Forget Selling Design - Here's How You Make Them Buy It!
Crafting the right stories to win heads and hearts.
Today, I'm diving into the big question: "How do you convince stakeholders about the value of design?" It is a question many of you have asked me, so I decided to make it the topic of this week’s blog. Spoiler alert: You don’t. That's right, you heard me. Trying to sell design for the sake of design is like trying to sell ice to a penguin. Pointless. Instead, let's get crafty and show them how design directly benefits what they really care about - their goals, their metrics, their success.
The Illusion of Selling Design
First off, let's ditch the idea of selling design in abstract, fluffy terms. I'm talking about real, tangible design work within a specific context. Trust me, I've been around the block, and the only way to get traction is to focus on outcomes. What can design do for an organisation, a team, an executive? That's the golden ticket.
Crafting Your Story Arsenal
Now, let's talk strategy. You need to become a story-weaver, crafting tales that resonate with different stakeholders in your organisation. And no, I’m not talking about a one-size-fits-all fairy tale. These stories are custom-fitted suits, tailored to the unique needs and objectives of each department.
Understanding the Lego Bricks of Organisations
Every organisation is a structure built with certain key 'bricks' - Sales, Marketing, Operations, Product, IT, HR. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to craft stories that speak directly to the people working within these functions. Know their objectives, speak their language (in terms of their key metrics), and voilà, you’ve got their attention.
Sales: Show Them the Money
Objective: Sell more, sell better.
Measurement: Revenue is king here.
How can your design work increase sales effectiveness, improve customer experience, or enhance product appeal? Show them the money, and they'll listen.
Marketing: The Art of Attraction
Objective: Spread the word, win the target group.
Measurement: Brand awareness and conversion.
Design can be a game-changer in creating captivating campaigns and unforgettable brand experiences. Make them see it.
Operations: The Efficiency Experts
Objective: Keep the organisational engine running smoothly.
Measurement: Cost, time, efficiency.
Show how design simplifies processes, reduces waste, and streamlines operations. Efficiency is their love language.
Product: The Dream Weavers
Objective: From concept to shelf - and beyond.
Measurement: Market share, customer satisfaction.
Demonstrate how design influences product development, enhances user experience, and drives market success.
IT: The Digital Backbone
Objective: Tech that ticks flawlessly.
Measurement: Uptime, security, ROI (Return On Investment).
Illustrate how strategic design can help improve decision-making tools by offering an holistic perspective anchored in the customer context.
HR: The People’s Champions
Objective: Right people, right place, right vibe.
Measurement: Employee engagement, retention.
Use design to enhance employee onboarding, increase employee experience, or streamline HR processes. Happy and engaged people, by design.
Real-World Example
Let’s put this into perspective with a real example - you're developing a journey framework, drawing inspiration from my guidelines in last week's post on the AVOC framework. The framework helps you map and measure services, products and journeys. How might you tell the story of this work to IT and Operations?
An Accurate Picture of the Return on Investment in Tech Spending
For the CTO, it's about ROI on tech spending. AVOC provides a clear map of services and products, making it easier to prioritise, track and justify investments.
Avoiding Duplication of Efforts
For Operations, it highlights duplicated efforts, streamlining processes, and focusing resources where they matter most.
Your Turn: Design Storytelling
Now, it's your turn. Grab a pen and paper. Think about your most impactful design work. How can you tell its story without even whispering the word 'design' or ‘process’ or ‘tool’? Focus on the outcome for your audience. What’s in it for them?
Remember, in the world of strategic design and organisational change, it's not about selling the brush, it's about painting the picture of a future they can't wait to step into. So, what’s your story? I’d love to hear it!
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Brilliant post! I think the easiest one to tackle is marketing as they are close to the customer and value in terms of communication and brand. Most challenging for me is sales in relation to design. The thing is, it’s hard to convince them before you don’t have a clear, tangible solution including a high evidence from the market on a certain price tag for it. That’s quite late in the design process. So, how to convince in early stage, when there is only an opportunity you want to get buy-in for (invest time/budget to elaborate a solution)?