Hi I have a potential client who doesn't understand that designers make their money from the work involved and the number of pages etc. They keep making reference to additional pages basically being duplicate pages (design wise) which most of the time they are. They are of the opinion that additional pages (after the homepage), should cost next to nothing because you are just duplicating the design over to new pages and maybe adding some text. They stated a previous designer quoted them £100 for the homepage and £50 for any additional pages, they said that when using the same design throughout the site the design is all finished on the homepage, so when adding additional pages of say text I should only be charged for the couple of mins it takes them to add the text. I have stated that it doesn't work like that, but they don't seem to be getting it. I would be interested in how others would explain this , maybe you will word it better than me and help them to understand. Because I have tried but failed several times. Thanks Dee
Well I'd ask myself two questions. Is it worth my time, if so, then how much is my time worth? Sure it took the cooling and heating guys 10 minutes to change a part, but I still owed them 100 dollars for the hour...
Put them on a CMS. Design the template. Show them how to update it themselves. Then if they have problems then bill them for your time by the hour with a minimum. I konw of a person who is a PC Tech, he is in high demand to small business. He bills for the mileage and he bills for the time it takes to drive to the site. Why? Because when he is driving it costs him money. It's all about what you can negotiate. When you put the burden of creating content on your client in the right context they will either appreciate the value of what you do or they will just get by with their own staff saving you the hassle of making next to nothing for your time.
Alan Weiss has a great book that addresses this called Getting Started in Consulting. In summary, you have shift the clients' focus from the present cost to the value you are providing.
You don't need that customer. No matter what you do he will ALWAYS be wasting your time. Forget him and get customers that won't waste your time.
try comparing your work/expenses with your employers work/expenses so they get the idea, from their point of view like someone said, it takes ten minutes to change a part, but they might even charge by how intricate it is to change the part doing stuff fast doesnt mean its easy i hope you get some ideas from this
Actually, I think that most customers view this way mainly because it is true. I think that fighting that logic is probably a waste of time. If you are charging for a design that you created, the design should IMO include layouts for 2 or 3 other page styles. If all you have to do on additional pages is add text, you should be charging for your time to add that text, that's it. I would then find additional functionality that you can bring to the site like an appointment scheduler, eCommerce, or something else specific to their business. You can then charge for programming rather than pasting text. /*tom*/