Selling 3D Rendering Services Locally and Internationally
Turning Barriers into Benefits
Working with global clients is more common than ever. This shouldn’t surprise you as the Internet has opened up markets that were once inaccessible to smaller 3D studios.
However, many 3D studio leads remain unaware of both the obvious and hidden challenges that exist when targeting potential international clients.
The problem is not necessarily in finding clients but revolves around leveraging their trust and confidence in a 3D studio outside of their country.
This knowledge base resource is designed to address the best practices towards helping your studio procure both local and international clients, while first enhancing your understanding as a 3D studio owner in how any potential client may perceive your small 3D (foreign) studio.
Building Trust
Whether your 3D studio progresses more with local or international clients, it is vital to find solutions to help prevent and break trust barriers that commonly occur with potential leads. Let’s examine the most important components needed to build the trust of your 3D prospects on a global level.
Portfolio and Integrity
How accurate and up-to-date is your 3D studio’s portfolio? Take a serious look at the integrity of your portfolio by following these 3 steps towards shattering the trust roadblock:
- Analyze whether your 3D studio’s quantity of samples displayed is helping or hurting your marketing strategy with new leads
- Confirm that your portfolio samples appropriately represent the number of years of claimed experience
- Evaluate whether the portfolio is compelling the targeted audience
Target and Tailor
Don’t allow integrity issues in your studio’s portfolio to confuse your targeted audience. One of the best practices that a potential client will perform includes an investigation of the number of works in your studio’s portfolio in comparison to your experience in the field of 3D design.
Solely demonstrating a strong focus on furniture renders that is directed towards exterior render clients may be causing you to be overlooked. When potential clients are searching for exterior renders, they will seek out 3D studios that display exterior renders in the styles that they like. Your multitude of stormy-weather samples will not compel targeted clients seeking sunny-day renders.
Distinguish your targeted audiences’ goals and determine the best samples to display in your portfolio that will truly engage and motivate their trust in your studio’s work experience. Even as a new 3D studio, always be prepared to explain any time periods or lack of work showcased.
Transparency
You have an amazing 3D studio team and successful workflow. But, can your potential clients see how you have achieved such a powerful and effective portfolio?
Display Your 3D Team Members. Ensure that your website and/or any applicable digital marketing campaigns display your 3D studio team members, which helps:
- Show off your company culture
- Associates a name with a face
- Increases website visits
- Establishes your small (foreign) 3D studio as a legit company
3D team member displays, such as “Meet the Team” pages, help create a more personal connection with your potential client.
Don’t Shy Away from Displaying Your Studio’s Workflow Successes and Growth. Have confidence in making your 3D studio reviews visible. Use open criticism for your studio’s progress and let your potential clients see your growth. Consider the benefits of strategically showcasing quality work on social networks, which allow you to gain insight and feedback in order to progress renders and learn new skills. In return, a potential client can visually observe your refined work processes and recognize your studio’s accomplishments.
Communication
Are you offering an open stream of communications with your potential clients? Your local and international clients need to know that they will be able to connect with you during all phases of the 3D design cycle you are offering. Make sure your 3D studio’s website:
- Displays direct and correct contact information
- Demonstrates commitment to schedule appointments as needed
Open Contact: If you demonstrate how responsible your studio is towards open communications, you can win greatly in the war on communication barriers. Display direct contact details connected to your 3D studio to disprove you are not a “middleman” between client/designers and further prove your business legitimacy.
Live Communication: Your studio can easily resolve potential client apprehensions by scheduling Skype conference calls or using an instant messenger that supports video calls. Faraday 3D recommends the use of Zoom.us. Showing your willingness to establish a meeting with the lead represents a positive sign about your studio.
Reflect a Customer-Driven Focus
As a 3D studio owner, we are tasked with the responsibility to support our studio team members, in addition to managing an effective full-cycle client experience that won’t cause your lead to run for the hills.
So, what are the unfortunate red flags that your 3D studio may be inadvertently waving?
- Providing service fees upfront without a proper needs assessment/discovery session
- Failing to ask the lead targeted questions pertaining to their specific project
- Unprepared to answer questions pertaining to the integrity of your studio’s 3D work and contracts
Interior 3d visualization by Faraday 3D
How can your 3D studio avoid creating and sending red flags?
Reflect a customer-driven focus in every stage of the 3D service you are offering by facilitating a 3D Roadmapping Session with each potential client.
Providing your potential client with an effective 3D Roadmapping Session will build the bridge of trust by influencing a sense of confidence in your 3D services. As a result, your leads will know that they are procuring 3D services from a studio that is sincerely dedicated to helping them overcome the challenges affecting their brand. They have a better understanding of why fees are being secured, an idea of your workflow process, and your studios capabilities and value.
So, now you have a foundation and idea of how to build trust with your leads. You’ve even gained some insight towards optimizing your workflow.
But, there remains that one major challenge that makes your leads hesitant to pursue you: You are a small 3D studio that exists offshore.
How can your 3D studio further resolve those common misconceptions that are attached to 3D visualization studios outside of a lead’s country? Consider these 5 most perceived barriers and how they can actually benefit your studio projects with international clients.
Barriers into Benefits
How to “Re-design” Their Negative Perceptions to Your Advantage? There are 5 commonly perceived and actualized obstacles that should be mitigated in order to successfully secure your studio’s next international client.
Language. The More We Learn, the More We Earn
It’s only natural for an overseas client to have concerns about the challenges involving language barriers, such as accents and dialects, particularly your targeted U.S. leads. Often times, they are afraid that a small, foreign 3D studio will not understand their language and vice versa.
During a private Skype conference call, one of our U.S. clients shared his challenges in communicating with studios from India and China.
Here’s your opportunity to break the language barrier and promote your studio as a client-driven business that can handle global 3D clients:
1. Be willing to listen and learn. Clients are generally forgiving and tolerant, but if they think you’re not even trying to learn about them and their context, they’ll be less likely to continue with your studio. Approach all international communications from a place of respect and understanding. Take time to educate yourself and adjust to the spelling practices in their location.
2. Cut out idiomatic expressions. Idiomatic word meanings could be totally lost on your counterpart or inadvertently mean something different (or offensive) in their country.
3. Moderate your tone of voice. Whether you are extremely reserved or boisterous when communicating, you must find a professional and balanced medium in speaking electronically and via audio/video calls to avoid the mistranslation of overt emotions.
Honing your language skills with global clients is only the beginning in promoting the client-focus attribute of your 3D studio.
Communications. Go Beyond Emails
If your studio’s workflow relies solely on emails for communicating with leads/clients, you’re already in big trouble. Ease your international clients’ language concern by offering various communication streams outside of emails.
As addressed in our ‘language barrier’ and ‘building trust’ strategies, showing the initiative to streamline ways to meet and discuss project goals will help cultivate a sense of confidence in your 3D studio.
Provide your international leads with alternative communication platforms, such as Skype and Zoom.
In fact, our 3D studio has enhanced our communication strategy for both local and international clients by offering SAAS services and other valuable resources that help with the continuity of our workflow, helping promote Faraday 3D as a trusted, customer-driven 3D studio.
Time Zones. Longer Time Differences Rock!
As a 3D studio owner that routinely deals with 12-hour or more time differences, I can comprehend a client’s misconceptions in doing business with studios overseas. However, small 3D studios abroad actually offer the greatest advantage to international leads.
Why do longer time differences rock? Because the casework is never stopped!
Quicker Feedback Process
When you and your client are located in the same time zones, the project may take twice as long to implement in comparison to an international client. International clients’ nighttime hours may equal your daytime work hours, which creates a major advantage in communicating and implementing feedback.
During your 3D Roadmapping Session, you can show the potential international client how the time zone difference can maximize their schedule and optimize your project time management.
Cultural Variances. Eradicate Concerns About Professionalism
Various cultures require a higher level of professionalism than what you may be accustomed to displaying.
Be prepared to possibly spend time building relationships with your international clients, which may take multiple meetings in order to formalize an agreement.
Ready to prevent cultural barrier concerns altogether? Maximize your 3D studio’s marketing approach by displaying your studio’s team diversity, expanded knowledge in innovation, or simply the client relation success you’ve achieved from previous global clients. Don’t forget to evaluate the professionalism of your overall content and workflow strategy.
Outsourcing. Building Their Confidence in Your Offshore Services
The trend in outsourcing 3D visualization services is increasing exponentially. If you are not well versed in managing outsourced teams and only possess the skills to support in-house staff, you’re massively hindering your studio’s growth towards critical benefits and visibility to global clients.
Not only will your effectiveness in managing outsourced teams help increase project leadership abilities, but also it can demonstrate a cost-effective benefit to the potential client.
Empower your potential clients to outsource your services by providing them with knowledge about your workflow and the benefits of offshoring your studio for their 3D project. Ensure that they realize the:
- Superior quality and massive outputs your studio can provide within a specific turnaround time
- Security and confidentiality of data you are willing to provide
- Transparent workflow and scalable costs
- Unique project management systems provided through your studio
Remember, both local and international clients are already seeking a studio to collaborate with as a more sensible option for their 3D project. So, focus on leveraging their trust in your diverse management abilities from the very beginning of the sales funnel.
Globalize Your 3D Studio
When a highly valued international lead visits your 3D studio website or discovers one of your digital campaigns, they need to feel confident that you can manage their project from afar.
Don’t simply show them that you can produce great 3D renders. They have access to many local studios who can output great results. It is your task to assure them that you can lead the project in a way that is trustworthy and profitable in the long term.
Re-examine your current presentation and marketing strategy concerning international leads with Faraday 3D’s selling points and 3D Roadmapping Session approach.
Connect with Faraday 3D for more knowledge-based resources and leadership approaches to your 3D visualization services.
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