(*I didn’t really own an hat)

Errrrrrr?

The first time someone asked me this I was completely flummoxed – my mind was turning over thinking “yeah, but surely they know you can’t just give a price?“. But the confidence with which some people ask this question can be disarming; lulling you into thinking that this should be an easy question to answer.  To someone new to running a web design business it can feel like you are somehow wrong or lacking for not being able to answer it.

“Why can’t I answer this simple question? I’m crap at business aren’t I!? I KNEW it! I’ve never been able to haggle! Is that the problem?! I should give up! ARRGGH!! (etc)”

…all because someone asked you the price.

SO, what IS the price?

It’s not unreasonable to be asked how much our services cost. Now,  if the answer is not simple then it’s up to us to frame the answer and to help educate the client. E.g. if I feel it will benefit the client, I’ll explain to them that the question is a little like asking “how much is a house?”; it depends. But bear in mind, the goal here isn’t to make the client feel like an idiot because they don’t know how to engage our services.

And bear in mind that the client is sort of used to talking about prices because of:

• What his/her last website cost
• Or what ‘man down the pub‘ says a website should cost
• Or what Mr Site charges…

So many clients have been conditioned that there is a finite cost to these things.

And that’s fair enough; there IS a finite cost; it’s just that different people add different things into the mix* and, hey nonny nonny, the end result cost is different.

(*And explaining to the client all those different things which go into your mix which make you better than the competition, that’ll be for another article).

Answer the bloody question!

But an answer to this question is quite rightly needed; we have to get used to talking about money; it’s not a dirty word. In fact, if we don’t get the money question right then our business won’t be around long anyway.

In the early days I think I would dance around the topic of money for quite a while as I knew it would be an uncomfortable conversation (for me rather than the client). End result? Time wasted on meetings etc with people who are simply not in your budget range; you can’t let your time get wasted like that; as that is time which should be spent on something more productive.

Cut to the chase

So, with a new potential client, one** of my prime goals is to make sure they are not a tyre kicker; to make sure that their idea of budget and mine exist in the same financial solar system. I’ll do something like this:

“Ok, have you seen my website? There are some previous projects on there as well as example costings“

or more bluntly…

“As a guide, my marketing websites are typically around £5K but that obviously does depend on your particular needs”

…if that doesn’t scare the horses then it is time for a meeting. I like to go for a meeting with (sensible) clients early as exchanges of emails (and indeed the telephone) just isn’t as warm and engaging as a face to face meeting; people buy from people. If you’re like me, you’re quite uncomfortable with the concept of selling but you are comfortable talking about web stuff and how it can benefit people; potential clients pick up on that enthusiasm and knowledge and buy into it.

In an upcoming article I’ll talk you through how I next shape their requirements into a proposal. E.g. I have some packaged services but I tend not to introduce these until face-to-face meetings as they are really a scope guiding tool.

Anyone else have any nuggets with fielding “how much does a website cost” type questions?

Joel

p.s. oh, there is also a school of thought that says if there is not an intake of breath when you tell someone your costs; you’re not charging enough. Just because other people are cheap does not mean you have to be.

(**there are other goals at this stage, i.e. do I want to work with this person? Do I think we are a good mix? Not every client is right for you. ) 

This wasn’t the post I was going to publish but something cropped up that changed my plan.

Recently I spoke at Revolution Conf and I had a really cracking day there with some smashing feedback on my talk.

I presented about mistakes I’d made running a web design business (there have been a few!) I’ll put the slides on line if you like but I want to get on to a specific point: I got some feedback from the smashing Andy Davies and Andy Clarke which I want to share with you as I think there is stuff to learn there.

Andy D ticked me off (he’s allowed to, he’s a friend) for almost apologising for my point of view. Andy C picked up a similar point on his cracking Unfinished Business podcast*; Andy makes a  point (around 20:41) that it ‘infuriated‘ him that I was apologising about perhaps the size of my business and clients etc.

Hmmmm…

Fair dos, maybe there was something in that. When you share the stage with people working for GOV.UK, Twitter etc you can feel a little intimidated. And, to be fair, many conferences seem to me to default to the typical  names in web design who all seem to be working on massive sites for household names etc – I don’t think we see a lot about the smaller outfits; the people/teams; in short, the smaller businesses.

Stand Tall, Stand Proud

I won’t sweet talk it; working for yourself can be tough – especially in the early days (but it certainly does get better). And those days can easily knock your confidence (more on that in a future post). So maybe what we were seeing there was an echo of those early confidence knocks. Maybe.

Lets clear this up though in case there is any confusion: I’m very proud of the projects I selectively work on, I work with really talented people and I believe this shines through in the work I produce. I’m proud of where these projects has taken my clients and, as I said in my talk, I genuinely enjoy working with them (life’s too short not too).

So, I will take my talk feedback on board. I will not be apologising again (well, not for that particular mistake!). Here endeth the apologies. Au revoir apology-dom. Apologies can “jog on”.

And you guys should be proud to; holding together a business in this day and age is a tough task; we’re doing a sterling job here and we should hold our heads up high. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it on a Friday morning

Joel

(*co-hosting Andy’s Clarke’s podcast was Liz Elcoate who I’ve not heard of before. Liz has some great experience in running a business etc; would be great to chat to her or get her on this blog at some point. Liz also co-hosts The Freelance Web podcast which looks really interesting).

Update: 4th Oct 2013 – made a few small amends before tweeting; primarily because I published the article before I was blooming ready in the first place!