Clients

[waynew]

I think that it would be pretty advantageous (for most people) if everyone were to talk about their own experience with clients and basically give each other tips on what to do versus what not to do.

 

One thing that I've learned is that if you're doing work for somebody overseas, ALWAYS ask for the money up front. Period. I've been jilted by two out of three overseas clients in the past two months. Thankfully, they were only small jobs that took me a half an hour to an hour to do; but imagine creating an entire website, only to have the person not pay you? Also, don't fall for the "create it first and then we'll decide on money" ploy. This could mean that they have multiple freelancers working on the same thing... so that in the end, they can pick the best, pay him or her, and completely ignore the rest who put time and effort into it.

 

I much prefer local clients and would advise anyone to seek them out instead of overseas clients who you'll never get to see in your life. They often pay more more and are better for long term business.

 

When I first get a client, I always ask them to give me the material for the website first. I say this because often I've created a mock up design that they liked, only for them to say something like "I like it. The only thing is can I put one of my pictures in the banner instead." This might not be a big problem; but it could be if the colour scheme of your website was based entirely off the banner. So, basically, get what they have to give you for the website first, and THEN make a mock-up. Otherwise you could be wasting your time.

 

I often ask my clients to fill out a mini questionnaire. I ask them what websites they like the look of. I then ask them what websites that relate to their area of business that they like the look of. And then I ask them to explain to me what their business actually does. Never assume what your client actually does.

 

Always do a mock up and show it to them first. Its pretty stupid to rush ahead and design an entire website without letting them see the main design and structure first. I'm sure that there are still a few designers out there who just rush into things and end up creating something that the client wont like.

 

Remember that you're not designing the website for yourself. The most important thing is that the client likes the look and feel of it, not you. However, if you feel that something the client wants or likes is seriously not the best thing to press ahead with, let them know your opinion and then allow them to decide.

 

Don't get into bidding wars for clients. You'll end up being undermined in price by somebody who can work for less than you. This is especially true with overseas freelancing. I've seen Indian programmers offer themselves up for $5 an hour.

 

Don't become too attached to prototypes. I think we all get that bias now and again where we have subjected yourself to one solution, and one solution only. You'll find that if you leave it for a week, and come back to it, that the rose tinted glasses will have vanished and that you'll see a few things that aren't good enough.

[ILMV]

I have never worked with a 'client' for freelance work, I had 3+ opportunities, 1 of which was almost 100% going to happen (still might...), thing is I would give these people my contact information with very little results back.

 

The client of which may still happen is an accountant, of whom doesn't have a website. Despite saying that I would be able to do it cheaply (because I desperately need to build a portfolio) I still haven't heard back. However, I have the upper hand, because the web address she wanted is owned by me, as I purchased it (for £7) when we were first discussing the site.

[KevinM1]

Clients, in a word, suck.

 

They're stubborn, have bad taste, and expect loads of hard work to be cheap.  Around here, clients come in two basic flavors:

 

The lazy.  These are the clients that think a website will magically increase their sales, but don't want to collaborate with the developer on how the site should look and what the content should be.  Here's an example:

 

I was 'hired' by someone whose sister works with my mother.  This man sells pub game (darts, poker, billiards) equipment.  He bought pre-packaged online store software through storesonline.com.  It's basically an online templating system with a database attached to it.  In order to access it, he needs to pay a yearly subscription.  He bought this store software because he thought it would be easy for himself to setup.  He hadn't touched the software in over a year before I got involved.

 

I asked him what he'd rather do - continue paying storesonline.com, or have me build a site from scratch.  He decided to stick with storesonline.com because it meant less work for me in the long run, and he felt that the continued subscription price would be worth it if the site finally was launched.

 

So, naturally, I asked him for certain things, the most important being his inventory information.  I was having problems with Photoshop at the time, so I figured I might as well get started on the most tedious, and important, part of the project.  I received nothing.  A few weeks later, as I was compiling images of the items he sold, I asked him for the inventory info again, because, at the very least, I wanted to make sure I had the right image for the right product.  Still nothing.

 

This went on for months.  I still haven't received any inventory info from him, and at this point, it looks like the project is dead.  Thankfully, I didn't waste too much of my time on the project as, well, he couldn't give me any other info or ideas on other aspects of the site, either.  He was one of those clients who thinks web developers are telepathic and can just wave a magic wand to create an incredible site.

 

The other category I've encountered is the over-ambitious.  When I was working for the local computing solutions place (which crashed and burned, but that's another story), one of our potential clients was another computing solutions place on the other side of the state.  It was a small, family-owned ISP and computer repair company.  It was very mom-and-pop.  If I remember correctly, the company had three people working for it - the father and his two sons.  So, it was small time.

 

The oldest son, who thought he was some slick, hip business man wanted to redesign their website (which the younger son designed), so he came to us.  During the meeting, he and his father agreed that we should keep the site as warm as possible.  It was a small town New Hampshire company, and they didn't want to lose that local feel.  Naturally, the oldest son changed his mind and wanted me to go behind his father's back.

 

He wanted to change this: http://www.iamnow.net/ into something akin to Dell, Gateway, or PlayStation.  So, I sent him a few rough prototypes, mostly to show color combinations and navigation options.  Apparently his father saw these designs and was not happy.  Looking at it now, the site has changed a little, but it's still largely the same as it was early last year.

 

There are, of course, other stories, but I think my point is clear.  The one thing that links these two categories of clients is that neither wants to pay for quality work.  The vast majority of the potential clients I've met have bailed after telling them my going rate (which is only $30/hr).  A lot of these people fall into the "My 14 year old nephew/niece/cousin can do it through Frontpage, so why should I pay you?" column.

 

*sigh* Clients are frustrating.

[ILMV]

A lot of these people fall into the "My 14 year old nephew/niece/cousin can do it through Frontpage, so why should I pay you?" column.

 

Yes! Thats what my client was like, she told me that a friend of hers can get it done cheaper , like I said, I have her domain name, I am going to put up a tasty message saying "for sale, ring me, and i might develop it for you"!

[jcombs_31]

I can go on and on about how people are very difficult.  All I can say to those starting out, don't do any work without a desposit and some form of contract, or you WILL, eventually get burned.

[waynew]

I find that the majority of my projects end up being delayed by a week or two because of the fact that the client hasn't got a set of pictures to go up. I pray for the day when somebody comes to me with actual material. It is highly frustrating trying to create a website when you have only a tiny bit of material from the client.