[thelist] What would you do?

[Kyle Smeby]

> They approached me some time ago for a proposal, and I gave them a document to
> fill out to get a gist of their project needs. This is one of those clients
> that wants to know "how much" before I know anything about their site needs.
> They never filled it out, though I followed up twice.

This is pretty much standard procedure where I work.  Except for the sending
us some one elses' quote.  I've found most clients come to us and ask for a
web site and have no idea what they want or need.  We discuss their needs
and options and give rough estimates based on that.

We'd like to at least ask for content up front so then we could estimate
based on that as well, but we've found if you ask for that your lucky if you
ever here from them again.

I've resigned myself to believe that most clients don't have even the
slightest clue what a website means or is even for.  They just think they
should have one and don't want to know anything about it.  The more you ask
for from them, the less likely you are to get the job.  It makes our jobs a
lot tougher and makes the project more expensive than it would be if the
client would just take some responsibility, but it just seems to be the
norm.

If anyone cares to share any better ways of dealing with clients I would
love to hear them.

    later,

        kyle

Kyle Smeby
ASI Image Studios
http://www.a-s-i.com/hyper/kyle.htm