How you can be more, without doing much more? How do you position yourself to be recognised for the contribution that you make to the overall organisation? Here is my list of recommended reading on the subject with links to the books. These can support your journey to achieving greater personal and professional impact. Start
Great ideas sell themselves, so the saying goes. You simply enter the pitch with your idea, gently nudge it in the back and it will start talking. But what happens when it refuses to speak? Agencies that rely on this tactic when presenting their work run a real risk that some of their best ideas
When it comes to marketing themselves to clients or the wider world, agencies are not as good at selling themselves as they are at producing the work for their clients. But they can be. By seeing their creative output as the surface and spending more time on what’s beneath, agencies can become as good at
As a design business owner, do you want to develop yourself and your people? What gets in the way that, if you were to change it, would open up amazing opportunities for you, your people and your studio? I was recently shown an interesting piece of research undertaken by an Australian designer Carol Mackay, Co-Founder
What experience makes a client choose you? I asked a number of clients about how the agencies looking to work with them approach relationship building. If you’ve ever asked yourself, ‘How can I win work?’ the answer could be in the areas below. Demystify: The general view here was that design was complex enough. It
When you think about questions during a pitch or presentation, how do you feel? Do you secretly hope there won’t be any? Are you disappointed when there aren’t any? Do you dread them? Or do you love them? People often express concern about questions from their audience in pitches or presentations. At the same time,
Leading a business is challenging and will continue to be so in 2018. However, there is a way to make it more fun. And that is by making money. Before you stop reading, let me be clear. It’s not making money itself that’s fun. What makes it fun is how you go about it. And
How do you start your meetings or presentations? If you’ve never asked yourself this question, it’s possible that you’re missing out on opportunities to begin on the right foot, and make a positive impression with your audience. As a coach, the start of a relationship is an important time to establish the parameters of the
Your client relationships are a key way to build your business. How do you start them? And then, once started how do you maintain them? Here are ten steps to design a client relationship building initiative. Envisage the types of relationship you want to have: Picture your most successful, enjoyable client relationship. What makes
How do you persuade a client to reject you as their agency? Is it difficult and how good are you at it? I spoke with a number of clients about what they look for and what turns them off. If you’ve ever wondered how to lose a pitch, the answers could be below. Mystification: Agencies