Forget What They Want, Give Your Design Clients What They Need - RD286

<p class="p1">Wants and needs. What an interesting juxtaposition.</p> <p class="p1">I want a new sword for my collection. But I don’t need another sword. I want a cheeseburger and poutine for supper. But I don’t need all that fat or those calories. I want enough money to do whatever I want in life. However, I only need to make enough money to cover my expenses.</p> <p class="p1">Wants and needs. They govern a lot of our decisions, don’t they?</p> <h2>Your clients’ wants and needs.</h2> <p class="p1">What about you and your design business? How do wants and needs factor into what you do for your clients?</p> <p class="p1">As a design business owner, your goal is to make money. After all, a business that doesn’t make money doesn’t remain a business for very long. Sure, it’s great to do some pro-bono work from time to time, but I don’t know of any designer who cherishes working for free. No, you want to make money so that you can pay your bills, support your family, take vacations, and perhaps indulge yourself from time to time.</p> <p class="p1">To make money, you need to charge your clients for the services you offer. And the more clients you have and the more design work you do, the more money you earn.</p> <p class="p1">As a design business owner, it can be tempting to simply give clients what they want in order to make a sale. Like when a client comes to you with an idea in mind and asks if you can design it for them. You know you can, and it would be easy money. And so many designers across the globe work this way. They do exactly what the client wants.</p> <p class="p1">But the problem is, clients don’t always know what they want, or what they think they want isn’t the best option because they don’t know any alternatives.</p> <p class="p1">Adopting this strategy of doing what your client wants is not conducive to growing a successful design business. You may get work. Maybe even lucrative work. But your business will eventually reach a cap if all you ever do is what your clients ask you to do.</p> <p class="p