Design companies, ad agencies, and the whole creative industries sector has a problem. We keep giving our stuff away free on “spec” to win new business! And that risks driving down the value of what we do for everyone.
As a rule, Hotfoot don’t partake in this practice. Put simply, we know what our time is worth. If we focus our attention on billable hours it means we can produce better work for paying clients. The vast majority of prospective clients understand this approach, and the great feedback we get from our paying clients shows it works.
The video above is a brilliant illustration of how business owners in other sectors react to being asked to produce work on spec. The reactions of the personal trainer, coffee shop owner, architect, picture frame maker and, most brilliantly, restaurant cook, are hilarious. Their most common reaction to why a customer should pay for the work they produce from day one? Trust.
Trust, of course, is not easily won. But when you have a roster of paying clients and glowing testimonials, when you’ve been in business for years, when you’ve got portfolio of quality work you’ve produced… that’s when it’s time to say no to producing spec work. That’s when it’s time to talk about trust.
