January
11
2006
No budget = sticker shock
By
Angie Herrera
Too often, when we get an interested party for a design project, the following occurs:
Us: "What's your budget for this project?"
Prospect: "Um, we don't really have one. We're kind of just shopping around."
A few days later we send them a detailed proposal and don't hear back from them in any way, shape or form.
Now, there are a couple things wrong with that scenario. First, if you've chosen a designer to create your project, that's great. Just be sure to tell the other designers you've asked for quotes from. It's just the polite, professional thing to do.
But that's not the point of this post.
My guess (and I'm willing to bet that I'm right 75% of the time - and that's a conservative figure) is that a prospect will get a proposal or estimate and be floored by the price we've quoted them. It's not that we're always spendy - we certainly negotiate when appropriate. But let's be real, if you want bells and whistles, you gotta be willing to pay for them.
More important than that though, is that 9 times out of 10, the prospects we never hear from again flat out don't give us a budget to work with. That, and they forget that they do have some negotiating power. More on that later.
Regardless of who ends up developing your site, logo, brochure, etc., while you're "shopping around" for designers,
it's crucial to plan ahead and have a budget. What that really means is, what are you willing to spend for your particular project? If you approach a designer - any designer - with a budget, that gives them something to work with. They can tell you what bells and whistles you can include. Or maybe, your budget is just too small for a particular designer. And that's fine. That's why you're shopping around right?
Without a budget, however, it becomes exponentially more difficult to determine not only what the project will cost, but whether or not a prospect will take the proposal seriously once they've received it. Otherwise, we've wasted our time and yours.
Finally, if for some reason or another you don't have a budget set, know that as a potential customer, you have some negotiating power. If that figure you see is a bit too high, go back and ask the designer or studio if there's a way to bring the cost down. Chances are there will be. Usually that means scaling back on features, or on the number of comps (or concepts) that you'll initially see.
Most designers are more than happy to work within your budget. It generally means that you're serious about working with them and they'll put in the extra effort to make you happy from the get-go.
