I’ve noticed a trend on freelancer’s websites lately where the designer presents viewers with their current “work availability” , or the months that they are “available for hire”.

This goes against every bit of sales training I have ever had. This is not good business and here’s why:

1. Numbers game

   Everyone wants leads. Everyone wants a lot of leads. The more leads you get, the more sales you make. Sales 101. This applies to any contractor / freelancing business, and mostly every other type of business also. Why would you ever give a reason for someone NOT to become a lead for you? Sure, you’re busy and you may not be able to work with this client right away if they contact you, but isn’t it better that they do actually contact you?

2. Relationships

   The potential client doesn’t contact you because your website says you are “Only taking on new jobs starting August 2010″. Client moves on. They don’t bookmark your site, they don’t click through any more of your pages, and they probably never think of , or find you again. No relationship. Ever.

   Now imagine you didn’t show your “availability” on your website. The client likes your work, your style, and decides to contact you about a project they have in mind. They are reaching out to start a relationship with you! It doesn’t necessarily have to turn into a monetary one right away to make it a worthwhile relationship. You might have to respond by thanking them for contacting you, ask them a few details about their project, and let them know that you would be able to start working with them by August 2010…. Showing an availability calendar is negative. It says to the user “I can’t work with you right now”, whereas the response to an initial email from a client is positive, saying that “I can work with you in 2 months”.

   You can also add a note asking if they would like you to keep in touch with them through your newsletter where you provide free helpful tips, articles etc… Now, you have another email newsletter subscriber, and you can start building a relationship with this new contact. Oh, and you also could get a new twitter or facebook follower. All streams that allow you to build a stronger relationship with this potential client.

   Then guess what happens. In a few months times, after they chose to work with someone else and the project failed, they contact YOU because they now feel like they know you from your regular newsletter, seeing you on Twitter, or enjoying your awesome comic and they know that you are extremely experienced (because you show off your work in your newsletter, right? ). Also, now it’s August 2010! Hoorah! You now have available space in your schedule to work with them and take their project on.

   All positive. That is what good sales is, and good sales is all about relationship building. Whether it leads to an immediate or future sale should not determine your investment in it.

3. Stats, Advertising etc

   All of us invest time/energy/money into promoting our freelancing services or design firm. You hope that these efforts pay off. Whether they do or don’t, you want to know what is working and what isn’t. That’s where statistics , lead tracking and other information gathering comes in.

   You can use a service like Google Analytics to see information about your website visitors, where they are coming from , what content they look at on your site, how long they stay and much more.  You can also enhance your contact form on your website to tie in with Google Analytics using “Goals” to see when they are met, and to see specific data attached to each goal.

   Why is this important and vital to your success? Well, by generating leads from your contact form, and having “goals” set up in Google Analytics, you can determine where your visitors are coming from and what percentage of each source is likely to fill out your contact form. For example, let’s say you advertise on CNN.com with a banner ad, and also on Facebook. When you receive contact form submissions, you can see number of visits from each site, and match that to how many leads each source generates for you, and see whether your money is being spent in the right places.

   Information like this is what ensures that your advertising expenses/blogging efforts etc are working as efficiently as possible.

   However, if you have an availability  calendar on your website, you probably won’t hear from a lot of people that found your site, and wanted to work with you. Fair enough you are happy to lose that lead, but you also lost more vital information about your advertising and promotion efforts.

4. You’re worth waiting for, aren’t you?

   You want the client to contact you. No matter what. The client is excited to possibly work with you, and why shouldn’t they be. You’re awesome at what you do, right? So, when you have to tell them you won’t be able to start their project until August 2010, you help them understand why you are worth waiting for! Often, you will be able to convince them that the best way to invest their money for this project is with you, and only you. Hey, what’s the worst that can happen? They move on and work with someone else? At least you gave it a shot. You’re not even in the game if your “availability calendar” turned them off from ever contacting you in the first place.

What are your thoughts? For or against this trend of freelancers displaying their “work availability ”? Elaborate on why you think either way is best.

I was driving home earlier today from a client meeting, and I had a moment of a type of self-awareness that I’ve never had before.

I realized that sometimes I allow myself to fear success. Even if it’s for only a few minutes.

This might sound strange to some, but it is definitely something I imagine affects others. As you grow in your career, and bigger opportunities come your way, you can either jump in with bags of confidence or hesitate a little , fearful of not being up to the task.

When I meet with new, bigger clients (not talking about their midriff circumference, but company size & budget) , I sometimes procrastinate just a little and up until today, I never really knew why.

It sort of makes sense, right? You get taken out of your comfort zone a little with greater challenges, and if you are in a mood of feeling weak, or lacking in confidence, you hesitate. And hesitation is one of the characteristics of failure.

The more I thought about this, I realized that while I might feel that slight hesitation off the bat, I quickly snap out of it, and start taking steps to ensure I take advantage of these bigger opportunities, embracing the challenges rather than fearing them.

Everyone knows there’s leaders and followers in this world. I think those that follow are the ones that allow this fear and this hesitation to take control of their actions, and thus, they are always following.

I’d be interested to hear from you in the comments if you’ve had a feeling of “fear of success” like this in the past.

I don’t usually post the Seth Godin style article, but it seemed appropriate today.

Some of my most popular articles have been about my career, starting as a freelancer and then starting my own business, from 50 reasons why you won’t make it as a freelancer, to 3 reasons why clients don’t choose you, and 5 things clients say and what they really mean . I am always happy to see this information prove useful to those starting out in a design career, and even those already enjoying success. Just recently, I found a great site to go along with the topic of providing resources, advice etc to designers, developers, writers etc.

“The Freelancer Feed”, is a new website developed by Grace Smith , and is proving to be a wonderful resource for those hoping to one day become successful freelancers. The resources on this site are also extremely helpful for those of us who own and manage design studios.

The links are all hand picked which ensures the high quality of information provided and this is one site that I will definitely be subscribing to.

Check it out here

*this is not a sponsored post of any kind, I just think this website will prove extremely useful to my RSS subscribers and anyone else wanting to learn more about how to have a successful career as a freelancer.

What other websites do you visit regularly to learn about freelancing? Please discuss in the comments below, thanks!

I will be running a new feature here on BrianYerkes.com where I will present some great designers under the age of 20 along with some samples of their work, and a little about them.

If you would like to be included and are under 20 years of age, whether you are a graphic designer, web designer etc.. please fill out this form and then subscribe to my rss feed so that you will be notified when you are featured!

This is a chance to gain some nice exposure and a little link juice to your portfolio, and I look forward to seeing some great work by those young designers in our online community.

I’m currently in Ireland on a work/pleasure trip, and just listened to a heated debate on RTE radio, Ireland’s national radio station. The topic of the conversation was Bulmer’s Cider, and their latest television commercial. Here are some details:

• Ireland is in a recession (obviously…as is the world…however, you wouldn’t think it when you see the crowds out shopping and drinking on the weekends), and the media here seems to love saying the word “recession” even more than Wolfe Blitzer on CNN.
• Irish pub owners are becoming increasingly worried as a change seems to be happening in Irish society. More people are deciding to drink at home on the cheap rather than to socialize in the pubs and this is hurting the publicans and their industry, especially the thousands of small rural pubs around the country. As a result, more bar stools are empty on a regular basis, and many pubs are apparently not making much in the way of profits at the moment.

So, most of these publicans are complaining about high costs, and not enough business coming in. This provides the foundation for the stupidity of what Bulmer’s Cider marketing team decided to do.

I imagine the Bulmer’s management and marketing team sat around a table, trying to decide what they should do to increase sales in a bad economy. Their sales have decreased, something had to happen.

So, they set out to create a television ad campaign that would let the market know that they were “cutting” their prices, specifically, the price of the pint bottle by 10c.

The ad’s theme involves an over-enthusiastic Bulmer’s staff member, Liam, at the orchard, who overhears management talking about “cuts”. So, he starts applying “cuts” of his own to everything in sight, trying to make an impact and speed up production of the cider. You can watch the 40 second ad below, or by visiting the post on my site if you are reading this via email or rss reader.

So, why is this “marketing gone wrong”? Well…it’s simple. Bulmer’s don’t control the final sale price of the pint bottle that the consumer buys in the pubs. Bulmer’s only controls the price that they sell their product to when the publican’s purchase it from them as suppliers. Guess who controls the price when it gets sold to the consumer….The publican does…..And guess who isn’t making the same profits he once enjoyed?(as mentioned above)……. The publican. …And guess who isn’t going to lower his sale price even though his cost price has been reduced? You got it.

I don’t blame the publicans that aren’t lowering the price of a Bulmer’s pint bottle. They are in business to make a profit, and if they are struggling to survive right now, they are going to be delighted with any reduction in their cost of supplies. So why should they reduce their prices?

The problem here is that Bulmer’s the brand wants to be seen as lowering their prices, and doing something good for the market. The fact that they thought that the consumer would receive these lower prices is extremely naive and quite foolish, especially with the current economic climate and the fact that the publicans seem to be struggling.

In marketing, you can come up with all the great ideas you want, produce fancy television ads, and attempt to do something good and positive for the market, but if there is no business logic or pragmatic thinking behind it, you can end up doing more harm than good.

All of the callers into this radio show discussing this topic were angered at the fact that most publicans had not lowered their prices for a pint bottle of Bulmers. Needless to say, some publicans entered into the discussion, and argued their side about the fact that they are struggling and need all the profits they can get.

Have you ever seen a case like this with another company? I am sure that this happens all the time, especially when the market is made aware that a supplier has reduced their costs, and the end seller doesn’t follow suit.

Working with all types of clients on a daily basis can be as challenging as the actual design or development work that they are hiring you for. As a freelancer or a project manager, you are on the front-line and even though there shouldn’t be war between you and your client, it can sometimes feel like a battle!

Over the years, I have heard clients say a lot of things, and some of them are more clear in their message than others. For those starting out in the design industry, whether it is at a firm, or as a freelancer, this list of “5 things clients say and what they really mean” will surely help you to be educated when interacting with various types of clients.

1. “I designed it myself and just need you to ,,,”

99.9% of the time, if a client says this to you when they first inquire about your services, and ask you for a quote, they are really saying, “I know enough to have an opinion on YOUR profession, and I understand what it takes to do what you do. I don’t really think your skills are anything that hard to do, I just don’t have the time to do it, or I don’t have the little amount of time it probably takes to learn it. Knowing all this, I won’t be paying you that much to do this work as it shouldn’t take you that long at all…plus I’ve already done most of the work for you.”

2. “Can you do it for $xxx now, and when we become more successful, we will pay more?”

This is a pretty easy one. What they are really saying is “I probably have the money to pay you fully for what you quoted me, but I’m gona try and see if I can make a deal and get away with paying you less than what you want. After all, you seem like a bit of a pushover….I don’t plan on paying you more when/if we are more successful, because your work isn’t really the thing that made us successful so why would we feel obliged to pay you again months after the project is over?”

3. “I don’t agree to your contract terms. Please remove section 1a ,,,”

Red flag. This is like meeting a girl in a bar who talks about her daddy issues for 2 hours, and ends up crying in your arms while I drink as much whiskey as possible in the hope that I may secretly pass out with my eyes open, standing upright, but not able to hear her myopic whining…..wait, whoa….sorry, back to the article.

It is probably a fact that a large majority of freelancers / design firms have fair and honest contracts. There is rarely any reason for a client to question any of the terms in the average contract designers use, so when a client requests different terms and changes to the wording of the agreement, this is a serious warning sign. By rejecting some of your contract terms, depending on what they are, the client is really telling you, “I don’t really trust you or your company that much at all, so I am going to try and get this contract to be much more favorable for me before I sign it. Due to the fact that I don’t really trust you that much, this project is going to be a struggle to get completed, and while I will blame you for the delays, it will really be my fault because I continue to fight for the power in this project, and I really don’t want to give you any sort of control or power. Oh, and that 50% payment you want just to start the project…make it 25% and you’ve got a deal. I’ll pay the remainder when the project is done…in 2 years.”

4. “I’ve never hired a web designer so I’m not sure about this whole process, but you guys are the experts ,,,”

Lovely. Time to be happy and smile. What this client is really saying is “I honestly think you are the expert, and realize that I know absolutely nothing about the skills that you have. I can’t even imagine trying to do this myself. It would be like trying to build my own house, or telling the air conditioner technician how to fix the air condenser. I will be a good client to work with as I value your expertise and I will not request that many revisions during the project. I figure that you do this all day everyday and have a successful career out of it, so who am I to tell you to what to do.”

5. “We need a website built, my Husband’s cousin made one for him but he is in Detroit ,,,”

This is pretty similar to #1 above. Most likely, what this client is really saying is “My Husband’s cousin is a receptionist and she has Photoshop on her computer (or she is a granny from Tennessee), and she put the site together using Go Daddy’s “Website Tonight” service. We really like that website and want something similar.”. Unless her Husband’s cousin is an actual experienced web designer, chances are that the website she developed for her Uncle is pretty bad. If the client says she likes the site that was created, it pretty much means that she doesn’t understand the difference in quality in web design. As a result, she will probably choose the cheapest web design firm she finds. If she doesn’t understand the quality difference, why would she pay you $5,000 when someone down the road quoted her at $500? She will get a $500 website, and will be happy with it, until one day when she realizes that her site isn’t getting any leads and nobody ever compliments her on it.

Ok, how about a 6th! “Make the logo bigger”

When clients say this they actually simply, and sadly always just want their logo bigger! Perhaps you need to stock up on some “Make my logo bigger cream”

Well, that’s it! “5 things clients say and what they really mean”. Most clients are good people, and great to work with, but there will always be those that make life a little more difficult, for whatever reason. With some education, and understanding, you can turn even the most high maintenance clients into decent, profitable ones. Client management is an underestimated element of being a designer or project manager, and the successful ones are able to handle each level of communication that they have with clients.

I would love to hear about any additional experiences you’ve had with clients, things you’ve learned about the different types of clients etc. Please discuss in the comments below and let’s start the conversation!

This is part 1 of what I hope to be a never ending series as I continue to build relationships with some great people on Twitter. And there isn’t a “#FollowFriday @name @name @name @name jumble of mess” anywhere to be seen! Follow Friday tweets like that serve no purpose to me. The ones that name one Twitter user and why they are good to follow make sense. I will actually follow them if I see value.

Here is a list of 5 people I follow on Twitter and why I follow them:

@tonychester

Serious reason: he owns a cool web design company in North Carolina, named “onwired”, and I enjoy networking with a fellow business owner in a similar situation as myself.

Non-serious reason: because he is a smart ass

@brianyerkes :Just fired up the grill to cook some chicken, and flames blew up in my face and burned half my arm hair, that wasn’t fun
@tonychester : My question is “why do you have arm hair on your face”?

@mayhemstudios (Calvin Lee)

Serious reason: he’s a cool guy, and personable even though he has over 30,000 followers. A fellow designer and he is the king of RT’s.

Non-serious reason: because he looks like “The Hulk” and has a severe case of narcolepsy

@randaclay

Serious reason: another fellow designer, Randa is also experienced in all things WordPress, and a very nice person.

Non-serious reason: I find amusement when she tweets about her kids! (I won’t be laughing when I have some of my own I’m sure)

@randaclay : Why is it that when you’re on the phone, your kids have to follow you around like they’re tethered to your backside?

@randaclay : Unbelievable. It’s 7:21 and both kiddos are still asleep. Doing a quiet little happy dance at my desk.

@davidairey

Serious reason: David has one of the most popular personal design blogs out there, and is a logo designer’s role model for his professionalism and knowledge of brand identity.

Non-serious reason: He is a Liverpool supporter and I get to rip on him when they lose. Which is quite often.

@andysowards

Serious reason: Andy is another great RT’er and shares a lot of good design & social media related links. He also takes the time to frequently ask you how your day is going, and is a cool guy.

Non-serious reason: Together with @McLucky34, we coined the phrase “Temperature is Ball Relative“, after we were talking about how hot the weather was. “hot as balls” etc…

It happens to even the best design firms; you send out a proposal, you have a face-to-face meeting, and then you receive the email.

Thank you for your proposal and your time to discuss our project with us, but we have decided to go with another firm”

Depending on how much time and effort you put into the proposal, this can be a tough pill to swallow. If it is for a project worth less than $1000 to you or your company, it is pretty easy to move on and not be bothered by it. Regardless of how big or small the project is, and no matter how much time you put into the proposal, it is important to always try to understand why the potential client did not choose you or your company.

There can be many reasons why you or your company were not chosen for a particular job, but if you do not find these out or even try to acquire that information, the entire proposal process becomes a complete waste of time. When you receive the “we chose someone else” email or phone call, why not turn it into something that will help you in the future? A simple “thank you” response can be coupled with “Can you please describe some of the reasons why we were not chosen for this project, and what we could have done better? This will help us to better our sales process in the future.”.

If you spent hours on a big proposal, and then you don’t get the job, your emotions naturally want to reply with “Good luck and call me when the company you chose under deliver or screw you!”, but obviously this is not the way to go. Even when you know your local competitors have nothing on you or your company, and could never provide the creativity or expertise you can, it is vital that you keep it positive and professional.

So, you send your “thanks” response, and you hope for a reply. From my experience, a lot of these people will not respond back to our request for more information, and that is fine. You just have to let it go. Others however, typically the more professional ones, will take the time to respond to you and give you some decent feedback. They are the ones that understand the purpose of your email and your request for feedback. This also shows them that you and your company are dedicated to improving all aspects of your operation and services.

If you record the responses you receive over time (hopefully you don’t have many of them because you acquire most potential clients!), you will have the knowledge to better understand what you need to improve upon. With that being said, let’s take a look at 3 of the main reasons why a client didn’t choose you for the project that got away.

1. Price

Depending on your rates, the number one reason you didn’t get chosen for that project was down to the price on your proposal. Many potential clients just don’t understand the difference in quality in services like graphic design and web design. You may have met with them in person, discussed their exact needs, prepared a proposal that contained the perfect solution for them, but they still did not choose you because of the price. It is common in most industries, a lot of people will select the less expensive option, especially if they are unable to differentiate in the quality being offered by each option. Many times a client doesn’t understand that the 5 page web design solution one company offers, is completely different from that of another. They may not understand that a CMS-based website in CSS is much better than a static table-based HTML website. In your meeting with the client, they told you that they really wanted to have control of the content on their website, but after not choosing you, you see the new website that they received from another company, and it barely resembles anything like what the client said they wanted.

This is the main reason why the web design industry has made so many enemies in the general population. So many clients get screwed by half-assed web designers, and they end up spending more time and money within a year to find someone to develop a website that they actually want and need. Clients get screwed by not doing enough research and not understanding the difference in web design quality. They end up hiring the cheapest option and 9 out of 10 times this will not work out well for them.

On the other side, a client may not choose you because your prices are too low! It may sound crazy, but it is true. My company always asks clients why they chose us after we receive their business, and sometimes they respond with the following:

Even though we received quotes from others that were way below what you quoted us, we want to work with you because your portfolio and professionalism exceeds the rest, and that is what is important to us.”

This is a great email to get. It immediately creates the perfect client / vendor relationship. It shows you that this client understands the value of your services, and is able to see the difference in quality between you and the other companies that they spoke with.

2. Professionalism

I’ve discovered that a lot of web design companies (in my area especially) are quite unprofessional. If you receive an inquiry from a potential client and respond back with an email that looks like a 12 year old typed it, this can be an instant turn off. Also, if your phone manner isn’t professional your company image will be hurt during the initial phone conversation with that client.

I personally don’t think it is that difficult to be professional, because you simply understand what clients expect from you , and you provide it. I often make a note of the things that I expect from companies when I purchase services from them, and it makes such a difference when they do their job professionally. You feel much more confident giving them your money, and you also intend to return to give them repeat business.

Every way you interact with the client is reviewed, whether they do it knowingly or subconsciously; they are forming opinions about you and your service. They attach these opinions to your overall brand and that is what they store in their mind each time they communicate with you.

3. Portfolio

Sometimes, you get inquiries from clients that are the type that really want to see that you have developed a website or designed some print advertising for a company in their industry. For example, a client needing a website for their restaurant may only work with someone that has previously designed a restaurant website. Some clients really rely on this, and others don’t. It is all part of the comfort factor. The client wants to feel completely confident that you can provide a perfect solution for their needs, and no matter how good the rest of the work in your portfolio is, if it is not industry related to their company, they may not choose to work with you.

I recently had a potential client that wanted my company to carry out a complete branding of their real estate agent services. They said that they really liked what they saw in our portfolio, and were excited to move forward with us. Before we received the contract and deposit, we spoke with one of the partners over the phone. She voiced her concerns over the lack of real estate related design work in our portfolio. I personally worked in real estate web design for about a year and half as a full-time job, and once I became self-employed I decided that I wouldn’t work with any clients in the real estate industry for a while. I needed the break from it, especially when it was all I did for 5 days a week for over a year.

So, I had to drag up my old portfolio from when I worked for this real estate web design company to try to show the potential client that I had experience in the real estate industry and that my company could provide excellent creative design services for the real estate industry. The difficult part of a process like this is the fact that you, as a designer, are confident that no matter what industry it is, you can design for it. If you are skilled and experienced, and understand different markets and different demographics, you know that you can design anything for that industry. Some clients are unable to see it this way, and it can often be an added “dance” you need to do during the sales process to acquire their business. It becomes your job to go that extra step to give them the confidence to move forward with you.

So, there you go, the 3 main reasons why clients don’t choose you! Obviously there are many other reasons why you may not get chosen for a particular project, like the fact that you smell odd, or that you wore your “Frankie Says Relax” t-shirt to the meeting, but those 3 discussed above are pretty much the main ones.

Do you have any to add from your own experiences?

Earlier today, my company received an inquiry on our contact form from a 14 yr old simply asking for some feedback on three designs that he has created. I am always more than happy to spend time helping others , especially younger designers just starting out and I am impressed by this 14 yr old for simply sending us an email and asking for some basic feedback.

So, I thought I might as well share my response to him with you, and it may end up helping someone else similar to this 14 yr old that emailed my company.

The three pieces you sent are quite impressive for a 14 yr old (for any age really). You obviously have a natural artistic ability and this is vital to being a good graphic designer. You can only learn so much but you need that intrinsic ability to know what visually appeals and works for the look you are trying to achieve.

It is important to learn how to combine your creativity and natural artistic ability with the business aspect of being a graphic designer. As a graphic designer, you also play a large role as a marketing professional, and you need to learn how to apply your art and design skills to the business world. This is vitally important as this will allow you to make a living from your craft. I know many designers that are extremely creative but lack the ability to use that creativity in a business / advertising environment.

Professional graphic design is all about communicating a message as powerfully and memorable as possible. If you become a professional designer, you will have clients that have messages (products , services etc) that they need to communicate to their market through advertising, and it will be up to you to figure out how to use your design skill and knowledge to present that message in the most effective way possible.

Another piece of advice is to always continue learning and expanding upon your skill set. Never settle for the knowledge you have at any point. Always strive to learn more.

Some other recent posts that I have published that provide advice for young designers are "50 Reasons Why You Will Not Make It As A Freelancer ", "What Not To Do When Designing a Logo " and "Most Important Thing I Would Tell A Design Student "

This is what I hope will be the first of many posts on this topic, "When Clients Get Funny".

Yesterday, my company Brian Joseph Studios received an inquiry from our contact form, and in the "Tell us a little about your project" field, the potential client wrote:

" The usual – totally waste my competition; become filthy rich with my revenue generated from the internet; retire early et cetera "

Someone with a personality and a sense of humor like this makes me like them right off the bat. I want this guy to be a client for my company. We could even give him a "cool guy" discount on our quote.

Designers/Developers etc, have you ever received a funny / strange / odd inquiry? I would love to hear about it in the comments field!