[thelist] Paying for proposals?

[Marc Seyon]

Message from Chris George (5/1/2002 01:55 PM)
>Hey all.
>
>Me again.  We're putting up some rather large proposals (large for us) and
>the package we put together, the custom folders, the questionnaire,
>evaluation, goals, etc. etc.
>
>What I was _thinking_ about implementing is something along the lines of a
>nonrefundable deposit of a couple hundred... and if they DO go for it, then
>we could turn around and just deduct the cost from their overall bill...

You should actually do this the other way around. If you DO get the
contract, adjust your billing accordingly (over time, not lumpsum) to
factor in the cost of the proposal.

>Thoughts?  Ideas?

Yeah. Here's another spin on it. It sounds like you're really doing a lot
of work to put these things together. I don't know what the industry is
like where you are, but general business nature suggests that not too many
other companies will go to all the effort.

What I do is I actually use the proposal as a selling point. I can do this
easily here because the web industry is so fragmented and crammed full of
pretenders who really don't know what they're about. And the clients
themselves don't recognise the need for this time of pre-development
research. So educate them, show them that you're going the extra mile to
make sure this thing works. Possibly even spin it as a "complimentary
service" you're offering to new clients.

Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't.

regards.
-marc