G'day Reader,
I remember the first time I had a sales meeting with a "decent" web design prospect.
Up until this point, my clients had all been kinda... small time. They always wanted something basic and simple (aka something cheap) and boyyyyyyyyyyy did I deliver 😅
So of course I was stoked! This was a larger business, which finally meant a serious budget, which meant I could make something awesome. Aaaand the meeting was going super well too!! I thought I had it in the bag.
Now imagine how I felt when they said "everything sounds great, just send us the proposal along with examples of your work and we'll take it to the board."
Yeah.... I didn't get that project. The examples of my work were shit.
What are we meant to do?
Realistically, the only thing that fixes this is imnproving your portfolio - BUT DON'T THROW YOUR COMPUTER/PHONE OUT OF THE WINDOW YET!!
Like I'm sure you very politely said (with no swearing) "that's why I want these bigger jobs Nick"
And I get it, that was my thinking too... but it's the wrong thinking.
The project reframe
If every project I was signing was a $2k website, what stops me from just overdelivering? Why don't I just go and deliver a $10k website to the $2k client?
Like yeah, I end up spending WAYYYY more time than the budget calls for, but now my portfolio has a $10k website in it that I can use to land more $10k website projects!
Plus, my $2k client is going to be over the fucking moon, and tell everyone how amazing I am (especially cause I repeatedly told them I'm going to deliver a $10k website for their $2k spend).
So yeah, overdeliver and treat that time like an investment.
What if I cbf doing the extra work?
Look, lets be real. If you don't want to go above and beyond, you're probably not going to do the greatest job for the bigger clients either. Plus, overdelivering is just good practice - its how you get a portfolio that punches above it's weight, and lets you keep growing and charging more.
But, if you really want to try landing bigger clients anyway:
Take a consultative approach and really reinforce your expertise as you go. This shows you understand them and the work, especially if you do a lot of education about how things work and why.
Then, let them know the clients you've worked with haven't been at a similar level to them, and so you've done work that was appropriate for each client's needs, but that doesn't mean you won't deliver amazing results. And you hope that you've demonstrated that you have the knowledge and expertise that the project needs.
Pray to whatever god(s) you believe in lol.
You're less likely to land the work, but it might still work.
TLDR
Overdeliver to your clients. They'll love it, and you'll have a good portfolio that you can use to get better clients.
Cowabunga,Nick Gulic
