Re: Advice for perpetuity?

At 04:32 PM 5/22/01 -0500, Judith C. Kallos wrote:
> >- snipped -<
>
>I was just wondering how you all handled these situations 
>effectively.  This is the kind of stuff I think many of us struggle with 
>and I would be most interested in how you voice these concerns to your 
>clients when they call and you know what they want.......free advice 
>because you developed their site 3 years ago.

> >- snipped -<
--

I always end up regretfully referring them on to somebody else - unless 
they have changed as much as we have in the intervening 4-5 years. 5 Years 
ago we were struggling to get started, learning how to quote, learning how 
to stay in business :). We built websites for clients at rates that we 
could not afford now, some in barter, some for free just for the 
experience. These clients were too cheap, or too small to afford a larger, 
more experienced web firm, hence they took a big chance on us, some 
thinking: "what have we got to lose?"

Don't get me wrong - we appreciated the opportunity and without them we may 
never have gotten off the ground.

If those clients are still thinking the same way today, then they will have 
a really hard time paying us the rate we charge everyone else. In some ways 
I feel responsible for creating a co-dependency, where they think that all 
web services should be delivered at the rate they got it before, so I try 
to explain how things have changed, how it takes a little more money to 
keep a fully staffed shop, with computers and software, and paying people 
enough that they do the job reliably and repeatedly. I explain that we will 
not be around to help them or anybody if we don't price properly, and I ask 
how comfortable they would feel in the dentists' chair if they knew he was 
doing it for free, or as a hobby?

I have tried - I would treat them like a brand new client, generate a 
proposal, manage their expectations, but sooner or later either they slip 
into the old habit of trying to get it for free, or we slip into the old 
habit of giving it away for free - even worse! Very rarely it works - when 
the client started at the same time as us and they have grown too, learning 
as they go to budget for professional services. Even then, there is a 
constant feeling of discomfort, almost guilt, that we owe them something. 
As I said at the beginning, I think the rational thing should be to refer 
them on to somebody else, if only to preserve the friendship that has 
developed in the intervening years.

Thank you for your patience with my rambling.

Cheers

Kevin Jackson

--
Biz-Zone Internet Group Inc.
Web developers, publishers and consultants.
http://www.biz-zone.com/ - Mailto:kevin(at)biz-zone.com
Phone: (905)888-0002 - Fax: (416)946-1328

HTML: hwg-business mailing list archives, maintained by Webmasters @ IWA