Giving a potential client a quote. What do you do?

Mike_Eile

I just have a question in relation to giving a potential client a quote for a website.

How do you normally go about it? Do you get a spec from the client and then give the client a quote based on that? Or would you try and see what the client's budget is and then work around that?

Thanks

Trojan

A lot of people don't want to reveal their budget (particularly after working with cowboys). The best approach is talk to the client and find out what they need. Create a spec and price it out. Try and give different options or packages in your quote, and talk to them about where costs can be cut, or alternative solutions put in place depending on their needs.

Indeed - a project often expands to consume all the available budget. We do pretty much what Trojan says, but sometimes it would be nice to know what the budget ballpark is.

We spend a lot of time quoting for projects where the client has a Ferarri spec, and then we find that they have a Lada budget.

JD RoX

I usually give price for each spec they want. They like to see what they pay for, not just the grand total.. Then they can see: custom wordpress - €200, custom design - €150, custom logo - €40 etc. and only then comes the grand total, it doesn't scare them so much then.
Also, always give the lowest possible price, because they will come back with more updates and new stuff to add, then you price them extra.
That's for the customers who "doesn't know what they want"

Trojan

JD RoX wrote: »

Also, always give the lowest possible price, because they will come back with more updates and new stuff to add, then you price them extra.

It's an interesting approach and I believe a lot of companies win jobs via lowest bid by going that way.

On the other hand, some clients can feel aggrieved when they discover things they thought were included aren't. It's a bit like not getting a portion of rice with your main course in a Chinese restaurant - some restaurants include it, some don't. (Another apt analogy would be the Ryanair model.)

So you have to tread carefully when deciding what to disclose that you do and do not include. "WordPress theme" means using a 2 minute install of a free template to some people, and it means days spent lovingly handcrafting a custom branded design to others.

JD RoX

Trojan wrote: »

It's an interesting approach and I believe a lot of companies win jobs via lowest bid by going that way.

On the other hand, some clients can feel aggrieved when they discover things they thought were included aren't. It's a bit like not getting a portion of rice with your main course in a Chinese restaurant - some restaurants include it, some don't. (Another apt analogy would be the Ryanair model.)

Of course, the quote is more extensive, and we price for everything they are asking. We provide full list of things they get for chosen price. But then they want some custom banner images, updated logo, adding another form etc - that's all optional extras.. Extras would be a bit more expensive than if ordering at the beggining, but by giving lowest possible price, client isn't really losing anything.

Trojan

JD RoX wrote: »

we price for everything they are asking.

In my experience, ~95% of web design clients don't ask for what they actually want (or need). Pricing what they ask for often suggests a far lower total cost than appears on the final invoice.

I'm not saying what you're doing is the wrong approach - a huge amount of businesses do it that way. It's just something to be aware of