Designing for customers
by Sergio Ordonez at 7:16 pm on Freelancing
In this article we are going to skip the designing tools and focus in the procedure we follow in SOSFactory when creating a Design by Order (for example a mascot design). We do everything via internet, communication, payment, sending files… this is our business model, the one we will be talking about here.
Contacting the Client
Ok, if you don’t have the luck of being contacted, the first thing to do would be contacting the client (of course that you can’t send SPAM), if you notice someone needs a design send him a personalized email, explining how do you know what he needs and offering gently your services. A good idea is to hire someone you trust to be a salesman.
In our case clients generally contact us through our contact form.
I estimate that every 1000 visits to SOSFactory i recive 5 emails asking for prices, of those, only 1 keeps going. This presuming i have a highly oriented traffic and a correct portfolio; if i lowered the prices i’d certainly get more clients, but i’d also have to work more… which in a long term would affect quality, and we don’t want this, right?.
This would be the normal email i always send whe i’m contacted:
“Hello ****, my name is Sergio Ordoñez from www.sosfactory.com
Normally we charge about 200-300US$ for a mascot design and 150-200US$ for a logo design, if you are interested in both we could offer you a discount. In the case of the mascots, every extra pose would
be 200US$.
I would need to know more details before giving you an estimate… delivery date, file format, estimate price, examples of what you like, number of designs you would need…
To start recieving sketches we would need a payment in advance, 30-50% of the total would be enough, through Paypal to *****
Please, let me know more details.
Yours faithfully.
Sergio Ordóñez
www.sosfactory.net”
Some things to keep in mind:
- It’s always better to say an interval of money (For example: 200-300US$), that way you’ll have a negociation margin.
- Normally, in the first contact they’ll give you poor information, so don’t risk to give estimates… it’s always better to ask for more information before.
- Offer extra services, like in this case i offer the logo, if you can make more than one sell it’d be bad to loose the opportunity, right?
- Always ask for some payment in advance… it’s the golden test, if he pays that, it’ll pay the rest. In 3 years nobody remained owing me money.
- If you are working through internet, you need to get a Paypal account, it’s the most extended system in payments.
Negociating the Order
Sometimes the client wont answer you back, in this case i would wait a couple of days before sending a reminder, if it doesn’t answer… i’m sorry pal, you lost a client.
Let assume he writes back, now our work consists in getting that payment in advance, how do we make the client decide? This are our strong points:
- Refund policy: we make him understand that he can abandone the project in any moment, and he will get all his money back. As i said in other post, in 3 years this happened to me only twice.
- Unlimited revisions: we do all nesesary revisions, but when a step of the project is approved, we can’t go back. If we have to you should charge extra ***US$/h for the corrections.
- Unlimited sketches: we start with 1 sketch, if he doesn’t like it we make some corrections… in not, a new concept, and you keep this untill you both get tired (make sure to clarify you have the right to reject the project, and then you give their money back and you keep the designs). This way you save a lot of time, normally at the 1st or 2nd we get the approval.
- Revision of the stages: we go on only when the client approves every stage. For mascots it would be sketch, final lines, color and final revisions.
- Reproduction rights: we give unlimited rights.
- High resolution files: it’s included in the price.
- Time: this is to agree with the client. If the time is tightened and you have pending works i’d charge 30-50% more.
- FAQ: it’s always good to make a list of frequently asked questions and send it to the client, that way he might have many doubts answered.
Briefing
Well, we have obtained the payment in advance, now we have to pick up the necesary information to create the design. The best thing to do here is to create a Briefing.
Organization of Tasks
In SOSFactory we divide tasks, that way everyone does what it knows how to do best and quicker, we have various roles: sketcher, inker, colorist and designer; everything under the supervision of an art director, in this case, me. The advantages of this specialization are mainly three:
- Rapidity: if you are quicker = lower costs = more revenue. A good sketcher saves time because it has a lot more experience, so it can draw faster, obviously, but on the other hand saves more time on corrections and extra concepts because he knows how to draw for an order, the beggines draws for itself.
- Quality: if a sketcher invests 8 hours a day drawing it will be great at it, but it’s impossible for him to be a great colorist too. That’s why we have the colorist, that invests his 8 daily hours coloring. This way we have a great sketcher, a great colorist and also a great designer.
- By going step by step, and asking for our clients approval, we are certain on what we are doing. If after that we have to make changes, it goes in our clients account.
After the briefing was revised, the art director communicates with the sketcher and designer out clients necesities, this is something dynamic, the ideas come from both sides, at the end the art director takes the appropiate desition.
First sketches
After we decide what we are going to do, the sketcher makes a couple of sketches, which will be given to the art director and he will show it to the client which will tell him what corrections to do or suggests some new concepts.
Notice that the sketcher only spends his time in drawing, the art director is in charge of the talking to the client and also of coordinating the whole project.
Final lines
After the client approves the sketches, we handle it to the inker (or the sketcher depending on the work load) to make the final versions of the mascot. Then we show it again to the client to approve it before starting with the color.
Color
Now the colorist makes his job in the same way as the sketcher or the inker. When the design is ready he handles it to the designer who designs the logo and integrates the mascot (in the case its hired).
Payment and files delivery
During the whole process we only send low resolution JPG images, when the client is satisfied with the result we ask him to send the rest of the payment, and then we send the high resolution files via email of FTP.
In SOSFactory, we are all freelance, so every person involved in the process takes it’s part. If something fails (Example: the client doesn’t pay or is delayed in the payment) i’m responsible of the payments for the rest of the team.
It’s always good to thank the client for it’s collaboration, ask for future orders or for his opinion about the process. It’s said that a happy client recommends you to 3 possible clients, while a bad one will talk about you with 30 possible clients, so treat them well.
Extras
If you can make your client put a link on their site to your web, great… try, that way your website will be gaining visitors and be in a better ranking in search engines (Google), so you will get more clients.
Before showing the finished works ask for permission to the client. If it’s confidential and you sign some contract, make the rest of the people involved sign in it too, this way you’ll be sure it wont be shown.
Create a file with all the details of the order, so if the client returns you know how much you charged, how long it took you, how many designs you made… you can also create a clients database, so you can inform your clients of any incident that occurs or send them Christmas greetings that might take you to new orders. IMPORTANT: never show this information to anybody.