Let’s talk about landing those high-ticket design projects that can transform your business. These aren’t just any gigs – they’re the ones that allow you to showcase your design skills and command higher fees. To secure these projects, you need to position yourself as a premium brand, build trust with potential clients, and create compelling proposals. I’ll guide you through each step to ensure you can confidently attract and win these lucrative opportunities.

 

Listen to the episode here:

Spotify  –  Apple Podcasts  –  Amazon Music

 

You will learn:

• How to establish yourself as a premium brand that naturally attracts high-value clients.
• Key strategies to build trust and credibility, making clients eager to work with you.
• Techniques for crafting irresistible proposals that stand out and win contracts.
• How to negotiate effectively, ensuring you’re compensated fairly for your work.
• Best practices for nurturing long-term client relationships that lead to repeat business.

Ready to take your design business to the next level? Tune in and let’s make it happen!

 

Aventive Academy’s Resources:

Free Client Portal for Designers: https://aventiveacademy.com/client-portal/

$12k Client Attraction Masterclass: https://aventiveacademy.com/attract-clients-workshop/

The Wealthy Client Blueprint: ⁠https://aventiveacademy.com/wealthy-client/

12-Week Business Program for Designers: https://aventiveacademy.com/profit

The Creative CEO Accelerator: https://aventiveacademy.com/accelerator

 

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TRANSCRIPT:

0:00
The best is when clients convince themselves that they want to work with you without you even talking about yourself. It has happened to me many times now, and the key is just knowing what to say or ask on a sales call.

0:15
The less you talk, the more you’ll sell.

0:36
Welcome to the Profitable Graphic Designer podcast brought to you by Aventive Academy. I’m your host, Kady Sandel. I’m a brand strategist, designer, creative director, and the CEO of a successful six-figure design agency based in Austin, TX, serving clients worldwide.

0:54
After mastering the art of building a profitable and sustainable design business, I decided to help you achieve the same success. I teach brand, graphic, and web design business owners how to attract more clients, increase their pricing, and develop design businesses that provide the financial freedom and time flexibility you’ve always dreamt of.

1:15
We offer online programs, courses, and templates that you can use along with our coaching accelerator and mastermind high-touch experiences for creatives. You can learn more about starting and growing your design business at aventiveacademy.com. But for now, grab a cup of coffee and join me in today’s podcast episode.

1:36
All right, well, let’s talk about those big design clients. So we are talking about creating logos, building entire brand books, or creating custom websites, like the kind of projects that really make a business shine.

1:53
So these design projects aren’t just about making things pretty. They’re about helping companies stand out, and they come with some serious cash attached, right? So why go after these projects?

2:11
Well, besides the money, there is a lot of satisfaction in working with high-ticket design projects. Again, it’s not really just about the money. Even though nobody’s going to say no to a lot of money, right? There is huge satisfaction when you’re working on a larger project.

2:33
Let me give you an example. In the past, I used to offer one-off services like a business card design or flyer design. Every time I designed one piece and sent it to my client, I never felt as good as when I completed a full brand strategy.

2:57
Visual identity meaning logos, colors, typography, brand boards, brand books, mood boards, maybe labels, packaging, website design, development, copywriting, and then giving that to the client.

3:13
You can’t even compare those two projects. Even if someone was to pay you, which is not possible, $10,000 for a business card design or $10,000 for everything I just mentioned in a full branding project.

3:34
I still think you would not be as happy if you were to design business cards only. Yes, you would make $10,000 in an hour. But I’m talking here from the satisfaction and personal and business development when you’re working on a larger scope.

4:00
So, you know, when people talk about high-ticket clients, they often forget or purposely forget to mention that these higher-ticket projects also expect higher services.

4:16
And what I mean by higher services is more deliverables, unfortunately or fortunately. They also expect a higher level of professionalism, like the way you’re going to handle everything, the way you have your workflow, timeline, scope, deliverables—everything has to match that level of quality of work.

4:44
It’s not about quantity; it’s about quality. So the first thing I want to talk about today is understanding high-ticket design projects. And as mentioned, those are not one-off projects. It’s not when someone comes to you like, “Hey, I’m looking for packaging design.”

5:03
Yes, maybe they’re looking for packaging design, but you also have to start with brand strategy, then work on their brand attributes, figuring out who their ideal customer is, who is going to buy that product, and all the things that come before you actually work on the visuals, before you work on those labels and boxes.

5:28
These are just examples. Maybe it’s business cards, maybe it’s even a PowerPoint presentation. Whatever it is, you have to know who you’re designing for. And a fun fact is that you’re actually never designing for your clients, but for your client’s target audience.

5:46
Now, small clients will not understand this. Small clients will still say, “I prefer this purple,” or “My girlfriend would like to see this font,” or “I was just talking to my mom and she prefers if we were to do this.”

6:05
And that “I like, I don’t like” is still very personal. They don’t see this project as objectively as we should. They should look into the project objectively from their customer’s perspective. And you, as a designer, need to educate your clients on this.

6:26
This is very important. Our clients don’t know, and it’s not their fault. They simply don’t know what they don’t know. So we have to take the time to explain and educate them and tell them, “I love your feedback.

6:43
Thank you so much for providing that you don’t like this purple. And I agree that maybe it’s not the most likable purple, but let’s go back to the board and think about who your target audience is and if they would like it.

7:02
Because at the end of the day, your goal is to grow your business, sell more products, get more customers, whatever it is, right? And you go and talk to them like that, like a business person, not like a designer. In fact, this example is coming from my branding and design agency.

7:20
We were just working on a pet supplement company, and she literally came back to us saying, “Oh, I am not sure about that purple. I just don’t like purple.” And I’m like, “OK, I understand that you don’t like purple and I can see why you wouldn’t like purple.

7:41
But do you think that your target audience would like purple? If you look into who your ideal buyers are, if you look into your brand attributes and how your brand needs to sound to your ideal buyers, do you think that they would also say, ‘I don’t like purple?'”

7:59
And she was like, “No, no, purple totally makes sense.” I mean, the conversation was a little bit longer than how I explained it to you. It really didn’t take longer than two minutes maybe. But she was like, “Oh, that makes sense.

8:18
Nobody has ever talked to me like this in the past.” And the fun fact is that she came to us looking to rebrand because she has worked with someone in the past and she didn’t like what they came up with. Maybe they had amazing designs and maybe it was something perfect, but they didn’t know how to explain that to her.

8:41
Because at the end of the day, as mentioned, we are not designing for our clients, but for our clients’ clients. The other thing that I want to mention is that I did say small clients don’t understand this and what I meant by that is startups. So this startup paid us $15,000 for this branding project.

9:00
So it wasn’t like a small, small client, but small in a sense that she’s not a business person yet. Now I have another client who we just wrapped up that project and that project was around $29,000.

9:17
And they are business people. So they were talking about their customers and clients all the time. They never even thought about like, “Oh, well, this is what I like.” The whole time we talked about people who are going to pay for their services.

9:34
And of course that project was also brand strategy, visual identity, full brand book, brand guidelines, website copy, website design and website development. So a lot of different things, but here’s just like a couple of examples so that you can understand high-ticket design projects.

9:55
The next thing that I want to talk about is about your own positioning as a designer, as a premium brand. So what that means is that if you want those dream clients, like those high-ticket clients, you got to look like a real deal, right?

10:10
So that means making sure your brand as a designer or as a design agency. So everything from your logo to online presence, like everything has to be the quality and everything has to match.

10:26
If you want to charge, let’s say $15,000 for visual identity, then you’re not just visual identity, but everything has to look like that’s the quality of work that you produce or provide.

10:43
I was just talking to someone who does app development and they reached out asking for a kind of referral partnership, like if they can ever send me clients, you know, my way for logo design or some branding design stuff. Long story short, I was talking to a web developer and he said, “Oh, well, when I opened your website, I knew immediately that the quality of work is there and that I should reach out to you and that I already kind of trust you that I can send you my clients.”

11:18
And so that’s the key, you know, if you’re trying to get referrals, it’s all about positioning yourself as a premium and maybe premium is not the exact or the right word, but as a quality brand, as a quality business, quality designer that is going to provide quality design services. You want people to see you as a go-to designer in your field.

11:43
So make sure that your branding, your social media, your website, your portfolio, that everything reflects the kind of designer or agency you are. Also, when it comes to positioning, you have to position your business as the best possible option for your ideal clients.

12:02
So what I mean by that is you have to know exactly who you want to work with and then position yourself as the go-to option. What I mean by that is if you want to work with beauty brands, then everything in your portfolio on your website, on social media has to be around beauty brands that you do logo design, website design, like whatever you do for beauty brands.

12:27
And you have to have case studies in your portfolio. And when I say case studies, case studies are basically like your portfolio but with the descriptions. So it’s walking your potential clients on a journey from start to finish.

12:44
And that is like, “Hey, these are the sketches that we designed for this that we worked on for this project. This is what the next phase was. We also worked on brand strategy. We came up with these colors because of that, that, and that. We used these fonts.

13:01
Then we designed stationery because of that.” So basically really explaining to your potential clients what it is like to work with you. Portfolio is more like what you see on Instagram or Behance without the words and that’s how I call it.

13:20
So portfolio is just the visuals. Case studies are real case studies where you do have the visuals, but also an explanation of the whole process because these high-paying clients or high-ticket clients want to see the process.

13:39
They don’t care about the visual. I mean, they do care about the visuals, but if it’s very difficult to work with you, if they don’t know what to expect, they will question if they should work with you or someone else. And so the best is really to have those case studies.

13:55
They’re going to help you sell your designs so much. And getting those big projects means clients need to trust you. They’re investing a lot of money, so they need to know you’re the right person for the job.

14:11
That’s where you really have to share your expertise. And again, that’s done through case studies, social media as well. If your clients are on social media or maybe that’s a blog if your clients are coming through Google or maybe that is in person.

14:29
If you do public speaking, you have to really figure out where your ideal clients hang out and then be in front of them and figure out how you can build that trust and credibility. Oh, and the other thing is in those case studies include testimonials from past clients.

14:48
If you have them, that is so powerful and they literally sell for you. OK, so what I covered so far is understanding high-ticket design projects, like what exactly is included within each of these high-paying projects and then how you need to position yourself as a premium brand and then you need to build trust and credibility.

15:13
And next thing that I want to talk about is creating proposals. So this is when it’s time to pitch or when it’s time to talk to your clients. Hopefully, you are writing proposals only after they already approve everything that you’re going to deliver to them and agree on a price.

15:34
So what I mean by that, in the past, I used to hop on a call or just exchange a couple of emails and then I would write a proposal, send it to my potential clients. Either they would ghost me because it was too expensive or I just didn’t include all the deliverables.

15:51
I was guessing what they would like to see in the proposal and things like that. So they would ghost me or they would say no because it’s too expensive. And then I wasted so much time. I wrote so many proposals in my life, like I can’t even count them, like over 500-600.

16:11
I don’t know. I had over 300 clients at this point. So at least that I’m thinking maybe even over 1000 proposals, but that is only because I was playing the guessing game. I feel like I was in the proposal writing business and not in the design business.

16:29
And ever since I decided to make changes because I was so frustrated with hearing no or with client ghosting, I decided to change my workflow. Not workflow, but like sales flow.

16:44
And that would mean that when someone would reach out to me, I respond via e-mail asking for a quick call. When we have that quick call, which is like 15 minutes to 30 minutes, we talk about everything that the client would need. So basically this is a sales call. I sell them, I offer them our services.

17:00
When they say yes and approve absolutely everything, then I say, “Would you mind if I create a proposal for you? If I put everything we just talked about, the price, timeline, deliverables, scope of work, like absolutely everything in one document and send it to you?”

17:16
And then when they say yes, that’s when I create the proposal. They approve it, I send an invoice and the contract, they pay, sign, and we start the project.

17:34
However, again, I write proposals only after they approve everything on the call. Now, I know that most companies will go and talk to a couple of designers and then they are going to put those proposals together and compare them.

17:53
And sometimes companies would reach out to us. Let’s say someone from the marketing department would reach out like, “Hey, we are looking to rebrand. We need a new logo, new website, new label, packaging, stationery, whatever they need.” And you don’t even get to talk to the CEO or the decision maker, the founder.

18:14
So they need to collect those proposals to present to their bosses. So you have to kind of write proposals still. The best way to win a proposal is if you focus on the end results.

18:29
So let’s say you’re working with a product-based business. Their end goal is to sell more products, right? Their end goal is not to have nicer-looking packaging. Sure, that’s how they’re going to sell more products because they’re going to attract more people with the packaging and that is what you need to talk about in your proposal.

18:49
So you start the proposal and you put goals of the brand you are going to work with and then those goals are sell more products, attract more customers, this and that, blah, blah, blah. So you don’t talk about goals like have better packaging or have a new logo or have new colors.

19:08
Those are not the goals. I mean, yes, that you know is what you’re going to deliver, but those are not their end goals. So focus on their end goals, which is usually making more money. So after you talk about their goals, you want to kind of brag a little bit.

19:25
You want to mention your success as a design agency or as a freelance designer. So what that means is, for example, my branding agency helped many product-based businesses get into retail stores, published on Amazon, and being in Target, being on Shark Tank, things like that.

19:49
But even though we didn’t directly help them get there, we still help them with sales because people were attracted to their packaging because we previously defined who their target audience is.

20:05
So it’s kind of like this one cycle or a circle and how I like to call it. But basically most of our clients are very successful businesses and they would not be where they are without the designs they have.

20:22
I am so confident in that. I know that 100%. Also, some of the brands we worked with have seen an increase in sales as soon as they rebranded. So I know that that’s the case. And so we use that in our proposals as well.

20:40
We like to mention our client’s success. We mention their success. We also talk about if they were featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur, things like that. So this is the part where you brag, but just a little bit, not too much. The next thing is scope of work, process, timeline, price.

21:00
Very easy, very simple. We also include, I think we have like six or seven testimonials at the very end. So this is super powerful. Proposals are amazing. We are landing five-figure clients with these proposals.

21:17
And by the way, if you want to download my template, you can do that. Just go to aventiveacademy.com/client-proposal. It’s not free, but it’s super valuable. Now we are getting to the fun part, which is the actual selling, the actual call.

21:36
This is something that I really, really enjoy and like, and something I hated in the past because I was so bad at it, compared to the way I sell now, which is not selling at all.

21:53
It’s just talking, and it’s so easy, and I get clients all the time. So the way I sell or the way we talk to clients is by actually not talking. We ask a lot of questions. We don’t talk much and they sell to themselves.

22:13
So how we do it, in the first couple of minutes, I try to just talk about random small talk, like how’s the weather? Because often I don’t get clients from Austin and sometimes they’re in California or sometimes they’re in Florida or whatever.

22:32
So we talk about the weather. I think that’s the most common thing that we all do. After that, we maybe mention things like how are things in the business. Maybe they would say, “I was just talking to a client,” or “I was just looking into this property,” or this and that.

22:52
And then I ask them, “Can you tell me more about your business?” Then they say whatever they say. Sometimes it’s very brief where they would be like, “So I’m starting this business,” or “I started this business two years ago, five years ago.

23:10
Now we are looking to rebrand,” or they would be like, “I would like to start this business next year. I am looking for a logo this and that. We want to do this and that achieve this and that. We have a business plan. We don’t have a business plan.” So I let them talk and they talk and they talk and then I ask questions.

23:30
When would you like to launch? What are your goals? Do you know who your target audience is? Do you have a brand strategy? Do you have a brand plan? How are you trying to sell your product? If it’s a product-based business? How are you going to get customers?

23:46
Do you have any plans for social media? How about your website? So I am just asking questions and they are responding to those questions and then I use their words in order to sell my services. For example, the other day I had a potential client.

24:05
It’s a skincare business and I can’t talk much about it because the concept is very different. So it’s a skincare business and when she reached out, she’s like, “I am trying to launch next year. I’m talking with manufacturers. I’m looking for packaging design this and that.” Then I asked, “OK, cool. I would love to help you. We can definitely help you with everything branding related. But do you have a brand strategy? Do you have a brand plan? Do you have a business plan?”

24:37
Then she started talking about the business plan and then I asked her, “How many products would you like to have?” So I don’t ask her how many boxes she needs, but how many products she is going to have on her website. Do you have someone who’s going to work on your website? Because that is another service that my branding and design agency can provide.

24:55
I’m just trying to learn more about this business. Once I know exactly what she’s trying to do. This particular client or potential client said she’s trying to launch with three products and she told me exactly what those products are going to be.

25:17
Then I even connected it like, “Oh, I love that. I actually was just at this networking event looking at these products.” Then I talk about the products that she’s talking about. We have something in common. I really try to see what can connect us and how she can remember me if she was to schedule a call with let’s say 10 branding agencies, which is not the case.

25:43
But I always try to stand out and build that connection and relationship, even on the first call. I would tell her, “OK, amazing.” She would respond to all the questions I would ask, like, “Did you have any budget in mind?” Then either they’re going to give you the budget, they’re looking at like $10,000, $50,000, whatever.

26:06
They’re going to tell you what they’re working with. If they just say, “Oh, I don’t know, I’m just browsing around,” then you charge based on how much you want to charge. In this case, I told her it’s going to be $15,000.

26:21
When she was like, “OK, well, that is a little bit more than what I expected.” I said, “OK, yeah. Unfortunately, that is just how much we charge and how much our clients pay for our services. What would be included is brand strategy, visual identity, labels, packaging for three products, and a website, preferably Shopify.”

26:46
Then I would say, “Most of our skincare clients prefer Shopify because of this and that. Most of our,” and then I go back to, “This is what our clients love. This is what we’ve done. This is what we do all the time.”

27:02
I just leave it to that. I let her make that decision if this is the right fit or not. However, I don’t really try to justify or negotiate. If they even try, if they’re like, “Well, I only have $10,000.” I’m like, “I understand that then this might not be the right fit at this time.

27:17
Maybe one day if you’re looking to rebrand, we can reconnect or if you can find money from somewhere else to invest in your branding, I would be more than happy to help you.

27:37
I’m very passionate about what you do. I love your vision, love your products or future products or your service, whatever it is. I would love to work with you. However, this is the budget you’re looking at if you would like to work with my design studio.” I just leave it to that.

27:55
Most of the time they figure it out or it’s simply not the right fit. For this client that I just talked about the skincare line, I gave her that price and she wasn’t sure about it. I said, but I also felt that she can find those $15,000. I know she can.

28:16
It felt like she can. There is another thing, like you have to feel, you have to have—never going a little bit into like woo-woo—but you have to have that gut feeling. You can also look into their facial expressions. If they’re totally like, “Oh, no, no, no, that’s too much.”

28:35
Then don’t waste your time creating a proposal. But with this project, with this client, I feel like I’m so close to getting her and I feel like I will. I know I will. I don’t have that confirmation, but I just know I will.

28:52
I still want to provide that proposal. With my template, it didn’t take me longer than 10 minutes to really put that proposal together and send it to her. I know she will appreciate that. She might not even be ready to work on full branding right now, but she might be, let’s say, August or September when she figures things out with her manufacturing and all the things.

29:15
It’s also on you to know if you should work on that proposal or not, how you feel about this client, if it can work or not. Take it from there. Long story short, I don’t negotiate. I don’t try to say, “Hey, this is what we can do. This is what we cannot do.” I just tell them this is the price and this is what we can provide for the price.

29:53
If they say, “$25,000 is a lot of money. I have $20,000 only,” then I would say, “OK, sounds good. We can then exclude stationery and social media posts. Would that work for you?” Then you would get brand strategy, visual identity, and the website. Figure out how can we then provide fewer deliverables and still close them.

Of course, I’m not going to go into like, “Oh, $2,000. It’s just $2,000. It’s just $5,000.” No, this is how much it is. I try not to break down my price in terms of brand strategy is this much, visual identity is this much, website design is this much. No, you came to me for this one thing which is full branding and this is how much it is.

30:31
So yeah, I think that I covered it all when it comes to really selling high-ticket design projects. When you’re on sales calls, just remember to ask questions and not to talk much. Let them talk. You want them to talk and you just listen and ask questions.

30:50
OK, so what we covered today is understanding high-ticket design projects, positioning yourself as a premium brand, building trust and credibility, creating irresistible proposals, and then a little bit of sales calls, negotiations, really building that relationship that can result in you having a high-ticket project, high-ticket client.

31:15
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out. We do have the Wealthy Client Blueprint that you can get today. It’s on our website aventiveacademy.com/wealthy-client. It’s a four-step video process that you can just watch, play and pause, and watch it and apply it to your business if you’re trying to land these five-figure clients.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out on Instagram at @aventiveacademy. Talk soon.

31:51
Thanks for tuning in to the Profitable Graphic Designer podcast. But wait, before you go. If you enjoyed this podcast episode and want a chance to access one of our online courses for free, simply leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. Each month one lucky reviewer gets to pick a course as a token of our appreciation.

32:12
And here’s a reminder. We are here to help you build the design business of your dreams. Whether it’s creating compelling proposals, attracting $10K clients, pricing your design services, improving your portfolio, reaching six figures and beyond, or helping you stand out, we’ve got you covered.

32:31
I invite you to join over 1,000 designers in my signature 12-week program, The Profitable Designer. Visit aventiveacademy.com/profit and also don’t forget to hit that subscribe button. That way you’ll be the first to know when each new episode drops so you never miss out on future content.

32:52
Until next time, be sure to connect with us on Instagram at @aventiveacademy, where we share valuable business tips, stories, and resources for brand, graphic, and web design business owners. Bye for now, your host Kady Sandel.