devMarket Blog
The Ugly Truth About “Return On Ad Spend”
If you’re like most business owners, you probably don’t want to work your whole life. You don’t want to just limp from project to project. You want your company to make enough money that you can hop on a plane and fly anywhere you want at a moment’s notice.
And you know what else? You probably have no idea what your target return on ad spend is. “Sure I do,” you say “I just want to make more than I spent”. Guess what? That’s called “positive return on ad spend” and it’s not what you think it is; you’ve been fooled by marketing agencies who want your money (and you’ve probably given it to them).
The truth is most businesses have no idea what their target return on ad spend (ROAS) is. Why not? Because they’re busy managing Bob’s ego, Tracy’s budget, and oh that’s right, the rest of the business! If you’ve been in business for a while, you already know that you have to spend money on marketing.In the back of your mind you might say “when I land a few projects, I’ll invest into marketing”.
But what do you do instead? You spend time building out your web page for prospective clients, you post on Facebook to show that you’re a real person, you post your portfolio links on Slack & Discord forums, and some of you even take online marketing courses to get around the fact that you need to invest in marketing. Look, marketing probably won’t not take you from 0 to 5 customers; quality work and referrals will.
However, the ugly truth for most of us is, to go from 5 to 100 customers and from 100 to 1,000 you actually have to spend money on marketing. That’s real.
So, you’ve realized this ugly truth and now you look toward paid marketing strategies. You don’t have the time or the budget to hire a full time marketer, so you take it upon yourself to advertise. You start running Facebook and Instagram ads; “oh, what the hell, let’s try LinkedIn ads while we’re at it”. Fast forward two weeks and you’ve got 4,000 impressions, 10 clicks, a form submission, and a sickening realization that LinkedIn is really expensive.
Marketing sucks.
So, now you’ve got a few choices
Continue marketing by yourself and beat your head against the wall
Hire a marketing agency
Whether you take route 1 or 2, you need to focus on your Return On Ad Spend (ROAS). You need you to calculate your Target ROAS right now. Why? To protect yourself from shitty agencies that take your money and get you nowhere! If you spend $5,000 a month on advertising and you earn $5,001 dollars in business from those efforts, are you profitable?
No! You had to pay an entire team to earn that $1! However, $5,001 is technically giving you a positive return on your advertisement spend which is exactly what most agencies promise! They’re basically promising that you’ll operate at a loss.
So, the big question is, what ROAS do you need?
Well, first figure out your margins. If you don’t know them, you can do that here or you can just estimate for the sake of time. Now let’s do some basic economics. Buy a $5 chair, sell it for $10 and spend $5 on ads. You just broke even.
In this example you have a 50% profit margin. And for every dollar you spent on advertising ($5), you made $2. That means your target ROAS needs to be above $2 in order to make any money with this chair. Now, what does that look like for a development company?
If your company runs 40% margins then you need a $2.50 return on ad spend in order to break even (math is here). Your Target ROAS for every campaign needs to be above $2.50 in order to make any money! “Well, how the hell do we immediately calculate our ROAS if our projects take 3-6 months to finish; we aren’t exactly selling chairs here!” That’s a fair question. Just put a $ value on every form submission that comes from an ad campaign.
Say, on average, you deliver a $10,000 project. You also convert 1 in every 100 form submissions (like your “get a quote” page) into paying clients. What’s the value of 1 form submission? $100. Think of every form submission as worth $100, and you now have the power to immediately calculate the ROAS for any ad campaign.
Even better, you can hold your marketing agency accountable to your Target ROAS and understand if they’re worth what you’re paying them. You’re in the driver’s seat now. It feels good, doesn’t it?
PS See if you qualify for our $3.00 - $10.00 Guaranteed ROAS Program; now you know how to hold us accountable ;)
Never Lose Money Again: Episode #1 - "Living With Risk"
What if we told you that every dollar you invest can be protected, in the case that your investment strategy doesn’t go as planned? Sounds crazy right? It’s true!
After months of extensive testing with new features and strategies, we now have the proper tools in place to help you grow your digital agency [risk free], while also protecting your exposure from risk. See for yourself.
How did we do it? The solution didn’t come to us overnight, and isn’t something that is easily replicable. The truth is that someone [must] be exposed to risk, and in this case, it is us [24 Hour Designs].
Are you interested in learning more? If so, please sign-up for our private-beta, which will be launching within the next few days. Our new platform is free to join and spots are limited, so don’t hesitate to see what we’re offering!
Also, we’re creating a new series of blog posts called “Never Lose Money Again”, an introduction into our new tool that we call “DevMarket”, a prospect market that enables firms to buy & sell development leads, regardless of their level of intent. Think of it as an Upwork with a stock-market aspect to it.
Photo credit - Meeta Sadwhani
Episode #1 - Living with Risk
While we can guarantee you a new way to buy leads for your business without losing money, we cannot guarantee that your business is capable of landing million-dollar deals. This blog post is dedicated to giving you hints & tips that separate the best agencies from the worst.
In this first episode, we’re going to talk about how we get potential design & development prospects into the “sales funnel” with a myriad of offerings that will nurture them in a way that organically pushes them “down the funnel’ and into your hands, the developer.
We all know that consumers love free offerings, an easy way to get people in the door, but after this how does one translate this into purchases and new business? What makes matters worse is that in this stage it is hard to delineate prospects that [mean business] versus those who will ultimately waste your time.
Being a service provider is one of the hardest types of businesses, mainly because clients typically are always difficult, regardless of budget size. Once you’re doing business with them, soon the “asks” will come. Your clients will ask for freebies, time-spent, or simply not understand how difficult the work is. It’s human nature to “ask for what you desire”.
This lifestyle is certainly something that drives most agencies up-the-wall, but if you can look past this you’ll realize that there are common mistakes that most agencies make, especially in the early years of business. We’ve compiled a small, but powerful list of factors that typically separate the best agencies from the 90% that close within 5 years.
5 Tips To Achieve Success
Do Grunt Work - We all want the high-paying projects, but some of the wealthiest and most successful dev shops do the unwanted projects. If one client isn’t willing to say good things about your work, how will you manage to get hundreds?
Get Video Testimonials - People simply don’t believe written testimonials anymore. They are too easy to fabricate. When potential clients go to your website, they want to see [real people] talking about [real experiences] with your firm.
Experience Teaches Best - There are no shortcuts to success. Sometimes your clients will even test your knowledge as an expert. You don’t need to know everything, but you need to know enough to make your client feel confident that you’re the one-in-charge!
Beauty Is In The Eye Of The Beholder - No one cares about your code-base. No one goes to Github or Bitbucket. Build a beautiful portfolio, show it off, flaunt it like a peacock. Let your work do the talking for you, then get out of it’s way!
Negotiate Better - Getting your client to sign into a $50,000 contract versus getting them to sign a $10,000.00 contract, with deliverables equidistant to that of a $50,000.00 contract is much harder. Additionally, $10k is much smaller than $50k. Even if the projects costs $50,000 [total], don’t freak them out. Tell them exactly what work will be done within milestones, making it easier to understand why and how they need to pay you.
Does this list cover everything? No. The point is to keep it short. We’ll have much more tips for you to read over the coming weeks, but hopefully this is enough feedback for you to start you off right this summer.
Don’t forget to sign-up for the DevMarket private-beta. We guarantee that you’ll never lose money again with our prospect market. Find the best design and development leads today, get started for free.
Click here to rsvp for our private beta.
LAND YOUR NEXT DEVELOPMENT JOB WITH THESE 5 LANDING PAGE OPTIMIZATIONS
Are You Missing Out On development Opportunities?
Every month you talk to hundreds of potential clients about development services. You spend many hours of your time hoping that the big project will land, but in-fact you find out through the grapevine that this project went to SOMEONE ELSE! DAMN! What a shame.
That’s ok, it happens to even the best companies. What if we told you that you there are a few tweaks you could make RIGHT NOW that could increase your client conversion rate dramatically?
Interested in learning more? GREAT, because below we’ve included 5 AMAZING things you can do to your landing page right now, to optimize conversion rates.
#1 - Provide Video Testimonials
Written testimonials don’t have the same impact that they used to because they are so easy to fake. Instill trust into your audience with video testimonials.
Call up your past clients and ask them for a huge favor; ask them for a short 30-second video. If they ask for instructions on the video, ask them to explain the following:
How awesome you are to work with
How easy the development process was
How great your quality of work was
How they undoubtedly recommend you or your team
You don’t need more than two videos. In fact, some studies show that having more than three videos can negatively impact your conversion rates.
Make sure your call to action buttons are nearby your video testimonials. Constantly remind your visitors that they have the option to sign-up or contact you the moment they warm up to your service.
#2 - Enhance Your Trust Signals
Let’s face it; people are wary of sketchy marketing, over-the-top claims, and well-designed websites that have the sole purpose of putting you on an email list. It’s imperative that you gain immediate trust with the appropriate trust signals.
As trivial as it is, people don’t link their social profiles to their pages. Make sure that they can easily access your Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter if you have them. If you haven’t been active on your Facebook in a while:
Sign-up free to Canva.com
Create 5 quick posts using their pre-built templates and your branding
Back-date the posts accordingly
Do not invent testimonials!
Don’t put your Social Media links in the footer if possible. They’ll distract users from the page’s goal, allowing them to abandon the page entirely.
Make sure your privacy policy is near your call to action. If you don’t have a privacy policy, go to app.termly.io to create one in minutes for free.
Does your ad copy inspire trust? Make sure that you’re offering something that isn’t too good to be true.
Include real-life results, guarantees, verifiable data, and relationships with higher-profile companies or figures if possible.
#3 - Provide Short, Clear Offer Headings
Can your customer look at your offering and instantly understand how you’ll guide them to become a hero? Remember, you’re not the hero in their story, you’re just the guide; be Yoda, not Luke.
Does your headline contain a challenge the audience faces or a benefit they can achieve? How does your customer’s story change when they use your service? Try to keep it under 7 words.
Try and make your meta description 150 characters or less; it’s not easy, but it’s worth distilling your message into something simple.
We’ve learned that people scan bulleted lists much more frequently than reading a line of text. Interestingly enough, having an odd number of bullet points typically leads to higher conversion rates. Three is suggested, five is ok, seven is over the top. Distill, distill, distill.
Cavemen should be able to understand how you’ll guide them to their desires. In general, try not to include writing that exceeds a 9th grader’s reading level.
If you can replace the text with images and still get your point across, then do it. People engage with video and pictures much more than text; you have alternate pages on your site dedicated to explaining those things in greater detail.
Each image should contribute to your customers own story narrative.
#4 - MORE CALLS-TO-ACTION
Experiment with your call to action buttons. You’ll find that they can make a huge difference in your conversion rate if you have everything above-taken care of.
Experiment with uppercase and lowercase text.
Stay away from generic wording like “Submit”. Use more descriptive phrases like “schedule consultation now” or “Join Now”.
Don’t use a color that is used elsewhere on your page. Experiment with green, yellow, or orange first.
Make sure your calls-to-action are everywhere on your page. It’s extremely rare that you’ll oversell your offering with too many CTA’s.
Experiment by adding arrows drawings pointed toward your CTA or form.
Create a sense of urgency to your CTA by adding “now”.
Always, always, always have your CTA directly above the fold. You should typically put this underneath your first paragraph or description.
#5 - Always Be Testing!
Consider yourself very lucky if your first landing page converts well. You need to be able to test your landing page in order to optimize everything that we stated above. That means you need to have transparency built into your website and that you have to start now!
Are you able to A/B test your landing pages to understand which ones are converting best? If not, you should start today. Platforms like leadpages.net or unbounce.com are perfect for this.
Test different ad copy for your headline, test different colors on your CTA, and test out your text on your CTA buttons.
Make sure you’re linked up with Google Analytics so you understand where your visitors are clicking and where they are dropping off. “Running Lean” by Ash Maurya has a great section on how to categorize and track your conversion funnel.
Try and test one variable at a time. Otherwise, you’ll have no idea which changes made the biggest impact.
That’s it! These five optimizations will guide you to higher conversion rates and help you stand out. Just believe in yourself, put in the work, and have the discipline to learn from your adjustments. We hope this helps you land the free opportunities we send your way.
Good luck!
PS — Throughout the month of May (2019) we will be giving out 10 free leads to all of our partner development firms who are interested in subscribing to our lead-gen program. click here to claim your free-trial offer.
Be sure to use promo code “10FREELEADS” upon checkout!
The 4 Stages Of A Lead
Hi there,
This is Jay Whitley Jr, the founder of 24 Hour Designs. Lately, through our various threads of discussion, we have uncovered many questions that deserve attention. In this discussion we are going to talk about the “The 4 Stages Of A Lead”, through the eyes of what we normally call the AIDA Sales Model (Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action).
(PS - If you want to skip ahead and view our lead generation costs, click here).
The AIDA Sales Model identifies cognitive stages an individual goes through during the buying process for a product or service. It's a purchasing funnel where buyers go to and fro at each stage, to support them in making the final purchase.
So what do the acronyms stand for?
Awareness: creating brand awareness or affiliation with your product or service.
Interest: generating interest in the benefits of your product or service, and sufficient interest to encourage the buyer to start to research further.
Desire: for your product or service through an 'emotional connection', showing your brand personality. Move the consumer from 'liking' it to 'wanting it'.
Action: CTA - Move the buyer to interacting with your company and taking the next step ie. downloading a brochure, making the phone call, joining your newsletter, or engaging in live chat etc.
Lead Stage 1 - Awareness
When it comes to generating leads, what we are really doing is creating opportunity for our design agency. For us, opportunity (the lead) is the chance to find new design work, which is ultimately how we make our money.
So how exactly do WE define a lead in our type of business?
For our firm, we define a lead as a person or individual who shows HIGH-INTEREST in our services. The want or need can be agnostic, but as long as it covers the space of application technology, or technological implementation (IOT, Food, etc..), we would consider it a lead. We find these leads at local events, or through sponsorships. These leads have not paid us yet, or made a transaction with us at any point.
This is important for YOU (the developer) to understand when partnering with us in the lead-generation process. Leads are incredibly are to find, finding highly-qualified leads is even MORE difficult. If you want to be successful not just today, but tomorrow and in the future, you must understand that this is a slow process, which takes months, sometimes years.
Lead Stage 2 - Interest
Once we (24 Hour Designs) have obtained new leads, we immediately place them in a “nest”. Not all leads are the same and depending on the type of lead you service (example: Enterprise, Startups, Government) you will have to target and tailor this nest to their specific needs. This is where most of the work actually takes place.
Communicated with these leads can be a long and drawn out process which takes anywhere from 3 - 4 months for the “nest eggs to begin hatching”. That’s a nice way for saying people taking notice of your marketing efforts to communicate with them. In this phase you can lose a lot of members of your list as well, build some very interesting relationships.
The most important thing in this stage is to stay consistent. If you drop off, people will forget you exist. It usually takes 7 - 10 touch points for a customer to decided “IF” they want to contact you. The “IF” and “When” are also predicated upon your industry or type of business. For developers a sales cycle can take 6 months to 2 years on average from a new lead to a converted client.
Lead Stage 3 - Desire
Let’s keep this section short for you. The longer you are in business, the more you will learn about your own firm’s sales cycle. For us, it’s 3 - 4 months on average. Sometimes we have outliers that sign up for our services within days or weeks, other times we rekindle old relationships that are over 1 - 2 years old, but the sweet spot is 3 - 4 months.
Keep this in mind as a business owner. When someone wants to do something, the only relationship you have to that something is that you may be one of the millions of providers of that something. All of the marketing efforts you’ve done in the past year gives you the best opportunity to be one of the firms that a client thinks of when they are ready for the “thing”.
The buying decision will have nothing to do with you, nor will the motivation. You have only 1 job to do when this happens, which is be the best version of your firm, when the time comes. No, this doesn’t mean you can slack off and then decide to be a kind, caring agency when the client wants to pay you. You have to be the best version of yourself today and every other day of the year, as long as you are in business. Otherwise, your business will go to the next developer.
Lead Stage 4 - Action
Alas, the “Action” stage, which for many of you is when people make the “buying decision”. If you haven’t already noticed, there is drop off at ever stage of the funnel. If you started with 1000 leads, you’ll probably see 100 - 200 leads dropping off at each stage (see example image below).
You have no control over this, but without going through the full cycle you won’t really know what a good conversion rate looks like for your business. It doesn’t matter which industry you are in, there will always be drop-off.
For us, as a design firm, per every 100 new leads we get, that equals about 6 - 7 new design opportunities, which can equate to 1 - 2 new development opportunities. You have to be very patient for this funnel to take shape, and even with the numbers we have represented this could change.
For more software developers and development firms it can take a long time to reach this point, but it’s VERY REWARDING once you’ve arrived.
Why did we just share this information with you? Because we care about your current and future success. There are a lot of variables in the process and truthfully speaking a lot of risk. Note that we are exposed to the same risk, if this makes you feel any better. We are an agency working hard to find our way in a world full of firms and agencies.
If this information gives you a little more insight into our lead curation process, then we have done our job.
Here are a few next steps that you can take:
Become a development partner - Click Here
Let us help you generate $20,000.00 - $100,000.00 in revenue this year - Click Here
Review our partnership policy - Click Here
Book a meeting with us - Click Here
THANK YOU FOR READING. WE WILL MOST LIKELY BE ADDING CONTENT TO THIS POST. CHECK BACK IN WHEN YOU HAVE MORE QUESTIONS.
how to become a development partner of 24 Hour Designs
Hi there,
This is Jay Whitley Jr, the founder of 24 Hour Designs. Lately, through our various threads of discussion, we have uncovered many questions that deserve attention. While we have been able to successfully answer the majority of your questions, there may be a few that you haven’t thought of, which could become more important to you somewhere down the line.
In this blog post you’ll find more than 60 of your most burning questions, along with over 5,000+ words of clearly articulated answers for questions you might have, already asked or would have never thought about. To make this efficient you can take two different approaches to this blog post.
Read this article from top-to-bottom. It may take 20-30 minutes to consume all of the information, but I promise you that it’s a valueable read.
Hit CMD+F (MAC) or CTRL+F (Windows) to bring up your OS search capability. Find the questions that are most important to you, and save yourself some time.
Regardless of your approach, the goal of this post is to provide honesty, transparency and insights into the possibility for a long-term relationship between your firm and ours. Enjoy the read! When you’re done, don’t hesitate to email me.
intro
who we are?
A: “24 Hour Designs is a software design firm. We focus on rapid-prototyping and building all variations of mobile and web applications through world-class UI/UX design. We are not a marketing agency. We are not match-makers, brokers, or anything more or less than a design agency. We do provide our clients with unique services, which you may find in more traditional agency work environments”.
What are our specialities?
A: “Our greatest speciality is rapid-prototyping of early-stage concepts. We offer this service to solo entrepreneurs, startups, small business, enterprise companies, institutions (university), accelerators, incubators, agencies and product managers. The use-case for each client-type varies dramatically, but regardless of who we are serving, or why we are serving them, the product generally remains the same.
In addition to rapid-prototyping services, we also provide UI/UX Redesigns, UX Research, Post-Design Consulting and Startup Consulting”.
How do we make money?
A: “We’re a design firm. When we design beautiful products, AND when our clients are satiated with the services provided, we get paid. We make money when we bring ideas to life for the first time. We make money when we redesign ideas that are already in existence. We make money when we perform UX research and create research artifacts. Additionally, when projects are completed we have opportunities to assist in the development process through “post-design consulting”. We have MANY ways to make money, all of which we feel comfortable with.
Why? Because this is our EXPERTISE. On many occasions our partners will ask us “what’s in it for you”? Now that you’re more aware of HOW we make money, understand that APP DEVELOPMENT or ENGINEERING is NOT ONE OF THEM. Sure, maybe in 5 - 10 years it’s something we could venture into, but it’s not of importance to us. It’s more valuable to our clients, which is exactly why WE NEED YOU to be our partner”.
F.A.Q
For new partners
Q: How do I become a partner?
A: “We want to make the enrollment process for becoming a partner with us VERY EASY. Simply click this link, and fill out the form on the page. You’ll receive an introduction email from us. Once enrolled, simply wait for the next batch of emails. Almost every email we send is of HIGH-QUALITY and HIGH-VALUE”.
Q: We haven’t met, why do you trust me?
A: “I don’t. Let’s be completely transparent here, trust is earned, not given. With that said, we give every development partner on our list the same free opportunities as the ones we do trust. Why? Because we believe that a truly rising tide, does lift all boats. There were times when my agency wasn’t considered, when I knew that we had what it took to land the big jobs.
If you want to build our trust simply communicate, interact, setup meetings and do your best to win over our clients. If you can successfully win over one of our clients, that will speak volumes about you, your firm and the future of our relationship”!
Q: why do you need a new partner?
A: “We don’t needs more partners, but our clients do. In the beginning we only had a small list of partners, whom we would intimately make introductions to. The more clients we began to serve, the harder it became to find the right developer for our clientele. Some of them were ok with going overseas for development, some were not. Some of them had large budgets, some had small. Some wanted native apps, while others were ok with cross-platform.
Everyone has a different needs, which is exactly why we need you to be our partner”.
Q: Do I need to have a team of developers?
A: “No. You do not need a team, you can be an individual, but understand that this is very limiting. If you are limited to a single technology stack and can’t provide what the client is looking for, it may be best to pick and choose which projects to apply for”.
Q: Do I need to pay to be on your partnership list?
A: “No. It is 100% free. The “opportunities” we send to you are because, through our marketing efforts, we have managed to score these clients and become their exclusive design partners. Once a project is completed, we will send an email to you letting you know about the project, it’s status, design assets, budget, timeline and preference of developer location (if any)”.
Let me now if you can find another design agency that can promise you FREE development opportunities this year without asking for something in exchange? It’s a trick question, YOU WILL NOT”.
Q: How many project opportunities can I expect?
A: “You can expect a range of 20 - 50+ project development opportunities. For us, this is low-ball forecasting. We could definitely provide you with more, but we will take the conservative approach”.
Q: When can I expect to hear back from you?
A: “ You will receive emails from me weekly. IF you have a pressing matter, you can reach out to me at anytime. We are still a small-boutique agency, so it can be hard sometime to answer everyone’s questions at the same time. The best way to contact me is by email”.
Q: Is this partnership right for me?
A: “You will have to ask yourself this question. We generally try to make this relationship a “no-brainer” opportunity. You sit back, do nothing and receive potential opportunities. This is not like a Toptal, or Upwork situation. We DO NOT take a cut of your project. We DO NOT make you down-bid OR LOWER YOUR PRICES. We just want to (selfishly) find the right developer for OUR CLIENTS. ”.
For Active Partners
Q: Why did you choose me as a partner?
A: “Because you’re hungry. We appreciate your tenacity and willingness to grow your business. It’s not easy, and we would much rather want to work with someone who has a vision in mind, and know it costs time, effort and money to grow a business”.
Q: How many partners are on your list?
A: “I have to apologize to you, but we don’t share this kind of information. Privacy, security and intimacy are things we take VERY SERIOUSLY. The conversations that you and I have, are exclusive at all times. Something important to know is that it also doesn’t matter. I have noticed that the same 5/6 firms are landing all of our clients. Why? Not because we choose them, but our clients see all of the right “trust signals”. This is something we’ll dive deeper into later”.
Q: Why do you need more than “one” partner?
A: “As I mentioned earlier, it’s not because WE want more partners, but our CLIENTS need more options. The single introduction route doesn’t always work unfortunately. When we cannot pair our clients with the right developer, we leave somewhere between $20,000.00 USD - $65,000.00 USD on the table, every time.”.
Q: When can I expect to see project opportunities from you?
A: “Weekly. At any moment we have 3-4 projects in the pipeline, and an additional 3-5 active projects that are receiving our design services. Do all of these translate into development projects? No, but as we scale, we envision a lot more opportunities for you”.
Q: What is the submission process?
A: “This is VERY EASY. I will send you an email with the project info with a clear CTA that says “claim this project”. Next, you will then have an administrator, or yourself fill out your company name, location and portfolio. We then take your information and send it to our client for review. YES, IT’S THAT SIMPLE”.
Q: Do I have to submit a proposal for each project?
A: “NO. Never submit a proposal. It’s a big headache, takes a ton of work and doesn’t guarantee the project. IF the client wants to schedule an interview, at the time of acceptance is the best time to pursue this option”.
Q: Can I present a bid, along with my proposal?
A: “NO. it’s a headache, takes a ton of work, and doesn’t guarantee the project. IF the client wants to schedule an interview, at the time of acceptance is the best time to pursue this option”.
Q: Who decides if I get the project or not?
A: “The client. We have no influence on the process. If we did, what would be the point of having a list of development partners?”.
Q: Can I speak to the client directly?
A: “NO. We purposely don’t share the client information, to protect their privacy. If you contact the client, and use our brand as a reference without a personal introduction, YOU WILL BE BLACK-LISTED FOREVER. NO EXCEPTIONS”.
Q: What key “TRUST signals” are the clients looking for in a portfolio?
A: “ I mentioned earlier that we would discuss this, and I am happy to list them out for you (see below)”.
Good looking website.
Client testimonials
Case-studies
Real pictures of you and your team
Brand & Social Media presence
Guarantees
These signals vary from client-to-client, but generally these are the common traits of our most successful development partners”.
Q: How do I increase my changes of winning a project?
A: “If you don’t have a website up that covers the aforementioned trust-signals, get started right away! It doesn’t matter if client’s say you CANNOT show the work, or you are under NDA. Clients WANT TO SEE WHAT YOU CAN DO. If you cannot show it, you cannot get projects. If you have projects that are NDA, simply put them behind a password-protected wall.
Sorry, but excuses don’t get you paid”.
Q: What if I do not want a potential project that you send?
A: “Simply ignore it. It’s 100% free!”
Q: How can I become a more exclusive partner?
A: “There is no secret pay-wall to becoming a more exclusive partner, what it really means is that you want to be proactive in the growth of your agency. EVERYONE says, give me a project, and I will use that money to grow my agency. Sure, this could work, IF you get the projects. This is the same philosophy regardless if you work with us, or on your own.
Real entrepreneurs know that it takes rocket-fuel to take their business to the next level. So do we. We’ve spent THOUSANDS of dollars on different marketing techniques, which ultimately failed, but IT WAS NOT A WASTE. It was a learning experience and a paid crash-course education on our own business model. If we didn’t invest the money, time and resources we would not have the success that we are having”.
after winning Our Clients
Q: Can I pay you a commission once I have been awarded the project?
A: “No. We will kindly decline. We make our money in design. If we want your development dollars, we’ll just go into business as a development firm. That money is better with you. Projects are not easy, billing is hard to get correct, requirements are at times missed, clients can be difficult. WHY ON EARTH would you want to give away your HARD-EARNED MONEY?”.
Q: Do you stay on the project once I have won it?
A: “It depends. Generally no, your firm should be well-equipped to handle documentation, testing, product management and development. With that being said, if the clients want us on board, we are more than willing to help. This is what we call post-design consulting”.
Q: Who is responsible for gathering further requirements?
A: “YOU ARE. We do our best to put the client in a position to be successful with documentation, designs, prototypes, animations, workflow diagrams and more. Although, once you win a client over, it’s your firms responsibility to confirm the requirements we have created, and to establish a policy that prevents scope creep or changes to the requirements”.
Q: can I negotiate with the client?
A: “Yes, but only after you’ve had an interview or won the client over. You can do whatever you want, but remember, it’s your client to lose. ”.
Q: who handles day-to-day communication?
A: “Your team does. Even if the client retains our team for post-design consulting, you must have a recurring schedule booked for project updates, changes or shipments”.
Q: Who handles payments? You, or the client?
A: “Generally this is between you and the client. Depending on the client, they will ask us to act as a form of escrow for the project. We charge a separate fee for this”.
Q: who negotiates milestones?
A: “You do. Use the documentation that we have created for the client as a place to start, but through continued communication you may find more things to document, which can better help you define the terms of payment(s)”.
Exclusive Partnerships - Download the partnership guide
Q: What are the benefits of being an “exclusive” partner?
A: “Everything that we do, is for you. We build you an exclusive list of leads, we handle lead nurturing, we convert these leads into paying customers, and then we make soft introductions between you and the lead. We also act as the face of your brand. This is important if your firm is out-of-state (or country) and the client prefers to interface with an in-state (or country) team”.
Q: What are the costs of being an “exclusive” partner?
A: “The costs are flexible, not fixed. We work together to build a list of potential business that can be worth $10,000.00 or $1,000,000.00+. This depends on the goals you have set for yourself or firm. ”.
Q: How do you justify the costs of being an “exclusive” partner?
A: “We only ask our partners to pay 50% of the costs that it takes to find a new lead. The truth is that we are going to spend 100% of the cost without you. If any of our leads convert, and you aren’t the exclusive partner, someone else could take this business from you. It can be MORE EXPENSIVE to let a $100,000.00 project slip between your fingers, than just paying for an exclusive list of leads”.
Q: What is a “lead”?
A: “We define a lead as a person or individual who shows HIGH-INTEREST in our services. The want or need can be agnostic, but as long as it covers the space of application technology, or technological implementation (IOT, Food, etc..), we would consider it a lead. We find these leads at local events, or through sponsorships. These leads have not paid us yet, or made a transaction with us at any point. ”.
Q: Where do you find these leads?
A: “While it does cost us more, we find real leads (real people) at real events. These are people that we can shake hands with, have coffee with, have a conversation with. We find these real people at local events in Los Angeles, New York City, Seattle Washington, Austin & Dallas Texas and more”.
Q: How do you qualify these leads?
A: “We do the best we can to qualify leads early-on or “at the top of the funnel” through highly-curated engagements. For example, we may put on a paid-event locally on a topic such as Artificial Intelligence. We have have 120 - 200 signups, and 80 - 100 attendees. This gives a list of highly-qualified individuals that would pay us to learn more about the services we provide and how it can benefit them”.
Q: How many leads do I need before getting a new project?
A: “On average, it takes us about 100 leads for us to convert 3 - 6 design projects, which will equate to $20,000 - $50,000.00 USD in design revenue. You can expect at least 1-2 development prospects from this cohort. Budgets range between $20,000.00 - $60,000.00 USD”.
Q: How does the lead-generation process work?
A: “First we find the leads. Then we nurture the leads through promotional offerings and email marketing. Even if we have to take in-person meetings we will make it happen. Once we’ve converted a lead into a design client, we will immediately let you know. We keep you involved throughout the client prospecting and design process.
If we’re lucky the client will ask technical questions early, giving us an opportunity to make an organic connection before they even ask for the development services”.
Q: How do you nurture the leads?
A: “There are many ways, email marketing and promotions are just a few examples. Taking dinners or having coffee are others. At the end of the day, the potential client or lead is just looking for an agency that they can trust. We will go above and beyond to make sure that we can establish a relationship early-on, so that they are easier to work with throughout the product creation process”.
Q: How long does it take to turn a “lead” into a “design client”?
A: “On average it takes us 3 - 4 months to turn a new lead into a design client. For you this means that it can take 6 - 9 months to get a new development project from this same pool of leads. We have had some unique situations when clients sign up for design on the first day, or a year later. Every situation is different!”.
Q: Will I receive frequent updates on the lead-nurturing process?
A: “Yes! You will receive 3 - 6 updates per month, sometimes multiple updates in a single week. We will make sure you are receiving all of the same nurturing emails that we send to our clients. We also send monthly reporting on your list, for campaigns sent, open-rates, click-through rates and much more”.
Q: Will I be notified when a “lead” converts into a “design client”?
A: “Yes. The moment is happens. No later!”.
Q: When can I expect to be introduced to the client?
A: “This varies. We try to make the process as organic as possible. The latest would be once the client is ready to actually meet a developer. The earliest would be if the client has technical questions during the design process, which happens very often”.
Q: Can I have a copy of the list?
A: “Yes, but only if you want the leads cold. Cold leads are a list of people that we have prospected at an event. We can then package this list of leads and send you a .CSV file of all of the leads. Of course this has a much higher cost, and a much-lower conversion ratio.”.
Q: when can I expect my first development project?
A: “From the leads that we work together to generate, normally it takes us 3 - 4 months to convert these leads into design clients. For development, you can expect to see your potential projects starting to kick-off in the 6 - 9 month range. Sometimes it can take longer, or happen faster, but this is an anomaly. ”.
Q: How much revenue can I expect per project?
A: “Out of the 120 clients that we have accumulated some interesting data (see below)”.
5 projects were from Enterprise companies. Budgets ranged from $100,000.00 - $500,000.00 USD
21 project were from mid-sized companies and boutiques. Budgets ranged from $40,000.00 - $85,000.00 USD
90+ projects represent the Startup & Institutional type of client. Budgets ranged from $10,000.00 USD - $65,000.00 USD
We cannot guarantee you a specific range. You could get lucky and land only Enterprise clients (not likely), or land all startups (highly likely). The more time, resources and energy that you invest into this, the greater your opportunities are”.
Q: What if I win a project, but the budget is too low?
A: “You alone can decide if the project isn’t right for your firm. You could make a recommendation to another firm that you trust, and take a small referral fee from the recommendation. This is a good way to earn back some of your investment”.
Q: What if I win a project, but the budget is too high?
A: “Believe it or not, we have partners whom have turned down jobs due to the sheer size of a budget or project. We understand why they didn’t want to bite off more than they could chew. It could ruin your business. Again, you alone can decide if a project is or isn’t right for you. If you don’t want to take the project, just let us know and we will find an alternate”.
Q: What if I win a project, but the client doesn’t want to work with us?
A: “This also happens. Some people cannot be convinced, and that’s ok. There are more opportunities out there for you. For some interesting ways on how clients can be lost, please refer to page 33/35 of our Synergy Partnerships Deck. This will give you some insight into a few experiences we have had with losing clients”.
Q: What if I win a project, but I don’t agree with the technology stack?
A: “Most clients don’t even know what they want. Obviously we should always try to service our clients in the way that they request, but if a client wants an IOS & ANDROID app, but only has the budget for a single-platform product, then React Native may be the cross-platform solution they’ve been waiting for. We are happy to help you negotiate the right technology stack for the client. Worst-case scenario, we can take this design client and refer them to another firm for a referral fee to help you recover some of your initial lead investment!
Q: What if I win a project, but I don’t want it?
A: “This isn’t a very common scenario. It would entail that you openly applied for a project, met with the client, negotiated the price and cost that you wanted (maybe) and then turned down the work. Sure, it’s not common, but it could happen. Ideally, we would only ask that you try your best to decide if you want the prospect early on, and not let it get to this point.
There are clients out there that are difficult, or that can be a headache, but as long as your firm is well prepared to handle any type of client that we recommend, then you should be able to execute and deliver!”.
Q: do you have a trial package opportunity?
A: “Yes, it’s new! We’ve talked with a few of our different partners to better understand what you need. We get it, our prices are high, but they are at best only 50% of the cost it takes for us to find these leads. We are exposed to the same type of risk that you are, but we understand that it takes hard marketing to get your brand out there.
So we’ve introduced a new lead generation program. We will give you 10 HIGH-INTENT, exclusive leads every month. This way, by the end of a year, you’ll have over 120 leads in your account. Does this guarantee conversions, no, but once you reach the 100+ lead mark, you’ll start to see turn over and new opportunities for revenue.”
Would you like to get started with 10 new exclusive leads each month? If yes, click here.
“other” questions
Q: What can you guarantee me?
A: “What we can guarantee you is that the leads are real people, local, high-intent and interested in application technology. What we cannot guarantee is conversions. The benefit for you is that we (selfishly) want the potential revenue from design business of this lead. This makes our relationship more strategic than any other marketing firm out there, all without being a marketing agency”.
Q: Do you have a refund policy?
A: “Yes, you have a 5 business day grace period to reconsider your commitment, 100% money-back guarantee. After the grace period, there are no refunds, because we have to dedicate the funds towards getting leads”.
Q: Is this a good investment?
A: “If you planned on spending money in digital ads or brand recognition, I TRULY believe that this is the best type of partnership you could form. We’re a company that wants the same thing YOU DO. Successful tech projects. We just want different pieces of the same thing, which makes it WAY better and more contextual. Consider any investment opportunity at your own risk.”.
Q: Why don’t you run online ads?
A: “You can’t trust them. Click-farms, competitor click-fraud, it all exists. Even if you do land some quality leads, they are SOO “TOP-OF-THE-FUNNEL” that it could take years before you get a conversion. We want to make revenue RIGHT NOW. So we put our boots in the ground and go out to find real people. Maybe one day people will just come to us!
We are open for other types of sponsorships or partnerships, but we are just investing in what we know works best for us, which benefits you!
Q: What makes you different from a marketing agency?
A: “Marketing agencies offer you lead-generation services. We offer you lead-sharing services. Traditional marketing agencies will take your budget and work with you to build a list of leads for you or your company. This works, but the problem with this is that the leads are usually very “top-of-the-funnel” with low-intent, and no promise of conversions for you.
We offer similar services to our partners, but the difference is that we have a stake in the process. Because we make money on design services, we want to find the best leads for us first. This bodes well for you. Essentially we are targeted different components of the same individual. This systematically puts pressure on us to find the most highly-qualified leads out there. The more honest we are with our selves, the better the leads. The more leads, the more design conversions, which pays us well. Lastly, and most importantly, the more design clients, the greater the chance that you will receive new development projects”.
Q: What are the real risks involved?
A: “The risks you will experience are the exact same risks and difficulties that we experience. We’re just as nervous and scared as you are, but we know that if we don’t take the leap we’ll never know what’s on the opposite side of opportunity. Look at us to be your long-term partners that will guide you through the process. We’ll help you build the trust signals you need to close our clients. If something is going wrong, it benefits us to make sure you fix it. If we refer our clients to you, and you don’t do a good job, that’s a HUGE risk for us”.
summary
why us?
A: “You won’t find another design agency out there that has the capabilities of a marketing agency with the honesty, integrity and transparency of a law-firm out there. We work hard to do the right thing, because doing good business, is good for business. We want to benefit just as much as our competitors, but we’ve had the luck of taking the slow route to success. It hasn’t been overnight, but everything we do is with slow, meticulous thought.
We believe that the rising tide raises all boats. We just hope that your boat is in the right place at the right time. Join us on our mission!”.
What are next steps?
A: “If you haven’t joined our list of partner developers, please do so by clicking here. If you are already a partner, please consider giving our lead-sharing program a try. It is 100% free to be one of our partners, but when you become an exclusive partner you get exclusive treatment. It’s easy to get free opportunities, it’s harder to build a real money-making business”.
review our partnership policy
review our partnership pricing
bring in $25,000.00 - $100,000.00 uSD in revenue for your agency
A: “If you’re TRULY ready to bring your business to the next level, let’s give an exclusive partnership a try. We’re in it for the long-haul. Are you?”.