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Discussion: Following up on a web design proposal
Posted on Tuesday, October 6th, 2009 under freelance by Dustin Brewer.A common problem for freelance web designers and agencies alike is getting a proposal approved, there is a lot that goes into the pre-proposal-discussion and into the proposal itself. For most, myself included, a simple follow-up email will go out if nothing is heard out of the client to make sure they had a chance to read and go over the proposal. Usually after that the conversation is basically over (assuming they don’t approve) you move on to the next client.
I had the idea recently in a conversation with another designer (and on twitter) about following up on a proposal, beyond a simple phone call or email checking to make sure it was received. The idea was if clients would be receptive to a feedback questionnaire asking some basic questions about their experience, optionally anonymous perhaps through a custom web-based form.
I’m not sure what those questions would be but they could optionally have the benefit of not only correcting your proposal process or the proposals themselves. But it could easily be a sales tool that would not only instill more trust but an opportunity to resolve whatever issues the client might have had. Therefore helping to lead ultimately to the approval of the proposal.
Gary Barber (@tuna) suggested that users may be too busy to respond to such an email or query. I wonder if offering an incentive, such as a percentage off their business in the future would be effective?
This post is more of a discussion starter than an answered question, I will probably do a follow-up blog post on some of the advice I hear and maybe some of the things I have tried from that discussion that did or did not work.
What do you do?
What do you think about sending a once-prospective client to a web-based feedback form?
Whats Next?
6 Responses to “Discussion: Following up on a web design proposal”
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About Dustin Brewer
Dustin Brewer is a freelance web designer based out of Oklahoma City, OK passionate about web standards, and beautiful web design. Dustin Brewer has been in the web design industry for over 8 years through freelance and professional experience. If you are interested in hiring Dustin Brewer please visit the web design services page to find out more information. You can also checkout the web design portfolio.
Personally, I like to actually go over the proposal with a potential client in person. That way I’m there to answer any specific questions they have.
Tim,
When I’m working with local clients I like to go over the proposal with them whenever possible but for a lot of my business it isn’t local and so going over a proposal with them in person is difficult.
Most of the time the only communication I have with a client is through email.
Personally I don’t have a great deal of experience in this matter, as I’m an employee of a web development company and don’t have to get involved in the sales element too much, but I would be sceptical about either a web-based or paper questionairre.
To ask a client to commit to something of that nature has a distinct aroma of ’sales’, and people tend to steer away if they sense that.
But offering something for free is generally a safe move, so perhaps something along the lines of a free workshop, whereby someone of good public-speaking skills could deliver a ‘general’ chat on the importance of web, the importance of web-site design, and the importance of the promotion thereof?
I’m probably wildly off the mark, but having the public perceive you as the authority on a subject could have its benefits?
Hey Dustin,
That definitely is a common problem. When I was freelance years ago, follow up was always a tricky problem. I didn’t want to be pushy yet I wanted to get the project. I can’t say I ever found a great solution to the problem; it seems I just got better at feeling out my best approach the more experienced I became.
Anyways, this may be a little out of the ordinary but I have an idea: if you’re open to experimenting a bit, I’d like to see if I can help your closing ratio. I own a web based proposal product and I’m sure I’ll improve my product in the process of trying to help your win more deals. Maybe we can take it offline for further discussion if the idea appeals to you.
Hi Dustin,
I agree this is very common problem across all domains. I prefer to have personal interaction (in person or over phone) with customer. Responses over mail/sms are sometimes mis-leading. During personal interaction, based on customer’s body language & voice pitch you will be able to properly judge, customer’s interest and motive.
If customers insist to send proposal over mail, then in that case I confirm the date for personal interaction to walk him through proposal and clarify any queries. At the end of interaction I make sure to make agreement between both of us for follow-up(feedback) date. In such case customer don’t feel that we are too much following up and at the same time our purpose gets fulfilled.
Once you have interacted with that customer couple of times, then interacting over email is quite safe and effective.
I think the follow up form is an great idea. While true not every perspective client will fill it out for you, the ones that do will be and excellent source of information. The option for anonymity would likely generate more honest feedback. This would be a great way to see why they did not choose your agency or website design. Was it the approach, the price or was it something internal on there end. Thanks for the great post!