"OK, how about this - you give me a voucher for a little freebie, and I'll be back at 9AM?" Now, Jim wasn't at all sure that he'd be in running, but thought he'd try it on, y'know. Well, manager just shook her head like it was fit to fall off. "No way, sir, I'm afraid I can't do that, you'll just have to get back here later, like everybody else, hmmhmm!"

When Jim finished telling me this, we had a good chuckle about how people so easily ruin a good business, and all because so many take short term view. That manager could have had a customer for life if she'd even offered Jim *personal* service at 9AM. He was prepared to return for good service, but *only* good service!

(Hey, hamburger joints are practically viral, right?)

"Heck", said Jim, "she didn't even have to throw in a freebie, but if she'd said that she would have personally attended to my wants, I would've gone back there, yessir!" He grinned, "But, now of course, I've told you about this experience - would you go there for a hamburger now?"

I didn't muddy waters by telling Jim that I detested all hamburgers, but I did readily agree that there are so many lost opportunities in customer relations.

For starters, that burger manager didn't quite have right information on display; information was too easily misinterpreted or wrong. Secondly, she had a golden opportunity for a lifetime customer, when Jim persisted in trying to buy her product. And, finally, not content with *one* refusal, she *totally* deep-sixes her credibility when Jim tried - a second time - to change her mind.

Ultimately to no avail, leaving Jim shaking his head as he drove away...

Now remember, this is a *service* industry we're talking about here, where customer is *always* right...right? Would you deal with a company that had wrong information and wrong attitude?

Maybe Jim *did* hit burger stand at a bad(?) time, but it doesn't matter what time a customer fronts up: you'd better be ready to send that customer away satisfied *and* begging to come back again. If you don't, you're just wasting your time.

And, now that *you* have a website - or you're preparing one - your golden opportunities have just increased a million fold or more! You won't win all customers, but just try to make sure that ones you *do* win always want to come back for more.

(Oh, yeah - Jim went down road a bit further to competition, of course.)

Mock-ups (samples). Be careful not to give too much away, just enough to give client a good idea of what site will look like. Ensure copyright notices and intellectual property statements are in place.

Maintenance. Summarise an offer of ongoing site maintenance or implications of client deciding to update or maintain site themselves after it has been established.

The above points are usually sufficient to put together a professional web design proposal for a small to medium project. If drafting a proposal based on criteria given to you by prospective client; be sure to address all points. If client suggests proposal documentation be a certain format, respect that. In culling process, first proposals to be binned will be ones that do not address all criteria client has laid down.

Bear in mind that not all web design proposals you submit will be accepted. Be prepared to do some heavy revisions to satisfy your clients and to find a middle ground where all parties feel comfortable. A prospective client asking for revisions is a good sign - they are genuinely interested. Also remember that some companies will ask you for proposals purely to use as a comparison against another designer that they are interested in utilising; so try and limit amount of time you spend on draft until client gives indication of serious interest.

Michael Bloch  michael@tamingthebeast.net  http://www.tamingthebeast.net Tutorials, web content and tools, software and community. Web Marketing, eCommerce & Development solutions. _____________________________________________ 

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