Digital Project Management - Episode 2 - Project Acquisition
The next installation of my review of project management in digital media covers the subject of project acquisition.
At the time of writing this, global economies are in turmoil and its a daily occurrence to hear of a brand name we all know going under. There could be easier times to be acquiring new business, but equally many of the best lessons are learned the hard way. These are testing times and we all need to rise to the challenge to ensure we come out of the recession fighting.
Project acquisition is important phase of the project life cycle for obvious reasons.Depending on the size of the company you work for this process may include several other people within your organisation, from sales teams (internal or external), marketing, business management and others.
Working for a smaller company I am expected to take projects right from the acquisition phase through to completion. This gives me an insight to all of the aspects of this stage.
The following diagram illustrates the main areas of focus that your new business processes and project generation energies should target.
I am a big believer of leading by example in the work place and then achieving results with project teams through mutual respect. The same can apply when it comes to project acquisition, the best thing you will ever have will be word of mouth. Nothing will sell your skills and projects better than a personal recommendation from a trusted source, achieving this recommendation requires good work for existing or previous clients.
So, my first recommendation for project acquisition starts with the projects you are currently completing. The following bullet points are just some of the points of focus:
If you follow some of the tips above, not only will you hopefully encourage "word of mouth" to get around about the fantastic work you are doing, thus creating new clients, but you will also actively encourage organic growth with existing clients.
The next step that I believe we need to cover, and I believe needs to be pursued actively, but cautiously, is marketing. Creating marketing materials about your digital company not only illustrates your marketing skills to clients but also should generate new business leads.
Good marketing, performed effectively, should be a cost effective way of driving new business. Not only this, but marketing can sometimes give developers and designers some free reign to complete the project they always wanted, without working to their usual client remits.
Marketing materials can include a variety of different products, from your website through to case studies, flash promotions and e-mail shots. Blogs and news sections on your site can be a great way of broadcasting information about new projects completed or new applications being promoted. Not only that, but keeping an active blog or news updates is a good way to ensure you stay up with your search engine search ranking.
You can then supply these marketing materials to your existing clients, perhaps highlighting something that you can offer that they may not be aware of. Passing marketing materials to existing clients should never be underrated, not only does it inform them of your other skills, but also gives them something to use when selling-in to their colleagues.
*Everything in moderation though, no one wants to be bombarded with marketing materials and this can lead to negative reactions.
They can also be used to provide answers to new client enquiries with examples of previous work, illustrating the range of services your company can offer. Which leads me neatly into sales.
New clients can be generated by word of mouth, or via direct marketing/cold calling. I'm not a big fan of cold calling, If I'm honest I don't like to do it myself, or for that matter be on the receiving end of cold calls. I believe that this negative reaction is shared by many. That said, it can generate leads and should not in any form be discounted.
Cold calling is the business of those who are really motivated by sales generation, but are also quick and dynamic conversationalists. I'm happy, in fact enjoy small talk with people in order to achieve a comfort zone that can lead to further business generation, but I'm not comfortable with lead generation calls from the start. Therefore I'm not going to discuss the subject matter further as there are many better resources on the internet that can offer you expert advice.
What I am going to finish on, is something I think encompasses this area of project management and should be part of every part of the project life cycle, and that's client engagement.
Effective client engagement is essential in all of the areas discussed above. Taking the blog as an example, there's no point starting a blog on your company website if you only update it every three months. Your clients need to know you are listening to them, not only listening but absorbing and evolving your client and project management accordingly.
I am going to talk in a future post about other thoughts I have on effective client engagement, but getting clients to trust you and your ability to deliver their requirements on time and to budget is an essential component to the project acquisition equation. This is something requires work and commitment and not something that is going to happen over night.
As Walt Disney once said:
"Do what you do so well that they will want to see it again and bring their friends."
Thanks go once again to Dave for turning my graphic attempts into something I can show the public!
Related Links:
Digital Project Management - Episode One - Introduction http://www.digital-constructions.com/blog/2008/12/digital-project-management-episode-1.html
Have you got time? - Digital Signals http://www.digital-constructions.com/blog/2009/04/have-you-got-time-project-managing-time.html
Digital Project Management - Tools of the time trade - Digital Signals http://www.digital-constructions.com/blog/2009/04/digital-project-management-tools-of.html
At the time of writing this, global economies are in turmoil and its a daily occurrence to hear of a brand name we all know going under. There could be easier times to be acquiring new business, but equally many of the best lessons are learned the hard way. These are testing times and we all need to rise to the challenge to ensure we come out of the recession fighting.
Project acquisition is important phase of the project life cycle for obvious reasons.Depending on the size of the company you work for this process may include several other people within your organisation, from sales teams (internal or external), marketing, business management and others.
Working for a smaller company I am expected to take projects right from the acquisition phase through to completion. This gives me an insight to all of the aspects of this stage.
The following diagram illustrates the main areas of focus that your new business processes and project generation energies should target.
I am a big believer of leading by example in the work place and then achieving results with project teams through mutual respect. The same can apply when it comes to project acquisition, the best thing you will ever have will be word of mouth. Nothing will sell your skills and projects better than a personal recommendation from a trusted source, achieving this recommendation requires good work for existing or previous clients.
So, my first recommendation for project acquisition starts with the projects you are currently completing. The following bullet points are just some of the points of focus:
- Manage projects effectively; remember: Definition & Communication.
- Keep your clients happy, but ensure projects stay on track.
- Deliver good work, creatively but with the technology to support it in a usable interface.
- Keep the work profitable, but don't take advantage.
- Introduce KPI's to illustrate how effective the work has been.
If you follow some of the tips above, not only will you hopefully encourage "word of mouth" to get around about the fantastic work you are doing, thus creating new clients, but you will also actively encourage organic growth with existing clients.
The next step that I believe we need to cover, and I believe needs to be pursued actively, but cautiously, is marketing. Creating marketing materials about your digital company not only illustrates your marketing skills to clients but also should generate new business leads.
Good marketing, performed effectively, should be a cost effective way of driving new business. Not only this, but marketing can sometimes give developers and designers some free reign to complete the project they always wanted, without working to their usual client remits.
Marketing materials can include a variety of different products, from your website through to case studies, flash promotions and e-mail shots. Blogs and news sections on your site can be a great way of broadcasting information about new projects completed or new applications being promoted. Not only that, but keeping an active blog or news updates is a good way to ensure you stay up with your search engine search ranking.
You can then supply these marketing materials to your existing clients, perhaps highlighting something that you can offer that they may not be aware of. Passing marketing materials to existing clients should never be underrated, not only does it inform them of your other skills, but also gives them something to use when selling-in to their colleagues.
*Everything in moderation though, no one wants to be bombarded with marketing materials and this can lead to negative reactions.
They can also be used to provide answers to new client enquiries with examples of previous work, illustrating the range of services your company can offer. Which leads me neatly into sales.
New clients can be generated by word of mouth, or via direct marketing/cold calling. I'm not a big fan of cold calling, If I'm honest I don't like to do it myself, or for that matter be on the receiving end of cold calls. I believe that this negative reaction is shared by many. That said, it can generate leads and should not in any form be discounted.
Cold calling is the business of those who are really motivated by sales generation, but are also quick and dynamic conversationalists. I'm happy, in fact enjoy small talk with people in order to achieve a comfort zone that can lead to further business generation, but I'm not comfortable with lead generation calls from the start. Therefore I'm not going to discuss the subject matter further as there are many better resources on the internet that can offer you expert advice.
What I am going to finish on, is something I think encompasses this area of project management and should be part of every part of the project life cycle, and that's client engagement.
Effective client engagement is essential in all of the areas discussed above. Taking the blog as an example, there's no point starting a blog on your company website if you only update it every three months. Your clients need to know you are listening to them, not only listening but absorbing and evolving your client and project management accordingly.
I am going to talk in a future post about other thoughts I have on effective client engagement, but getting clients to trust you and your ability to deliver their requirements on time and to budget is an essential component to the project acquisition equation. This is something requires work and commitment and not something that is going to happen over night.
As Walt Disney once said:
"Do what you do so well that they will want to see it again and bring their friends."
Thanks go once again to Dave for turning my graphic attempts into something I can show the public!
Related Links:
Digital Project Management - Episode One - Introduction http://www.digital-constructions.com/blog/2008/12/digital-project-management-episode-1.html
Have you got time? - Digital Signals http://www.digital-constructions.com/blog/2009/04/have-you-got-time-project-managing-time.html
Digital Project Management - Tools of the time trade - Digital Signals http://www.digital-constructions.com/blog/2009/04/digital-project-management-tools-of.html
Labels: client engagement, digital engagement, digital project management, online engagement, project acquisition
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posted by Ed Richardson at
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