Common Design Business Practices That We Don’t Follow
Today, we're going to talk about the common practices in design business that we, at Dynamo Ultima, have decided not to follow. Not because they are inherently wrong, but because we've found our own unique way of doing things that works best for us and our clients.
We'll cover our unique practices for discovery calls, project timelines, pricing, and outsourcing. So, let's dive in!
Discovery Calls
Firstly, discovery calls. A common practice in the design industry, these consultation calls are supposed to help understand a client's needs and expectations.
However, we do not follow this practice. Instead, we've eliminated the need for them by creating one main service that makes it easy for our clients to choose how to work with us. We've put together a comprehensive sales page that answers all of our client's questions before they even inquire.
When a client inquires, we ask a few questions and may even chat in Instagram DM’s a bit if we need to clarify anything about our service to the client. We believe that this practice makes getting on board with us more comfortable and straightforward for our clients.
Long Project Timelines
The second practice we don't follow is the long project timelines. Traditionally, working with a designer or an agency involves a 2-6 month long-term process with tons of revisions included. But, we've found that we work best when we work quickly.
After almost 10 years of running a brand and web design studio, we've found that both we and our clients lose momentum after a certain amount of time.
That's why we prefer VIP days that are fast, inspiring, and help our clients get their epic ideas into the world while the momentum is hot. While faster timelines aren’t for everyone, they certainly work for us and our 180+ VIP Design Clients.
Hiding Pricing
Thirdly, we don’t hide our pricing. We have one offer and one price, and we show it on our website. We believe in transparency and make it easy for our clients to see how much they need to invest in working with us.
We understand that not knowing the cost of a service can make clients feel unprepared and waste both their time and ours.
Outsourcing Design Work
Lastly, we do not outsource our design work. Design is our bread and butter! We only outsource things we’re not so great at, like writing copy, brand photography, bookkeeping, and doing our taxes. In the past, we thought growing a team was the only way to scale, but with our VIP design day service, we increased our revenue, maximized our time, cut costs, and created more space in our schedule for other things.
We've found that these unconventional practices have worked wonders for us and our clients!
