# Interview A08: packaging design studio, 5 staff
Participant: founder and creative director. Interviewer: our co-founder. 22 minutes, lightly edited.

**Interviewer:** How do new clients find you?

**Participant:** Almost entirely word of mouth. Food and drink brands talk to each other. Someone launches a range, their packaging does well on the shelf, and the next founder asks who did it. I'd say 95% referral. We've never done any outbound.

**Interviewer:** Is getting new clients a problem?

**Participant:** Getting them isn't. Handling them is. From September to December we turn work away every year, because that's when brands are briefing for spring launches. Last year I said no to, I think, eight projects. If you sent me ten more leads in October I'd have to say no to nine of them.

**Interviewer:** What about the rest of the year?

**Participant:** Quieter in summer, but it's fine. We use it for our own projects and to pitch the one or two clients we'd really love to work with. Those I go after personally. I'd never send them something automated.

**Interviewer:** What's the thing that would help the business grow?

**Participant:** Another senior designer. That's it. I've been trying to hire one for five months. The work is there. The people aren't.

**Interviewer:** If an AI could find and contact prospective clients for you, would that be useful?

**Participant:** For us? No. It would make my problem worse. I'm sure it's useful for someone.