September 23, 2010
"What we've got here is... failure to communicate."
Here's one for my fellow designers. How many times have you
found yourself fending off petty attacks by the house IT guy,
when you were trying to tell a conference room full of decision
makers about your firm and why you're different than the other
11 firms they interviewed that week?
REVENGE OF THE IT GUY
Lenny the IT guy. The @&%# IT guy. 6 months ago he was
quietly tapping away in the basement, cranking out Excel sheets
for accounting. Then he heard that the company was bidding out
the new site project... and he's been stewing ever since. Now
he's locked in mortal combat with me, the guy who's going to
take his little kingdom away and develop a company site that
might actually stand a chance of increasing their profit margin.
In the middle of his latest inquiry about the version of PHP
or mySQL that we'll be using for the content management system,
it hit me. I turned to the boss and listened to myself blurt
out, "The ONLY reason I'm here is to make... you... money.
(dramatic pause). You can hire any of a thousand designers in
Middle Tennessee to build the site, and probably two thirds
of them will give you a smokin' hot product. You hire me because
you want the site to be an asset instead of a liability."
Then like magic...
The boss leaned back in his seat, cocked his head, and smirked
almost unnoticeably. That was the moment that I got the job.
It was also the moment the Lenny's sails deflated.
WOULD YOU HIRE YOU?
Then I changed the conversation completely and we spent the
remainder of the hour discussing PROMOTION instead of DEVELOPMENT.
What makes my company different than all the others? We specialize
in internet marketing, so we know what it takes to draw actual
warm bodies to a website and make them buy. But my habit (like
all my competitors) was to focus on our design and programming
skills. At least it was my habit until that afternoon. I don't
know why anyone hired us before that.
Companies make money. Period.
It's our job to show them how we fit into their strategy OF
MAKING MONEY. They don't care about ASP, APIs, Apex, Ibexes,
Ibises, Ibuprofen or any of the other Chinese that designers
blather at them. They want to believe that you want to be a
member of their team, focused on their goals - not focused on
your own breathtakingly object-oriented database architecture
skills.
The boss called me 2 days later and said, "First of all
you have the job. Second - you're the only guy we interviewed
who mentioned ANYTHING about making money with the website.
What the hell did the other guys think we wanted a website for?
We can barely SPELL website!"
Ever since, my approach to the first client meeting is the
following:
- ask the client to explain their business to me while they
show me around the office, warehouse or factory
- shut up
- listen
Do you like a first date to be monopolized by someone machine-gunning
their life's story into your face while you contemplate the
blessed peace of a solitary ride home? Neither do your clients.
People like to talk about themselves. People LOVE to talk about
the business that they built from nothing but a dream. Listen
to them. Make yourself fit into THEIR picture. Don't kid yourself
that they're going to change their whole routine to fit your
brilliant plan.
On the ride home, ask yourself... "would I hire me after
that meeting?"
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