[thelist] How would you respond to this client

[Steve Cook]

Ahhhh, politics :-)

One of the important things to remember in a situation like this is to not
get combative, but at the same time to be firm and stand up for yourself. I
guess however from your mail that you have been treading carefully up to now
and are now looking for a way to bring the project to a close in a way that
both you and he are happy.

I personally would probably take this opportunity to try and arrange a
meeting with the client. The point of the meeting should be to identify how
the site can be gotten to a point where it can be launched as painlessly for
you both as possible. It is fair for you to point out areas where your
ability to work has been slowed down by his actions (such as not delivering
images on time). I'm a little confused however by his comment about how long
"changes" have taken.

Be sure to identify what is remaining to do on the site before your meeting,
and to work out a realistic timeplan for completing this. If your timeplan
is dependent upon him in some areas, suggest that either he deliver within a
deadline, or that the site be launched without those areas and that they be
added after launch. Make the focus of the meeting completion of the site and
cooperation to make that happen.

Not knowing anything about the project, it looks at though he is very vague
in his requests. In such a case, you have to compensate for his vagueness by
being precise! Statements such as "PLEASE polish this site" quite simply
don't mean anything. Build a list of his requirements and work though it
methodically.

I hope this is some help. It sounds like a tough situation. Regarding money,
you should be careful to not allow him to have a copy of the site until you
are paid. It is pretty much standard (in the 3 web companies I have worked
in) to receive money before construction begins, at a key point during
development and on conclusion of the project. I feel that you have a case to
NOT launch the site until you are paid. Some clients however are extremely
good at delaying a launch for ever. I have found that getting an agreement
on a state for the site where it can be approved for launch and writing an
agreement that there will be x-hours development after launch, or that
x-features will be added within x-weeks after launch , can often work (ugh -
what a run-on sentence!).

Well, those were my tips, I guess others will have experiences to add to
this. Good luck!


.steve

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> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jodi Short [mailto:weboriginals at yahoo.com]
> Sent: den 18 juli 2000 14:47
> To: thelist at lists.evolt.org
> Subject: [thelist] How would you respond to this client
> 
> 
> Here is a message I just received from a client that
> refused to sign a contract.  During the course of the
> design of the website I received money only for
> hosting (because he wanted to see it live) and for the
> domain name.  He tried switching the hosting service
> without contacting me.  He has sent messages similar
> to this during this arrangement and also took over two
> months to get images for the site.  Honestly in order
> to design the site properly, I asked for them in the
> beginning.
> 
> So tell me how you would respond comments like this:
> 
> I need this  web site completed now.  It
> > should not take weeks for 
> > a change to be made.  Hours, yes days & weeks no.  
> > I sent you a check a 
> > day or two ago----I want the site moved to
> > concentric.  I want it put 
> > together the way we talked originaly and soon.   At
> > this point I have spent 
> > alot of time on a useless site. PLEASE polish this
> > site or I will just 
> > abandon the whole idea until I have time over the
> > winter to learn myself.
>