their designs. But the most important for me has been going out there (or on the internet) and finding them myself.
And I try to find good people, so I’m not being frustrated the whole time I’m designing. That’s also important.
I’m surprised no one has really talked about advertising. David, being the master at SEO and blogging, I would imagine a great deal of your customers NOW comes from that avenue (in addition to word of mouth). Getting good ranking in a competitive industry such as design can be difficult if focusing on international business – so I focused on the local market. Getting good rankings takes time and ingenuity / knowledge. Get your name out there on as many local and social media sites as possible. Focus on keywords that will help local businesses find you.
I am the director of marketing for a data list broker and direct mail advertising agency, so using targeted data for the businesses I would like to market to, and then designing some slick advertisements and mailing them out with a targeted direct mail campaign has definitely got much business. You dont have to have a large budget to do this either – on the small scale, you can do a campaign with 2,500 pieces for around $500 – $1000 (and you can do this on a consistent basis and constantly generate more business).
There is plenty more to talk about, but that’s all for now :)
Best regards David!
Jared Braverman
The best way I’ve found is to talk to lots and lots of different people. The key is to not talk about me and my services, but to talk about them. Their business, their problems, their needs. Then we talk about what a solution to their problems would be, if only there was someone who could design such a thing. This approach often results in follow up conversations. Sometimes those conversations lead to a contract, sometimes not – but even when nothing comes out of it immediately, you never know who those people will talk to. I’ve had calls from complete strangers who happened to have talked to someone I met randomly at a party months before.
Congratulations on your book deal, David!
Hi David, Congrats on the new book deal. Can’t wait to read it. I applaud the book idea: Business of design. As an independent designer i see many books featuring beautiful designs, but very few current books discussing the actual business side of design. I recall even at college, professors seemed to skip over the very important business side.
When starting a design business here’s what worked for me successfully.
I made a conscious decision to work with local companies at first. I offered to do some pro bono work for a local museum. They liked my work and soon they were hiring me to do paid design jobs. The museum being highly visible in the community, has quickly led to other client referrals for me.
I also believe networking is very important. As designers we’re very comfortable sitting in front of our computers. Reality is, you have to get out in the world + tell everyone what you do, so important to bang your own drum. Spread the word. Don’t say you’re a Graphic designer, tell people you can help solve problems and increase their business. Be sure to connect/friend with other creatives, who may contact you when the need arises.
David,
I want to thank you for sharing your expertise regarding design, with the whole world. You are an inspiration and tend to make people feel “a part of”, rather than struggle to be “better than…”
I cannot wait to read your book, and am sure it will be a benefit. I am a very, very small freelance designer and do a lot of work locally through craigslist and mostly word of mouth.
Recently, I have taken a huge interest in vehicle wrap design and am putting my energies into that…as I do so, I get more direction. For example, I have a local printer who uses my Photoshop skills once in a while, and I have “bugged him to death” regarding vehicle wraps. In response, he is sending me vehicle templates and teaching me how I can work with him. The goal is, I design, he prints and installs. Then we will advertise heavily, create our own wraps showing how good we are, and tell the world this is our expertise.
I think knowing what you want and going for it…even if you have to be really persistent, brings in more work and opens doors for new clients.
Thank you, David for sharing the design abundance!
Best, Kathy Young
Hi David,
Congrats on the new book. LDL is one of my favorites and a constant source of inspiration and motivation.
Being someone who has freelanced based almost solely on word-of-mouth for about 12 years, I’m experiencing the double challenge of living in a new area and recently launching an online presence.
I’m looking forward to whatever insights you collect for the book, as the best ideas come from those in the field. In the meantime, I’m hitting the pavement, introducing myself and my services to local small businesses and organizations.
I also never go out in public without being being dressed in at least one piece of clothing bearing my brand identity. Every impression counts!
Congratulations on the deal, David! Can’t wait.
Does doing design contests count? :) But you might want to include that as the “approach that didn’t work and taught (me) a valuable lesson.”
Thanks very much for the comments, everyone.
Grace, you could offer an excellent contribution on that topic. Great idea.
Gary, got your email. Replied. Thank you.
Kathy, very kind of you to say, and good job on the persistence front. That’s an interesting niche you’re focusing on.
Maria, “talk about them” — couldn’t agree more. In general, people like nothing more than to talk about themselves, so when we give others the opportunity, that’s our chance to learn, and to understand how we might help.
Jared, although quite far from being a master, I know my efforts at climbing the search rankings have definitely helped. Thing is, it took me years to get to where I am now, so although it’s important to start working on it from the outset, the rewards won’t be seen for some time after the business launch.
Derrick, you talked about going out and finding good people, and looking for potential clients. But once you think you’ve found them, how do you clinch the deal? There’s a big difference between finding someone who needs design work (practically every business) and making sure you’re the one they choose to pay.
Paul, narrowing the focus is vital. I completely agree. That “Jack of all trades” saying comes to mind. Perhaps you can think of a time when your narrowed focus specifically led to a new project. What was the focus and who was your client?
Stephen, good on you for starting when in uni. I reckon so few design students take the same step that you’re far ahead of the graduate competition.
Sergey, very glad business is going well. Can you share a story when your pro bono work led to a paying job?
Hey David, congrats on the new book. I’ve already made a note to add this to the Christmas wish list; seeing as how LDL was so very helpful.
I appreciate it, Ryan.
To those who have sent an email, please bear with me as I catch-up on replies. Some great stories sent so far, which is fantastic.
Congrats on the book David!
Word of mouth has definitely helped me find clients in the past, especially from those I’ve networked with in college. I believe it’s all in the attitude and work that good clients look for in the right designer. Someone they can trust, that is honest, understanding and will deliver as promised.
Also a big fan of LDL but you know that already ;)
Congrats, David, I’m looking forward to it already.
I have had tremendous success from social networks, having gained one solid client and two other potentials in the last two weeks just from chatting to people via Twitter.
I’m also very niche in what I do, I specialise in graphic design for the outdoor sports sector and I’m an athlete myself so it’s an area which I can really add value in and bring something tangible to the client’s table. This helps me win new business and choose my clients very effectively.
I completely agree David, we do all sell ourselves to different extents, when talking to friends/family we are selling ourselves. However the point I am making is that most designers are not sales people.
A little like using the right tool for the right job:
A leaky tap – you call a plumber
A busted car – you call a mechanic
A low order book – you call a salesperson to boost sales.
Designers are great at designing things, sales people are good at getting customers in (well, some are better than others ;) but designers doing selling as well as designing usually results in tears.
What do you think (my personal opinion above)?
Jamie, Steve, great email contributions. If the ball’s in my court with the email chat, I’ll get back to you asap.
David, like I said, designers need to be salespeople. Just how much time they devote to sales will depend on the size of the studio. I work alone, and I’ve never needed to hire a separate salesperson. I sell my expertise, my ideas. But if a design studio houses five, ten, fifteen designers, it makes more sense to have at least one person focus on bringing in new business in order to keep everyone busy, and paid.
Look forward to the book and congrats! Loved the first one.
As for my experience in finding new clients, I attend non-designer trade-shows and events. From my experiences I’ve never gained any work for attending design or “networking” events (I do love talking with other designers but that doesn’t pay often enough).
I got tired of random areas of freelance work. So I looked at my hobbies and from there I started to attend trade shows or events circling around sports, fashion, cars and other industries I’d love to be a part of. I presented my services to these venders or the professionals I met and have been able to get consistent work. In addition, this is fun if you love to meet different people. :)
From what I can tell, not many designers show up to non-design events, if any ( tons of marketing reps) — its easy to pull in work and expand.
I’m going to be attending a furniture tradeshow soon—see If I can get in good with the Herman Miller team. Wish me luck!
Hope that bit of information helped.
Good ol’ fashioned word of mouth and human contacts. AKA social media before “social media” meant something totally different. lol. Over time leverage existing clients (as others have noted) and your bigger portfolio to gain new ones.
I would be very interested in learning more about this. I’m trying to figure it out myself.
Hi David,
Just wanted to say thanks for sharing this. I have just recently started a design company with my husband, and this is exactly what we need. Just to encourage others, we have only just started but some of the above things have already worked wonders for us: doing small pro-bono jobs has lead to paid jobs and lots of potential referrals. Also, pretty much all of our work so far has been just from talking about what we do with our friends and family. It’s easy to feel guilty like you’re using those people for referrals, but I’ve found that many times people already are looking for a designer and are so happy to get a referral to someone they know they can trust. Thanks again David-can’t wait to read the book!
Hi David
Hope all is well.
Regarding the narrowing of focus we work a lot in the culture, media and sports sectors, not exclusively but that is where a considerable amount of work has come from. About 10 years ago we started working with Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum, which unfortunately has slowed down recently following the Wimbledon rebrand. This gave us a strong presence in the sports industry and I’m sure had an influence on us working with a great deal of clients in the sports industry over the years. Arsenal FC, Chelsea FC, The Football League, Lord’s, RFU, Warwickshire CCC, Yorkshire CCC and Wembley Stadium. I’m sure that one ‘big’ name in a sector really gives a studio weight when approaching others in that sector. I do think that startup studios can look at the various sectors and decide where they may be best suited. Not too narrow a focus but some kind of focus is vital.
Good point David,
I guess if a design studio just has 1 designers (say a freelancer) then it may be hard slipping into the ‘sales roll’ then back into the ‘designer roll’.
I guess each design studio is different depending on the resources they have, but all need to have the resource to generate new business (not just rely on recomendations or repeat business).
I am just a student, but while I study, I work as a trainee in a really big company. I work in the Branding department as a Brand Guardian. In my free time I do some creative work (Brand Guardian is total uncreative). I do sports with my local YMCA, and because of that, I started to collaborate as Pro Bono with them. They really liked what I did. Since that I became more workflow from YMCA where I can practice my skills. It seems like some extern people liked what I did and want to work with me, but this time, paying! My short experience says, that if you work with the right people (you like to work with them); you have good communication skills (the people that you work with likes to work with you); and you do a good graphic work, the customer will come to you soon or later.
I think that designers have to be in some way a salesperson also, but as far as I am concerned designers think with the other part of the brain and it is not an easy task to sell ourselves, however designers are creatives and should generate creative ideas to gain new clients and keep them happy. I was thinking the other day how many job offers are on employment sites such a Careerbuilder.com, HotJobs.com, Monster.com, etc, etc. well the same people and enterprises posting “I need a designer” can be used to offer them our services. The database is there, free to use it, enormous, huge, so let’s use it. I know many of them don’t post their websites or email address, not even the offered salary for the position. When you see that, stay away from this client! No Good!
Dear David, let us know when the book will be published and in what languages. I would like to acquire one in Spanish if possible!
I almost forgot: Designers have the right to choose customers just as customers choose designers, so be brave and don’t let bad customers take advantage of your startup situation. (I think I read this in one of David’s posts), very interesting indeed!
Hi David, well, for myself, when I started the graphic design business in earnest my plan amounted to:
1. Rinse my friends for all they were worth for work and contacts
2. Go to networking groups, and offer a small part of my services for free to get myself talked about and trusted.
And amazingly it worked. Nowadays I still do both those things and occasionally send out promotional material that gets me noticed, mainly by using swear words which some people seem to love.
Hope that helps. Good luck with the book, if it’s anything like the last one it will be an invaluable resource.
When I started my design business, I was a complete newbie to both business and professional design (like most students are).
I got my first jobs through no help of others but off my own back and learned the way from there.
1.) I worked for free.
I offered 5 new startup businesses a free logo design each. The idea was not actually to get repeat business but to build up my portfolio and it did work.
Having some form of real life projects on your back helps potential clients to see that your professional and capable of doing their project.
2.) Online networking.
It did take a while but eventually jobs started to flow from online networking.
In todays design world, I’d say both of the above are essential to finding new clients as well as blogging.
The rest come down to contacts, customer service and the marketing mix on a whole.
So I’m starting a film production company and I was wondering if you think your book will be valuable tome. I love reading your blog as I love the ideas you share. Who am I kidding. I’m sure I’ll still get it!
Hi David, congrats for new book. :) When and where I can buy it?
Simply being able to design on different levels is the most important thing. You need to be able to design for your customers’ customers, and when that works you will be rewarded with more customers yourself. Designers are like doctors, if you can help, that client will worship you and recommend you to everyone. Charge more than the rest but make sure you design better than them as well. Make sure you charge for everything you do otherwise you will be abused with, “hey there pal can you just do that for me quickly (better yet for free).” If you clear all that up first and not afterwards then you’ll be ok. The same applies for time, just add a week on top if possible, that way your always on the safe side and you can deliver it ‘early’ rather than later.
Explain every step needed and why it’s needed for their business and how it shall bring them more money. For a ‘normal human’ making a logo means just making a logo, there is no difficulty. They won’t understand why it costs more than $20 and definitely not $5000 if you don’t tell them why, after all they have microsoft word and excel themselves and could easily make a logo.
So explaining why their 15 year old nephew shouldn’t be the person making their website is not anything a salesman can do really, it needs to be told from a Designer instead. Make a few friends or neighborhood companies for free, make them awesome and from there you should never look back.
Oh yeah, and confidence plays a major role, after all, you wouldn’t tell a mechanic how to fine tune your car, would you?
I’ve started blogging in the hope of attracting more clients and to help design students along their way to a degree.
Thanks a lot for the continued input, folks, and please excuse the brevity (on a mission for inbox zero).
Nick, should be released just before the end of the year. I’ll update this blog and launch a book website closer to the time.
Enjoy the weekend!
Quick update: I’ve prepared a draft cover design and listed other topics for potential contributions in this just-published post: Info for contributors.
Congratulations on the book deal! I do enjoy your books.
My advice on starting a business (i.e., getting clients):
1.) Broadcast the news – Tell everyone you are starting a new business. Say it on your blog, on Twitter, on Facebook, via email, in person, etc.
2.) Network – at Meetups, with friends, coworkers, etc. Meet as many people as you can.
3.) Read – Read books like The E-Myth. Understand what you’re getting into. Unlike someone earlier stated, you have to do everything else other than actually designing and that includes selling, managing, & accounting.
Of course, the bigger your network, the better your reputation, the greater your technical, social, and salesmanship skills – the better your chances at success.
I went back to contracting about 6 months ago, and am at a point where I’ll need to hire someone soon. Each person may define a “business” differently, but to me it is where you design the rules of a system within which other people can work for you. The key point being that if you stop making money when you stop working, then you still just have a job. So in my case, although I find my own clients and operate under my own brand it’s still just a job for me.
Hope that helps!
I’m far from being a proffesional designer, but I’ve been passionate about design all my life. I’ve started 3 local businesses in different industries: hospitality, catering and custom wood design elements. I designed all the things needed to start and promote those businesses, but at some point I always found myself kind of bored of the usual activities and started new projects or helped friends on their businesses, with logos, flyers and posters or website building, just for the fun of it.
A few weeks ago I decided to start 2 new projects that are mainly design projects: a wood object and furniture design website and more important for this topic, an web and graphic design business for local small businesses like mine.
I found all of your experiences so very helpful, so I will try to mix them in some way and here is what I will do in the next weeks: I will design a “business card-flyer” and I will give some to a employee who works at the institution which deals with registration of new companies offering comission for the contracts that she will bring. Also I will try to do some pro bono work for some of the big local companies and some public institutions using my networking skills. I will be back with the results in a few weeks.
Thank you David, for all the inspiration you give, and think about publishing your book in Romania too, you already have one future buyer. :)
Great news, a book on my nemesis and I’m already making room for it in my library.
I’ve recently been thrust back onto the freelance market – redundancy is never a great bed fellow, and now have to face my demon namely picking up new business.
I’m great in front of people and switch it on shezzaming people with my knowledge, whit and charm but the thought of picking up a telephone and cold calling renders this 42 year old towering hulk into a quivering mess, I would love to know how, if people who are as self doubting as myself, manage to summon up the strength, calm the nerves and generally keep the nausea at bay to drum up business via the telephone.
Do you email or post first? that’s always my first route, (I’m afraid it’s more of a cop out on my behalf rather than a definitive ground breaking marketing strategy) or do you jump on the devils tool and dial.
Good luck with the hiring process, Dennis. I’ve been tempted in the past, but for now I’m happy where I’m at.
Dascalescu, the foreign translations are down to my publisher (and sales numbers) but hopefully… Thanks for the interest.
Mike, I think your question about emailing before calling depends on who you’ll be talking to. It could even be that you need to arrange a call through the person’s assistant. But who needs cold calling when you can shezzam with your knowledge, wit, and charm?
Hey David, great news about the book. Had a slight meltdown myself about this very subject yesterday so the timing is apt.
Already encouraged by many of the comments here and looking forward to getting the book when it appears! Thanks again.
Hi, David. I purchased my copy of “Logo Design Love,” and it is an awesome resource. Thanks for writing such helpful material.
Barely past the starting point of my entrepreneurial journey, I’ve just begun the process of prospecting clients by a more face-to-face method within the last two days, but already, I’ve turned up three leads and have one meeting planned.
I’m simply approaching new companies with my business card, (which has a QR code linked to my portfolio on the back) showing them what I can do via my iPhone, and trying to schedule a meeting or phonecall. If the boss isn’t in, I leave my card, give the shop a call to follow up, and then try to make the pitch for a meeting.
If I meet someone on the street, I’m getting their card or contact info for a call to set up a meeting later on in the week. I think this is going to work fairly well for me. I’m excited!
I appreciate the interest, Owen (excuse the delayed acknowledgement).
Chris, thanks for buying a copy, and it’s great to know you found it of use. I hope those leads turn into excellent clients.
Thank you, David. I think the key is to just keep looking for opportunities to design, and then putting my best foot forward while adding to the portfolio. Just had my business card invited to the gallery at cardonizer.com, which is a nice little confidence booster for me, so I really think the future is bright. Who knows, maybe we’ll collaborate someday! (drooling at the thought, lol).
Has anyone mentioned joining chambers of commerce? In addition to getting office space in a building with over 100 potential customers I joined the Los Angeles chamber of commerce it was and is a goldmine!
Hi,
Myself and my two colleagues set up our own graphic design studio (three&me) in October last year, immediately after graduating from university.
Over the last nine months we have been getting work through a combination attending local networking events and through word of mouth.
Most of the work has come to us, we have not had to seek it out.
Though this has been keeping us busy, we are reaching a point were we want/need to take on larger contracts, so we have been working on our own publicity material, brochure and portfolio. We are in the process of drawing up a prospect and suspect list of potential clients to target in order to try to get the jobs we want to work on.
We’ve looked in to joining groups like BDA but feel that we would be in a stronger position through doing the leg work ourselves.
It’s great to hear all the advice that people have on this.
Hi David,
Congratulations on your book! Can you please let me know where/when I can purchase a copy.
Cheers
Danni
Hi Danni, I’ve listed a few purchase links on this page of the book website:
http://www.workformoneydesignforlove.com/buy
It’s in stock now on Amazon.com. It’ll follow soon on the .co.uk and other websites I’ve linked to. Thanks for the interest.
I would love to read this and learn from your experience, especially on finding new clients. I look forward to reading your book.