Jumping at Fastspot

Here are the golden rules to live by when creating content for your website.

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Those first few moments of interaction between you and a prospective client matter more than you can imagine. Everything you do in this critical early phase of your project development is important and will likely determine your success or failure. This post focuses on some of our methods for ensuring that initial contact is positive, mutually beneficial and results in business.

Before a potential client contacts you, you are essentially a blank slate. Everything you do adds marks to that slate.

Preparing for Inquiries

Your phone rings or an email arrives in your inbox. A prospective client is interested in hiring you. What now? Let’s start at the beginning and determine what we can know about this potential client right off the bat. Somehow they heard of you, so this is your first mark. Find out how they heard about you to know the context of their first impression. For example, if one of your favorite existing clients was raving about you, you have a great first mark on your slate. If the inquiry came based on a Google search for “Web designers” then your only mark might be that you came up in search results. The prospect who heard about you from your deliriously happy client will already be inclined to work with you and you will not have as much of an uphill battle.

TIP: It is important to be able to determine which leads have the most likelihood of turning into real work. This way when you get busy you will spend your time going after quality clients versus wasting your time.

The next mark on your slate will be based on how well that first interaction with you goes. You want this mark to be a good, solid one. Do they Google your name or company name and instantly they have access to a lovely Website and contact page? Do they have to sort through multiple search results for “your name” to find your site? Do they come across negative posts or even worse, your Facebook page with privacy settings turned off? You should assume that once someone hears about you, they need to efficiently and pleasantly be able to do the following things:
– Remember your name or your company’s name
– Find your site easily in a search (ahead of negative or personal sites)
– Quickly find out where and how a prospective client should reach out to you
– Be contacted back in a reasonable amount of time (I say no longer than 48 hours)
– Enjoy their first interaction with you

If you want to pre-qualify your prospects efficiently, encouraging them to call you directly on the phone may be a bad idea. Answering calls, returning calls, deciphering messages and then taking the time on the phone to cut through the chit chat and get to the essentials takes a lot of time. You may prefer to downplay your phone number and instead ask prospects to fill out a short inquiry form or contact you via email. Using forms or email you can set up convenient auto-responders letting prospects know their email has been received and they should expect to hear back from you in “x” amount of time. This leaves little room for confusion. Avoid sounding cold by using friendly wording and a promise (you can keep) of a quick response time. Just remember, if you go with the form or email route, you run the risk of a competitor getting on the phone with the prospective client first. You decide which works best for you. Try switching it up between various approaches and track how it affects your incoming business requests.

EXAMPLE: “Thanks for contacting us, we appreciate your interest in working with our team. Please fill out this short form so we can learn a bit about you and your project, and we’ll call you back pronto (otherwise known as within 1 business day).”

You need to decide how much time you will invest into each new prospect and how far you will go to get the information you need to provide a proposal.

WARNING: Some clients want you to do all the work for them so be careful you aren’t giving all your ideas and expertise away for free at the beginning. Sharing a few good recommendations goes far in letting someone know you are good at what you do, but figuring out the whole project for them will only lead to a client relationship where you are doing all the work, and probably not being compensated (or appreciated) for it.

The way a client gets in touch with you can determine if they will be a good or bad client. Did your contact come as an email inquiry, a RFP (request for proposal document) or a phone call? If they emailed you, did they follow your guidance on your contact form? For example, if you have an email address specifically for new business inquiries, did they use it or did they send their email to the first address they found? This approach of giving potential clients specific (and easy) instructions for contacting you will go far in telling you what you will be dealing with before you’ve even spoken to them. In the Web business, clients are often intimidated and misinformed; it’s your job to guide them. You can’t guide someone who won’t follow the rules.

REMEMBER: Someone who has followed your instructions is likely to respect your professional opinion, isn’t going to rush the process and will follow your lead through the job.

If the inquiry came as a voice message, you can start doing some detective work before you call them back. Note: I rarely answer a call I suspect is from a prospective client, I want to wait and find out who they are so I can do my homework. The first thing I do is check to see if their company’s URL is showing up in our Google Analytics. You want to know how much time they spent looking at your work and learning about you.

TIP: In Google Analytics go to: Visitors/Network Properties/Service Providers and you will see a list of domains that have visited your site. I look at this list daily, it’s the best crystal ball you have to see who’s checking you out. It also gives you a chance to be proactive and start researching them before they contact you. Talk about being prepared!


Next try a Google search to see who you are dealing with. You want the call to have come from someone relatively important at the company so check the “About” or “Our Team” page immediately. If you can’t find anything in Google, it should tell you they are a start up or a really small company; this means small budgets and unorganized teams (there are exceptions, but this is usually the case).

Another place to do some recon is on Twitter. Simply go to http://search.twitter.com and start searching. You might find a personal Twitter account, or the company account. Either way, it’s good insight into the prospect and what they are currently doing.

I’ve also found LinkedIn to be useful when doing some preliminary research. It’s helpful to know where your contact’s past jobs were. Maybe there’s a common denominator, who knows? Maybe you are both graduates from the same school. http://www.linkedin.com

The important thing is to not jump so quickly on the lead that you forget to do your homework. Check them out and see what you are dealing with. I sometimes break this rule if I get a call from someone who said a client recommended they call. Client referrals are often some of the best leads and they appreciate a prompt response. Another reason to wait just a little while is to prepare an agenda or a list of questions before you’re put on the spot. Nothing sounds worse to a prospect than a bunch of uncomfortable silences on an initial call. If you tend to choke up under pressure, have a handy list of go-to questions sticky-noted to your phone for emergencies. Here are some good go-to questions when the moments get uncomfortable (and ones that will help you learn more about the client, too):
– How did you hear about us? (I can’t emphasize enough how important this bit of information is to gather.)
– What are some of your frustrations with your current Website?
– How long ago was your current site created?
– Who else will be involved in this project?
– How many Web design projects have you managed in the past? Were they successful? Who did you work with?
– How many other agencies/designers are you inviting to bid on this project?
– When do you expect to make a decision?
– If you could have your dream site, what would it look like? (Get URLs for sites they like.)
– Will there be an in-house team working collaboratively on this project?

Did you spot the second most important question in that list? It’s the last one. Often times, you are working against a concerned in-house designer, developer or IT team. They are usually resistant to outsiders and may honestly be concerned for their job security. If you can learn as much about these people as possible, you can attempt to dilute the trepidation within your proposal or initial conversations. Including a section in your proposal entitled “Working Collaboratively with the In-House Team” or “In-House Long Term Management” will be sections which might very well earn you fans vs. enemies. It also shows the client you are thinking from a collaborative and long-range perspective. Trust me: you want these people on your side. Their votes often hold more weight and a client will be unwilling to hire someone that clashes with their in-house people.

Here’s another reason to make that first phone call count. People are going to want to do business with people they like, and it’s much easier to get a sense for someone on a phone call then in text. Don’t hide behind emails. Get on the phone once you are prepared. Make a connection that lets your prospective client know you are a smart, creative, insightful individual (or agency) who is genuinely interested in their project and their problems. Even if it’s not a good fit, they will appreciate that you cared enough to make the effort, and take the time. You never know where that person may end up working in a year or two, so even if the potential work in this instance seems unlikely, you never know what it may turn in to one day.

I’ll be continuing to discuss how we do business here at Fastspot, so feel free to let me know what you are wondering about!

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There are lots of good posts out there on how to give a great presentation, but how do you put a good one together? How do you take your audience on a ride with your content even as you are hula-hooping and doing all your other best saleswomany tricks to give it enthusiasm, conviction and clarity? Below is a breakdown of how I took what was sure to be a stinker of a presentation and turned it around.

I was preparing for a huge upcoming presentation, and I mean a big one! This would take our company to the next level, and I really really wanted it – it was fun, big budget, good client kinda juicy project and I wanted it bad. I had my slides, I made sure I covered the big picture elements from our proposal, and I took a look at it all and thought, “This is total shit”. My presentation was going to be boring, slow, labored and I would end up red faced, hands in pockets, sweating and wishing my hour was up within the first 5 minutes.

I could tell because I was bored just looking at it, why the hell would the client feel any different? So, I deleted that presentation and started over. I asked myself the following questions and came up with a presentation that was a million times better. Ask yourself what you would answer to these questions (I’ve included my answers so you can imagine how my slides shaped up) and then try making your next presentation about your answers and less about regurgitating factoids about how many awards you’ve won, how you execute the concept, relevant case studies blah de blah blah blech.

1. What is one of the most creatively inspiring things you ever saw in your life?
- Pictures of the cave paintings at Lascoux, France.

2. Why?
- Because humans have been using imagery to communicate for thousands of years and it’s beautiful to look at. It still tells its story.

3. What freaks you out?
- Outer space.

4. What amazes you?
- Language.

5. What excites you about your job?
- Problem solving.

6. What makes you special?
- I’m funny and use great metaphors to communicate concepts.

7. How do you make the magic happen?
- I mix process, fun, creativity, listening, problem solving and talent into a big bowl.

8. What scares you?
- Failure. But without it I’m doomed.

9. If you could invent a toy, what kind of toy would it be?
- Something that turned music I was listening to into a palette of oil paints and wherever my eyes moved marks would be created. Hey – it’s a dream, ok, not something I really could invent.

10. What is one thing that you are bad at?
- I can’t focus on details, or maybe I can’t stay focused for long enough to deal with the details.

11. What makes you mad at clients?
- When I see horrible sites and stupid marketing and dumbed down ideas catering to the lowest common denominator assuming that they are stupid.

12. What do you provide to your clients?
- Solutions that make them more honest, more organized, more respectful to their audiences, and more likely to succeed.

13. What is something you want everyone to know about you?
- I love dogs.

Now, I realize this is kind of random but trust me – start putting your presentations together from a different mindset, entertain your audience, tell them something they didn’t already know. After all, this work we do is as much about relationships as is it about the work, so let them get to know you – how you think, what your passions are, and let the great work follow.

Oh yeah – I use Keynote to put my presentations together and I love Flickr, Google Images and iStock for finding images to use. Remember, pictures can say a thousand words. Skip the bullet points – say it with pictures on screen and speak your points with your voice.

Got any amazing presentations you’ve given, or tips to get there? Do share. After all, I showed you mine

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OK, so you’ve got all your amazing projects completed, your client list reads like a who’s who of desirable business and now it’s time to show off all your talent and hard work. Or, more realistically, you’ve got a few gems, a few that need to be in there because they show you can do certain things, and a few stinkers but for big name clients. And you also probably have some amazing looking work you did for friends, family or school, but it’s the kind of work that really shows what you got.

You may be getting a portfolio together to seek employment (I get lots of those sent to me) or you may be going out after new clients or already running an agency and redoing the website. Regardless we are usually all in the same boat. We are typically working with a mixed bag when it comes to creating a killer portfolio. So how do you do the best marketing with what you got? Here are a few suggestions.

• Push your best work to the front, and remember less is more. We strive to do that on Fastspot’s home page with our project features.
• Don’t count on thumbnails alone, many potential clients are looking for similar client “names” in your work – so include the client name along with the pretty looking thumbnail.
• Make sure you can see it larger, and live (if it’s still living).
• If you did the work at an agency, say so. Honesty shows you have integrity.
• Try to look at the portfolio page like you’ve never seen it before and pay attention to where your eye moves. Then ask yourself, did your eye move to the projects you want to emphasize?
• Don’t just show, but tell. More than pretty pictures, a portfolio should explain exactly what you did, or how you solved a client’s problem. No need to write a book, just provide some written context.
• Consider adding a client list grouped by industry w/ links to the portfolio – as another way for users to get to your work. Not everyone is a fan of this approach (and it only accounts for about 5% of our traffic vs. the portfolio link which accounts for almost 20%) but I say, give users multiple ways to explore your work.
• Edit, Edit, Edit! You will only look as good as your weakest portfolio piece.
• Keep it timely. Don’t include work from 5 years ago, it sends the message that you aren’t doing much new work, or that you still think your older work is the best.
• Make your portfolio as standards compliant, search engine optimized and user friendly as you claim to be able to deliver for clients. Your portfolio may be the first time a potential client is making judgments on your capabilities and talents. Practice what you preach in other words.
• Have a personality. I see so many sterile looking portfolios, with mechanical and boring copy. Tell a story when you talk about past projects, share the good and the bad, the successes and even a failure here and there. No need to be an egomaniac or a martyr, just keep it real.
• Make it as easy to navigate and look at as flipping through a book. After all, it’s a portfolio – its core purpose is to provide a vehicle for potential clients to look at your work and decide if they like what you do.

Here are a few links to portfolios I love browsing through. Got some of your own that you love? Is yours amazing? If so, post some links for us to check out and discuss.

Second Story – they have been impressing and inspiring me for ages. Nothing fancy, just clean, functional organization.
Hello Design – just lovely.
Big Spaceship – great features.
Things That Are Brown
Attik
Organic
Method
R/GA
HUGE

From Curt Kotula -
http://drxlr.com/projects/

From Calea Kevlin -
http://mikemcquade.com
http://www.foundationsix.com/
http://www.sofasurfer.eu/
http://thevisualclick.com/
http://duplos.org/
http://sarawhite.com/

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Fastspot is a huge proponent of having a consistent brand and presence in all arenas.  As such, we have implemented custom branded email signatures.  Our preferred email client is Mac Mail app and we’ve found that, while these signatures are professional and polished-looking, the process of installing/implementing them is nothing sort of a multi-step nightmare.  We’ve switched up our signatures around five times in the last couple of years, so I’ve become the unofficial Fastspot e-signature expert.  Here is the process, broken into as few steps as possible (bear with me):

1. Create an HTML signature.  Our goal was to integrate our logo and the color scheme from our branding while also adding links and icons to our various social media outlets.  We experimented with background images vs. in-line images and ended up finding that in-line images are more compatible across the various email clients and Web mail services, such as Gmail.
2. Open the HTML signature file using Safari.
3. Choose Save As… from the Safari File menu.  Save the file as a .webarchive format.  This is the format Mac Mail app uses for signatures.  For the sake of these instructions, I will call this file “signature.webarchive”.
4. Open Mail Preferences.  Choose the Signatures panel. All Signatures is the default view; you will see your email account(s) and various numbers of signatures assigned to each listed below that.  I have four different email accounts filtering into Mail, so I have four signatures total and one default signature assigned to each account.
5. Click the plus sign to add a new signature and title it whatever you like.  I will call this file the Mail signature file.
6. Close the Preferences window and Quit Mail.
7. Copy your signature.webarchive file.
8. Go to your Library>Mail>Signatures folder in Finder.
9. Paste the signature.webarchive file into the Signatures folder.
10. Find the new signature file you created in Mail Preferences, the Mail signature file.  Mail creates signatures with non-sensical alpha numeric names.  To find the file you just created, find the one whose creation date is “Today”.
11. Copy the alpha numeric name of the Mail signature file. Rename that file whatever you like.  I tend to use the keystroke Command+X to cut the title and then rename the file “X”, as well.  You can delete this file if you like; you will not be using it again.
12. Rename the signature.webarchive file to the alpha numeric name you just copied.  Just paste the name in place.
13. Open Mail Preferences. Go to the Signatures panel.
14. Click and drag the new signature to your email account in the left column. This assigns the new signature to that email account.
15. Click the email account in the left column. Use the Choose Signature drop down at the bottom of the window to assign the new signature as the default for your account.
16. Close Mail Preferences.
17. Open a new email message.  The new signature should appear automatically in the new email composition window.

Simple, right? Only 17 steps for a professional and cohesive look for your company. Okay, so it’s not “easy”, but when the majority of your communication happens via email, it is fully worth the effort.

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