The 5 most important processes you need in your business as a designer

Are you tired of feeling like you’re just winging it every day?

Well, the key is in having clearly defined processes for your business.

I know, I know, it doesn’t sound sexy or exciting, but trust me, it’s essential.

Think of it like a GPS for your business.

Just like how you need turn-by-turn directions to get from point A to point B, having processes in place will give you a clear roadmap for how to run every element of your business.

And when you know what steps to take and in which order, you’ll save time, boost your productivity, and elevate your client experience.

Plus, you’ll come across as a total pro to potential clients.

So, what are the five core processes that should exist in design studio, no matter how big or small?

1. Internal Operations
2. Business Planning
3. Marketing + Content
4. Lead generation + Sales
5. Client workflow + Design Process

I know this sounds like a lot, but these are game-changers.

With these processes in place, you’ll have the time, energy, and mental capacity to take on more clients, onboard a VA, or spend time proactively marketing your business.

And the best part? You don’t have to do it alone.

As your coach, I’m here to help you simplify, structure, and streamline your business so that you can build a sustainable and profitable brand.

Processes are the unsung heroes of your design studio’s success!

Just like how you wouldn’t just wing it on a road trip, you need a trusty GPS to guide you to your destination. And that’s exactly what having processes in place for your business is like!

With clearly defined processes, you’ll be more productive than ever before. Say goodbye to wasting time figuring out what to work on next and hello to completing tasks faster so you can focus on serving your clients and growing your business!

And let’s be real, who doesn’t need more time for business development or marketing activities?

But that’s not all – having processes also elevates the client experience.

Your clients will love your consistency and appreciate your ability to guide them through every step of the process, No more missed steps and deadlines or slow response times.

Why do I put so much focus on processes in my programs?

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of hearing business coaches shouting about 10K design projects, passive income, and 6-figure design studios.

It is triggering, right?

And I think it’s time for a change!

Do you want to make more money? Yes.

But the truth is, most designers I work with struggle with finding the time, energy, and mental capacity to take on more work. It’s not as simple as just bringing in more clients or increasing your pricing to hit your income goal.

That’s where I come in.

I focus on simplifying, structuring, and streamlining to help my clients build sustainable and profitable businesses. Sales and marketing are important, but there’s more to it than just posting on social media and hoping for the best.

That’s why I start by helping my clients with their client workflows and design processes, internal operations processes, and business planning processes.

We set up systems to manage these processes and create the time and energy needed to switch from relying on referrals to having a proactive marketing strategy.

Referrals are great, but they’re not enough to sustain and grow your business (If you want to learn more about why that is, I’ve got an article you can check out here).

That’s why having a solid foundation of processes and systems in place is crucial for scaling and growing your business sustainably.

So let’s put the pedal to the metal (We’re in the middle of the F1 season ️ so I might drop a few more car racing-inspired idioms in here ) and dive into those core processes to get your business on the path to success!

Internal Operations Processes for Brand and Website Designers

The nitty-gritty operational processes that are involved in running your design studio on a day-to-day basis may not be the most glamorous (or Instagram-able) part of running a business. But it’s all the little things that keep the wheels turning smoothly behind the scenes.

Financial processes are key to keeping your business financially fit. With clear revenue targets, tracking progress towards those targets, and staying on top of bookkeeping tasks like invoicing and expenses, you’ll be on your way to a profitable business.

Personal development is another vital operational process that you should prioritise. This means keeping track of all the educational resources you have at your disposal, like books and courses, and scheduling time in your calendar to read, listen, or learn from them.

And don’t forget about resource management. Keep all the links to your web pages and meeting schedulers in one central place, as well as SOPs, which platforms and systems you use and when they will be renewed, your testimonials and brand guidelines.

Finally, having a Company Guidebook is another operational process that can be incredibly helpful. This guidebook should include all the important details about your company, such as an overview of your services, your mission, vision, values, positioning, messaging guidelines, and anything else that helps define who you are as a business.

Don’t underestimate the power of operational processes. By taking care of the little things, you’ll have more time and energy to focus on growing your business and achieving your goals.

Business Planning Process for Brand and Website Designers

Don’t fall into the trap of feeling overwhelmed, disorganised, or unsure of where to start. Without planning processes, it’s easy to feel lost and unfocused.

But with them, you’ll have a clear path to success and be able to optimise your time and efforts.

The key components of the business planning process are:

• Setting financial goals for the year: It’s important to have a clear idea of how much money you want to make in a year to sustain your business and lifestyle and what you need to do to reach that target.
• Creating a business plan: This should contain your goals, strategies, and priorities to achieve your financial targets. It should be broken down into sub-goals per quarter.
• Quarterly and monthly planning: Break down your quarterly targets and define your priorities for each month. Time block your week with dedicated blocks early in the morning (before client work) to work on these priorities and your recurring weekly, monthly, and quarterly priorities. Your weekly planning should also include scheduled daily breaks, and your yearly plan should include time off, even if you’re not travelling.
• Weekly and monthly reviews: Implement a weekly planning session to review what you’ve been able to accomplish in the past week and update your schedule for the coming week. Implement a monthly review process to ask yourself monthly review questions, track your metrics, update your financials, review your goals and plan for the next month.
• Idea management process: Have a process in place for what you’ll do when ideas pop up that are not tasks or not priorities, and where you will store them.

Without these processes in place, you might find yourself drowning in a sea of post-its, overwhelmed by too much to do, and unable to prioritise your tasks.

By implementing these key processes, you can take back control of your time and transform your business into the thriving studio you know it can be.

Don’t forget that these processes all feed into each other, so it’s important to implement them all to achieve maximum results.

If, for example, you don’t know your priorities, you can time block all you want, but you’ll have no idea what tasks to put in your time blocks.

Marketing + Content Process for Brand and Website Designers

Are you ready to take your website design business to the next level and attract new clients? It’s time to put a structured marketing process in place!

Here are the key components of an effective marketing process:

• Market research: Before you start marketing your brand or website design services, it’s important to understand your target market. This involves doing market research to identify your ideal client, their pain points, and their preferences(and not just on a superficial level). The better you know your audience, the better you can tailor your marketing efforts to meet their needs.
• Brand positioning: Once you know your target market, you’ll want to position your brand in a way that resonates with them. This means developing a clear brand identity that communicates your unique value proposition and sets you apart from your competitors. And hey, even though you help your clients with this, don’t forget to be critical of your own brand and make sure it resonates with your target market.
• Promotion strategies: The final step in the marketing process is to promote your brand or website design services through various marketing channels. This can include content marketing, social media, email marketing, and advertising.

If you want to make your marketing process even better, you can try the following:

• Define buyer personas: To connect with your ideal clients and deliver what they need, you need to understand them. Creating buyer personas based on market research and interviews will help you to pinpoint the difference between what you know your clients need (like a minimum number of brand colours or logo variations) versus what they want (such as feeling confident showing up online with a beautiful brand).
• Create a content marketing strategy: Content is key to connecting with potential clients, and it’s important to have a consistent schedule for each channel you use. Once you know which channels you prefer and where your clients are, create a monthly schedule for each channel with workflows for each one. This will help you become more consistent in your content creation process and show up regularly for your audience.

A structured and consistent (don’t make too many pit-stops along the way) marketing process is crucial to building awareness and attracting new clients to your design studio.

Lead generation + Sales Process for Brand and Website Designers

Sales are the lifeblood of any business – they keep the wheels turning and the projects flowing. To keep your design business thriving, you need a structured and proactive sales process that packs a punch!

Let’s dive into some key components of a sales process that can help you attract more clients and close more deals:

• Lead generation: To attract new clients, you need to build awareness of your business through different channels. Whether it’s personal outreach, free resources, blog posts, or social media, it’s all about getting the word out and grabbing people’s attention.
• Lead nurturing: Once you’ve got their attention, it’s time to nurture the relationship. Building a connection with potential clients takes time and effort, but it’s necessary to help them understand your services better and why you would be the right designer for them. Use newsletters, webinars, and social media to provide value and keep them engaged with your brand.
• Taking action: The ultimate goal of your sales process is to get potential clients to book a discovery call. But getting them there takes careful planning and execution. (I’m continuing with the rest of the steps in the next process)

Every step of the process should be designed to move them closer to taking action and booking that call! If you want to know more about the client journey, have a look at this article.

If you want to supercharge your sales process and bring in even more clients, here are some tips to try out:

• Use a CRM system like Dubsado: Keeping track of leads, client communication, and tasks can be overwhelming, but a CRM system like Dubsado can help you stay organised and streamline your workflow. Plus, it can automate your process, freeing up your time to focus on what really matters – designing brands and websites for your clients!
• Create sales scripts: When it comes to consultation calls, preparation is key. Rather than winging it, take the time to prepare a list of questions and talking points that you want to cover. This will ensure that you’re hitting all the important points, while still sounding natural and authentic.
• Custom design proposal: Use the answers from the consultation call to craft a custom design proposal that showcases how your services can help them reach their goals. For a full guide on how to write a design proposal check out this blog.

Client workflow + Design Process for Brand and Website Designers

Don’t let potential clients slip through your fingers! Having a proper client process in place is essential to ensure your design projects are completed successfully.

Here are the key components of a client workflow to keep in mind:

• Initial contact + Discovery call: The initial process involves qualifying your potential clients through a few questions on your contact form or scheduling tool. The discovery call is your chance to understand your potential client’s needs and objectives, discuss budgets, and walk them through your process, expected timelines and what you expect from them during the project.
• Sending the proposal + Onboarding: Once the client agrees to move forward, it’s time to start your client onboarding process. to send your proposal, contract, and invoice to secure the project. Once the invoice is paid, you can welcome them with a well-thought-out email and send your brand discovery questionnaire to gather more details.
• The Design Process: When I ask clients to write down the process they are currently using, they often stop after the previous step in the process. But that’s just the beginning. During this phase, you need to guide your clients through every touchpoint with thoughtful emails to ensure they know what to expect. It’s also essential to follow up with them regularly regarding feedback and edits to keep to the timeline.
• Offboarding: Then it’s time for the client offboarding process. But it’s important to remember that your project is not over after your project handover email. Following up with clients after the project is completed is important to maintain a good relationship (and will make it so much easier for you and them to reach out in the future). In this step, you can gather feedback on the overall design experience, address any lingering concerns or questions, and ensure that the client is satisfied with the final designs.

Don’t let your workflow hold you back! Here are some tips to optimise your client processes:

• Create email templates: You can save time, keep your emails consistent, and provide regular project updates by creating templates for the same type of emails you send for each project. And, when you include sticky situation templates, you can use these to respond to a client that wants to negotiate the price instead of responding from emotion.
• Use automations to eliminate manual work or to connect your systems like Dubsado and Clickup to each other
• Create form templates: You can save time by creating templates for onboarding questionnaires, design feedback forms, and overall process feedback forms. This way, you’ll get the information you need from clients without repeating the same questions every time.

I hope the overview of the various processes required for a sustainable and profitable design studio has been helpful to you.

I know it can be overwhelming to see everything laid out like this but having these processes in place can make a world of difference in your business.

No more “winging it” every day or feeling like you’re drowning in work. With well-thought-out processes, you can streamline your studio, save time, and increase your revenue.

You don’t have to have all of these processes in place from the start. The key is to take action, even if it’s just a small step forward.

So here’s my challenge for you: Pick one process from the list I shared and commit to working on it this month.

It could be creating email templates, setting up automations, or creating form templates.

But make it a continuous priority to set up systems and workflows that work for you and your business

Remember, progress is progress, no matter how small.

Even one small step forward can make a huge difference in the long run.