Web designers can be game changers for their clients.
15th November 2012

I like the term 'game changer', it means someone who comes in and literally transforms the existing way of doing things. Someone who completely changes the balance of power, so to speak. We all started our businesses wanting to be game changers but some where along the way we lost that. Instead we became team players or worse, spectators.

The market beats you down till you give up trying to change the game and start playing it like it is.

Attended a client meeting where I was just among dozens of vendors being interviewed not only for Web but for other services as well. Talk about being another brick in the wall. There was no way to show off brilliance when the client us impatient to meet the next designer and the next and so on. This might be a one of case but it tends to demoralize even the most hardened veterans.

Does it even make sense to try and be a game changer in such a scenario? Yes, absolutely, the circumstances don't define you, you define them! For every client that treats you like a vendor there are dozens looking for game changers to come and transform their businesses. The trick is to find them.

This is a reminder to myself as much as a blog post to be a game changer!

Finding clients hungry for change is the key - to remain motivated and to make progress.

There will always be clients hungry to do better and looking for game changers to help them move mountains. These business owners are dynamic and smart and will partner with the web designer to create a game changing scenario. And that is required, since trying to change the playing field will require a lot of cooperation and also patience from the client.

Needless to say, if the web designer is serious about being a game changer, he/she will have to select clients very carefully. In these cases its always best to let the client come to them rather than they chasing the client. Let the change hungry business owners beat a path to your door.

Web designer are perfectly suited to play the role of game changers and make an impact.

A web designer is uniquely positioned to be a game changer. A web designer can:

• Double, triple or even quadruple sales - impacting sales by a strong online marketing effort can make a huge impact on the client's topline, bottomline and everything in between.
• Re-invent how they market products and services to customers - There used to be a time when companies procured goods and services the old fashioned way, through human contact and the telephone. Now everything is done online. The system has changed and so has the way goods and services are bought and sold. Impact that!
• Blow the minds of prospective customers (of the client) with kick ass branding efforts - There are now literally dozens of ways to wow prospective customers through as many channels. A kick ass campaign will get the market buzzing and change the game for your client.
• Make the client the best authority on his industry niche - To whom does the industry turn to when they need the best? Your client of course, is it perception or reality? Make it real with comprehensive effort to make your client the industry leader in his industry niche.

Game changing is not for the faint hearted or the lazy- its tough but fun work.

What makes you jump out of bed every morning? If you want to be a game changer you need to be tough, work your ass off and have fun at the same time. It means going into the client's organization and working with their team to come up with winning strategies that will create an impact online.

Most times it will be hard, with lots of push back and resistance, even from willing clients. But the web designer must commit and see it through. For the rewards for them and the client can be huge at the end of the day.

Out of the box, in the box and between boxes thinking is need to be a true game changer.

You cannot change the game by playing by the rules everyone else has set. A true game changer has to seriously differentiate the client in the online market place, at least for the niche which they are fighting for. It takes determined contemplation to come up with a proposition that will accomplish it for the client.

Being a game changer is not easy. You won't be able to do it for most clients. But the few, for which it will work, will make it all worthwhile. I will repeat which has now become one of my favorite quotes "Pursue excellence in everything, success has no choice but to follow".

Cheers,
Ron