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Freelancers vs Article 10
7 Jul 2009
Dale Smith, co-founder of Article 10, shares his thoughts on the hot topic of freelancers vs Article 10.
"The other day I was invited in to talk to the Production Manager of one of the UK's leading and longest standing design and advertising agencies. It was no different to the kind of meeting I do all the time essentially telling the team about the power and potential of PowerPoint and Word and how they could use it to add value to their client's projects. I also demonstrated lots of work we'd done on behalf of other agencies and talked about how we could help them offer better solutions and make more money on projects by working with us. The meeting was good - the client seemed really impressed with the work, asked loads of questions, we discussed some intricacies of working together and it seemed like we might have yet another agency to partner with. Great! Until... The client looked me straight in the eye and said, "Why should I use you guys rather than get a freelancer in for half the price?".
In my 13 years of being in this industry, I'm not sure I'd ever been asked that question. I was shocked, yet at the same time I was absolutely delighted. Not only was this chap completely on the level with us (which is a fantastic quality to have in a client), but he asked the question I'd been wanting to formally answer for years. It's the question that I know is on pretty much every agency client’s - and sometimes corporate client's - mind before they work with us for the first time. It's the question I've always thought people just weren't brave enough to ask in a meeting but always desperately wanted to.
The good news was that despite my shock of being asked outright in a meeting, I was totally prepared for the answer. I'd been thinking about it since I started the business 4 years ago. It was something that Article 10 has to constantly address to ensure we continue to do what we do. In fact, at the end of last year when the recession was pointing down a seemingly bottomless pit of doom and UK businesses stopped spending, I spent a huge amount of time thinking about our proposition and competition - no different from any other business owner I'd imagine. So, when I opened my mouth in response, I was conscious that my answer could make or break this relationship. Not only that, but, if he didn't like it or believe it, he was going to hang a massive question mark over a big part of our business. Luckily I didn't actually consider that last part at the time - probably a good thing really.
So out it came. My thoughts and experiences of companies using freelancers versus Article 10. Considering the amount of thought I'd given this topic over the years, my response was actually reasonably short(ish), and made a lot of sense out loud (which was good). I explained that creating good quality solutions using PowerPoint and Word is something everyone thinks they can do but very few can actually do very well. Freelancers in this industry tend to have a very wide and diverse skillset. They have to ensure they can pick up a reasonable volume of work after all. Often they'll have a speciality in interactive or print etc but they'll generally take on pretty much anything they can get their hands on. Very few however (and I can probably count on a few fingers the number I've come across in my time) are specialists in PowerPoint or Word. However, when faced with a project in this area, they'll happily take it and muddle through. This however is where problems start. It's kind of like asking a general builder to replace a thatched roof, or asking a painter/decorator to paint a mural. It kind of fits under their umbrella of services but frankly they're going to make a pigs ear of it and sooner or later an expert is going to be needed to repair the damage or at worst start again. The projects tend to be very difficult to manage, never produce good results and often take twice the amount of time and budget as originally thought. In addition to this, there's obviously all the other benefits of working with a company over a sole trader - a dedicated project management team, back up developers for unexpected sick days, organised admin and accounting, plus, companies don't tend to don a pair of flip flops and travel the world for a year. It was like opening a tube of pringles - once I'd started, I found it really difficult to stop.
When I concluded my thoughts, there were no other questions and the meeting was drawn to a close. I felt pretty happy about the meeting and especially the answer to that particular question. I just hoped the client could see the sense it made and not just see the initial cost difference between us and freelancers to be the be all and end all which sometimes happens. I just hoped that he'd realise we are always going to be the so much better, quicker and often a cheaper option in the long term for his forthcoming projects. We shook hands and I left.
The next day I had an email waiting for me. It was from the client and it contained a project brief. Happy days. "
