I'm looking to get a company logo made. What can I do to make it as painless as possible for me and the designer I hire?

I'm looking to get a company logo made. I have a decent idea of what I want but I'm terrible at putting visual thoughts into words.

There's a local design studio I'm looking at who charges about $400 base price for a company logo. I've looked through their portfolio and I like their work. They've done a couple of logos that are of the same feel that I want.

Other than just taking a pile of examples, what's the best way to make sure this process goes as smoothly as possible for everyone involved? I want to pay what's deserved for the work but at the same time I have a limited budget for this at the moment and I would like to ensure it doesn't get dragged out on account of my ignorance or poor planning/communication. Basically I want the highest chance of getting what I want early on.

Any tips from designers would be appreciated. What do you wish more clients knew before coming to you for design work?

Great design resource

100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People (Voices That Matter) Submitted September 17, 2015 at 12:22AM by HittingSmoke http://ift.tt/1LhKVCI