Talking business vision over the coffee (or lunch) with the prospect could be intellectually stimulating, but to begin with you'll have to start with the person who has $10k+ burning the hole in their pocket.
Otherwise by delaying the money talk you'll be facing the frequent "Oh, I thought it won't cost that much. Let me think about that".
I think the issue comes across pretty clearly in the initial conversations. If you're dealing with a client looking for the cheapest possible website, he's going to force the issue of price early on. If you're dealing with a solution-oriented one, there's some understanding of the cost to value relationship.
To me, that's the key. Value. A $10,000 website is a bargain if it allows them to bring in much more than that in new business or save more than that in costs. But to get that message across, you have to quantify and drive home the potential payoff.
If they're thinking about how much it will cost, you haven't done your job, and you shouldn't be charging them $10k+.
In fact, they should be thinking about how much money they will lose out on if they don't hire you.
Your mission, as a provider of services, should be to increase the wealth of your customers. This means that you need to find a way to make them more than $10k.
If your services won't be creating more revenue than you are charging, then you probably shouldn't be doing business.
This also means that the more value you are able to provide, the more you are able to charge.
What's $10k when you're building a business for your client that will generate $10k many times over?
And yes, you should be building your client's business. NOT their website.
If they're thinking about how much a website will cost, you've completely failed in selling them a vision.
If they're thinking about how your partnership will grow their business in a whole new way, then you are on the right track. And they won't be thinking "how much will this cost?" They'll be thinking "wow, I'm excited to earn this much money."
I'd add that the mindset as well as experience of a service provider should contain a clear path for client to make more than the cost of the service.
And that includes the understanding that some clients are not willing to make money, even if they have valuable business to offer.
That happens more often than not and such clients needs to be filtered out early.
"When Apple sold the original iPod, they weren't selling an MP3 player (those were already on the market), they were selling 5,000 songs in your pocket. The simple shift in value statements changed the game. The net result was that Apple's product not only cost a lot more, but it became one of the first devices to be sold worldwide with universal love."
Uh, I feel like there was a lot more to this than mentioned
Agreed. I hate "business speak" statements like this that just float on marketing terms.
From a consumer and tech perspective the first ipod was a godsend in the days of shitty AA-powered mp3 players with difficult controls, tiny screens, and usually with no library management software. I had a nomad that took 4 AA batteries and ate them like you wouldn't believe. So the cost of buying rechargables and chargers was passed on to me.
No, it didn't launch with universal love. The original was interesting, but it wasn't until later versions when they had USB support, itunes on Windows, and better price points that it really broke through.
I like this a lot. However I would add one more powerful thing. Take the existing technology you have (open source, in-house, etc.) and make a mobile prototype for them in one of the meetings. As you talk, you can whip out your phone and say you've been throwing some things together.
That'll put you ahead of everyone else who has done nothing but talk and it will let the customer start seeing what the vision could look like ... and start CRITICISIZING and RECOMMENDING things. And that's the point at which they are emotionally invested in YOUR service, because they are now thinking about what to change in your mockups and how to use your prototypes.
Isn't this a rather blatant sales pitch... err 'inbound marketing'.. for the author's "Online Business Ecosystem paradigm"? (I didn't make that up. It is in the article)
Random Anecdotes. Check. Softsell, some obvious truisms . Check. Throw in a reference to Apple marketing the IPod and tie it into whatever the point being made is. Check.
Why does this marketroid article get so much love on HN?
I write about my experience without thinking of my products. My editorial team will typically go back through and add relevant links. Of course I think my products are relevant as that is what pays for me to give away a bunch of free advice and blog about my past experiences growing my web agency. But just to make sure you know, I don't have a product called "Online Business Ecosystem paradigm".
I found the feedback valuable. The simple reminder is that revisiting how you present some basic information and interact with someone can make a huge difference, especially in rudimentary processes like the one mentioned. It doesn't just apply to the freelance scenario either.
These days I find myself afraid that Facebook is going to eat everything and there will be no jobs outside Facebook. Its so easy to setup a Facebook page instead of a website, and it normally has the up-to-date information that people are looking for ("What band is playing on this bar tonight?")
Some of those are also already selling through Facebook and just let their websites die...
This really reminded me of an older post, "Never say wordpress when selling a web design project". And, that's because it's the same author: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5570679
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[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 43.6 ms ] threadOtherwise by delaying the money talk you'll be facing the frequent "Oh, I thought it won't cost that much. Let me think about that".
To me, that's the key. Value. A $10,000 website is a bargain if it allows them to bring in much more than that in new business or save more than that in costs. But to get that message across, you have to quantify and drive home the potential payoff.
In fact, they should be thinking about how much money they will lose out on if they don't hire you.
Your mission, as a provider of services, should be to increase the wealth of your customers. This means that you need to find a way to make them more than $10k.
If your services won't be creating more revenue than you are charging, then you probably shouldn't be doing business.
This also means that the more value you are able to provide, the more you are able to charge.
What's $10k when you're building a business for your client that will generate $10k many times over?
And yes, you should be building your client's business. NOT their website.
If they're thinking about how much a website will cost, you've completely failed in selling them a vision.
If they're thinking about how your partnership will grow their business in a whole new way, then you are on the right track. And they won't be thinking "how much will this cost?" They'll be thinking "wow, I'm excited to earn this much money."
I'd add that the mindset as well as experience of a service provider should contain a clear path for client to make more than the cost of the service.
And that includes the understanding that some clients are not willing to make money, even if they have valuable business to offer. That happens more often than not and such clients needs to be filtered out early.
Uh, I feel like there was a lot more to this than mentioned
From a consumer and tech perspective the first ipod was a godsend in the days of shitty AA-powered mp3 players with difficult controls, tiny screens, and usually with no library management software. I had a nomad that took 4 AA batteries and ate them like you wouldn't believe. So the cost of buying rechargables and chargers was passed on to me.
No, it didn't launch with universal love. The original was interesting, but it wasn't until later versions when they had USB support, itunes on Windows, and better price points that it really broke through.
That'll put you ahead of everyone else who has done nothing but talk and it will let the customer start seeing what the vision could look like ... and start CRITICISIZING and RECOMMENDING things. And that's the point at which they are emotionally invested in YOUR service, because they are now thinking about what to change in your mockups and how to use your prototypes.
Random Anecdotes. Check. Softsell, some obvious truisms . Check. Throw in a reference to Apple marketing the IPod and tie it into whatever the point being made is. Check.
Why does this marketroid article get so much love on HN?
Some of those are also already selling through Facebook and just let their websites die...