Ockham Design Network

Being the Right Client

There are two types of clients:

• clients who have problems and need a solution, and
• clients who have solutions which may or may not solve their problem

For example:

I remember getting a client who wanted to sell financial and investment services. The first thing they mentioned was that they wanted a really "cool" flash intro.

My response was this:   Your client base is probably upper-middle class with a large nest egg to invest. They've probably built that nest egg by working hard and not wasting time. More than likely, they're already working with a competitor. Since the most clicked button on the internet is "Skip Intro", what kind of message are you sending to potentials clients by making them click "Skip Intro" every time they visit your site?

This is a typical example of a solution (wanting a flash intro), not fitting the problem (acquiring new clientele).

The wrong approach

Would you rather hire someone who will do what you say or do you want to hire someone who has helped other clients double your their close rate?

Many clients approach buying a web site the same way they approach buying a car. They have a certain features in mind and a price range for which they are willing to pay for those features.

The problem with this is that the client ends up buying a ferrari to haul lumber and buying a gas guzzler to deliver messages. They buy the wrong solutions for their problems.

Another example:

Recent I was helping a friend who had a client who sold t-shirts on his site. Of course, the client thought it would be cool to use Flash to display his product.

Unfortunately, now that the client has new products, he has to go back to that Flash developer to create new Flash for each of his new products. Paying $100-200 every time he has a new product might not have been the best solution.

Hire for expertise not skillsets

So what are the good problems? Here's a some typical client problems:

• My sales numbers are flat and I'm hoping a web site will increase my sales.
• My cost for new client acquisition is higher than I like and I'm hoping web site can reduce that cost.
• I want to expand my client base beyond my local market, how do I create a web site to reach more people.

Good web professionals can help you get to the root of your problem and help you figure out a solution. They can solve your problem because they've done it for other clients with similar issues. That's expertise that comes from experience.

They also have skillsets like Photoshop, coding or PHP to solve those problems. However, it's not the number of years someone has been coding HTML or how well they can use Photoshop that will help you create a site that scalable and grow as your company grows.

What the client can do

The best clients have a clearly defined problem that they want solved. They're not even sure if a web site will resolve that issue, because sometimes it won't.

However, they willing to discuss their problem and let someone else with more experience solving those problems present them with possible solutions.