[thelist] Freelance Proposal letter

Ben Henick persist1 at io.com
Tue May 22 01:08:53 CDT 2001


On Mon, 21 May 2001, Erik Mattheis wrote:

> No, seriously, I don't if I would open up with a lot of discussion 
> about what the client wants - they're hiring you to make a good 
> website, not the website they think they want ... perhaps try to find 
> out about their target audience instead. That would be my suggestion.

I second this opinion...

In effect, it's a process of making the needs assessment the MOU/contract
as well.

Target Audience
Demographics (if available)
Outline of possible architectures
Scope
Out-of-scope
Schedule
Likely budget
Addenda

A client cares about two things:  what's he getting, and what he's paying
for it.  If those two things can be laid out as statements-of-fact
(viz. "I will build something that is well-suited to your audience") -
even if they're really not - that's usually enough to get approval.

Where you may run into problems is if, by providing too much detail, you
come across as being worth more than the client feels they can afford (see
the "Jackass" thread from last month as a possible example).  That outcome
deserves a thread of its own, however.


-- 
Ben Henick
Web Author At-Large              Managing Editor
http://www.io.com/persist1/      http://www.digital-web.com/
persist1 at io.com                  bmh at digital-web.com
--
"Are you pondering what I'm pondering, Pinky?"
"I think so, Brain, but... (snort) no, no, it's too stupid."
"We will disguise ourselves as a cow."
"Oh!" (giggles) "That was it exactly!"





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