Why "Client-First"?
Client-First is named after our clients and the idea of putting them "first" in our Webflow development project.
This does not mean Client-First must be used for client websites only. The mentality behind Client-First is what's important. It works for
Our client focused goals for Client-First are to enable someone to:
- Make big changes to the Webflow project.
- Read most classes in the project and understand their purpose.
- Scale the website based on the organization in the project.
- Learn Client-First if they wish to do so.
- Continue working with us effectively
- Maintain the project with a different Webflow developer
Client-First is for everyone
"Everyone" can be a a client, a developer on our team, a developer at a different agency, a freelancer, or a random marketer opening Webflow for the first time.
The goals and initiatives of Client-First relate to any other person accessing our Webflow project, not clients only.
It is in our client's best interest to develop and deliver a website we can hand off to another agency or freelancer. If we no longer work with the client, we want the next team in the project to continue managing it without issues.
The term "Client-First" can help us in our Webflow sales pitch.
Service sales basics
The most effective sale is when both parties reach an equal appreciation for the sale.
Both parties should be happy about what happened in the sale
- The buyer should be happy to pay the seller the money. The money the buyer pays for the service feels fair and of good value.
- The seller should be happy to give the service for the agreed-upon price. The seller feels that they are being paid well for their time.
- An added benefit is when neither party believes they got the better outcome. In an ideal sales state, both parties feel an equal and fair exchange of service for money.
Making someone happy to pay us
Lead: a person we are selling our Webflow services to
Leads can be happy to pay for our services as Webflow developers.
If all of the following are true we can make a lead happy to pay us:
- Our lead has a problem.
- We can fix that problem with our service.
- Our cost to fix that person's problem is reasonable for that specific lead.
We are not tricking leads. We are helping leads.
We never want to look at sales as tricks or clever gimmicks. This type of sales is why "sales" as a concept often gets a bad reputation.
Effective sales is helping people so much that they are happy to pay us — and even more excited with the outcome.
We help our leads by:
- Creating a powerful, efficient, and scalable Webflow project.
- Migrating [their previous website infrastructure] to Webflow.
- Improving their brand appearance with a better built website.
- Helping them grow their business through Webflow.
These topics are essential when selling our value as a Client-First Webflow developer.
Selling Client-First
The first step is to understand the lead's problem.
What does the lead want?
What does the lead want to improve or fix?
Understanding these answers will help us shape our pitch for Client-First. We only want to share Client-First information that our lead is interested in.
For example, if our lead says they will never touch Webflow Designer, we will not start our pitch by explaining how they can benefit from reading the classes or learning Client-First.
Instead, we may start talking about how it will be easy for other Webflow developers to onboard themselves to the site. Maintenance will be easier, regardless of who works on the project next. Client-First comes with extensive documentation and is designed around a low learning curve.
Below we go through the two primary use cases we see from post-launch management — I want to scale the Webflow project internally, and I want to scale the project with a Webflow professional.
Client: I want to scale the Webflow project internally
In this example, the client wants to scale the website themself or with their internal team.
If our client wants to control future website updates, our sales strategy should focus on helping our client achieve that initiative.
Of our Client-First goals above, we may want to focus on these four —
Enable someone to make big changes to the Webflow project
Share your screen while using Webflow Designer. Show the lead a Client-First project that you have built in the past. Explain the level of organization and clarity that Client-First offers.
Show how small changes can make a significant change on the website. For example, changing the container-large and padding-global classes. Show significant, simple-to-manage changes that can make a big impact in the project.
Enable someone to read most classes in the project and understand their purpose
Show the lead the simple naming of classes. Show Folders and logical naming convention in Client-First. Explain how class names are named for non-technical Webflow users to understand.
Enable someone to scale the website based on the organization in the project
Show a symbol system, CMS system, and any optimizations inside a Client-First project to help build more pages or sections. Show the lead how quick it is to do something to grow the website. Show the style guide and how all utility styles are organized on one Draft page.
Enable someone to learn our Webflow Style System if they wish to do so
Some leads do want to learn Webflow and fully control their Webflow project. Understanding the Client-First docs can help them understand their Webflow project on a new level.
Show the lead the extensive Client-First, docs, resources, content, and community impact. Our delivered Webflow project comes with a style guide with the project's styles and comprehensive documentation outlining the mentality behind the project build.
Client: I want to scale the project with a Webflow professional
Enable our client to continue working with us effectively
If we offer any maintenance or post-project service, we want to enable our client to continue working with us on the project. We want maintenance to be a fast, efficient, and enjoyable process. If we used Client-First correctly, we have just built a website that enables us to:
- Make meaningful changes to the Webflow project.
- Read most classes in the project and understand their purpose, even months after development.
- Scale the website based on the organization in the project.
The invitation to continue working with our lead post-launch should be part of our sales strategy.
A website is rarely a "build and done" project. It often requires updates and maintenance work. Leads want to know they have someone to rely on after completing the website project.
Explain to them how Client-First enables you to work faster and make more meaningful updates after the website launches. Client-First will lead to an effective post-project relationship.
Enable our client to find maintenance for the project with a different Webflow developer
For many reasons, we may not be the developers continuing to build inside the project. We must always think of "the next person" that manages the build after us — even if it's a developer we do not know.
Webflow developers that already use Client-First will be able to start working on the project quickly. The system is meant for project development between different developers.
The amount of available Webflow professionals using Client-First is high and will continue to grow. This will enable our client to find a different developer who understands the site.
Webflow developers who do not use Client-First can pick up the system more quickly. We focus on organization and named classes, which lowers the learning curve.
Community impact
Many Webflow developers have shared positive comments around Client-First. We have hundreds of tweets, posts, and messages showing powerful reinforcement of Client-First Style System.
Feedback and testimonials are important selling tools. Have our lead understand that you are not the only Webflow developer that uses Client-First. There's a large community of Webflow professionals that love it.
Always deliver your promises
This page explains how we can use Client-First to improve the sales and leverage it to close more project sales. We must be honest and make the right promises during the sales process.
The content above is about making promises. We promise that we will:
- Fix X problem for our client.
- Build an organized, scalable site.
- Maintain the project efficiently and at a low cost.
We must follow through with these promises if we make them during the sales process.
Do not make promises in the sales process that we cannot keep.
It is better to lose the sale and be honest than win the sale and make a promise that we cannot keep.
Always make sure that we are making promises that we can keep and deliver. This mindset is crucial to building and growing a business.
More on sales
F'in Growth
Check out F'in Growth live stream episodes related to sales. We have a lot of education around sales + Webflow.