The Power of a Follow up: Making $30,000 By Sending Two Emails
Vol. 028
The Power of a Follow up: Making $30,000 By Sending Two Emails.
The importance of truly building a relationship with your prospects and remaining top of mind.
A quick bite:
Vicarel Studios recently landed two new branding and packaging design projects. Each of these projects came from a prospect who we had interacted with at the end of 2020. In each instance, the client previously rejected our proposals. But, it’s now 2021 — new year: new us! This time around both clients accepted each of our $15k proposals.
Continue reading below…
Nurturing and converting a warm lead is far easier than converting a cold lead. I experienced this in full force a few weeks ago when we landed $30,000 of creative work from sending two emails to two different contacts. **In case there’s any question here, landing this kind of revenue from a couple quick emails isn’t the norm; however, it’s a good reminder to always take your shot!
A quick background
At the end of last year I sent out proposals for two different projects (we’ve been regularly sending out proper proposals for about a year now, and it’s been a game changer. If you’re interested to know more about this process, respond to this email and let me know what you want to know!)
Amidst a few other fun projects we landed, I excitedly sent out two different proposals, one for ~$15k and one for ~$20k. As it frequently goes, after a few calls and some back and forth, we did not land either of the projects. Both clients “went a different direction” and hired different graphic designers and packaging designers for their projects
Candidly, I used to get pretty down after not landing projects like this. It takes hours of time to pull a proposal together, email back ‘n forth, hop on calls, etc. With time, I learned that losing bids is just part of the process (and, I’ve also learned how to do this way more efficiently.)
One of the main points in my “practice to professional” keynote speech is “Your net worth is your network” — the people you know and the relationships you build are the most valuable thing in your creative business; these relationships can define your success.
With this mindset, I personally make a point to to stay in touch with or in front of any and all contacts as much as possible. Sometimes that simply means follow up emails (G-Suite has a built in snooze feature so you can easily set a reminder to follow up after any email you send), and almost always this means tossing this new contact on an email list that receives a quarterly email loaded with logo design, graphic design and packaging design work from Vicarel Studios.
I’ll candidly note here that I need to start using a CRM (customer relationship management) software. I’ve needed to for years now, and it’s one of those things that seems to always fall to the wayside. A studio mate of mine, Joe Friend, recently started using Copper. I’m gonna be using that soon, but I wanted to list a few CRM’s for small business for yall to check out here:
Why is it important to stay in front of people? Last week’s article noted that you need 7 points of contact to penetrate a prospects consciousness and make them consider a purchase. I.e., work hard to be top of mind so that people actually hire you!
Here are two examples below that happened in the same week where I followed up with a client who had previously considered Vicarel Studios for a project. Through these two follow up emails, we ultimately secured ~$30,000 of creative work shortly thereafter.
**Names, businesses, and details have been withheld for confidentiality:
Business 1
After initially connecting with Business 1 in early December of 2020, we sent a proposal. The proposal was for $18k for various logo design and branding, packaging design and other marketing collateral. After some back ‘n forth, they said their max budget was $12k. We could only get our proposal down to $14.5k for the SOW requested. We had to walk away. It’s always hard to walk away from a fun project as well as those 5-figure dollar signs, but because we use Toggl to track all of our time, we know how much would go into the SOW provided. We knew that it wouldn’t be possible to complete the project to our best ability with the budget they had allocated.
We of course ended the conversation on a good note (as we always make a point to do, even when we don’t win the work), and I was sure to note all that Vicarel Studios could bring to the table in the future. This was an opportunity to let the prospect know that while, yes, they didn’t select us for the initial logo and visual identity design, we are absolutely available for more comprehensive packaging design and all of their graphic design needs (and a lot more) in the future. Smiles and digital highfives were exchanged, and they moved forward with someone else. 🤷♂️
On Jan. 6th, almost exactly 1 month later, I sent a followup email (triggered by a snooze reminder set up in Gmail). See the email below:
What: A simple follow up email to say “hey, remember me!?” Note, the email is intentionally casual, not "businessy". This keeps things light and conversational.
Why: More than anything, we had a good personal connection, and I wanted to reiterate my interest in their business’ mission and the opportunity to collaborate and work together. If for some reason they were ready to engage another graphic designer, I wanted to remain top of mind. If engaging another designer was further down the line, this functioned as one of the 7 points of outreach.
What: The message was well received. Vicarel Studios is now again top of mind as they move forward with their graphic design needs.
What: At this point they had expressed multiple times, whether via email or on a call, that they’re interested in working with Vicarel Studios. So, I candidly let them know “I’ll be in your ear over the coming months!” i.e., I will be making a point to reach back out and be top of mind. Saying this up front sets the precedent that I’m invested in the relationship and intended to continue to be here to support their initiative.
What: As the prospect stated in their email, I was top of mind! Because I had recently reached out and re expressed my interest in working together, I was likely the first graphic designer they thought of. In reaching back out I’m conveying value through professionalism and relationship building.
Shortly thereafter, we hopped on a call, talked about the project, and got a contract signed and a deposit paid for a $15,000 project.
Business 2
After connecting with Business 2 in November of 2020, I sent over a proposal for $19.5k for a SOW consisting of various packaging design, marketing collateral and traditional graphic design work, and a few other assets. After a bit of back ‘n forth, the conversation ended here:
On Jan 7th, ~2 months later, I reached out, similar with the previous example, to simply reconvey my interest in working together (the owners seemed really awesome and personable and they seemed like they were extremely passionate about this project—I love working with these types of people) as well as remain top of mind.
In seeing their response, I clearly had reached out at the right time.
In these instances, I set another snooze reminder on my email to follow up in 2 weeks if I don’t hear from them.
Coincidentally, 13 days later I received this email:
At this point in time I send over a scheduling link to seamlessly set up a meeting (you know I’m all about using apps/programs for efficiency and automation). After our discussion I pulled together my proposal, as I normally do, and sent it over.
After a bit of back ‘n forth, we removed some of the elements from the SOW (price was too high) in order to bring the final project cost down. **This is a key move: for price to come down, something in the SOW has to change. Whether that be timeline, deliverables, rounds/revisions or process. You must associate a change in price with a change in SOW, otherwise your client will perceive that your pricing is arbitrary.
We’re in! Project landed. Shortly after receiving their response, I followed up with a contract, deposit, etc. to get the project kicked off.
So, friends, what’s the lesson I learned last week? In experiencing 2 outreach emails convert $30,000 of creative work, it was reiterated to me the imperative NEED to be top of mind and to truly focus on relationships, kindness, and candor. This scenario also further highlighted how badly I need a better CRM, and it’s clear that even one that costs a few hundred dollars a month is a no-brainer-investment.
I hope this recent win sheds some light on the importance of staying in front of your contacts, putting your work out there, and remaining top of mind!
Have a killer week y'all.
