Business Tips for Designers: Hourly vs. Flat Rate, How to Price, Increase Revenue & More

Chris Do, founder and CEO of brand strategy consultancy Blind, is both a brilliant art director and a brilliant businessman. In this talk he holds nothing back, revealing his time-tested techniques for increasing your value to companies as a designer. (It is targeted towards graphic designers but the industrial designers among you should be able to find the intersections.)

We’ve broken the entire video down into chunks, cueing it up into segments, so that you can skip to specific parts if you’re pressed for time. (But at some point you should watch the entire thing.)

Listen beautiful relax classics on our Youtube channel.

1. Intro: Answering the question “How do you break down what to charge the client?” Three examples from the audience.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKXZ7t_RiOE?%20&start=0%20&end=164%20&frameborder=]

2. Answering the question “Why can somebody charge 1x, versus 10x or 100x? Why will some companies pay $1,000,000 for a logo?”

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKXZ7t_RiOE?%20&start=164%20&end=356%20&frameborder=]

3. “Why My Rates are Higher Than Yours:” Chris breaks down his own rates and why he charges what he does.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKXZ7t_RiOE?%20&start=357%20&end=462%20&frameborder=]

4. Why Flat Rate is Better Than Hourly.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKXZ7t_RiOE?%20&start=463%20&end=867%20&frameborder=]

5. Answering the question “Are your high prices are based on your value, or the client’s? Where does the valuation come from?”

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKXZ7t_RiOE?%20&start=867%20&end=1007%20&frameborder=]

6. Ask the Right Questions to Get the Right Price 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKXZ7t_RiOE?%20&start=1007%20&end=1100%20&frameborder=]

7. Answering the question “Why should I pay your expensive price, when this other good designer is offering a cheaper price?”

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKXZ7t_RiOE?%20&start=1100%20&end=1200%20&frameborder=]

8. How to Raise Your Rates

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKXZ7t_RiOE?%20&start=1204%20&end=1258%20&frameborder=]

9. The Quality You Must Have for Clients to Pick You Over the Competition

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKXZ7t_RiOE?%20&start=1258%20&end=1319%20&frameborder=]

10. A trick for getting clients to reveal their revenue, so that you can decide what to charge. (This is the longest segment, and a very important one.)

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKXZ7t_RiOE?%20&start=1319%20&end=1875%20&frameborder=]

11. The HUGE benefits that come when you stop seeing yourself as a designer, and start seeing yourself as a business-savvy consultant.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKXZ7t_RiOE?%20&start=1878%20&frameborder=]

For those of you with the time, here’s the entire video:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKXZ7t_RiOE?%20frameborder=]


Source: core77

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