[thelist] Help a journalist: What do you wish your clients understood?
Esther Schindler
esther at bitranch.com
Tue Jul 25 09:58:52 CDT 2006
Hi, folks. I'm senior writer and editor at the IT Business Network
(http://www.itbusinessnet.com), and I'm working on an article for
which I'd like your help.
Anyone who runs a business shares certain kinds of frustrations, from
slow-paying clients (who don't let that keep them from expecting you
to drop everything to serve their slightest whim), to the effort to
keep up with one's chosen technology at the same time you need to
generate billable hours. However, there are always unique challenges
for each profession, and at the moment I'm looking at professional
web developers and web designers.
In particular: what misconceptions do your clients seem to share?
What wrong expectations do they have, particularly when they first
approach your company? Are there differences between different
categories of client (i.e. when the marketing staff approaches you,
they expect one thing, but if an IT person makes the call, they want
something else)? In other words: give me a list of things that you
wish your client knew or understood BEFORE he or she picked up the
phone. And tell me why those items are on the list. It's the "why"
that is always the most interesting. Anecdotes are especially
welcome. After all, everybody likes to hear about horror stories,
especially when they can learn from someone else's experience.
I'm hoping to turn this into advice for companies and IT departments
who are considering acquiring the services of professional web people
(that would be YOU). Depending on the nature of the responses I get,
over the next few days (I'm hoping to write this article by the end
of the week), it may become "7 things you should know before you
redesign your web site," or it might turn into something similar to
an earlier article, "Can DBAs and Programmers Ever Get
Along?" (http://enterpriseapps.itbusinessnet.com/articles/
viewarticle.jsp?id=37828)
Ideally, I'd like to quote you in the article. If that's okay, please
be sure to let me know (privately, if necessary) your real name,
title, affiliation, and geographic location (i.e. "Esther Schindler
is a web designer at Foo Corporation in Scottsdale, Arizona --
www.whatever.com"). If you can't be quoted directly, let me know
that, too; if your remarks are pithy enough, we can find a way around
it ("Esther is a web designer at a west coast design firm").
Anyway, feel free to respond here -- I'm sure the topic will be of
interest to others! -- but if you prefer, you can write to me
privately at esthers at digitalmedianet.com.
Esther Schindler
senior writer and site editor, IT Business Network
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