I would like to give an overview of the strategy I am working on and implementing with my ThomasSmart.com/hk Brand.
I was looking for a name for this strategy and thought to use the term "Spider-web strategy". However I recently found out that this is a term already used in multilevel marketing - a scam I do not want to be associated with. So for now I guess the strategy will just have to be nameless.
First off, I know I am not the only one implementing this strategy or something similar. A friend of mine in Hong Kong as been working on a similar set-up and I'm sure others have too. I feel it is a strategy that is a perfect match for the current day and age with fast internet, international markets and many great freelancers and sole traders.
The strategy makes for very low minimal overhead. Basically just my own living costs and some required business costs like the mandatory insurances, bank costs, internet, phone and some administration costs. The remaining overhead grows and shrinks with the work load. When I was still owner of BE inspired (which had the classic employees formula) we had a minimum project requirement of about 3-4 projects a month to break even. And there was a limit on the amount of projects we could handle in a month. My current minimum requirement is less than 1 project a month and almost has no maximum project limit.
The strategy consists of basically two networks. One network contains freelance account managers and the other network is freelance designers, developers, copywriters, translators and various other specialists located all over the world. The freelance specialist network is continuously growing and shrinking. With some freelancers leaving for fixed positions or getting too busy and new freelancers being tested, evaluated and included in the team. The implementation of the account manager network is phased so that it can be grown and evaluated step by step over time.
The task of account managers is to market the ThomasSmart.com brand, acquire new clients, manage these clients and document their projects. This is basic documentation and not technical, basically just function wish lists from a user perspective described as clearly and completely as possible. The account managers need some marketing experience, client handling skills, project management experience and some insights and experience with basic technical concepts of web applications. They need to know, and stay updated on, what is possible in this area. Payment of account managers is by percentage. They receive 20% of every invoice sent to the client for as long as they are managing the client. This is quite a high fee compared to other companies that work with account managers in this way but it is the result of a simple calculation applied to my overall work flow.
Phase 1 for the account manager network is account managers in a couple of key countries. Mainly the Netherlands where my brand is already well known and the UK where I have a reasonable network. The goal is to give each account manager exclusivity for a certain area within their country. About one account manager per six million people. So in the Netherlands we will have three account managers, currently there are two active and we are looking for a third. And in the UK we will have about 10, positions are available and we are talking to a few possible candidates. We also advise account managers within a country to work together as much as possible and to have regular conferences or meetings to go over marketing ideas and various insights.
Our expectations from account managers is that they sell about 400 production hours a month. For ThomasSmart.com this is the equivalent of 6 tiny projects (small tools, widgets, seo), 4 small projects (design work, simple websites, seo&sea), 2 medium projects (full website, small web application), 1 large project (e-commerce, web application) or 1 very large project (major web application) over 2 or more months. Once the account manager has optimized their work flow and are used to the formula, our strategies and possibilities, obtaining 400 hours a month should take no longer than 2 days work a week.
Aiming for this amount of hours and not more helps the account managers maintain a reasonably steady flow of work and makes it easier for them to plan projects and marketing efforts. With each account manager maintaining about 400 hours a month this makes for an even smoother flow of hours for the entire country and an almost perfectly smooth overall flow for the whole company.
As mentioned, each account manager draws up basic project documentation with the client. They go over ideas and advise and help the client to visualize what they are looking for by carefully evaluating target audience and the goal of the project. This documentation is then sent to me. With my technical background and experience I can further specify this document into a full technical briefing for a project. Then I put together and international team of senior freelancer specialists best suited to the project and work with them to create a quote and planning. This goes back to the account manager who quotes this to the client and goes over the details. Once the account manager gets an agree work can begin and the project is planned in. Some projects the freelancers work together as a team and on other projects each freelancer will just handle their assigned section.
In phase 2 for the account manager network we will expand to other western European countries - the Scandinavian countries, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Spain, Switzerland and Austria. We are also looking at possibilities in eastern Europe. We advertise online for the vacancy (www.thomassmart.com/vacancy) and, if required, will employ head hunters and job agencies to help find the new members of our team.
Phase 3, once we get a certain amount of work-flow from a single country or a cluster of countries together will will assign a regional manager for that area. This manager's function is similar to a CTO. He will take over part of my work in translating the functional requirements to a technical document and briefing. This is then passed to me for inspection and I select the freelance team to go with it and get the quote. It will also be the manager's job to think up marketing ideas for his markets and to have regular conferences with all account managers in his region as to stay up to date on their expectations for the coming months and any questions or ideas they may have.
Phase 4 will be to expand to other regions such as America, Australia and Japan. Using the same formula of 1 account manager per 6-10 million persons and a regional manager once a certain target has been met.
Overall this strategy provides:
- Minimal overhead
- Step by step growing, nationally and internationally
- Smooth flow of work
- Space to expand as work increases and almost no maximum capacity
If you are interested in this strategy or more details or if you are interested in a freelance position in either network please don't hesitate to contact me. www.thomassmart.com/CONTACT.html
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