Ted Leonhardt
Ted Leonhardt offers consulting & negotiation training for creative businesses since 2005.
Website tedleonhardt.com
Category Design Consultancies
Phone (206) 914-8338
Seattle, Bay Area
United States
News About Ted Leonhardt
Survive and Thrive: Five Recommendations for Mid-Size Design Firms
I've been visiting independent design firms and talking with owners and managers for several weeks now.
Ten Interviewing and Negotiation Tips for Creatives
You're a creative professional, a photographer, designer, web coder, event producer, etc., and you've spent your career developing your creative skills.
From Crafting to Consulting
Mary had just retired from a senior VP position with a major corporation. Now she finally had time to dedicate to jewelry making, a longtime passion.
How to Use Creative Power to Negotiate
Here's the dilemma. Our power to create is what makes us human. The results of human creativity are all around us.
Referral, Expertise, Inspiration, Summary: Close
Ben awoke at 4:00 am with that old familiar anxiety. It was pitch day.
Worth It: Online Negotiation Class for Designers
CreativeLive will host a free, interactive, multi-day class on negotiation and workplace communication for creative of all stripes - designers, photographers, musicians, actors, etc.
Worth It, Using Creative Vulnerability to Enhance Expertise
Creatives are more open to their personal vulnerabilities. Our work is personal.
Creatives: Establish Your Fee or Salary First
It's called throwing out an anchor. When you know the range and the scope of work it's to your advantage to establish your price first.
Uncovering the Issues
I paid the cab and hoped I'd landed at the right Starbucks. Matt sat in the corner focused on his iPad.
Nail It: Stories for Emerging Designers on Negotiating
Nail It, available for free at iTunes through January 15, is the first book to lead emerging designers to the salaries they deserve.
Ten Strategies for Negotiating Success for Creatives
A Virtuous Cycle is a series of events that result in a favorable outcome, over and over again.
Aligning Conflicting Agendas
A New York design consultancy is rebranding a 500 year-old Swiss specialty brand for the global market after its purchase by a Tokyo-based multi-national.
The Email
We won the assignment in a competition with two gigantic management consultancies and a global branding agency, an odd combination of competitors. And it wasn't on price either.
Inbound Call
I was having coffee with Barry, a long-time client, when he told me this story. He'd just returned from the first meeting with a new client who'd called him and said: "I want to work with your agency. Charge me what you need to charge, just don't hose me."
The Power Play
Julia's firm had worked intensely in preparation for this meeting with the VP. He was new and hadn't been involved in the project up to this point. Her client, Bill, said that the VP was a "real pro" and was extremely demanding.
Negotiating: The Procurement Effect
Fin led the team that designed the packaging for the client's most successful hair care brand, "Z." It resulted in sales of a $billion a year.
A Strategy for Successful Negotiations
By definition, a Virtuous Cycle is a series of events that result in a favorable outcome, time and again.
Three Keys To Increasing Your Design Fees: Confidence, Distance, Mutuality
Design firms routinely underprice their work. It seems as though they don't trust their own value, thinking, "If I can do it, it must be easy." Therefore "I don't dare ask for..." whatever.
Fit In, Stand Out, Stand Apart
In the high stakes game of new business this is how designers can win. Used well, you can move from having no leverage to holding all the cards.
Why Design Firms Must Leverage Their Right Brain
When I started in business I had no idea what "leverage" was, let alone how to use it. The prospect of negotiating a fee for my work terrified me, which is probably why I became a designer.
The Five Fears of Negotiating Design Fees
A few weeks ago I led a negotiation seminar with my colleague Charles Wiggins, who was my negotiation coach back in 1998. We hired him to improve The Leonhardt Group's ability to bargain with large corporate clients.
