Come prepared to demonstrate, not just talk about, what you can do for that client. More than half the clients said they value a designer who effectively coordinates a project, who works well with others, and can take care of placing orders, hiring personnel, and scheduling various work groups. Containing costs and delivering value for the dollar are prized too, but not as highly as understanding the client, demonstrating experience, and delivering the desired result. The message is clear. If you want to grow your business, take the time to research and understand a potential client and that client's business.
Research can help here, too.
Take, for example, ASID's studies of the workplace environment and its effect on performance, corporate culture, and recruiting and retaining valuable employees. These studies showed that features of the physical environment such as ease of access, comfort, privacy and flexibility had a significant effect on productivity. Indeed, they revealed that the conditions of the physical workplace ranked high on the list of reasons why an individual would choose to accept or leave a job. Only compensation ranked higher than physical workplace as that aspect of their jobs that employees are most dissatisfied with. Armed with facts like these, you can make a persuasive case for the contribution design services make to the bottom line.