Hi UX friend

It's Friday, yeah!

And while I drink my coffee and eat my poorly baked cinnamon roll, it's time to share my early learnings from my UX sales experiment.

It has been a huge eye-opener.

I really thought that I had my "niche" and "service" nailed...

NOT!

The comment from my sales mentor: "This could be anything. I have no idea what you are doing and for whom."

¡Ay, caramba!

And here I am, thinking that I have put my "fluffy UX days" behind me, and now I'm right back where people have no idea what I'm doing.

My sales mentor = a true outsider = mirror.

So...

I'm embracing this opportunity to get clear on my target group and my UX service - and myself.

And I'll share my learnings with you, hoping that this can also help you in your current role.

Let's have a look at the three building blocks of a killer UX sales speech:

I'll go through each element on its own.

Element #1: what = UX service

What I have learned:

I need to define my service first and then identify my target group.

Until now, I've been sitting and waiting for projects to drop in my lap.

And they used to come find me through recruiters.

Luckily there were projects matching my profile --> Strategic UX designer.

The problem now is that a lot of the current UX projects focus on UI profiles, and I'm not a match.

Projects don't come find me anymore; I need to go find them (or create them).

I need to sell.

If I want to sell myself, I need to define my service.

I need to be able to tell people what they are buying from me.

"Strategic UX designer" is not sellable.

Too broad! (says Janus, my sales mentor).

So here's my development:

1. Strategic UX designer
2. Strategic UX and facilitation
3. UX discovery and alignment

... and I'm still working on it.

What you can learn from this:

• When you tell stakeholders, your team, your manager, your colleagues, your friends, and your family what you do, can you make it more niche?
• Hint: you need to zoom in on what you are really good at.
• Ask AI for help and use AI as "mirror" to see your UX services more clearly.

//

Element #2: who = target group

What I have learned:

My target group is not about people or companies; it's about problems.

Until now, I've been focusing on companies as my target group.

Where can I find complex work processes?

Wrong! (says Janus).

I need to look for companies, of course, but I need to look for the type of problems that I can solve.

And here's the catch...

Based on my service!

Where is my service valuable?

So it starts with me; I need to identify my core skills.

And then I need to look out for companies that are dealing with problems that my core skills can solve.

What you can learn from this:

• When you think of your target group in your current role, are you focusing on people... or their problems?
• Where do you find your ideal problems to solve?
• Hint: you need to zoom in on what you are really good at (same as before).
• Ask AI for help to understand the problems of your target group better (or the problems that your UX service can solve).

//

Element #3: why = YOU

What I have learned:

I'm pretty damn good at what I do, and I need to share that more!

Until now, I haven't been good at sharing my wins and what I help companies/people to achieve.

It feels like "selling"; it feels pushy and like bragging, and I'm not that type!!

But if I don't flash it, how will other people know that I can help them?

Selling has a bad image, but you can sell in a nice way.

You have a service that you want to offer to people.

You want to help.

"Selling" is to explain to people how you can help them.

And I strongly believe that UX designers need to get better at this.

We need to show how we have helped people in the past.

So, I need to get my cases and testimonials sorted (qualitative data).

And I need to make it clear how my work has helped my clients.

With numbers (quantitative data).

It comes down to this: why should people hire YOU?

You need to tell them without holding back.

What you can learn from this:

• Consider your attitude towards "selling yourself."
• Get your qualitative and quantitative sales data sorted and use it not only for interviews but also in your daily work so people know how you can help.
• Hint: you need to zoom in on what you are really good at (same as before).
• Ask AI for help to make your past achievements "sellable."

//

Let's have a second look at the three building blocks of a killer UX sales speech:

In the upcoming newsletters, I will talk more about the value we create as UX designers.

And how you can quantify it.

Until then, take care and have an amazing weekend.

- Christina // Design with Chris