[mike_1337]

Any tips on dealing with clients who have unrealistic budgets?

I've had many enquiries for work and I've responded with a quote which I believe is more than reasonable. The Clients come back with "ohh thats above my budget" or try to start a bidding war by saying "I've been quoted £xxx.xx". At the moment I really want some work but I don't want to be working for peanuts either.

I'm fed up with Joe Bloggs and his £120 budget!!!

[terydinho]

The most simple solution is to just say: Okay well if you have been quoted that elsewhere then go to them.

The fact these people are telling you that are because either they haven't got that quote at all and want you to hack your prices down OR... they have got that quote from Joe Bloggs design and they realise that you are a much better designer so they want you to do their site for them but still want to pay Joe Bloggs prices.

I am pretty rigid once i have given a quote. I usually have a little bit of wiggle room, but not too much.

People get what they pay for and if they only want to spend £100 then maybe they aren't the client for you

[BritZin]

I tend not to waste my time on people who want all the bells and whistles for £100

I like my £2,000 Clients

[traxor]

One thing I say to clients that instills both trust and profesionnalism: 'If you get a cheaper quote, and want to go with that, don't feel obliged to stay with me.' It always takes them unawares, and they end up reassuring me that I'm the one for them.

Be realistic though, if they can only afford that price, do a quick few hour website with a few pages, and get the money.

Perfect

[ReaperWD]

SLGWN2P, on Apr 19 2009, 21:04, said:

I tend not to waste my time on people who want all the bells and whistles for £100

I like my £2,000 Clients

I suppose i am on the other end of this scale. At the moment alot of my clients will only be paying me in the region of £200-500 a job, but as i am just starting out, i didnt expect huge pay for the first site without a portfolio.

However, i do agree, sometimes people just take the mick. I had to quote a site yesterday that wanted a custom coded e-commerce system, with a full website that had its own CMS, heavy with php, 12 months hosting and 12 months worth of worldpay (or something similar) paid for. his budget, $1000 >.<

Reaper

[mike_1337]

ReaperWD, on Apr 19 2009, 21:15, said:

I suppose i am on the other end of this scale. At the moment alot of my clients will only be paying me in the region of £200-500 a job, but as i am just starting out, i didnt expect huge pay for the first site without a portfolio.

However, i do agree, sometimes people just take the mick. I had to quote a site yesterday that wanted a custom coded e-commerce system, with a full website that had its own CMS, heavy with php, 12 months hosting and 12 months worth of worldpay (or something similar) paid for. his budget, $1000 >.<

Reaper

What baffles me is that a website is the most important asset to an ecommerce business, it's the thing that's going to determine if the business is going to succeed or not. If they sold on the high street they wouldn't buy a shed, they'd want a nice new shiny shop with brand new carpets and clean windows. So why do they think they can do it online?

People dont appreciate the ammount of work that goes into this stuff imo

[ReaperWD]

mike_1337, on Apr 19 2009, 21:42, said:

What baffles me is that a website is the most important asset to an ecommerce business, it's the thing that's going to determine if the business is going to succeed or not. If they sold on the high street they wouldn't buy a shed, they'd want a nice new shiny shop with brand new carpets and clean windows. So why do they think they can do it online?

People dont appreciate the ammount of work that goes into this stuff imo

Exactly,

Ive actually teamed up with a guy, and together we do offer "budget" eccommerce solutions for startup companies. I kind of understand that if your taking a chance with it, then you may not want to part with £2000 straight away, so we start at £500 for the basic packages, but even that seems to be out of most peoples pricerange with this damn recession.

Reaper

[lazytycoon]

you could try a tiered pricing system..

a) BASIC - 5 page site, from template, link to email address - £100 (will only take 3-4hours)

PLUS (or something?) - 5 page site, Logo, designed with conversions in mind, contact form - £250 (will only take a day or so)

c) PREMIUM - 5 page site, logo, converts, after sales support, contact form, blahh - £500

Or something like that, I am with Traxor, do the site for £100 but dont do the same site you were going to do for £500. do some cutting, but also dont mention everything involved in the basic but mention EVERYTHING you will be doing for the preminum eg validates - sure a) will validate but you want a) to look basic so dont mention it.

Haggling is super fun, its one of the best bits about business. be honest if you are happy at that price if your not say your not, and ask if your lead is happy with that price, I always ask this.

If some one 1/2s your price, I say, ok we are both business men and it would be rude not to haggle, I feel this is a very fair price and the begining of a great business relationship, I can throw in X for free (validation maybe?) and we stick at £xxxx or we can drop some features and work on the price. Also make them aware that by dropping features it effects the conversion rate of the site...

[Sam G]

I often get people wanting websites/ecommerce sites for like £50-£100!

I am looking into taking advantage of this market soon though...

[lazytycoon]

wordpress + free theme + eshop plugin = 30mins or £60ph!

[ReaperWD]

andymayhem, on Apr 20 2009, 12:33, said:

wordpress + free theme + eshop plugin = 30mins or £60ph!

This is going to sound stupid, but how can it be done that easily? im obviously thick (or never found the right wordpress tutorial) but i could never even get it near that in 30 mins.

Reaper

[bocaj]

he means just download one of the many thousand free themes, available, basically just set them up with a run a mill solution, and pocket the cash

[lazytycoon]

yep, thats what everyone who is selling these cheap sites is doing. Actually I know of someone selling homestead sites for $100 he makes 6 per day and also has guys he sends the overflow to.

[Webtistic]

I think the point here is that most clients who are serious about pushing their businesses forward will base their decisions on quality first, and price second. So, if your portfolio holds up, you can justify higher pricing...