Hate sales conversations? This framework might work for you
Selling your services as a product designer is a skill that most creatives don’t want to develop and usually see as a cringe-worthy task.
Looking and speaking confidently in the sales conversation is a superpower.
It’s your job to make the client take you more seriously and treat you like another business owner, not an order taker.
This way, you can quickly negotiate on your terms and make a deal that both sides will be happy about.
Unfortunately, selling in the design industry is seen as something unpleasant you must deal with to get to the fun part.
Most of what we know about selling is not true. If you still think that only super sleazy people do selling or that the value of your work is obvious by only looking at it, remember:
It’s the best communicator who gets the job. Not the best practitioner.
If, whenever you try to negotiate, the situation always turns on you, and you end up doing a lot more work for a lot less money than expected — there’s something that might work for you.
Productize your service
Productized service is a service with a pre-defined scope of work and price attached to it. You provide a client with a detailed description of what they can expect from working with you and terms of services.
This way of working allows you to skip the negotiation process, so when they reach out to you — they’re already sold, and you get only to do the fun part.
This all sounds too abstract, so let me give you a few examples.
Vibrant.so — your on-demand design team
The value proposition to the client:
No hiring
No contracts
No stress
Fixed monthly rate for all your design and development needs
First 7 days for free
Pricing: $1,499+ per month
Link: https://www.vibrant.so
DesignJoy
The value proposition to the client:
Unlimited requests and iterations
≤ 24 hours delivery (business days)
Fixed monthly rate for all your design needs
Totally async (no meetings)
Invite your team members
Pricing: $4,995+ per month
Link: http://designjoy.co
FairPixels
The value proposition to the client:
Integrates into your team
≤ 48 hours delivery (business days)
Async communication
Pricing: $7,975 per month
Link: https://fairpixels.pro
Cons of productized service
Even though the concept seems to be relatively simple, there are a lot of unknowns.
You leave money on the table by not pricing individually
If it’s in the lower price range, you need a more significant volume of clients
You need a reliable marketing channel to drive leads