How to Get Clients for a Web Design Agency (Case Study)

0:03We do mainly web development and design, but we're also a Google partner. Within the first two weeks, I signed a 40k euro deal with one customer and then after like three more weeks, another big deal with an existing customer just because we can show everything we can do and put a price on them. But when they saw the offers and the prices, it was actually like 10 times more than we usually sell them for. They accepted because they understood the cost and they understood

0:34what they will get. And I I also remember you sent a message that you just sent out an uh an email to your existing list promoting your offer, right? How was that going? Really good. Actually, I got three leads in one day from our existing customers. So, I actually built the funnel. I did the landing pages and so on and we didn't even start the ads for getting the customers. I just tried it on my

1:01existing customers. Mh. Three old customers which had left us like five years ago contacted me and wanted a booking. One of them I mean he usually bought for like €2,000 a year or something. It's like a small customer but I sent the offer to them. It was I think it was 15k euro. I mean, I've looked at other similar solutions or offers online. And of course, one one thing in the beginning before I actually know you and

1:33the guys, well, of course, is the cost. I mean, at first, I mean, if if you just tell the price, most people will maybe, oh that's expensive. But I would say I earned it back like in a half a week. Yes. I thought I would earn it back in a year. Okay. So, I mean, you pay for for quality. So, it's I would say you could triple

1:58the price actually. Oh, I think about that maybe. But I mean that's um looking back to it, I would absolutely have paid more for it. I want to be less involved in everything uh because I had a finger in to every process, the design, the development, the sales and everything. and no one can sell can sell our offers except me because everything is like tailored to the customer. So I actually started looking at the productization of the offers how we could actually package the deals into understandable uh clunks of pieces that we can put together. So we started using this

2:40actually in the first weeks.

2:47Hey Alfred, good to see you. How are you doing? I'm fine. How are you? Yeah, I'm also fine. I'm very excited to have this conversation with you and talk about your experience with creating an offer as preparation to building your salesunnel. But before we dive into that, um I just want to mention I was really impressed by the results you shared and by the results you've gotten just by changing your offer. That's why I want to um yeah have a conversation with you today. But before we go into the details, just give us a quick overview who you are, what your business

3:16is, and what your business does. Yeah, sure. So, my name is Alfred, and I started this uh web development and design agency back in 2016. And since then, I've had a bankruptcy in 2020 and restarted the company and re been rethinking the whole offer to the customers and also how we run the business. So from the beginning we were 12 employees in-house before the bankruptcy and today we are actually only myself in-house and uh a lot of

3:45freelancers. So we we do mainly web development and design but we're also a Google partner certified partner which means that we can uh build very efficient campaigns for our customers to actually uh earn more money by using uh great Google ads. Mhm. So um and actually the reason for for contacting you from the beginning is that I really saw myself in your story too because you also have a fast growing agency and seen the the troubles that

4:24Oh yeah with a full-time team. Yeah. Most agencies have Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We grew very fast. Two years from start we had 12 employees. So we had to rush into getting the right people and so on. So we have had no productized offers uh no real strategy in how to run business. Yeah. Uh so that's why I actually contacted you from the beginning. I really saw that you you could help me restart the

4:55business. Yeah, absolutely. I I I was not so close to bankruptcy, but I was very close to burnout because I had these like 43 employees and we actually have the same hairstyle, right? And the same beard. So, we've been through the same past experience. Exactly. Because it was so stressful. And then I had the situation. I had 43 employees, a big client quit, you know, and I was like, "Oh my god, what should I do?" We just lost 60,000 in revenue per month overnight. and I was left with all these employees. Then yeah, I I fired fired some and replaced them by freelancers. So now we have a

5:33similar structure. And uh to prevent the chaos from taking over, it's good to have standardized productized offers because they are easier to sell and easier to deliver. And that's what what you started with, right? Yeah, exactly. And that's was my plan from the beginning because I mean one of the things is that I want to be less involved in everything uh because I had a finger in to every process the design the development the sales and everything and no one can sell can sell our offers except me because everything is

6:03like tailored to the customer. Yeah. So that was my first goal. So I actually started looking at the productization of the offers. how we could actually package the deals into understandable uh clunks of pieces that we can put together. So, we started using this actually in the first weeks before I even started doing the AI funnel builder

6:29and and everything else. Just think about our actual services and put a price on them because previously I thought that yeah, everything is tailored so we can't have a fixed price but that's actually not true. We can have a fixed price just tailored to the customer because it's the same amount of hours needed.

6:50Yeah. So actually within the first two weeks I signed a 40k euro deal with one customer and then after like three more weeks another big deal with an existing customer just because we can show everything we can do and put the price on them. But when they saw the offers and the prices, it was actually like 10 times more than we usually sell them for. They accepted because they understood the cost and they understood

7:18what they will get from it. That's it. That's it. Finally, it's not just you talking about yourself and your business and your agency and what you do and how many people you have, right? You make the conversation about your clients, the results they want and what exactly they get and then they are willing to pay much higher prices. And I I also remember you sent a message that you just sent out an uh an email to your existing list promoting your offer,

7:42right? How was that going? Really good. Actually, I got three leads in one day from our existing customers. So, I actually built the funnel. I did the landing pages and so on. And we didn't even start the ads for getting the customers. I just tried it on my existing customers. Mhm. three old customers which had left us like five years ago contacted me and wanted a booking. One of them, I mean, he usually bought for like €2,000 a year

8:12or something. It's like a small customer, but I sent the offer to them. It was I think it was 15k euro. Nice. This time, so he hasn't accepted yes yet, but he's really interested. Okay. the other customers are also bigger bigger deals. Uhhuh. Nice. Do you feel like your your operations and the service fulfillment is also more streamlined or do you still

8:37have your hands in everything? Um I mean with the bigger customers I I'm usually responsible for the whole strategy and uh all follow-ups and so on. And I like to have it like that because I I'm really into business development and trying to help the customer. Mhm. I only oversee the design in the beginning because it's so much to do with the conversion optimization and so on. That's my main area to actually get it good. But then I let it go to the team the development and if there's any future support and so on, I don't touch it. So I just have the strategy calls with the customers and if they try to

9:18contact me as they always do, I just point them in the right direction. Okay. Always accept. Yeah. So then you are mainly the customer success manager as we have it in our operational blueprint, right? You are facing the client, you are leading client, creating strategy and then your team does the operational execution. Yeah, exactly. We've built the funnels before, but I think also when you do it for yourself, it's another thing than if

9:42you do it to a customer. Yeah. To think in a different way when it's your own services. Uh so the funnel builder was also really helpful. Yeah, it's AI uh and every everything is AI generated and so on, but it's really easy to just tweak it a little bit. I mean, mainly it was really good uh text and a really good structure. I just

10:07tweaked it a little bit. Okay, perfect. And now you have your offer, you have your landing pages communicating your offer, and um the next thing is that you run paid ads to get more leads and Yeah. Cool. What's the what's the next achievable milestone that you think is realistic for your business in the next

10:256 to 12 months? I mean we are increasing our revenue every year with about 20%. This year it looks like 25 to 30%. I mean the beginning of this year have been a lot better than last year which of course is a result of these customers. Yeah. So the goal is to get more of

10:47those customers and we don't need a lot. Maybe once a quarter or something. I can really wait for good leads which means I don't have to get the low quality leads anymore. It's good. So the offer is really the most important thing, right? You can have the best marketing. If your offer is you won't be able to compensate for that. But if you have a good offer, people already buy. good value proposition, good positioning, then with

11:14paid ads, it's also much easier. Yeah. And I after the bankruptcy when I did everything, I actually decided already then that I want to do less. Yeah. Achieve more. But it's really hard to do it without getting this like blueprint. This is how other people are doing it. So that's really helpful and I think that's how many leaders are doing it today because

11:36everyone has more to do. Yeah. Yeah, because probably they have to restructure the teams maybe go from eight to five people but still do the same workload and so on. So people are more stressed and probably are putting less time into uh developing themselves or actually new ways of working. So everyone's that that in is in a growing business actually need to to do this I

12:03think no matter industry. Yeah, I think you you nailed it. So the big problem is that people are busier and busier but not more productive right because just the efficiency goes up. They are doing more stuff but they are not effective because often they are just driven by external circumstances by what other people want from them. They literally build a business like others want the business to be instead of

12:27building the business of their dreams. Right? So that's the big um big problem. And what I also want to um focus on is well I know these days there are a lot of businesses who are struggling because AI seems to make a lot of services irrelevant right the economy is uncertain and there are all kinds of uncertainties and yeah they struggle because clients insource work projects stop and they don't know how to win their next client but I think with your experience and that's definitely what I want to give as a value for everyone watching this video because I was in a similar situation being close to burnout

13:06or bankruptcy or whatever life won't end there. There is something better to come right when you are down and you feel like okay that's it I cannot go any further from here and that was your worst nightmare in the past that you think you have to go bankrupt or you go burn out or whatever in the end there is always something better look at you right now you are in a much better

13:29position. Yeah, exactly. Would you have thought that you will get there when you had the the bankruptcy? No. Always not. Yeah. But I really when I watched your videos and so on, I had a notebook and I I just wrote like 10 to 20 things that I hate doing. I think it's boring or I mean someone else can do it or whatever. But because if you have a lot of the these things, it's not fun to go

13:55to work. I want to do what's fun also. Yeah. So if you can decide to let someone else do it or rep prioritize or even don't do it at all, just stop it. Maybe some things you do just because some customers want it, then just say stop. We don't do it anymore. We do it

14:10like this. Yeah. This I think is most valuable for my well-being because I don't have to have a list of stuff going to work that I hate doing. I think it's super bad doing it. That's what I'm actually deciding every day that yeah, do I want to do this? No, I don't want to do this. And I you have to stick to it. That's the thing because usually you go back in track and then some customer ask for it again and maybe you don't have the courage to say no to

14:36the customer or the team or whatever. But if you do it, it's worth 10 times. Yeah, I totally agree. In the in the past, I always thought when people say you need to do something you love, so my my personality back in 2017 and before would have said total You have to do something that makes money and the rest doesn't matter. We are not doing work because we want to have fun. Now I know better. I know I need to do something that I really enjoy because then I will do it for long enough to be very successful. However, just doing something you love is also not enough

15:13because you also need to have a great business model, right? Otherwise, you will financially never get to your goals. Yeah. Yeah. So, these two things are what really matters. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. So in case people are interested in your web rebuild or web design services, SEO or Google ads, where can they find you? Yeah, I mean all of the customers today come through our web website

15:39invistic.com. Mhm. And we have customers both in the Nordics but also in some other countries. We have had customers in the United States and some in the UK in the in previously. So yeah, we are really we are a global company in Sweden so to say. Yeah. Yeah. But we do everything online today. I have uh gone from an office of 400 square meters down to I think 10 now and everyone is working from abroad. So yeah, it's really really really efficient for everyone. And the customers also love it because every

16:13everything works. That's the thing. instead of waiting and waiting for replies, they get a reply every every single day from the support team and so on. So, everyone's happy. Yeah. Awesome. Awesome. And um your team is is it a global team or are they in um in in Sweden or in the Nordics? They are everywhere.

16:32They are everywhere. Yeah. Awesome. Indonesia to Vietnam to India to Ukraine, Serbia and so on. Yeah. same like I that was my breakthrough moment when I realized I don't have to rely on local staff shortages just get people that I have access to right which wasn't always the best choice but I can really open up my talent pool and just hire the whole world literally make the whole world my talent pool that was my big moment and the next big moment was when AI came to this world and I realized whoa I can now get work done much faster without just constantly thinking about creative stuff

17:07Right. AI does it for me. And actually I just rewatched my TEDex talk. Did you also watch that back in the days when you um started working with me? No, I didn't. Ah, okay. Because the that was about my journey and my crash in 2018. And the last sentence I just rewatched it was really that um virtual teams and AI will

17:28change the way we work forever. Right? That was 2018. We didn't have AI at that scale like now. But yeah, I always felt this will be the next step. freelancers, virtual teams, and AI collaborating properly together. Do it. It's amazing. Yeah, it's really awesome. I really love it. That's that's from from my perspective and experience, it's really

17:46the path to freedom. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Or it can be the path to getting out of business. If you don't adapt, if you don't leverage it, if you just feel you continue doing whatever you did in the past, then you have a hard time. Yeah. But we are on the same boat as we say in

18:02Germany. That's good to hear. Absolutely. Cool. Then I think um we are done. Or do you want to add something else at the end of the conversation? Uh yeah, actually one thing. Yes. Uh when I mean I've looked at other similar solutions or offers online and of course one one thing in the beginning before I actually know you and the guys of course is the cost. I mean at first I mean if if you just tell the price most people will maybe oh that's expensive but I would say I earned it

18:40back like in a half a week. Yes. I thought I would earn it back in a year. Okay. So I mean you pay for for quality. So it's I would say you could triple the price actually. Oh I think about that maybe. But I mean that's um looking back to it I would absolutely have paid more

19:02for it. Okay, I paid it. I really also felt that I invested which is also good but actually commit that you invest in something and that's what I also tell my customers that they have to commit and also invest because they will take it more seriously and also we can do a better job. So and that's what's happening here. I think you can do a better job. Focus more on each customer

19:24and yeah I I get a lot of value also. Yeah, increasing prices by the way is always a good advice especially when you are in the lower end of your competitors. Double your prices. Never means that you lose half of your clients. You might lose 10 20% if at all. But the others who pay more they compensate for this and your business is a lot more profitable. You make more

19:44money without working more hours. Definitely. Yeah. Awesome. Good that you experienced that and thank you for mentioning it. Um much appreciated. I'm very excited about the next steps and yeah, looking forward to seeing you soon. Thank you very much. Thank you. Bye. Here. Bye.