First Contact
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- Scotch_Roman
OK so I want to get my foot in the door at certain companies. One example is InterfaceFLOR. Great brand, great products, and they work with a variety of reputable design firms. Would love to have them on my client roster.
The generic contact email page on their site looks dubious and ineffective. When you self-employed people try to get work from such clients (let's say you don't have any inside or outside connections, you just want them as a client), do you call their headquarters and ask for the VP of Marketing? Or do you find out their email address instead of cold-calling? Or—do you ask for their name/address so you can send them a printed promo with a letter?
What works/what doesn't work? All the work I've gotten so far has been through a warm intro of some kind; but it's all St. Louis-based, and the pond here is relatively shallow and probably overfished. I need to cast a broader net. I get a decent amount of traffic on my website, but I feel like I need something else... some kind of hook, something that will make it hard for people to forget about me.
- uberdesigner0
don't act desperate. show your work here and we can guide you.
- yeah. take it from the unemployed guyCALLES
- hahahaOSFA
- lolStitchy_Lizard
- hahahahaMeeklo
- uberdesigner0
hey, I've worked at over 10 firms, some of them top flight
- johndiggity0
do you have a self promo/credentials mailer? emails and phonecalls are easy to dodge, but a physical piece makes a presence.
- Scotch_Roman0
I've done all that uber. Featured twice on QBN's EC, Surfstation, Dirty Mouse, Site Inspire.... the list goes on. I just entered a bunch of work into the ADC Young Guns show, and I feel pretty good about my chances.
I just feel like there's some competitive edge within my grasp that I'm failing to recognize.
- contact the CDs directlyuberdesigner
- You're not paying attention. I'm not looking for a design job. I'm looking for clients.Scotch_Roman
- Unless you mean finding agencies AS clients.Scotch_Roman
- seriously though this is the proper answer. don't be nervous.uberdesigner
- uberdesigner0
jd speaks the truth. My card took me 25 years to make.
- Die cut. Foil stamped. It doesn't fit into a rolodex because it doesn't BELONG in a rolodex.Scotch_Roman
- Strathmore 60lb...crapuberdesigner
- Scotch_Roman0
JD, I don't have such a piece. I did something like that several years ago and it got pretty good results. Things were different then though, I was looking for a job in those days whereas right now I'm looking for clients to grow my own business.
You think it's worth dipping into savings again just so I can have a portfolio mailer to send out? I've already got an idea for that, just not sure if it's worth fronting the expense right now.
- harlequino0
Thought this was another Star Trek thread.
SR - anything come with trying the cold call route, or are you going this way first?
- tesmith0
Not quite applicable as we are printers, not designers and it only works locally. I knock on doors in person, establish a contact, follow up with a mailer and then a phone call. You would be shocked how well this works. I offer a free sample to prove our capabilities, very few people abuse the opportunity.
- Scotch_Roman0
Meh, I've been procrastinating with the cold calls and focusing instead on building connections through friends and colleagues. I've got a list of cold call candidates that I've been building sporadically. I plan to get a fair-sized list, enough to take a couple hours or so to work through, and just rip off the band-aid.
Someone told me I need to focus first and foremost on getting local business, and then strike out from a position of strength to get more long-distance work.
- Nairn0
Time for a pact with the devil...
- uberdesigner0
look up a company that has shitty sites/print...call/email the head of the company and offer your services. tell them you'll email them your link. it's called educated cold calling.
- and don't be afraid to tell them their site isn't up to snuffuberdesigner
- boobs0
Scotch_Roman,
Your work is beautiful--really good. You should have no problem getting top flight clients anywhere in the world if you put your mind to it.
But I think you need to move your "sales efforts" from the passive world of showing your stuff on the internet, and to other designers, to reaching out and finding, and in some cases, chasing down the clients.
For instance, I think your work would be wonderful for an art museum, or a museum of some kind. Maybe the St. Louis Arch, if that's a company of some kind.
Call them up and say, "I'm a graphic designer, and I'd like to find out who in your organization is in charge of putting together your marketing materials and arranging your advertising."
Then they say, "Oh that would be Sandy, up in marketing."
"Can I speak with her please?" while you note her name and title to send her a follow up letter.
Then you talk to her, and tell her you're a designer, and you do good stuff, and you'd like to do great stuff for them, and can you arrange a fifteen minute appointment with her to show her some stuff? You set a date, you go and make a good impression, and then you follow up periodically with phone calls and emails.
To sell design, you've got to get in front of people who buy design. You stay in front of people who buy design, and you show them the new stuff you're doing when you get a chance, and sooner or later they say, "You're hired!"
It's no secret. There is no strategy. It's like Andy Warhol said, "There's no secret to selling art. You hang around with rich people, and sooner or later they get drunk and say, 'I'll buy it!'"
- doesnotexist0
ask for the creative department and talk to them about their work
- designbot0
You might also consider places you frequent (coffee shops, local eateries etc.) I know the places I frequent people eventually start recognizing me and calling me by name....this then leads into small talk as well. If you build up these sorts of relationships I think it would be quite easy to talk to them about advertising/design, especially if what they have is sub-par. Just a though, I know this isn't exactly a quick method to obtain clients. Good luck with everything gramme!
- This works. Ive gotten a couple clients at my barbershop. (including the shop itself)baseline_shift
- And since the barber loved the work, she recommends people all the time, and keeps a stack of my cards at her desk.baseline_shift
- awesome, nice work.designbot
- yup! thanks. i wonder if this isnt exactly the echelon of client Scotch is lookin for though.baseline_shift
- Scotch_Roman0
I guess you're right, boobs (heh, I chuckle a bit every time I write your screen name in a serious post). I don't know why I'm so afraid of cold calling. I have no problem getting out and meeting people, in fact I tend to make a very favorable first impression. Something about picking up the phone and calling a total stranger without any sort of pre-existing bridge is harrowing to me.
- still think you should try a buffer to call for you. But I hear you.harlequino
- tesmith0
Boobs is right, you do great work and it is unlikely that your targets are on QBN or Krop. I tend to entertain suppliers that take the effort to call on me. As a printer, I find that most designers and agencies find it a refreshing change that we come to them with appropriate brand, literature and presentation.
- PonyBoy0
prayer?
- fyoucher10
Find a rep, someone that specializes in that kind of thing.
...or...
Just start appearing everywhere the people in the creative dept appears (like at their homes, the mall, and shit). If someone catches eyes with you, bolt as fast as you can the other way. Continue to do this for like 12 months.
- ahahahaaaa find a rep ooooor just be a super creep.nicole_marie
- Corvo20
"OK so I want to get my foot in the door at certain companies."
Do a sticker for this.
- johndiggity0
yeah, if you don't have the cash for a proper self promo mailer, at least start thinking about it and maybe it exists in pdf form until you can afford to print. but another way to go about showing off would be mailing a sample of a job that you are proud of and is relevant to the client's industry along with a letter about how you wanted to share this with them and detail some of the challenges you overcame on the project and how you feel you could help them do the same.
- let them know you'll be following up with a call or want to meet to show them more.johndiggity