News: Client Work

sorry all, 

I have literally not had the time recently to post on here recently, but that doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten! I’ve been seeing a lot of client’s recently, and this has made me decide to write a post on it. As we all know the R word (recession) is happening day in and day out, and getting clients to part with their money is a some what difficult, or even impossible at times to get sorted out. So here’s a few things to consider.

Speculative Work

A lot of people will disagree with me, I also haven’t had to do this yet, or even ever, but that’s more luck than anything else. If you have clients who are potentially interested in work, it might be an idea to hang a carrot in front of them by creating a not perfect, but good mock of how their website ‘could’ look, and ‘could’ is the keyword we are using here. Of course being the amazing designer that you are, it’ll be enough to get them to commit, and if they do commit you’ve already got some of the work complete, and if not, well chances are it can be used for another potential client OR its a 3 or 4 hrs of wasted time. But if your lacking in clients anyway, it will be time you wouldn’t have got paid for anyway.

Friendly Phone Calls

One you’ve knocked your proposal up, or you’ve had a few phone calls, or expecting an email they haven’t sent straight away. One thing you can do is call them, about once per week, if not 10 days, and just follow up. Just say something like “have you had time to think about X.X”. You don’t want the client to feel pressured, but you also don’t want to them to forget about you either! If you haven’t got anywhere after 3 calls, I tend to give up to be honest, and then drop them an email asking them to get back to you when they are free regarding X work.

Client Meetings

It’s your one and only impression to get tis work. If your new the game you may even be a bit nervous. Remember it’s not a job interview, but you are still trying to sell yourself, and your services, and generally speaking people will choose the work of the person they like, even if the price isn’t the ‘best price’. Don’t over dress either, you want to be typically just a little smarter than they are. If your in a suit and they are in a suit, then its usually no problem, but if they are dressed down, perhaps overall etc if that’s their industry, then a high powered suit look isn’t going to woooo them. I even attend some clients in a jean’s and smart shirt format, especially for those I’m not entirely sure on. Obviously if in doubt, go smarter rather than more casual. Also empathy is your biggest friend. Also make sure I’ve got a good supply of good coffee, and plenty of biscuits, like you, your clients are likely busy people and often pleased to receive some light refreshments.

Quotes

Break down quotes to core modules, i.e the website, then the optional modules can include any specialist features that they have already requested, custom forms, code or other complex features. They don’t tend to turn those down seeing thats why they have contacted you in the first place. Also explain the benefits of a SLA (service level agreement) if they are a large client, basically offering them a number of changes per month, and extra changes beyond that at a lower rate. If they are smaller clients, explain that option but say that the option doesn’t suit them and that you wont oversell to them because your a nice guy (like me).

Hope these tips help.

In other news:

• We’re sponsoring / hosting a web design conference called ‘Web Source’ next year (in East Anglia), will release more details as I get them.
• Will try and spend more time posting on here, I’ve missed it!
• Bill has been consumed by Actionscript, but I will try and get him to do a tutorial. I also will see if my good friend Matt will do some 3d tutorials.