Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Step-By-Step Guide to a Signed Contract


By Brendon Sinclair
October 16th 2002

As a freelancer, you can expect to experience some tough
competition when you pitch for a job.



For any one job, you might compete with other freelancers, small


Web design firms, and even larger interactive agencies.


So how can you make sure your quote or proposal wins the job?



The New Rules for Quoting


My advice for quoting is this: never, ever charge by how long it will take.
Don't charge by how skilled you are.


And certainly don't charge less than the competition. Charge more -- usually
lots more.


I base my charges on how much I think the client will pay.


We win 95% of all the jobs for which we pitch, and I can just about guarantee
we're the most expensive every time.

Why? Well, the key to quoting is to realize this: clients won't assess you on
your skill or programming level.


They won't assess you on your creative genius, or even on your design
ability.


They usually don't have the technical expertise to objectively judge that
stuff anyway.


The only thing the client is interested in is: can you do the job?

And, more importantly: is contracting you as the designer going to be less
risky than using someone else?


How To Win With a Higher Quote


We won a job a couple of weeks ago for $17,000. We were up against two other
designers.


The other quotes were for $3,000 and $3,500. So why did we get the job?



  • Are we better qualified? No.


  • Would we finish the site quicker? No.

  • Are we better designers? Probably not.

  • Do we live closer to the client? Nope.

  • Is the client my dad? Good question, but no!

I'll go through what we did so you can see exactly why we got the job and
continue to get jobs at a premium price.


Initiation


The client rings the office and tells me he wants a Website. I make an
appointment for 3 days time.


Letter of Thanks


As soon as I'm off the phone I send a "Thanks for the call" letter confirming
the time and place of the meeting.


We include a business card. The client receives it the next day.


Research


We do as much research on the potential client as possible, including when
the company started, products, people in the firm, etc.


This takes a couple of hours.


The Meeting


I arrive on time to the meeting wearing a perfect blue suit and a blue tie
(as this is the client's corporate colour).


I'm carrying my beautiful leather briefcase. I open the conversation with
some small talk and tell the potential client what an awful weekend I had
because I shot a 85 on the ABC Golf Course. He says "Really? I'm a member there.
I love golf." Gee, what a co-incidence that is.


We finish the small talk and get onto business. I bring out a manila folder
with his name, position,


business name and logo on a sticker on the front. Also evident is the time
and date of the meeting.


From this I pull out a 6 page 'Assessment Form' that I'll use to identify his
needs and wants.


We go through this at the meeting, and I make many notes using my lovely
fountain pen.


After an hour-long meeting I thank him for his time, tell him I'll be in
touch again on Thursday, and leave.



Letter of Thanks


Back at the office I draft the "Thank you for your time" letter and post it
off.



The Follow-Up


On Thursday at 9am I ring and let the prospect know that we've reviewed his
needs and wants and have a draft proposal ready.


I explain that we need to go over the draft to "ensure I have everything
straight in my head" and


I make an appointment to meet with him in 3 days time. I send off a
letter confirming that appointment.




The Second Meeting


I go to the next meeting with a neat, concise overview of what his needs are,


and what we need to do together in order to achieve them.


toss in a few case studies of previous clients to show we have a
complete understanding of what he requires.




The client says "Yep, that's about what we need." I ask when he needs our quote,


and the client says "It's quite urgent, so the middle of the week." I promise
to deliver it to the client by Wednesday at 4pm.




Letter of Thanks


You guessed it -- the client gets another "Thank you for your time" letter.




Proposal Delivery


On Tuesday at 9.30am the client receives the quote from us

via courier. We've attached a polite note that explains that, as

he needed the quote urgently, we worked on it over the weekend

to have it ready early.


The quote itself is actually a 30-page, nicely-bound proposal

that reiterates his needs and wants, and shows how the site will

address them. It includes testimonials from previous clients

(with contact numbers), proposed site flow charts, and a

timetable of exactly what would happen and when.




We also include profiles on the team members who would work

on the site, and the FAQ section has 20 of our most common

questions and answers. We also include copies of articles from

computer magazines that have reviewed our previous sites, and a

CD-ROM that contains examples of our previous sites.


Proposal Meeting


I visit the prospect as promised and ask if he has any

questions regarding the proposal. We discuss these, and I then

ask for the job. "Well John," I say, "would you like us to work

with you on this project?"


Letter of Thanks


When he says "Yes", we send him a "Thanks for choosing us"

letter, along with our first invoice (of 50% of the total

quote). We include a Reply Paid envelope that he can use to mail

us the cheque.





The key phases are:

  • Phase 1- Keyword Strategy

  • Phase 2 - Site Design & Structure

  • Phase 3 - Optimizing Web Pages

  • Phase 4 - Link Building

  • Phase 5 Getting Indexed

  • Phase 6 Monitoring & Adjustment




Thanking the Referrer


I then send the person who referred this client a "Thanks for

the referral" letter, and then take him and his wife out for a

very nice dinner.


Following Through


As it turns out, we didn't do what we'd promised on this

particular job... we did more: 2 extra pages, a little


Flash
, and one or two other things.

When the site was finished I took the client out for lunch

and thanked him for the assistance with the project. I told him

what a pleasure it had been to work with such a professional,

and gave him a gift of a framed photo that we'd scanned and put

on the site. It was a photo of the business' founder -- the only

photo that they had of him. I also sent flowers and chocolates

to the graphic artist who had helped us on the job.




After we started work I found out that the other two firms

who pitched for the job never met with the client. They took his

details over the phone in a 10 minute conversation. Both

provided a one page quote a week later, and one of them hand

delivered it wearing a pair of gardening shorts.


Take a stab in the dark and guess who the client has just

signed on to keep their site up-to-date, submitted to the

engines, and more -- at a very, very healthy fee!


Why We Won

The reason we got the job was predominantly because we were

perceived as less risk than our competitors. They may well be

better or quicker designers, but the client doesn't know that.

Also, the way we developed the relationship indicated to the

client that we had a very thorough working knowledge of the

obstacles facing their Internet strategy. And finally, clients

do tend to associate a lower price with lower quality.


The strategy I've outlined here relies on two critical

elements:



  1. Relationship:
    the better the relationship

    we establish with the prospect, the more comfortable he/she

    will be with us. That equates directly to more sales.

  2. Perception:
    positively influencing

    people's perception is vital. People will make an assessment

    of you within about 3 seconds of meeting you. That's why I

    always visit clients impeccably dressed, carry a briefcase and

    use a fountain pen.


I disagree 100% that skill and talent are the requirements

for success in anything. The perception of those things is more

than a little important, too. The designers we were up against

may well have been better than my team. They may have more

skills. They may be better qualified. But it doesn't matter. The

client only wants to know that you can do the job and that there

is no risk involved in employing you.


We convince the client that we are the better people for the

job by convincing him to perceive us as expert, reliable and

safe.


People buy for 2 reasons -- and 2 reasons only: fear and

greed. People equate higher prices with better quality. It's

human nature.


If we have a prospect who is the middle manager from a big

company, we focus on his fear that if he picks the wrong

designer he will be in trouble with his boss. We show him that

we're the right choice by making sure he thinks we're the best

by a million miles. The price is very, very rarely an issue with

these guys -- aside from their budgetary constraints. With

smaller clients we focus on the fact that they don't want to

risk their money by going with someone who doesn't understand

exactly what they want and need.


If you have 100 equally talented designers vying for a job,

the job will be won by the designer who is perceived as the best

--- by that, I mean the most reliable. And that's decided by

things like what he/she is wearing, testimonials from previous

clients, and how quickly you respond to them etc. It's not

decided by who's the best designer -- that's just a subjective

thing.


Don't charge by the hour, and don't charge based on what

everyone else charges. Charge what you think the client will pay

someone of your (perceived) professionalism.


If you liked this article, you'll love



Brendon's Freelance Starter Kit! Click here to download your

copy now.


Brendon's upcoming SitePoint book will show you step-by-step

how to build your own successful Web design and development

business. Don't miss out!

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