How Do You Know When A Project Is Real?

AN EXCITING OPPORTUNITY? OR A COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME?

Let’s say tomorrow you will answer the phone and hear this tantalizing introduction:

“Hello, I’d like to talk to your studio about a project…”

In this moment, you probably respond like Dug the dog (from the movie Up) who immediately stops whatever he is doing to zero in on the tantalizing sound with a shout, “Squirrel!!!”

What happens next? Well first, you do your best to contain your excitement. Then you calmly launch into a conversation to find out as much as you can about this prospective client and his enticing opportunity. A great new client with a great new project awaits, right?!?

FOOL ME ONCE, SHAME ON YOU

Or does it?

Before you rush headlong into a lengthy conversation with this new prospect, think back and ask yourself: how many times have you had this exact conversation before?

And how did it play out?

It’s amazing how the rush of a new sale completely obscures our memories. Because if you pause for just a moment and recall how these sales conversations actually play out, I submit most go through what I call The 12 Regrettable Steps:

1. Feeling excitement
2. Having conversations with the prospect
3. Guessing the prospect’s budget
4. Writing a proposal
5. Wondering why the prospect went quiet
6. Educating the prospect
7. Realizing the prospect and/or the project is not a good fit
8. Attempting to salvage your studio’s wasted time and energy
9. Accepting an assignment which bears no resemblance to the original project
10. Resenting the client, the paltry budget and the uninteresting project
11. Sending the receivable to collections
12. Regretting you got your studio into this mess

Does this sound like a familiar story? If you are an owner of a creative firm, no doubt it does, as you have been through this experience many times.

FOOL ME TWICE, SHAME ON ME

A few months ago in Los Angeles at one of our Creative Entrepreneurs one-day conferences, I walked the room full of studio owners through a qualifying process that I’ve taught many of my clients over the years. The good news is that you, too, can learn to curb your enthusiasm just long enough to properly qualify prospects and projects before too much time and energy is invested.

Using this technique, you can avoid being fooled again.

QUALIFYING THE PROSPECT

When a new prospective client calls you, first ask the person some questions to find out if they are qualified to be a client of your studio:

• How did you hear about us?
• Have you worked with a studio like ours before?
• Have you done this type of project before?
• What sort of budget ranges do you work within?

Listen carefully to discover if this client is a new, uneducated and/or unsophisticated buyer. Pay attention to the warning signals.

QUALIFYING THE PROJECT

Next, grab a blank piece of paper and write three D’s on it. (I like to draw, so my top D has clock hands on it, the left D has a dollar sign, and the right D bears a face).

Remember, do this EVERY TIME you have a conversation with a new prospect:

Now, as the conversation unfolds, use this diagram as a prompt to ask the prospect three critical qualifying questions:

1. What’s your Deadline for the project?
2. What’s your budget (Dollars) for the project?
3. Who is the final Decision maker awarding the project?

As you receive answers from the prospect, jot them on the diagram.

In my example diagram here on the left, the prospect has told me his deadline is May 7, his budget is $60,000 and the decision maker is someone named Mary.

IF YOU DON’T GET ANSWERS

If the prospect doesn’t have (or worse, refuses to offer) answers to any of the Three D’s, the project is not yet real. That’s right, your prospect is just fishing.

Should you decide to continue the conversation past this point, you are entering the realm of The 12 Regrettable Steps. Don’t do it.

Your best path forward is politely to tell your prospect you cannot have a meaningful conversation without all the necessary information. End the conversation with the suggestion that you speak again once the project has firmed up.

(Note: if your gut says the prospect actually does have a budget – but is simply reluctant to reveal it – you can cleverly extract that information. See my article on Uncovering Your Client’s Secret Budget.)

Once the prospect does share information on each of the Three D’s, you know the project is real.

THE SHIFT

Let’s pause for a moment to notice what is happening. If we examine this conversation, I want you to realize that you hold all the power: the prospect needs your studio more than your studio needs this prospect and his/her project.

Now I want you to wield your power and give your studio an even greater advantage. This next step – what I call The Shift – is a bold move, of which very few people are aware.

Confidently turn the tables on the prospect by simply asking:

“Why do you think our studio is a fit for this project?”

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As a RevThink consultant, Joel Pilger comes alongside owners of top motion design and production studios to help them run their creative businesses better.

Joel's accelerator program, Creative Studio Jumpstart, is made up small studios from over 13 countries around the world, all focused on taking their businesses to the next level.