MakaluMedia has been doing business with customers primarily in Germany and the USA since around 1997. During that time, I would say that the majority of contacts we received were from potential customers that:
- Had a general understanding of the cost of quality web design and development
- Were seriously prepared to engage us should we provide them with an interesting proposal
If there’s one thing we’ve learned to do well, having worked with formal organizations like ESA, EUMETSAT and EUTELSAT, it’s how to write a good proposal — complete with an understanding of requirements, detailed technical specifications, a listing of customer furnished items, constraints, risks, planning, milestones, payment plan (against milestones), etc. As the proposal document (and its references) usually serve as the final basis for acceptance, a complete proposal is the best means of avoiding misunderstandings and ambiguities.
Clearly, it takes considerable time to write a good proposal, and so, consequently, the preparation of a good proposal is expensive. But if you don’t do it, you’ll often have (more expensive) problems down the road. So even for the smallest projects, we try to write complete proposals.
About a year ago, we established a branch of our company here in Spain, MakaluMedia SL. I must say, in many aspects it’s been a little frustrating. The biggest problem, by far, is the relatively large number of enquiries that we’ve received from customers that either are not really serious about contracting work, and/or have no feeling for what such work costs.
I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time preparing proposals (in the way we’ve been used to preparing them), only to never hear back from the potential customer again, or to have a potential customer come back with a statement like, “I appreciate your 5,000 Euro proposal, but I just ran into a guy who’ll do the work for 200 Euro.” (That’s no exaggeration.)
To address the second problem (and indirectly the first), I’ve put up a new page on the MakaluMedia website, in which I try to give an idea of typical minimum costs for projects. I’m considering referring all new enquiries to this page, asking them to confirm a common basis of expectation, before we even meet to discuss their project:
http://makalumedia.com/you-and-us.html
What I’m a little unsure of, is whether this might be seen as inappropriate or even offensive? What’s your opinion?
Technorati Tags: business, pricing
I don’t think it’s offensive. Another option would be to simply describe past projects (or make up some scenarios) and simply add cost ranges to those – probably there’s less potential for offense that way. We justify our above-standard prices by providing downloadable tutorials etc. I have been toying with the idea of adding a statement or page on why we are more expensive, and in fancier moments even considered the idea of listing up our and our competitors’ costs.
I would find it helpful. Personally, I would rather have a general idea up front of what a project will cost, particularly when I have absolutely no idea what to expect going in. That way, I am not wasting your time, or vice versa.
I think it’s fine, but quite frankly, I would dispense with everything between “Why?” and “1997.” I don’t think you need to explain why you’ve been forced to take this step– it’s an eminently reasonable statement for any company to make.