Won a design bid by sharing my rough sketches instead of polished comps

Last month I was competing for a rebrand project with a local coffee chain in Austin. Three other agencies were in the running, all bigger than my one-person shop. Instead of spending two weeks perfecting shiny mockups, I just showed up with my messy pencil sketches and explained my thinking out loud. The owner said she liked that she could see the work in progress instead of feeling like she was buying a finished product she couldn't touch. I got the contract for $4,500 and realized being transparent about your process can actually win trust. Has anyone else had luck showing rough drafts early in a pitch?

2 comments

2 Comments

val_taylor35m ago

Whoa, I'm gonna play the other side here - clients who see rough drafts often get cold feet because they can't visualize the end result and start second-guessing the whole thing. Doesn't that risk you spending way more time explaining than actually selling?

grant5692h ago

4500 bucks for showing some doodles? Man, I need to start bringing napkin sketches to my pitches (and stop overthinking everything). I once pitched a logo by literally drawing it on a whiteboard in front of the client, and they loved it because they felt like part of the process. Then I charged them for a full polished version later and they didn't even care it looked almost the same. Rough drafts are basically a magic trick where you show them your cards and they think you're a wizard.