Most design firms are founded by someone who designs—that is to say, someone who is actively involved in producing the creative work being sold to clients. In addition, it’s very common for that founder to be responsible for all marketing and sales during the early years of the business. The owner personally solicits new clients, then leads each project while the work is being done. This approach works very well as long as the company remains small. However, if the firm grows, the founder’s personal workload will gradually increase to the point where this broad mix of responsibilities must be sorted out. Some things will have to be delegated or else the overall size of the company will be limited to the individual work capacity of the owner.

When the time comes to sort out the hats, the founder will have the luxury of deciding what to keep and what to delegate to other people. This involves making a choice between a role that is primarily internal (leading the creative process) and one that is primarily external (representing the firm to the business community). As designers, many founders choose to remain involved in the hands-on creative work. This means that someone else, often a new hire, will be charged with new business development. This is a fundamental change and it brings with it a number of important challenges.

If a new employee is going to be given the responsibility for marketing and sales, the transition must be planned very carefully.

Advance preparation is necessary to set expectations and establish a structure that will meet the needs of the firm and enable the new person to succeed. Good planning will help prevent confusion, make it easier to gauge performance, and reduce the possibility of disputes and disagreements. Here’s what you should do to prepare:

UPDATE YOUR OVERALL MARKETING STRATEGY
Start by taking a look at your current mix of clients and services. Is there anything that you would like to change? Young firms tend to take shape in a reactive way, accepting any project that comes along, but established firms become much more proactive—aggressively pursuing certain types of work that might not come in the door otherwise. To become more proactive, you must first articulate your strategy. Is growth an objective or do you want the size of your firm to remain the same? What are your plans for existing relationships? Usually these are referred to as “house accounts” and they have a certain amount of momentum carrying them forward. Requests for additional work on existing accounts usually come directly to the creative team. Chances are that your new marketing person will not be involved in existing relationships, but be specifically charged with finding new clients in certain categories. What do you want those categories to be, and what credibility does your firm currently have in those new areas?