‘The Pitch’ chapter in new book

by Jonathan on March 10, 2011

Jonathan Kirk has contributed a chapter for a new book, ‘How to Run a Successful Design Business’. The chapter is called ‘The Pitch’ and provides pointers for how agencies can increase their pitch conversion rates. The book is by Shan Preddy and includes contributions from many design experts. This link takes you to amazon.co.uk – http://tinyurl.com/5vp6stg

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Looking for long and happy relationships

December 20, 2010

What to do to stop your hard won clients from straying from you? Jonathan Kirk grapples with the tricky matter of retaining loyalty. Never assume that your best clients are fully appreciative of your efforts and a safe bet for another year. In the current environment your lunch is never safe. The biggest consultancies are [...]

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Dazzle don’t dip

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I interview hundreds of clients on behalf of agencies, either to monitor the health of existing relationships or to ascertain why an agency lost a pitch. These interviews are a treasure trove of useful advice so I’ve condensed some of this material into key points. Developing Clients 1. Ask for business Interviews often reveal an [...]

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How to punch above your weight

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Published by DBA: There is sometimes a romantic notion that the client’s heart wants the creativity and fresh thinking of the smaller, independent agency, but his mind graduates towards the reassurance that the big agency brings and the ‘I won’t get fired for choosing them’ scenario. The reality is more complex. The real answer to [...]

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A sharper point of difference for your agency

September 18, 2010

Excerpts from a presentation given at the CBI Conference Centre for the Design Business Association It’s not easy being a small/medium sized agency. You are in a difficult place, squeezed between the big agency groups and the very small operators. Both pose different threats. In this environment, the need to differentiate your agency is greater [...]

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Unify your new business effort. Don’t polarise

September 14, 2010

Published by DBA: ‘I’m not comfortable getting on the phone’ is often a justification for limited involvement in new business. Apart from being a simplistic view of what new business entails, it’s a coded way of saying ‘I’m just not that type – confident, hard skinned, able to cope with rejection.’ Why is new business [...]

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Bulk mailings aren’t pushing the envelope

September 14, 2010

Published by Design Week: Clients in the UK are spoilt for choice. There are a lot of good design consultancies, all producing great work, but this leads to a problem. In this environment, having the right plan for developing new business is imperative. How you differentiate your consultancy, how you target your prospects and how [...]

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Play the loyalty card to win faith of your clients

September 14, 2010

Published by Design Week: Clients are less loyal than they have ever been. With so many good consultancies beating a path to their door, there is the continual temptation to put a project out to pitch, or to give another group a chance, rather than simply brief the same consultancy that did a good job last [...]

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Both you and your work should do the talking

September 14, 2010

Published by Design Week: As an industry we are obviously used to advising our clients on how to achieve brand differentiation in their respective markets. However, we seem very slow to take our own medicine because most design consultancies are still notoriously undifferentiated. Getting your consultancy’s own branding right is not easy. Understandably, time-pressured design [...]

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Develop a unique offer to make a mark with clients.

September 14, 2010

Published by Design Week: David Bicknell’s views on rosters sound a little like sour grapes (Letters DW 16 June). Rosters all too often are driven more by motivations to cut costs rather than a true search for the best design talent. But that said, do we really want to return to a cosy world where [...]

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