The BEST Place to get E-Design Clients

e-design resources Nov 15, 2022

I know I've spoken about WHERE to find E-Design clients across the worldwide web, but do you know the BEST place to actually get clients?

From your clients!

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Yes, building a business where the referrals and repeat customers are flowing in and you don't have to spend time or money marketing your services is the best possible scenario. Not only are these clients hiring you based off of the feedback and experience of themselves or someone they trust, but they already go into the project trusting you, because they know you have made them or their friend/family member happy already.

So how do you build an E-Design business where most of your clients are coming from referrals and repeat clients?

The most important way is to create a client experience for your customers that has them 100% satisfied and wanting to come back for more. Clients want to feel taken care of and feel that you care deeply for their needs. They also want you to be organized and professional, which helps them to trust you more fully.

How do we create this client experience that they will love?

I will tell you about some of the things that I do that have grown my business to run off of about 90% referrals.

1. A smooth process and clear communication

Having a documented project workflow that you keep consistent across all of your projects, and that you share with your client so they know exactly what to expect, will keep your projects running smoothly and keep you organized throughout the process. Clients will appreciate the organization and consistency, and will know that you are in control of the project, which will help them to feel confident in your ability to help them with their needs.

2. Professional deliverables

Having professional and consistently branded deliverables for your clients will make you appear more professional and experienced. Examples of these include a project proposal packet, having your watermark on all of your work, consistent templates across projects, a final project packet, and so on. Now, at this point in your business journey, it might not make sense to go out and spend thousands of dollars on professional branding and templates, but you can create your own DIY branding for the time being, and later down the road invest in something professionally done. Consistency across your materials is the most important part!

3. Clear Client Boundaries and expectations

I could probably create an entire course on setting client boundaries (and we touch on a LOT of this in my E-Design Roadmap course), but for now, I will give you a summary 😊. Boundaries are good for you AND your clients, and if they are communicated up front in a clear and organized way (such as in your contract, hint hint 😉), it will help to alleviate any awkward conversations or the feeling of being taken advantage of as the project moves along. Boundaries that are important to set in your project are things like deadlines, what exactly is included in the price of your services, number of revisions at each stage of the project, and your availability or working hours.

4. Followup

Lastly, it is extremely important to follow up with your clients after the project is completed to see how things are going so that they know you really do care about how their space is doing once you've sent them off to complete the project! Ask them if they are happy with it, if there is anything that they are unhappy with (constructive feedback is important for the growth of your business!), and ask them to send you pictures of the completed space.

Having these things together will help you to create an experience for your clients that will have them spreading your name around and re-hiring your for more projects!