Bad Clients

[Design-Disaster]

After researching and planning a site for a client I did a quote for x amount of pounds and he turned around and said 'I thought these things were build for like £50!!!"

What do you say to them? P*ss Off? Laugh? What do you do when nobody values your products?

[Arkady]

Question one must always be, "whats your budget?"

[PR Design]

Originally Posted by Design-Disaster

What do you say to them?

"It was nice meeting you..."

[D856C]

This is really a tedious perennial -- it's really less about bad clients than designers being extraordinarily poor business people. (I'm actually toying with the idea of suggesting a ban on designers being allowed to talk to clients about business issues, ever ...just on general principle.)

Legend has it that Pablo Picasso was sketching in the park when a bold woman approached him.

"It's you -- Picasso, the great artist! Oh, you must sketch my portrait! I insist."

So Picasso agreed to sketch her. After studying her for a moment, he used a single pencil stroke to create her portrait. He handed the women his work of art.

"It's perfect!" she gushed. "You managed to capture my essence with one stroke, in one moment. Thank you! How much do I owe you?"

"Five thousand dollars," the artist replied.

"B-b-but, what?" the woman sputtered. "How could you want so much money for this picture? It only took you a second to draw it!"

To which Picasso responded, "Madame, it took me my entire life."

-- Should you charge by the project or the hour?

This situation is evidence of a faulty website designs which 1) Fails the business objective of filtering consumers shopping for Template Monster alternatives from real customers. 2) Fails to use copy to educate and build value before dumping a "Portfolio" link in the visitor's lap. 3) Become a self-fulfilling prophecy of the "misunderstood artist"

Well sorry to say, most people can't honestly use the Pablo Picasso answer and they ain't Picassos. Luckily there is a simple, three-step alternative.

Looking at the vast majority of designer sites, the objective seems clear: Supply fodder for "customers don't value what I do" gripe threads. Nothing else. Certainly not articulating a business proposition, or providing the informative context for uninformed users to understand from scratch websites are not templates.

It is also compelling evidence the last person you should have designing your website is the average designer who doesn't understand the business dimension of website design. In other words, if this is an isolated incident, chalk it up as a fluke. If it's happening with uncomfortable frequency, trying doing something different.

1) Have an objective for your website. Designer sites are notoriously lacking in the business dimension. A List Apart summed this up nicely with Never Get Involved in a Land War in Asia (or Build a Website for No Reason)

Let me clear up some misconceptions ....A site to "have a site" is a site without purpose -- user perceived price: like £50. ....A site which leans on the user as the hardest working part is a site without purpose -- user perceived price: like £50. ....A site which does not explicitly explain the value a designer brings to the table and depends on user telepathy is purposeless -- user perceived price: like £50. ....A site that has boilerplate copy, and has layouts that look like what you see on template sites is, to user perception, a template -- user perceived price: like £50.

A simple objective would be: To clearly answer the question why customers shouldn't pay you £50.

2) Get out of the template business. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck -- it's a duck as far as most reasonable people can tell. That's the same for templates. People know what a template costs. They know your stuff looks good, just like the templates they saw. ...So you do the duck math. Your site must in no uncertain terms differentiate "template" and "from scratch" sites ...and do it in terms the uninformed consumer can understand and appreciate. Most don't.

Having a site to have a site or to show a portfolio is an excuse for having a website, not a reason or coherent purpose.

3) Get into the Web Design Business. Most people who would swear on a stack of bibles to the contrary really aren't in the web design business. They are in the discount PhotoShop/Dreamweaver operator business. They aren't designing anything -- they're taking dictation -- user perceived price: like £50.

A bookend A List Apart article is practical design heresy: Calling All Designers: Learn to Write! If I wanted to feel fairly secure in keeping a web designer away from something, I wouldn't encrypt it -- I'd put it somewhere within the entire section A List Apart has on writing as interface. No designer would ever touch it.

You don't become a designer by mispronouncing the words "programmer" or "graphic artist." You become a designer by learning interaction design principles and explaining to potential customers why most pretty site layouts are horrible designs. You back that up with facts about the things customers care about like conversions to sales. Graphic artists don't know how, but designers who understand visual merchandising techniques do.

Truth be told, the vast majority of people calling themselves designers could not explain an interaction design principle of interface design to save their lives. The vast majority could not even imagine how to conduct a user test correctly even if the fate of their business hangs in the balance. ...And it shows up in pricing squabbles with clients.

....Want to stick to and concentrate on what you know? That's perfectly understandable and acceptable. Joint venture with a copywriter. Joint venture with an interaction designer. Joint venture with a business consultant on web strategy, content strategy, and marketing strategy. And redesign your business to be a design business instead of a template business.

And if you can't do that, for whatever reason, then take the £50 and be grateful.

[blueocto]

D856C why do always give us a story-time instead of a really straightforward answer? lol

I would explain to the client your rate, how you came to the workings out of your proposed amount and see what he says.
I think alot of the time they assume, because they don't know. So if you can provide a simple explanation as to why it will cost him xx pounds, then he might appreciate it more?

[Toon]

I love dealing with professional American clients they always want to pay you something up front, here in the UK we're all too suspicious of getting ripped off but I usually find US companies like to pay for a good service.

[D856C]

So if you can provide a simple explanation as to why it will cost him xx pounds, then he might appreciate it more?

Could happen. (Short enough?)

[bhushan]

I would prefer not to work with them.

Also we would end up sending more time on their projects because they will make most out of us, they would ask for several (unnecessary) revisions / reworks etc.
I had an similar experience. Anyways that just me opinion.