creative briefing

The for-hire industry is being damaged everyday with the existence of individuals who are all show but no go, ruining the reputation for those who aren’t, and the experience for those who hire.

So ask yourselves this:

As a hiring manager, have you ever hired somebody onto your team that greatly impressed you during the interview process but ended up a flop once brought on board? If so, how do you avoid this?

As a freelancer, do you put the same amount of effort into executing a project as you do to secure the project in the first place? If not, why?

The last question is a little more rhetorical than the others, but certainly the most important to consider for the well-being of the market.

As both those who hire and those who seek to be hired, we need to be aware that this phenomenon exists. When it happens, we’re all responsible. But no need to point fingers, let’s figure out how to avoid it instead.

I’ve had the pleasure of running this blog for just about 3 months now, and as cliche as this sounds, it’s grown beyond any expectations I’ve ever had. As some of you may have noticed, this last month has been met with a slower posting rate, yet, to my surprise, my RSS subscriber counter has continued to grow with each passing day. To put things in perspective, on September 1, I had approximately 12 RSS readers. A few days ago, on October 1, I reached an new high of 40 RSS readers. I’ve posted my RSS trackrecord below.

This blog is far too young to tell what the count increase is due to, but it certainly challenges many big bloggers’ theories of needing to blog at least once everyday in order to build readership. Tim Ferriss’ school of thought seems more appropriate in this case. Whatever the case may be, I’m happy to have everyone here, and I hope to see the number continue to grow!

Likewise, over the past 3 months I’ve continued to grow as a blogger as well. I mentioned sometime before that the great thing about blogging is that it’s very forgiving. And because this has been mostly a touch-and-go experience, I’ve had my fair share of hits and misses. So in light of this blog’s recent 3-month milestone, I thought I would share with everyone a few things I’ve learned along the way.

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As with every entrepreneur fostering the growth and development of a blooming company, you inevitably find yourself splitting more and more of your responsibilities to other individuals. Ask Evan Carmichael of YoungEntrepreneur.com and he’ll tell you that delegation is one of the key elements to master for any young go-getter. And it’s not so much the idea of taking the load off your own shoulders, but the concept that you should better focus your strengths in one area rather than wear yourself thin that makes delegation a strategic move.

Since the spawn of my creative agency almost 4 years ago, I’ve naturally fulfilled this process by bringing on great partners along the way to take on different faculties of the business such as finance/accounting, IT, and strategic marketing. Whether it was to pass on the responsibility to more experienced hands or to add extra hands to my personal expertise, this growth strategy has worked well for us.

Naturally, the next step in this progression is to branch out our sales efforts. Like most small companies, we’ve believed all along that sales is one of those areas that can be kept within the available stream of people to manage along with everything else (sadly, marketing is thought of in the same fashion for many organizations). However, during an interesting conversation with two of my best friends tonight, one of which happens to be one of the best salesmen I know, I started thinking about the importance of a dedicated sales guy within the roster of any organization. More specifically, I got to contemplating why my business needs a sales guy and why others in the same position would need one (or two, or three…) too.

Here’s what I came up with:

1. Focus on your strengths
   Going back to my point about delegation, focusing your efforts on one or a few areas will always be more effective than spreading yourself thinly across a lot of them. I’m a marketing specialist (so says my degree) with an eye for creative work. As much as sales is related to marketing, they’re not the same. I’m not a salesman and I will probably never be one completely. Rather than working on perfecting my sales skills while also trying to perfect my marketing instincts and creative senses, why not let someone else take it on? For the same reason that you know those all-in-one machines won’t do each task as well as a machine that is dedicated to that task will, dedicating someone to selling will greatly improve your sales strategy and allow you to better apply your area of expertise.
    
2. Sooner or later, referrals won’t be enough
   Our agency has been fairly fortunate up to now and have survived almost purely on referrals and word-of-mouth marketing. But since starting this gig full-time, I’ve realized that with more time comes a work capacity that is greater than what referrals can fulfill. With most freelancers, this is a familiar territory that calls for the need to perform some active sales tactics. The problem is, the more time spent on selling, is the less time spent on other areas, like execution (and we return to the problem noted in the first point). So, if you’re like us and have depended on referrals to maintain your flow of revenue, then get ready to face a dose of reality: you’ll need to do some selling eventually. Who better to tackle this responsibility than a sales guy?
    
3. Keep the pipeline full
   If you’re a freelancer or are part of a small organization that doesn’t have a dedicated sales person, it can be difficult to balance the projects you’re working on and the projects you’re hoping to win. You’re caught in a difficult position because if you don’t fill up your pipeline with upcoming projects you’ll run out of work. Yet, if you spend too much time closing deals, your current projects may suffer. On the other hand, if you had a sales guy, he or she could focus on bringing in the new clients while you can maintain your focus on keeping them happy through quality work. Ah, an equilibrium is reached.
    
4. Have a bigger piece of pie
   Of course, the number one concern with bringing on an extra head is money. “Why would I take a chunk out of what I’m currently earning in order to pay a sales guy?”, you ask. Look at it this way: while the percentage of earnings that you gain will decrease, the amount of total earnings will increase. In other words, you are sacrificing a larger percentage of the pie for a larger pie in general (which inevitably gives you a bigger piece of pie!). That’s the target anyway. It may not be this way at first, but once ramped up, having a sales guy could essentially increase your revenue stream by bringing in more clients and projects.
    

Naturally, adding a sales guy to the team isn’t for everyone. If you’re comfortable with the current flow of work and your capacity is being fully utilized, then you’re probably still okay to not take this route. Otherwise, consider adding a sales guy as part of the next evolution of your org structure for the reasons stated above. I know I will.

Note: the terms ’sales guy’ and ’salesman’ are used purely as a traditional industry term and is meant to include both males and females in sales roles.

This post is written by guest-blogger Kevin Huynh. Kevin is the Finance Director of a Toronto-based creative marketing firm and knows a thing or two about the formalities of setting up a creative practice.

So far, we’ve discussed the basics of incorporation, and the reasons why my agency decided to incorporate. You might have even made up your mind on whether incorporation is the right step for you. But now what? The last post in this series is focused on the next steps and what to do once you’ve made that important decision. What to do, where to look, and most importantly (for some), how much it’s going to cost you.

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This post is written by guest-blogger Kevin Huynh. Kevin is the Finance Director of a Toronto-based creative marketing firm and knows a thing or two about the formalities of setting up a creative practice.

Incorporating may not be the best decision for your company right now. But maybe it is. There are a number of points to consider in relation to your company’s long term plan and overall strategy before making this decision. In this post, I’ll take you through the reasoning that my agency went through in deciding whether or not to incorporate. Hopefully these considerations will prove useful as you decide whether formalizing your practice is the right step for you. 

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