Clients — Where are you?

The daily life of a small creative agency

In my particular case, I’m part of the generation that engaged the business world during the biggest financial world crisis. I was optimistic. I was a dreamer. I didn’t have a single clue how to get clients with the efficiency necessary to run a business such as a Web & Mobile development Agency.

As a team we made a lot of mistakes; we actually still do a lot of mistakes. But these are the lessons we learned.

Where are the clients?

Ok, we opened a business: we got an awesome team of developers, designers and even a communication/marketing assistant. And now what? Of course, it’s time to go look for clients. As all businesses, you have to start small to go big. First start by your contacts; see if any of your friends need any of your services. Try every contact you have on your facebook, linkedin, twitter, email, etc. Eventually you will get 2 or 3 small jobs. And this will be the push you needed to get on track. Remember, the best advertisement you can get is your awesome work. A happy client is most likely to talk about what you did for them, how the price was so much smaller than your competitors, and how the quality was so much better. Eventually some of the people your clients have talked to, will hire you and eventually some of this will be a big brand or a big client. This is where the real game begins.

Budgets take time to be approved

You got recognized by your work, so people start requesting you budgets. You got a bigger project with a big budget. Don’t wait for it to be approved. Budgets take generally 2 to 3 weeks to be approved. In some cases they take more than a month. So while you are making this budgets, remember to keep looking for more clients. Remember this simple rule. Until you have the payment on your bank account no budget is guaranteed. Remember that like your agency, there are 10 other agencies that have given budgets to your client and most likely with a bigger portfolio than yours. The important thing is: don’t wait for your budgets to be approved. Keep working, keep getting clients and above all don’t give up. You can never give up.

Don’t chase the big brands

As referred in the first topic, the trick is not to chase the big brands. They get hundreds of emails per day, offering the exact same services as you. And they choose none of this. Why? Because they don’t know about you or your agency, they have no references and they don’t trust your work. The only way a big brand will hire you is if someone important in the brand got a reference of your agency from a friend, from another company or if you have already worked with some other big brands. So unless they approach you, keep up doing what you do best. You’ve got already a good vision about how to get clients and a nice portfolio. Just keep improving it and do the best in every project. Eventually, they will notice you and with some luck they will hire you.

Make your way to the top

You are in negotiation with a big brand for a big job. It’s a job that will take all the agency’s efforts for the best 3 or 4 months. Don’t low your price, now it’s the time to increase it. Remember, they are the big fish and if they noticed you it’s because you are good enough to make an impact on their customers. Now it’s the time to go big or go home. You know you are some of the best in the market and they know it as well. So gather your team, re-evaluate your budget, the conditions, at least 3 or 4 times. When you think you have the perfect budget, send it to them. If it’s approved, the hardest part will begin now. You have to make a perfect job, you have to deliver a product even better than they expected. It’s the only way to stay on the top.

Remember it is ok to fail. Our biggest lessons in life come from for our failures and not from your successes. Instead don’t be afraid to jump into a business of your own, instead be excited and eager to start. It won’t give you the same security as a regular job, but in the end it will bring you much more rewards…