Start & Run a Creative Services Business. Susan Kirkland

easy to create. You don’t need a fancy zipper case. Cut ten pieces of black mount board to a manageable size and spray-mount each print piece in the center. This allows “boards” to be exchanged without touching or holding the actual sample. Boards are easily refreshed with a plastic eraser.

      5.4 Substitute alternates for special presentations

      Customize your portfolio to each presentation by substituting applicable pieces you’ve done for other clients in the same industry. Prove that you have the skill to do your prospective client’s job. If you prepare your alternates ahead of time, customizing your portfolio will be as quick as substituting one board for another. It pays to have a few extra boards cut to size and ready for impromptu presentations. These will facilitate quick substitutions of industry-specific pieces or can serve as replacements when board corners become dog-eared and dented.

      The more service you offer, the more likely you will become the vendor of choice for creative services.

      5.5 Choose pieces that show off your creativity

      Use simple and direct commentary to describe how you participated in each job, and add any information about concept work. The more service you offer, the more likely you will become the vendor of choice for creative services.

      5.6 Start with an attention-getter

      If your first piece of work is sleepy and dull, you won’t hold your audience through the presentation. Use an eye-popping piece to start the show. A sure sign of disinterest is when the client assumes control and does a quick flip. You’ve lost your audience.

      5.7 End with your best piece

      Clients will remember you by the last piece they see in the interview, so make sure it’s dramatic and leaves a striking impression. Like a great piece of music, end with a crescendo.

      5.8 Include a few business cards

      Take a small envelope and cut the top off. Spray-mount it to the back of the last board in your portfolio. When the presentation is near an end, hand a business card to your prospect. If you have a brochure promoting your services, save that as a follow-up mailer. Keep your audience’s attention on the work in your portfolio, not the depth and scope of services in your brochure.

      Sometimes portfolio showings don’t go well. Potential clients who keep you waiting far beyond the appointed time or take calls during your presentation are tipping you off to their lack of professionalism. Take this as a warning of what’s to come if you keep pursuing their business. I guarantee you will receive the same treatment during the course of the relationship, right up to and including invoices past due. Sometimes this is also a sign of somebody who wants to be nice even though they have no intention of using your services. Spend your time with people who are interested in paying for your services, not those who want to entertain and be entertained.

      6. Cultivate a Sense of Humor

      If you find yourself in a bad situation, you can always rely on your sense of humor — as I had to do once when I came down hard (literally) during a presentation. After I designed a logo and ad campaign for a recent corporate acquisition, I presented it to my captive audience, who were forced to use my in-house talent because they had already spent $25,000 at a local advertising agency with no results. I introduced the logo and supporting ads, elaborating on my ideas as the boards were passed around the table. When the room grew silent, I could tell by the looks on their faces that I had exceeded their expectations.

      Most people can sense when you know what you’re doing. A minor objection was raised about verbiage, but I quoted existing literature and the objection was moot. (The more work you complete, the more you see clients with an uncontrollable urge to change something, whether the change is valid or not, just to remind you who’s paying the bill.) As I started to sit down at the end of the presentation, my chair rolled out from under me. I fell flat on the floor with my feet straight up in the air — Chevy Chase couldn’t have done it better. I looked up from under the table, laughing out loud at my own misadventure. Everybody was relieved I wasn’t hurt and that it didn’t turn into an awkward situation. When your work is good enough to make up for this kind of faux pas, you will have no trouble finding assignments.

      If, while giving a presentation, you find a room going silent, accept the silence as praise. There is a scientific basis for the silence when people are enthralled. Language skills resident in the left side of the brain are temporarily inaccessible when emotion takes hold; when you’ve succeeded at emotionally involving your audience and trapping them in the right side of their brains, they are literally speechless.

      Find the fun in your work and no matter what the circumstance, enjoy yourself.

      I’m not advocating adding slapstick to your presentation, but I want to encourage you to keep a firm grip on your humanity. Creatives have a tendency to take themselves too seriously, with the intention of showing everyone how serious they are about their work. Find the fun in your work and no matter what the circumstance, enjoy yourself. Each day will be filled with adventures beyond your control. You can meet them head on by clenching your teeth or by happily dribbling the ball down the court like a professional, ready for whatever gets thrown at you.

      Though creative disciplines don’t encourage it, be flexible as a human being, both with yourself and those you deal with. Bad things do happen, and if you act like it’s the end of the world, you’re probably spending too much time obsessing about mistakes and shortcomings and things you can’t change. Do the best you can, and knowing that, will lend solace. Take it from a person who’s fallen flat on her ass: The sooner you get up laughing at your own foibles, the sooner you’ll move on to your next great adventure and golden opportunity. Or heed a piece of advice from Patrick Dennis’s play Auntie Mame, “Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death.” Dig in to the smorgasbord.