D.R.E.A.M - Data Rules Everything Around Me

I have a favorite part of the sales process with my clients. It is a part of the conversational journey that I get just giddy about internally when I know it is approaching. It is the moment when I get to tell my clients: "I don't know."

In a stressful search for answers and solutions to your burning business problems, hearing "I don't know" is like an unexpected speed bump. What do you mean you do not know? Why am I even talking to you? You have the nerve to charge so much money and tell me you don't know?

Yes, I don't know.

But please allow me to unpack this a bit for you. We just met. You don't know me, and I don't know you. Sure, you have heard of me and are vaguely familiar with my services. You may have even heard that I am unreasonably expensive. It's true! Well, for some.

What have I heard about you? Not much. I usually do a quick social landscape audit, maybe some light, surface-level digging into your company and your persona, but besides that, there isn't much I know. I have, selfishly, formed an opinion on your brand based on the design choices you have made, but I keep those to myself. After all, creative choices are just a matter of taste and hold almost no relevance in business.

So here we are, 20 minutes into the conversation of you sharing your business problems with me, and you eagerly await affirmation that everything will be fine, that I have all the answers and will solve this.

Well, while I can certainly tell you that everything will be fine (it will be), I don't make my money by lying to people and telling them I have the solution at hand. Sure, I can tell you that, statistically, certain solutions for people experiencing similar problems have worked. But would you want to pay for that? No, you are here on the call with me because you want to be heard, understood, and find a solution that is uniquely yours.

Well, if that is the case, then no, I do not know how we will solve this, yet. But I will know soon enough, better yet, we will figure it out together.

Design is a creative field. Like any creative output, there are preferences, likes, and dislikes. It would be foolish of me to push my preferences as a solution because what I like may not suit your business or your clients. The same can be said for clients and founders. Often times, especially early on in the infancy of the business, choices are preferential. While, of course, a business should be a reflection of the founders, but ultimately, as you grow, it should encompass the resonance of the community the business occupies.

So, as a rule, we try to remove preferences from our process. What we rely on instead are DATA points. Leaning on data when creating your brand (or any business decision really) is one of the most confident steps forward you can take in growing your business. Data, just like hips, does not lie.

Doing early tests, having early conversations with your audience and with you, having a look at your competitors and their performance metrics will allow us to make informed design and business choices.

Before you know it, the person who called me with a problem becomes an informed and confident decision-maker. For you are now assured and have numbers of data to back up your confidence and step forward.

That is what data does for you. It turns an unknown into a confident strategy, a way to go forward unbothered, eager, and excited.

So I urge all of you, whether you work with me or not, please make it a habit to do your research, test your ideas and products, have transparent conversations, and just do whatever it takes to harness as much raw data as possible. Only then make decisions based on that. Leave preferences, wants, and nice-to-haves to become a cherry on top of a well-researched delicious pie.