1 Getting the client's respect

It’s obvious that you’re pitching at far more involved projects with far bigger budgets that I am, however I’ve also found in my experience that saying “no” to a client is a great way to gain the client’s respect. It shows that you care about what you’re doing and reminds them that they’ve engaged the services of a professional who can afford to risk losing a project rather than go down a route they know to be wrong. At that point the reaction of the client tends to be “huh, maybe I’d best listen to what I’m being told” and the relationship magically changes for the better.

posted at 11:26 am on October 20, 2009 by Phil Houghton

2 You are SO right - also consider a "test drive".

Your tips and overall view could not be more on-target. Nicely done. We practice many (if not all… yeah, probably “all”) of your tips on a regular basis. In cases where we just are not yet certain about a client, we are trying something new: Taking the client for a test-drive. We do this with a proposal to complete a small bit of work – the very first steps in a project – for a modest fee and relatively quick schedule. The result of this small bit of work is a comprehensive “design document” that details the needs, goals, expectations and visual aesthetic for the project. This provides an opportunity for us to learn how the client will respond and collaborate prior to making a long-term commitment. This has provided us with value in two significant ways:
1) If the client balks at the idea of this preliminary step, we say good-bye.
2) At the completion of this work, we know what to expect from the client. THEN we can vote “yay” or “nay” on a long-term relationship.

This practice also provides the client with value – they get to learn if they like the way YOU work, too. The best projects come with few surprises, and this is a nice way to avoid biggies.

posted at 12:01 pm on October 20, 2009 by Eddie Sutton

3

How does 5-6 months break down? Are we talking sites like the NYT? I can believe it there, but it seems excessive for anything but the largest corporate clients.

posted at 12:23 pm on October 20, 2009 by grayrest

4

From my 15 years of experience in the IT sector as freelancer and small company owner I happily agree with your 5-signs.
But to sum it up: Be sure that your counterpart is “professional”. If not, be sure they have a big budget to compensate for their beginner mistakes.

Offer additional services like project management or quality assurance if necessary. And if you can agree upon partial payments every customer will become a good customer over time.

posted at 12:33 pm on October 20, 2009 by proxiss

5 The questionnaire is a great filter

Agreed on all points. Time frame wise 5-6 months is nice to have but may be too much for most projects. I would usually break down projects in 2-4 month periods, depending on complexity, technology and so forth. Guess I need bigger clients who play in the larger ballpark.

posted at 12:36 pm on October 20, 2009 by Cristian

8

Greg:

What a superb article! Thank you for sharing your advice and experiences.

You had me at the title: “Getting to No” is the perfect description of what finding good web work is actually like. Repeatedly saying no to jam tomorrow, too-good-to-be-true offers, and patiently waiting for the good stuff to find you.

Of the five red flags, project duration seems the most difficult to reconcile: I often encounter people who have no idea that you could spend even three months on a web design project. And as you say, successful projects tend to take closer to six.

Agencies themselves are partially to blame here, by setting ridiculous client expectations. Thank you (Greg, Zeldman, Happy Cog) for continuing to set a good example, and for making the effort to spread the word about sustainable business practices.

posted at 02:18 pm on October 20, 2009 by Jonathan Kahn

9 17 Days??

I have just started in this industry, and am already finding this out. This month, I had an inquiry wanting some rework on his website by month’s end. I told the customer I’m booked through January, but if it was very small, I might be able to help him out. I sent him my questionnaire, and his response showed that he was actually looking for a complete redesign and the addition of e-commerce capabilities—in 17 days!! I politely told him I could not accommodate him, and that I agreed with the other several designers he’d already talked to that said they could not do this task.

Dodged a bullet…

posted at 02:58 pm on October 20, 2009 by jfceb3

10 Avoiding the blamers

Great article..the quesitonnaire is a great idea. One red flag that I ignored was a new propsect who blamed every designer he had ever had in the past. If you are talking with a prospect who shoots down all of his/her previous designers, BEWARE..it’s the client who is the common denominator. Get up and walk out. I didn’t do this. It was a very negative relationship and I finally “fired” the client go to save my sanity.

posted at 04:41 pm on October 20, 2009 by karen@grovesdesign.net