Common questions from clients

S

Squiddy

Guest
I was wondering for those of you who have had limitless experiences with clients and have come to know how they think, what are the questions that new/potential clients want answering - even if some times they don't feel, for what ever reason, that they are able to ask?

I'm also thinking in terms of common beliefs held by potential clients, i.e. I/we don't need a decent logo for my company, I/we don't need a website or I/we know more about design than the designer so I/we need to be involved at every stage. I'm wondering if there are any patterns to identify and how to deal with them effectively to increase the chance of securing a client.

Currently I'm re-designing my website again and I want to include a section of questions, in the form of a list to the side of the page, which may attract potential clients who are currently undecided or open them up to expanding their current project, i.e. Enquiring about business cards, web development and stationary instead of just web development.

Any thoughts or opinions would be greatly appreciated!
 
It's all about clients individual needs, and often being able to spot them even if the client hasn't. It's very rare a client would say they don't need a decent website/ branding but quite often what they have will be substandard. It's then down to you to give sound reasons as to why, and also what impact updating it could have on their business.

I'm unconvinced that listing questions & answers would have much effect on attracting clients. However some clients who have little or no experience of dealing with designers/ agencies may be attracted by knowing in advance a little as to how you work.

In terms of getting potential or current clients to expand the scope of their projects this is something you need to converse directly, and give individual reasons/ assessments on. The work you've done for other clients should do the initial convincing for people to get in touch if they like your stuff. Once you've opened dialogue you can look to expand project scope. I don't really see how you could do that effectively via your site without coming across too salesman/ pushy.
 
Thanks for the reply. I'm going to include a couple of general questions to enlighten customers about graphic/web design, i.e. how much does a website cost/take to create - that kind of stuff. I don't want to come across as a sales person.

I was just trying to find out some common questions people might have who are looking to hire a designer. You're right though, most of it will need to be done on an individual basis. I'm just look for a way to differentiate myself from all the others out there!

Thanks again for the response.
 
I'd agree with Russell here - he's got it bang on. For me I would focus on the process and value that higher than the cost/time implications.

It would be interesting to see if it works for you but personally I've never been a fan of predetermined prices. A clients need tends to stray from these unless you add a little bit extra into your price to allow for this. The down side is that if a client expects the project to fall under this description and pricing, then after further probing you decide it doesn't - coming back to the client with a higher price than what they've expected never goes down particularly well.

Anyway, to reiterate, I'd focus on the value of the process. But then again, my target audience may be slightly different to yours, I'm not sure.
 
Don't get me wrong, my entire project strategy isn't revolving around this one idea, it's just a small section on the website aimed at educating potential new clients in the ways of working with freelancers, nothing more.

As for pricing, which is an entirely different subject, I'm going to offer project packages but in a way that doesn't limit the scope of the project or the price point. It's not so much pre-determined prices, more pre-determined starting prices and basic project models, all of which will have the ability to be expanded any which way the clients require.

I'm doing this to increase the transparency of my services, which is something I strongly believe in, as much as I do providing the best value for money and not pushing unnecessary services onto clients who don't really need them.
 
Well, in regards to the type of questions then, I'll just agree with Russell. But it will be nice to see your sites design when it's ready.
 
Thanks, there's a lot of extra content that I need to work on but the overall design is pretty much done. I'll post it up for review in the portfolio section when it's done :)
 
Money! Clients want everything for no money! Concentrate on value for money and offers to tempt
 
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