When I started at Brandch, Chris (our fearless and forward founder) didn’t teach me design first. Nope. He didn’t hand me a Figma file and say, “Go make something cool and pretty.” Instead, he drilled life-changing principles into my brain. One key principle that informs all we do stands out today, “Your job isn’t to […]
When I started at Brandch, Chris (our fearless and forward founder) didn’t teach me design first. Nope. He didn’t hand me a Figma file and say, “Go make something cool and pretty.” Instead, he drilled life-changing principles into my brain. One key principle that informs all we do stands out today, “Your job isn’t to sell tools; your job is to sell solutions.”
At first, I thought, “Okay, yeah, that makes sense. But when can I learn how to design?” But the more I’ve worked at brandch and with our clients-I’ve seen the dumpster fires agencies create when they forget this, I realized just how profound it is.
Here’s the thing: Clients don’t give a damn about your fancy tools. They don’t care if your website framework is the digital equivalent of a Michelin-starred meal or if your videos are so cinematic they’d make Spielberg weep. What they care about is this: Are you solving the problem they asked you to solve? Are you communicating their brand? Are you creating systematic revenue generating machines for them (marketing)?
Are you helping them grow?
Let’s dive into why this matters, how some agencies can get it wrong, and why focusing on results—not the flashy fluff—makes all the difference.
This one’s gonna sting for some folks. I’m looking at you, videographers, web designers (myself included!), and dashboard/CMS evangelists. You’re amazing, but here’s the cold, hard truth: Your clients don’t care about how the sausage is made. They care about whether it tastes good and fills their stomachs–this is marketing.
Here’s why clients don’t—and really shouldn’t—care about your tools:
Clients Don’t Have Time for Your Nerdy Details
Your client is running a business, not paying to sit through a TED Talk on design theory. They don’t care about the typeface you painstakingly kerned for hours or the million-dollar lens you used for that video. What they want is results. Period. If you’re lucky, you’ll catch the few and far between who appreciate artistic style, but the conversation is nothing more than that. You need to communicate WHY these choices (design, video, messaging) support their end goal and audience.
Value Beats Execution Every Time
Sure, your website might win an award for ‘design’, but if it doesn’t bring in leads? It’s just digital wallpaper, a painted house with no rooms or insides. Same goes for that jaw-dropping video you made—it’s pointless if it doesn’t support the goal the client came to you with to help them solve. Side note: if your website design doesn’t support their goal or the audience- that’s bad design.
Selling Tools Unfortunately Makes You Look Amateur, I Failed At First With This.
Overselling your tools might scream insecurity on your services. It can be like a chef bragging about their knife collection but the food comes out burnt, or how they trained with the best cooks in France but their meal tastes like slop. Focus on the meal (results), not the utensils and method (tools). When and when you make a good meal (great results), then you can have conversations about utensils and methods (tools). But it’s not what you sell at first.
Chris early on boiled marketing down to this simple, badass formula:
Communicating (tools) + Your Value (services/products) + To Your Audience= Marketing.
That’s it. Just switch out the tools, your value, audience, and you have another marketing campaign and strategy for another business. We carry and coin this phrase in all things we do, and start all client relationships on this foundation so they can understand why we make the decisions we do to support their goals.
The tools are just there to make the value clearer. Your clients don’t care if you used Adobe, Figma, a Metricool dashboard to schedule that post, or a freaking Etch A Sketch—they care whether their audience gets the message and takes action.
Let me break it down. Here’s what some agencies do:
When you focus on solutions, you earn their trust fast. Clients want to know you get them. Show them you understand their problems, and they’ll trust you to fix them. See their need, not just listen for an opportunity to sell.
Selling on solutions also simplifies your sales process. Clients don’t care how—it’s all about the what. Focus on the endgame, and you’ll close deals faster. The ‘how’ comes later when you’ve closed them.
You’ll also prevent yourself from falling into a trap of DIY temptations for the client. When you focus on tools, clients think, “Can I just do this myself? Or hire my nephew for free, it’s just video?” When you focus on results, they think, “I need them to solve this problem.”
#1 Lead with Results
Don’t say, “We use the best video equipment, and have the best video editors. Our videos are modern and elevate your brand.” Say, “Our videos increase click-through rates by 30% because of we produce content that is optimized for growth” See the difference?
#2 Focus on Their Goals
Don’t just pitch a website; pitch more leads, more sales, or better customer retention. Pitch long term brand growth and quality UX that serves their audience and creates revenue.
#3 Speak Like a Human
No jargon. No buzzwords. Talk to clients like you would a friend who needs help. Stop saying stuff that is fluffy, or filling your communication with things like ‘elevate, inspire, modern’. Be forward, communicate value and be human.
One of my favorite Brandch success stories started with a client who wanted a website redesign. Instead of geeking out over design trends, we asked, “What’s the goal here?” They wanted more leads, so that’s what we focused on.
The result? The craziest sales metrics I’ve seen. Maybe we got lucky, or maybe we listened to their problems, saw the needs of the brand and created a strategy and policy that serves it. You can learn about what we did for Acme Salt Co here.
Here’s the bottom line: Your job is not to impress clients with your tools. Your job is to solve their damn problems.
If you’re an agency stuck in the weeds of selling dashboards, drone shots, or web frameworks, take a step back. Remember what your client actually hired you for: results. Focus on solutions, and you’ll build better relationships, close more deals, and—most importantly—help your clients succeed.
Now go out there, ditch the fluff, and sell the hell out of some solutions. You’ll be a better marketer, videographer, designer and sales person for it.
