Web development: how to recognize a problem client at the start

Picture by Denis Mishunov
My company has not always been firmly established in the first places for queries related to the audit of sites in many cities of the Volga region. For several years now we have been making them more and more, so we know very well about the quality of websites and how the development and preparatory stage is conducted. And from the client and from the studio.

It so happens that web studios are guilty only of the fact that they started on these projects (yes, both parties are to blame in 99% of cases, and it would be interesting to read the response article from web studio clients).

This article is a detailed checklist for customers who will most certainly be “bitter”. For developers who do not cling to each order, it will be a reason to abandon the project with a light heart. In this case, you will not only save time and nerves, but also save your reputation.
')

1. There is no understanding why?

The word “why” implies goals expressed in figures - money, terms, sales volumes, global goals of the company. Particularly important is the participation of decision makers or business owners at this stage.

Competent managers have a complete understanding of the business, the processes within the company and the place of the site in all this. Here you can decide on what minimum result is needed from the web studio. Either the conclusions that the site can not solve the tasks.

For me, the absence of clearly defined goals is the main reason for not cooperating. There are exceptions, for example, when the presence of a site (any) is a requirement of the law, but I am talking about commercial resources.

2. This is my first time ...

Even a competent manager will not save the site if the customer had no experience with web studios. In order not to produce a lot of text, I will make subparagraphs. Situations can happen to experienced customers, but more so to beginners.

2.1. No trust

When you talk with a novice client, your whole speech to him sounds like “blah blah blah blah blah blah blah money”.

The trouble at this stage is that the web-studio employees are viewed as rogues who sell air. If the client came up with the idea of ​​a new Internet project from the real economy sector or with “crazy money” that you need to invest somewhere urgently - you can immediately put an end to the project. It is unlikely that at the first meetings even the idea will be told. Otherwise, “conjure”.

To build a trusting relationship is possible only through constant communication and learning. But here I would not invest my time. Because the customer wants everything ...

2.2. "For too cheap"

Explain about the processes in the studio, the cost of standard hours and stuff is useless. After all, in the end, all the same, according to the feelings of the client, you are selling “air”. To convey that the site is the image of the company on the Internet is quite difficult. Although there may be no image, if the customer describes himself in the form of "we are like everyone else."

Therefore, let it be better if such a client follows the first site to freelancers (I don't want to offend anyone). And, taught by experience, comes to us.

2.3. Missing Client Syndrome

For beginners, a very characteristic feature is to appear and disappear at any time without the possibility of calling or somehow communicating. Therefore, no work can be done before the conclusion of the contract and the receipt of money in the account.

2.4. Dummy without content

Suppose we successfully passed all the stages and the customer turned out to be extremely prepared. There is a question with content. As a rule, there is no one or no one to do it, and the client is not ready to pay photographers, copywriters and even to select a specialist for answering questions.

The finish.

3. Hello, I am a new manager

This is also one of the frequent reasons for developing a new site. A new energetic employee comes to the company, who once again says that “everything must be different”. Begins a wild creative, which does not solve the problems described above with the content and processes at the customer.

Spending time, money. Long coordination, the forced result ... The new site works even worse than the old one, and the manager leaves the company after 3-4 months.

4. Too many expectations

This is the search for "silver bullet". The blind belief that technology and beautiful pictures can dramatically improve the position of the customer in the market. Usually such a situation arises when everything is already bad: sales are falling, employees run out of the company, and a few customers write negative reviews.

In this case, the manual does not understand that any technology can be copied and replicated. It is not an advantage in itself, and first of all, it is necessary to search and solve problems within the company. In the end, someone has to process an order from the site and follow its implementation ...

Here it makes sense to add that before developing it would be nice to study a niche, demand, competition, and so on. It may turn out that the company doesn’t need a website at all, but the same instagram.

5. Customer perfectionism

The most dangerous enemy. It is necessary to explain to the client that website development and Internet marketing are iterative processes, and it may happen that an understanding will come in a year - the website and advertising campaigns need radically different ones. This will tell analyst statistics of visits and data of sales departments.

When the company has only 4-5 months to test its business hypothesis, and its pants are about to fall, it’s not a matter of checking commas in the text. Looking for sales.

There is one more moment in perfectionism that is forgotten: meticulousness usually manifests itself only in the sphere of competence. For example, different specialists will criticize the same text from completely opposite sides. Commas are important for the proofreader, for the publisher - fonts, paper, terms, and for the reader - basically, the semantic part.

Therefore, the main task of the development is to produce the minimum finished product according to the requirements of the TZ, and not work for the sake of work. It is an unfinished project, which in the end due to a rapidly changing environment in six months we die by itself.

6. We know exactly what we want.

A client of this type regards the developer as a “literary negro” and does not understand that cooperation implies an exchange of thoughts from both sides.

They do not consider alternative solutions to problems. And they know for sure that a single-page will solve all their problems.

As a result, the customer gets into all the processes, and if PM gives direct access to the designer and programmers, a nervous breakdown is provided for them.

7. From the threshold impose their conditions

Unreasonable changes in the contract or begging for discounts are a sure sign that the web studio should also end up.

Discount must be given for something. For example, when cooperation has already taken place, and both parties were satisfied with the result.

8. No assignment of roles / responsibilities

An individual person from the customer who has the right to make decisions and is responsible for them is a prerequisite that must be attributed in the contract. If some people come to the meetings, then it is worth thinking that the terms of the contract, TK and other arrangements will constantly change as work progresses. It is unlikely that this will have a positive impact on the results of work.

PS And how does your "chuika" work? When the inner voice says to you: "do not go into this business, buddy"?