Welcome to another episode of Silence is Golden where Troy and Simon give away invaluable tips for your business.
In today’s show, we’re going to be talking about a content-first approach to designing websites, care of our friends at Alistapart, we’ll show you an alternative tool to Canva and we will dive into our main topic which is how to sell discovery sessions and get paid for the work that you do! Oh, and of course we bring you the latest news in the WordPress world.
Watch the Video
Stuff That Happened
Content-First Alternative to Wireframes
Simon picked out an article that explores priority guides which have become a highly efficient tool for designing content-first and mobile-first. It overcomes many of the issues that come from relying only on wireframes and it’s about putting something together using the real content from your client. Find out more here.
The Simplest Online Image Editor
Simon has been distracted again by a shiny new object! He has been playing around with Crello which is a design tool alternative to Canva (which we all love). Crello specialises in social media as it's point of difference. Simon tells us that it is easy to use and a good alternative to Canva if you’re looking for one.
WordCamp Sydney
Mark your calendars Aussie Elevators! WordCamp Sydney is officially scheduled on 28-29 July 2018. How exciting! Find out more here.
The Beauty of Being a Perfectly Imperfect Freelancer
Are you a perfectionist when it comes to your work? Do you compare yourself to other people's success? These are some great tips that every freelancer can take on board from Tyra Seldon on freelancersunion.com.
Don’t copy others, find your sweet spot and be ok with going your own way.
Troy delves into this subject further by referencing David Kadavy who says that you have to give yourself permission to suck. The first time you do something, you will suck at it so most people don’t even start because they are afraid that they will look foolish because they haven’t given themselves permission to suck.
This Pisses Me Off
This week, Troy is pissed off with consultants or service providers who don’t deliver on their promise. You go to a website, you hear them on a podcast, read their book and most of the time its ok, but sometimes 3 months into the plan with the consultant, there are no deliverables. This is not acceptable! If you are a WordPress consultant and promise something to your client – do not make your them come looking and asking for it because that is a bad customer experience.
From a product point of view, Troy bought some Logitech BRIO 4k USB cameras which are great but with the current version of the operating Mac system, there is a bug where the far left side of the screen is a duplicate of the right side of the screen. This has been a known issue for months but Logitech hasn’t fixed it or give an ETA.
Deliver on your promises people!
Let’s Get Unstuck
Joshua asked the Agency Mavericks Facebook group:
I'm not yet confident in trying to sell a discovery session because it feels like the client should get some sort of written product delivered at the end of it so they can see a tangible result. I guess you could record the session and then deliver either a transcription or a copy of the audio file.
In our previous episode, we talked about the actual session, where you take notes, compile them and give them as a PDF.
One of our mentors, Kristina, transcribes the session at rev.com and gives that as the deliverable at the end.
There is also another discovery workshop which Simon does where he runs the client through the prototype. If you can get someone within the client’s organisation to be the scribe, that will also make your life easier.
A site map is also a good deliverable and a good appetite wetter. Check out Slickplan and Flowmapp who have also just released user flow diagrams which allows you to draw in user actions in between the pages.
The Golden Nugget
How to Sell Discovery Workshops
Last week we delved into how to run a discovery workshop and this week we will talk about how to sell a session.
If you’re ever up against another company and the client tells you that the competitor has quoted a certain amount, then you explain to them that the company is making it up and just taking a guess. You tell them that you don’t have enough information right now to give an accurate proposal.
Another time to sell the discovery workshop is if they can’t fill in the qualifying form because they don’t know what they want.
Troy's Hot Tip
Explain to the client that the web is not an IT function.
It is a communications function which typically falls under marketing.
Price Point
Don’t do it for free! You are delivering value so you want to make sure you get paid. A lot of WordPress consultants don’t think that they are good at marketing and undersell their time but by following the guidelines from last week's show you will transform yourself into a business consultant.
Troy advises us to get an idea of what the project would cost and then pitch 10-15% of that price. Or if you are unsure whether you want to work with this client, then run a half day workshop and then work out an hourly rate is that is profitable.
The discovery workshop has to be valuable enough that they take it seriously as well as being profitable for you.
Simon pitches his discovery workshops at a set price of $1,000 which he says helps his sales process.
He explains to the client that if they invest a $1,000 now it will save them months because you will end up with a clear brief and you will be able to give them an accurate proposal.
Length of the Discovery
The more time you can spend with the client inside their business the better because you will have more understanding of the business and the project and you have a greater chance of winning the project. So a half day to a full day is optimal.
The Process
- Qualify the client via a form to make sure they have the budget
- Have a quick chat on the phone to thank them for sending through the details. Tell them that you can’t put together an accurate quote, so you would suggest a discovery workshop to create a strategy to help them get clearer on what success looks like for them
- Send a recap email
- Make sure you know how many people will be involved because the more people there are, the longer the session will be. The decision maker needs to be there because a lot of things will be lost in translation if they aren't
FREEBIE: Get Simon’s discovery session email template here and season it to taste.
Tool of the Week
Calendly
Simon loves it! You just send your client a link to your calendar and they can book in the discovery workshop or phone call with you. Check it out.
Wrap Up
See you again next week and let us know what you want to know about running your WordPress business.
Like us on Facebook, subscribe to our YouTube channel or let us know what you think about this episode below!
