Afterwork FLUPA: Selling UX-Design

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I was present during the workshop “Selling UX-Design” organized by FLUPA in the premises of Laptop on May 6, hosted by Pauline Thomas.
The room was already full when I arrived and there was not much room left. We were about thirty participants.
To begin, Raphaël Yharrassarry and Hervé Mischler introduced us to the FLUPA association (France-Luxembourg User experience Professionals' Association), followed by a tour of the “room” to quickly get to know all the participants and their expectations. The debate on UX-Design and “selling UX”, passing through some Troll concerning the belonging and the direct link of UX-Design with marketing, then quickly took hold.
In the middle of this debate, one question is heard more than the others, “Who in the assembly at a training salesman?” Interesting question, especially when looking to sell UX-Design, but the majority of people present don't have one.
The debate continues and allows some ideas to emerge, in particular that according to which companies may be afraid of choosing the wrong UX-Designer, because they often wonder how to define that one UX-Designer is better than another. Above all, you have to satisfy the stakeholders and it is not useful to go into the details of the different design stages. So, we must not sell the means, but sell the result and provide reassurance.
Flupa - Selling UX - Working GroupPeople have a lot to say and a recurring question comes up again: “how to explain what UX-Design is”? However, to cut short the sterile debate, Raphaël proposes to set up a workshop. The idea is therefore to ask everyone to write one or more questions on post-its and post them on the wall. Then, depending on the questions, bring out major themes and form groups of volunteers to explore each of the themes.
Five themes are then put forward:

  • Raise awareness, train, evangelize.
  • Sales technique, vocabulary, good people.
  • What are we selling? Whose ?
  • ROI / KPI, the evidence.

All the groups therefore had around thirty minutes to discuss and come up with ideas which will then be presented in front of everyone.
Below are all the different ideas proposed by each of the groups:
Raise awareness, train, evangelize
Involve all teams.
Display tips regarding UX-Design on the coffee machine.
Create posters.
Set up an immersion day.
Present good examples, videos of use.
Print UX-Design card sets.
Present feedback.
Sales technique, vocabulary, good people
Engage and work with the client.
Highlight methodological expertise.
The right people to involve are the most senior managers, otherwise there is a risk of blockage.
It is necessary to popularize, avoid acronyms and Anglicisms.
What are we selling? Whose ?
We sell a tailor-made transversal approach.
Emphasize reputation, references, training and certifications
It is important to involve prospects in workshops.
You have to sell a package and avoid going into too much detail, the tests must be included.
ROI / KPI, the evidence
We can highlight the gain brought to companies and the amount that can be saved.
It is therefore necessary to be able to quantify a saving or a gain and define whether it is a one-time or long-term gain.
The other elements on which to rely are the gains in development costs, operating costs and selling costs, it is then necessary to position the UX-Design on one of these 3 gains.
For example it is possible to say that the wireframes allow a gain of development and exploitation.
By reducing misunderstandings in interfaces, it is possible to reduce calls to hotlines and therefore, it is possible to reduce operating costs.
barcamp_flupaIn conclusion, a very interesting barcamp / afterwork format. It made it possible to meet other UX-Designers and to share with them a set of ideas around the same subject. It was all the more interesting that, exceptionally, this afterwork was free, which made it possible to test and find out if it was worth investing in a membership card (Flupa become a member). Regarding the next meeting in Paris, it will be the FLUPA UX-Day, June 11 and 12, which allows me to remind you that UX-Republic is the platinum sponsor of the event.
Yannick Bonnieux – UX-Evangelist @UX-Republic
Photo credit: Pauline Thomas