Looking forward to 2009?

There are not many forecasters who are predicting a happy time for the design industry in 2009. The credit crunch is now upon us and talk has turned to the dreaded “R” word – recession. After 12 years of economic growth there will be many in the design industry who have not experienced a proper recession if it eventually arrives. Even if the economy does not start to slide backwards we are undoubtedly going to experience what the economic commentators call a “strong economic downturn”. For many sectors such as construction and finance it has already arrived – resulting in marketing and design budgets being slashed or put on hold.

Do you have what it takes to make it through to the other side? By the time the upturn arrives will you emerge stronger and fitter for business or will you have gone to the wall? To help you understand and make the difficult decisions that are going to come your way in the next year you need to attend this DBA Business Briefing featuring Adrian Rasdall of Revenue Matters and Tom Foulkes, head of development marketing (Retail), Land Securities - Design Week's Client of the Year.

What happens if the work starts to dry up? Adrian Radall

•  How viable is your business? Is it liquid enough to withstand the squeeze?

•  You need two plans – A) Trading your way out and B) Cutting your way out

•  Where you look to trade out of a downturn

•  Where you look to cut costs

•  The costs of trading out compared to the costs of cutting

•  Redundancies – expensive and emotional. How they should really be handled

•  Loving your clients – and blocking the competition

•  How cutting the fat makes you stronger for the when the upturn arrives

•  The pit-falls you have to avoid

How to make your clients love you - Tom Foulkes

As Design Week's Client of the Year Tom has dealt with many design agencies. Some have left him a bit underwhelmed and reluctant to use them again, while others have him singing their praises. With this experience he has put together the 5 ways to make your clients love you - essential advice considering that clients with money to spend will become scarce over the next year.

Don't just take our word for it

Adrian recently featured as one of the speakers at the Business Briefing on this subject in London on the 9 September. Here is some feedback from that event

"An event that changed my attitude towards any impending recession - now bring it on!" Andrea Bantar, Blaze Design

"No matter how much you think you know, there is always something else the DBA can tell you!" Nigel Davies, 300 Million

"I definitely walked away feeling more prepared and less nervous. Advice that was good for a business at any time - not just the hard times." Heidi Lightfoot, Together

Speaker Biography

- Adrian Rasdall, Revenue Matters

Adrian is an experienced design professional who has built and run his own successful companies - such as Masterstoke Design in the 1980's, IDL and Funhouse in the 1990's and The Brandworks in 2000. He currently owns The One Brand Group.

In 2001 Adrian formed Revenue Matters to become a turnaround and business improvement specialist. He has worked on major business turn-arounds and has been involved in 21 deals buying or selling businesses. His understandings of not just process and finance issues within design companies, but also of the nitty-gritty of human interaction, ensures the relevance and success of the solutions he brings to companies.