At New Leaf Digital, we employ a paid discovery model that we like to call roadmapping. Below, you’ll find information on why we favor this approach, its benefits, and why we recommend avoiding free proposals.
Background
As a clinician, would you let a new client tell you:
I’m pretty sure I’m suffering from [insert self-diagnosis]. I want to focus my treatment around that, no need for an evaluation!
Hopefully, you wouldn’t — why? Because you’d want to first understand (and possibly challenge) the underlying ideas that led your client to their conclusion before tailoring your approach around an assumption.
You likely offer a consultation for this very reason. You—and your potential client—have the opportunity to assess the fit and decide whether the relationship is worth continuing.
The same framework applies to digital marketing at New Leaf Digital. We use roadmapping projects to better understand the scope required, the problem we’re solving for the client, and the risks surrounding the project.
Wait, What Risks?
Roadmapping projects reduce the risk surrounding a project.
There are several kinds of risk at play:
- Cost risk: The risk of the money at stake when you implement a solution.
- Problem risk: The risk of solving the wrong problem and the costs and consequences of being wrong.
- Scope risk: The risk involved in completing the project. Have you ever hired an agency, and the project launched late and cost 50% more than expected? We both want the scope of the project de-risked.
- Relationship risk: The risk of you and the agency not working well together.
Just as it’s your job to listen to your client’s needs and offer the right tools to find a solution, roadmapping projects allow us to recommend the most accurate and specific solution.
Put simply, when you come to us with a need, a roadmapping project allows us to find the problem behind the need.
The Importance of Asking Questions
We use roadmapping projects to question and understand your needs and the assumptions behind those needs.
We do that by asking questions, like:
- “What’s been the effect of getting less organic traffic than you want?”
- “Why do you need a new website?”
- “What would success on this project look like?”
- “Let’s say we increase this metric by X. What would that mean for your
practice?” - “What have you already tried?”
By asking you these questions, we can understand the situation
that you’re experiencing. From there, we can determine the underlying
problem.
When we understand the problem you’re experiencing, we can then
identify:
- The ideal solution to your problem
- How to get from where you currently are (your current situation) to
where you want to be (the outcome you’re looking for)
Avoid Free Proposals
We recognize that other agencies and freelancers may offer to prepare a proposal immediately and for free. However, ask yourself:
How could their proposal be anything more than a guess until they’ve learned the details of your current situation and what you’re looking to accomplish?
With a roadmapping project, we’re starting with a small, focused initial project to understand your current situation and the outcome you’re looking for. Once that’s determined, we’ll be able to prepare a proposal along with our recommendations.
Projects that start with a roadmapping phase often have more accurate price quotes, more specific timelines, and greater success.
Conclusion
It’s a safe bet to say that you don’t want to invest thousands of dollars in a project only to find it isn’t leading to your desired outcome.
To summarize, roadmapping projects allow you to:
- Understand the cost of reaching your desired outcomes
- Have clarity on the timeline for your project and the milestones along the way
- Understand the steps involved, individually and collectively
- Build a relationship with an agency that prioritizes understanding your practice and recommending the right solution for your particular situation